Tower Speaker Reviews

Perfect Bass Forever
Usually, this would be the point where I would start a painstaking subwoofer-placement regimen, shifting it around and playing test tracks until I found a favorable spot that resulted in smoother bass. Instead, I unboxed the Perfect Bass Kit (PBK) that MartinLogan sent me.

The PBK consists of a calibrated mic and mic stand plus a pair of long USB cables that you connect to your computer and PBK-compatible MartinLogan subwoofer or speaker. After downloading a Windows application from the company’s support site, you place the mic in your main listening seat and click a button that triggers a sequence of sweep tones. After you take measurements at a few other spots in the room (up to 10 maximum), the data is compiled to create a frequency response curve. The PBK app then compares that with a target response and, lastly, generates EQ correction curves, which are uploaded to the subwoofer. Once done, my system’s bass was, if not Perfect, then significantly cleaner-sounding than before.

Clearing Out Clutter
When I listened to the stereo pair of the ESL X towers alone, a 96/24 HDtracks download of the Brad Mehldau Trio’s interpretation of Paul McCartney’s “My Valentine” was smooth, spacious, and well integrated from top to bottom. The cymbals and brushed snare came across as crisp but without extra sizzle, and the wide-open presentation extended well beyond the boundaries of the speakers. Details like the impact of mallets on the piano strings could be clearly heard, especially when the performance shifted midway into an extended piano solo.

I switched to a Tidal HiFi stream, Weyes Blood’s “Do You Need My Love,” and the ESL X towers revealed greater density in this track than I had experienced previously with other speakers. The reverb-touched voices and mellotron-like keyboards sounded pillowy and lush. Layers of instruments and background vocals were rendered individually, making busy sections like the keyboard solo in the fadeout sound clear rather than cluttered.

Sub-Mersion
I added the Dynamo 1500X subwoofer to the system and set the crossover in my Anthem AVM 50 preamp to 50 Hz—an adjustment I settled on after some listening trial and error. I played both tracks again so I could gauge the effect of the sub on the towers’ performance. With the Mehldau, I could better pinpoint the location of the bass during a solo, and the instrument sounded more full-bodied and resonant when it hit the lowest notes. On the Weyes Blood, the sub provided a solid bass foundation, one that let me push the volume loud without causing the sound to become more lean.

The most dramatic contribution that the 1500X made with music came when I played “Us and Them” from an SACD of Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon. The stereo towers alone had displayed excellent depth with this track, while lending clarity and focus to David Gilmour’s lead vocals. During the explosive choruses, however, the bass would become recessed, which caused the sound to come across as dynamically limited. Adding the subwoofer brought back the dynamics: The wailing vocals in the choruses displayed much-improved bloom, and the bass sounded solid as opposed to the recessed presentation I heard when listening sub-less. I could also play the track ridiculously loud without hearing congestion in the lower-midrange/upper-bass region.

Dodging Bullets
After transferring the speakers to my home theater, I positioned each of the ESL X towers being used as surrounds about 3 feet from the left and right corners of my couch, respectively, and ran the PBK setup routine again to EQ the subwoofer’s output for the new space. I then inserted a Blu-ray of Hell or High Water into my Oppo player and held on for the ride.

Watching the movie, I was quickly reminded of the benefits that electrostatic speakers bring to home theater. Ambient sounds like wind blowing through the trees in the rural Southwest landscape and the rolling of truck tires on a lonely road came across in vivid detail. Dialogue was well served by the ESL C center, which brought clarity to the muted mutterings of Sheriff Marcus (Jeff Bridges). It also delivered clear dialogue over a wide arc: I could shift over to the far side of my couch, and voices still sounded natural.

That said, the ESL C center wasn’t an exact timbral match with the ESL X towers when I listened to pink noise generated by my processor in setup mode. Sitting directly on axis, I noticed that high frequencies were more elevated through the ESL C, though the disparity lessened when I shifted over one or two seats. The same effect could be heard on dialogue, which sounded “hotter” when I sat directly front and center. Given the center’s use of the Folded Motion tweeter for its high frequencies, it’s not unreasonable to expect some discrepancy between the two speakers. However, this mismatch didn’t prove to be a problem when I watched movie scenes where sound effects pan wide from front right to front left. For instance, there’s a scene in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring where Arwen, carrying Frodo, flees on horseback from the Ringwraiths. Here, the pounding of hoofbeats and the howling of the wraiths had a consistent envelope as the group raced across the forest (or more specifically, across the three speakers adorning the front of my room).

Hell or High Water weaves music—mostly outlaw-type country, but also a menacing score by rocker Nick Cave—into many scenes, and the towers’ crisp rendering of it helped draw me into the tale of bank-robbing brothers on a mission to save the family ranch. The system also held up well during violent action sequences, such as one where the brothers are shot at by a security guard and gun-toting townsfolk (the story is set in Texas, after all). As the action exploded in the confined space of a bank lobby, the sound of fired shots had a powerful envelope. This was one scene where I literally felt the contribution of the Dynamo 1500X sub, which successfully conveyed the explosive, full-bodied report of the handguns. The system’s reproduction of bullets bouncing off the walls and ceiling also conveyed the authentic sense of being stuck in the middle of the mayhem.

Sound Off
For me, auditioning this ElectroMotion ESL X speaker system was like going home again. The affordable (by MartinLogan standards) electrostatic towers delivered the detailed, lifelike sound I know and love, and the solid foundation provided by the Dynamo 1500X subwoofer enabled them to reach dynamic heights I hadn’t previously experienced in my days as a MartinLogan-phile.

Adding greatly to this system’s appeal is the Perfect Bass Kit, which makes it easy to get sound with a well-integrated low end. For only $100 extra, it’s a no-brainer. And the ESL C—which, unlike earlier hybrid electrostatic center-channel speakers, is designed to fit into standard A/V consoles—is an exciting addition to the company’s portfolio. After living with this MartinLogan system for a few weeks, I’m now more wistful than ever.