Martin Logan SL3s

[bobsticks]

Well after all my blather about "context" and "perspective" I have once again leapt headfirst into another audio shenanigan. Short version: I was headed into my new,very local hifi shop to browse the cd/lp floor and I barely made it ten feet through the door before being floored by a mint set of SL3s. One borrowed truck, a new power-amp, one new receiver and one understanding boss later (it was his truck and he helped w/moving duties), these gorgeous musical sculptures stand in my living room.
Initial reaction? These sound different at home than in the showroom--much, much better. Further, talk about separating the wheat from the chaff. The MLs are relentlessly unforgiving of source material. Older cds sound "stunningly bad" compared to "just bad" on my KEFs. I have found some truth to the claims of musical finickiness as they are not particularly adept at heavy rock music, however, that comprises a miniscule amount of my listening and my trusty KEFs will be leading the proceedings on a second sysem to be constructed this weekend.Hi-rez music is astounding and acoustic,classical, female vocal,and ambient genres are hauntingly beautiful.
Anyway, I know there's much new to learn and experience with these speakers so I'll leave it at that...plus there's tunes to be spinnin'

Cheers to all

[Mr Peabody]

Congrads. A very fine speaker in my opinion. I didn't think they done too bad on Rock, it may depend on what you are using to push them. If you really want to hear some midrange magic, drive them with some tube gear.

[bobsticks]

Thanks, Mr. Peabody. The store to which I refer is mostly a stereo shop. While they do have a floor with HT accessories, they seem to mainly cater to 2-channel, and so, have quite a few tube amps with access to many more i'm sure. Any suggestions?
I'm currently driving them with a Rotel RMb-1066 that is bridged. I went with the six channel because I liked the idea of bridging to insure they got enough juice. Moreover, I have a ML center speak arriving mid next week. Ultimately, the goal is to replace the receiver with a pre-pro and pick up a couple more SL3s or even Clarities for multi-channel capabilities. Wouldn't be difficult to use the Rotel for the center and surrounds, and pick up a couple of mono-blocks for the mains...

[JoeE SP9]

:biggrin5::thumbsup:Welcome to the world of panels and especially ESL's. It would seem you are already on the upgrade track. ESL's will do that to you. Suddenly you are hearing things in recordings you didn't know were there. Bad recordings sound really bad. The good ones make you smile with pleasure. The question of amplifier type and power is a major one with speakers as revealing as yours. You will have to trust your own ears. Those who don't have or have never owned speakers as revealingly tranparent as your will say that as long as you have enough power that's it. NOT!
An interesting thing about panel or ESL owners is that once you have owned panels of any type going back to boxes just doesn't happen.:cool:

[topspeed]

Congrats!

Pics or ban!

[Mr Peabody]

If you are going HT you may want to stick with solid state. The panels do dip to 1 ohm and driving 5 channels will take some current. I have also found in my own HT set up that to my ears tubes and SS don't mix sonically. The tube gear I've heard is limited but I am a big Conrad Johnson fan. I prefer C-J over any amp I've heard to date. When considering a pre/pro take a look at the Arcam piece that runs around $2,500.00. It is an excellent bang for the bucks. In amps for HT, if you are happy with the Rotel I'd suggest going with them for additional channels just for synergy. If you decide to change, Arcam drives ML's very well. C-J has several solid state amps on Audiogon, the MF series are mosfet design and are said to sound very good. You could pick up one of their 250 x 2 to run the mains and use the Rotel on center and rear. C-J's 3 channel is hard to find.

When I was looking for speakers ML was a close 2nd choice. At the time I was using Krell and I opted for Dynaudio because I couldn't get used to the lack of the physical sense dynamic speakers give. It could have also been a closer race if I had a larger room or smaller TV and wall unit. And if I was using tubes at the time.... who knows.

[Florian]

Welcome to the world of Panels ;-)

[bobsticks]

Busy, busy week, gentlemen--this is the first elongated playtime I've had. Thanks for all the kind words and suggestions.
Joe--I agree on all your points. The revealing qualities these speaks exhibit dumbfounds me, and so, though I'm sure that I will play around with amps and source components I do believe I've found my mains for a long while. At the moment I am occupied with relearning my cd catalog, so much seeming fresh and new.
Mr. Peabody--Thanks for specific recs on amps and I can assure you CJ was already on the "must audition" list. This just cements it. Currntly everything is so new that I haven't had a chance to get hyper-critical...yet. So the Rotel is working fine and it provides a huge change from some of the pleasing- though -artificial warmth of the KEFs. As for juice, it produces sufficiently, though admittedly I don't need as much as some. In college I worked in a bar that featured live music five nights a week. In my late twenties I owned a bar that had the live stuff three or four nights a week. Rare is the day that I even enjoy jetplane-like dBs.
Flo--thanks you sir and I do welcome it. I'm sure we can agree to disagree on the MC thing (neither of will change) but I will certainly be grateful for this part of my audio journey.
Topspeed--"pics or ban"??? Alright, I promise to post pictures, but you gotta give me a minute to figure this technalamogical stuff out.Seriously, to say that my knowledge of computers was rudimentary would be an insult to people whos knowledge of computers was, well, rudimentary. I'm a rennaisance man--I still read books fer cripes sake!

Good listening to all

[Florian]

Flo--thanks you sir and I do welcome it. I'm sure we can agree to disagree on the MC thing (neither of will change) but I will certainly be grateful for this part of my audio journey.
Well, to be honest i just went in to say something. I had a MC system and it was cool for movies but i have absolutly zereo interest in it anymore. As for 2 channel, your journey has now began. Its a good start in the panel world and i can bet money that the more you experiment and listen you will come the way Joe and I went.

:-)

PS: You know all those things i say like "phase issues, time delay erros, cones beeing to slow etc.."...they are all true. But like you just found out, it takes resolution to understand. Believe me, someday you will look at power filters, different equipment platforms, different cables, room acoustics and DAC's ;-) and your gonna say that the arrogant german bastard was right.

ENJOY THE RIDE!!!!

[Mr Peabody]

That's a very cool period when you have made an upgrade in your system that makes your music collection sound new again.