Posted by Al Sekela on August 03, 2003 at 10:56:17:
In Reply to: SoundLab vs. Martin Logan posted by Yuan on August 02, 2003 at 17:19:13:
I've heard good sound from Sound Labs, but not from Martin Logans.
Generalizations are difficult if one has not spent a lot of quality time with well-tweaked setups of a particular speaker, but I've heard enough of the well-known disconnect between cone bass and electrostat mid/tweeter of the Martin Logans to place them low on my list of acceptable speakers. For the record, I have Magnepan MG-20s, and do not have enough room to support Sound Labs for full-range operation.
If the bass isn't right, then nothing else the speaker does matters much: it will always have an artificial, "hi-fi," quality. In my experience, the only speakers I've heard with good bass have been my MG-20s, Sound Labs, and Acarian Alon Lotus Elite Signatures (driven by deHavilland Aries 845 SET amps and connected with Joe Cohen's Cosmos speaker cables; the Alon setup with ASL Hurricane amps at the last CES show was terrible). I would look into the Alon if you lack the space to set up Sound Labs properly (at least five feet behind them, and be prepared to tweak the room). This is a performance, not just a visual, issue.