We're longtime fans of
active fully powered loudspeakers primarily because they allow the manufacturer to get the best sonics by optimizing the speaker-amplifier integration and also they make cabling the system up a little nicer, too (interconnects are thinner and more flexible than speaker cables in our system). So
MartinLogan's move to putting a 150-Watt amp in its Feature LCR (
wall-mountable, too) speaker to power up the electrostatic membrane, dome tweeter and dual 5.25-inch woofers should be good for the target high-end audience -- great sound, a tidy install and we imagine at $1695 each, a nice margin for MartinLogan. You didn't think you were going to get into electrostats on the cheap, did you?
EDIT: MartinLogan is keeping us honest -- "active" would imply an adjustable crossover, which these speakers do not have; so "fully powered" it is!
posted Nov 3rd 2008 1:00PM
Very nice. The Matinee (the non-powered version of this) is a wonderful speaker - and this should be even better.
Amazing thing is - they are only charging a $300 premium for the built-in amplifier.
It's very strange to combine a dynamic tweeter with an ES full/mid driver. The electrostatic element is capable of full range and would do it in a smoother, more integrated and more efficient manner. The dispersion won't be as good, but that's the tradeoff you get with ES speakers.