Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #31964 in Speakers
- Color: Black
- Brand: MartinLogan
- Model: Motion 4
- Released on: 2010-03-15
- Dimensions: 12.60" h x
5.60" w x
5.25" l,
6.00 pounds
Features
- Folded Motion Tweeter "squeezes" air and requires almost 90% less excursion than the typical 1" dome tweeter
- Elegant yet understated styling with a flawless high-gloss, piano black finish, subtle curves
- Curved design means you can point sound directly toward the desired listening area for high or low wall mounting applications
- Convenient push-style speaker terminals and curved inserts help guide speaker wire effortlessly into place
- Folded Motion Cascading Bass Port allows a long tuned portto be compacted and squeezed into the Motion 4
MartinLogan Motion 4 Bookshelf Speaker (Piano Black, each)
Product Description
Inspired by MartinLogan's ultra-high-end electrostatic loudspeakers, the Motion Series was created to provide stunning sound for your ultimate-performance home theater or stereo. MartinLogan's dedicated in-house engineers carefully crafted the Motion Series to create an extremely affordable and compact product line that seamlessly blends our exquisite Folded Motion transducers with powerful, compact bass technology. The result is a smooth, refined sound with stunning dynamic range and jaw-dropping clarity. Complementing Motion's sonic accuracy is elegant yet understated styling. Flawless high-gloss, piano black finishes and subtle curves, along with our signature perforated grille, give Motion Series speakers an elegant and timeless look. Tower models feature a real-wood veneer finish and a stylish aesthetic certain to blend with any decor. The curves also serve a purpose; they allow Motion compact bookshelves to mount at two different angles with the included wall bracket. This means you can point sound directly toward the desired listening area for high or low wall mounting applications. Beauty and brains! MartinLogan engineers were faced with a daunting task—create a compact speaker with low-end bass reproduction found in speakers much, much larger. After many sleepless night and a myriad of prototypes, they created the Folded Motion Cascading Bass Port. This brilliant solution allows a long tuned port, which is folded over itself (think of a trombone's tuning arm) to be compacted and squeezed into the Motion 4. The result is amazingly detailed low bass that can play at high volumes with minimum distortion—all thanks to the elegantly simple cascading fold that slows down and controls the air motion of the bass waves. Convenient push-style speaker terminals and curved inserts help guide speaker wire effortlessly into place. The rubber end caps on the terminal are also removable for the use of banana plugs instead of bare wire.
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful.
By JB
The MartinLogan Motion 4 bookshelf speaker has been a pleasant surprise for me. I think it is a very good value and an excellent way to upgrade a home theater system.Note that during listening sessions I compared the MartinLogan 4's with my current Yamaha HTIB system (similar to the Yamaha NS-SP1600 5.1-Channel Surround Speaker System (Black)). I also compared them in a retail store with similarly priced Definitive Technology ProMonitor 1000 Bookshelf Speaker. When applicable I will note comparisons to these other products.Features - The ML Motion 4 includes a unique Folded Motion Tweeter, which is a similar to the Heil tweeters used in the highly regarded ESS speakers of the 70's - 90's. These are paired with a 4" paper woofer and a rear bass port. The Motion 4 has a frequency response of 70 - 20 KHz +/- 3 dB and can handle up to 150 watts. The box also includes a wall mount mechanism.Sound - In listening to the Motion 4s I was immediately impressed by the clarity of the sound. Compared to my previous Yamaha HTIB speakers I immediately heard a clarity in the midrange and treble that blew me away. To me the Motion 4 is a "forward" sounding speaker, and sometimes that might not be my preference, but in this case the overall sound is still natural and balanced, and the forward sound and clarity make these outstanding home theater speakers. (Note that more extended listening may soften the sound a bit as the speakers continue to break in.)After switching between the Motion 4 and the Definitive 1000s during a store demo, they were both excellent choices, and I expect I'd be happy with either. But in the end the Definitive 1000s sounded just a tiny bit recessed or nasal compared to the Motion 4, and I found myself drawn to the overall tonal balance and clarity of the MLs.One note on the Motion 4s or any small bookshelf / satellite speakers - to get a full range of sound for home theater or music a subwoofer is essential. The Motion 4 only gets down to 70 Hz, and attempting to turn up the bass controls to artificially pump up the low frequencies will just ruin the sound of these. If buying these for standalone use just accept the fact that you will not get as much bass as you with a set of full sized speakers with 8" or larger woofers.Build - Very good. I'm used to wood or MDF enclosures on speakers, so the plastic used in the Motion 4s was a bit off-putting at first. But these speakers are very solid, weighing in at six pounds each, and unless the speakers are subject to very rough handling or drops I would not be concerned about their durability. The speakers come with recessed binding posts; I'm not thrilled with these, as they look very nice but make it a bit tricky to hook up speaker wire as the binding posts are hidden behind large push buttons. The overall curved shape of the Motion 4 is appealing, and while not tiny these are still small enough to be unobtrusive if needed.Conclusion - great home theater speakers, esp. when paired with a highly quality subwoofer.Edit November 2012 - I've now owned these for about two years, and I'm still as happy with them as when I wrote my original review. They are admittedly a bit bright, but I've always admired their sound and still do.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful.
