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Relative to sheer activation power of moving air, the surface area of this speaker is 832cm² in each direction. To minimize HF beaming the membranes are slightly curved. In addition the panels mount in a slight rearward lean to raise the sweet spot to standard sitting height. Below the panel sits an 8-inch textile cone which takes over below 500Hz and loads into a downfiring bass-reflex port to demand use of the included spike footers for proper spacing. On filter details, Martin Logan becomes vague and mysterious. They call their in-house solution Vojtko topology (Joe Vojtko has been ML's chief sound engineer for 20 years). Anything more than "an ideal compromise between filter steepness and linearity" remains undisclosed. Would two disparate driver technologies blend truly seamlessly? Could the 'slower' heavier bass driver keep up with the faster lighter panel? Time to listen.


First a practical tip. Electrostats take some time to develop proper high-voltage tension for their diaphragms and to sound right. Thankfully Martin Logan's current design ramps up to full charge in about one minute where older examples of the breed could take a few hours to keep their foils permanently charged and thus double as supremely effective dust magnets. With the ElectroMotion panel, a special liquid treatment has sealed the tiny micro tears within the foil structure which are caused by mechanical assembly. This treatment makes for faster charging and has led to an automated power cycle system which only applies voltage when needed. Now we're really ready to roll.


Surprising given his nearly moth-eaten exterior, nearly all albums in which Pete Doherty participated are brilliantly recorded, mixed and produced. Take the eponymous record of the Libertines and the cut "Music when the lights go out". At stage left is an acoustic rhythm guitar, at stage right a finger-picking melody guitar. Then follow solo vocals, backup vocals, bass and drums. I instantly noted that the shrummy guitar didn't merely sound like a guitar but also was sized exactly like one. Such realistic scale beamed into the room was awesome.


In general the entire room seemed flooded in and by music but decidedly not in any diffuse manner but with rather nearly tactile focus. Even the secondary guitar, the voices and later drums all possessed that same exceptionally fleet-footed directness and presence. The soundstage feathered out noticeably more generously than I knew it from equivalently sized standard boxes. As long as I sat in the sweet spot, image focus in both the width and depth dimensions was exceptionally precise.


On Bill Callahan's "Rococo Zephyr" from Sometimes I wish I were an eagle I admired how decisively the ESL nailed the lead vocals to the middle and how three-dimensionally physical all those sound makers gifted with rich harmonics manifested. The ride cymbal's first appearance nearly spooked me like sighting a ghost. I ascribed this effect to unusually large sound transducers and their single-panel coherence.


From staging to tonality there was "She looks to me" from the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Stadium Arcadium. This mid-tempo number is both relaxed and energetic. Its infectious join-in refrain has the drummer's deliberately stoic-on-fourth ride cymbal hit the brakes.
That injects further poignancy and keenness over playing it hectic, groovy or funky. In the bass the ElectroMotion ESL was leaner but timing integration with the midband came off better than expected. The tightly in-the-pocket interplay of the RHCP didn't fall apart even though bass and 'rest' relied on two diametrically opposed operational principles.