By Chuck Darwin
I hoped to use Motion 4s in place of Emotiva Pro Airmotiv4s that sound terrific, but are not aesthetically compatible with my living room. I eventually returned the Motions 4s. The speakers sounded very good, but I agree with reviewers who feel that the speakers fall short of their potential.Pros: The Motion 4s provide the air and detail that can be expected of speakers that use air motion transformers or ribbon tweeters. Compared with most conventional speakers, you hear more of the attack and decay of instruments and many more of the sounds from the recording space. I didn't find the speakers to be bright or forward. The speakers seem accurate at higher frequencies, they are very clear with dialog, and they have reasonable bass extension for their price and size.Cons: The Motion 4s exhibit some but not all of the virtues that I associate with ATM speakers. Specifically, in the upper midrange, the Motion 4s sound uncharacteristically hard and thin. Especially at louder volumes, vocals and brass have an unpleasant edge. In the lower midrange, the speakers sounded less musical than the Airmotivs and did less to convey the pace and excitement in a recording. The addition of a subwoofer improved the situation, but the Motion 4s still lacked body and transparency from the upper bass through midrange--and sounded less involving.I heard the same weaknesses when I compared the Motion 4s with my B&W Nautilus 805 speakers. The B&Ws are several times the price of the Motion 4s, but the Airmotivs are $100 less expensive. They are active, bi-amplified speakers, but they use a similar or perhaps identical Heil tweeter as the Motion 4s. There was not, however, much similarity in the sound of the Airmotiv4 and Motion 4s. The problems I found with the Motion 4s might lie in the integration of the tweeter with the bass driver.A few notes: 1. I did not like the binding posts. It was difficult to thread #12 bare wire through the terminals. Each post seemed to have a different liking or disliking of a given banana plug. Inserting the plugs sometimes required so much force that I was concerned about breaking the terminals. Once inserted, many of the plugs were held very loosely. 2. I respect Martin Logan tremendously and think they are a very honest company. They make an obvious effort to innovate and bring advanced designs to popularly priced speakers without dumbing down their technology. It did not surprise me that Motion 4s are made in China and it did not surprise me that their overall build quality is very high. But I wonder if some people are mislead by the tagline on the speaker box--"Martin Logan...The Great American Speaker Company." 3. The sound of the Motion 4s will vary considerably with different electronics. The speakers were vastly better with my Adcom amplifier than with my old but steady NAD receiver--despite the similar power ratings of the units. 4. If you are undecided between the Motion 2 and Motion 4s, I strongly recommend the latter. The Motion 4 is only slightly larger and it is not significantly more expensive. For most listening environments, the Motion 2 requires a subwoofer to sound competent. But while the Motion 4 is best paired with a subwoofer, it is very credible on its own. In the event you do add a subwoofer, the extra midbass extension of the 4 will give you more flexibility and better integration.
18 of 25 people found the following review helpful.
By Kristi G., mom of Sage
I was very pleased with the packing from the company - the speakers come in a very secure box with lots of padding and a dustcover to prevent cosmetic damage. Out of the box, I was so impressed with the build of these speakers - you can feel the quality and craftsmanship. They are heavy, well designed, well balanced (even with the curving design) and overall, obviously well made.They don't come with speaker wire, so you might want make sure you have some on hand. This is standard, but I thought I'd mention it. The wire is very easy to install on the back once you figure it out. There's a plus and minus type PLUG, and I thought you took it off and put the wire in there, but you don't, you leave that alone, and simply press the top, and the wire goes underneath. That might save you a bit of fiddling.You have to burn these speakers in - you don't crank them right out of the box. I just put them in a spare room with the radio on for a couple of days because I was anxious to turn up the volume.They sound great! Compared to my Sony speakers, which are great for their price range, - WOW. The highs are so incredibly clear and true to life and my overall listening impression is 'precise.' Increasing the volume has no effect on the precision, these speakers stay very true to life. These speakers are awesome.
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