Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
28 of 29 people found the following review helpful.
Excellent Reproduction for Stereo listening! (and Home Theater as part of a larger system)
By Marty Gillis
These speakers are GREAT! Please read on to discover just WHY I think so......First, some background and setup info that might come in handy.....The Martin Logan Motion 12 Floor-standing Speaker belongs to a family of products comprising Martin Logan's "Motion" line and is at the top tier of the Motion series. A pair of these speakers can be used for stereo listening or matched with other members of the Motion line to assemble a full 5.1 home theater system or even more elaborate configurations. All of the Motion line are 'Voice Matched' to provide a seamless tonal and spacial transition between speakers during 5.1 playback.The speakers come very well packed and fully protected for shipping and include the miniETC floor spikes and detachable magnetic grills, upper and lower for each speaker, manual and warranty card. I was VERY impressed with the packing method used and they emerged from their boxes in absolute pristine condition, wrapped in their own cloth slip cover. Attaching the grills is literally a snap and foolproof.The speakers themselves are nicely made and exude an air of quality as you might well expect from something of this price. They are heavy enough at 36 pounds not to tip over accidentally and stylish enough to fit into almost any home decor. The black ash wood veneer is real, not plastic. The speaker connections are handled by a push/pull spring loaded terminal but a small removable plastic cover reveals accommodation for a banana plug connection. Finding a place to safely lift the speakers without damaging the grills or speakers themselves is a bit tricky. I found that putting my hand in the rear port and tipping them into my other hand on the front of the top grill seemed safe and easiest since there are no handles or edges that easily lend themselves to moving these things.Standing almost 43 inches high with a depth of 14 inches, these speakers are substantial. Thought must be given to their proper placement. They are rear ported and therefore should not be placed directly against a wall. As every room is different, experimenting with a number of positions could be beneficial. The included manual will give you some ideas on this.The Motion 12's feature Martin Logan's proprietary 'Folded Motion Tweeter' , a dipole style 5.25 inch Mid Range driver that sends out sound both front and back and dual 6.5 inch woofers in a rear ported tuned enclosure.It also should be said that these speakers (and most others) will benefit greatly from some 'burn in' time. Perhaps 72 hours or so at a volume of 90db using a variety of program material should loosen up the stiffness of the materials and allow the drivers to breathe a bit more effortlessly, thus focusing the sound, increasing the bass response and smoothing over any rough edges that may stick out when first powered up. I would not recommend any critical listening with these speakers until after at least 3 or 4 days of continuous 'burn in' . At that point they will sound wonderful and actually get better over time before reaching their audio peak. Straight from the box they are most impressive but will become so much more so after the burn in. Just something to consider before judging the Motion 12's. The speakers are rated at 150 Watts RMS and have a very respectable 92db sensitivity rating.Finally, bear in mind that while the Motion 12's are advertised as "8 ohm compatible" the true impedance of these speakers is 4 ohms and as such they will greatly benefit from an amplifier that includes 4 ohms in their power rating specs. While it is true you can use a run of the mill AV receiver to power the Motion 12's, any prolonged use at high volume could put a strain on your amp and could cause overheating. Also, an amp rated for 4 ohm operation will provide much more musical headroom and will give these speakers a chance to truly shine and deliver the goods. I purchased a Harmon Kardon HK 3490 Stereo amp/receiver strictly for use with these speakers and that modest investment has paid off well in allowing the Motion 12's to sound their very best while providing them with 150 watts to both channels driven at 4 ohms. I initially tried the Motion 12's with my mid level Denon AVR and the difference between the two amps for use with these speakers is truly night and day.I currently use a very nice mid priced 5.1 speaker system with sub that I am quite happy with, but always felt that home theater was that brand of speakers forte and that they were severely lacking for 2 channel music reproduction. I was very excited to burn in the Motion 12's, then get down to some serious testing and listening and see how much improvement I would notice between the Martin Logan's and my current 5.1 setup when playing strictly stereo program material. I used a Marantz CD player with good converters for CD playback and my Oppo BDP-83 for SACD and DVD-A playback.ON to the testing....The first difference I noticed between my old speakers and the Martin Logan's was the immense sound stage. I truly felt enveloped by the sound and after 'toeing in' the speakers I found the sweet spot and was really very aware of the superior stereo imaging the 12's provided. Wanting the most from these speakers I actually measured the distance between myself sitting in my preferred listening position and the speakers, sitting the same distance away from the speakers as they were from each other and forming a perfect triangle. This allowed the stereo image to magically appear. The Motion 12's stereo imaging is really a wonderful thing to listen to and enjoy. I was impressed!The next thing I noticed were the immaculate tightly focused highs, almost crystalline in nature. My other setup relies on a horn type of technology and I had always found that a bit too harsh for music. Not so with the Martin Logan ' Folded Motion Tweeter' . This type of high frequency reproduction really shines and to my ears sounds quite natural. I had been using my Sennheiser 650 HD headphones for critical listening but always disliked the much storied 'sonic veil' that seemed to slightly diminish it's high end. With the Martin Logan Motion 12's that is never a problem. The decidedly non technical term of 'Clear as a Bell' comes to mind. Truly a musical tweeter and very unique to anything I have owned before.On to the all important mid range.. In a word , BEAUTFUL! Going back again to my Sennheiser phones, I had always wished I could get as lush of a mid range from a speaker as I have got from both my 600's and 650's. That is no longer the case as the Motion 12's deliver this lushness in spades. Again, resorting to non tech terms, it is LUSH, rich and creamy and just dripping with mid ranged goodness. This is absolutely apparent when listening to music that features vocals. For my personal ultimate mid range acid test I used the Beatles Stereo remasters of both 'Revolver' and 'Magical Mystery Tour'. These are two albums I know inside and out and know exactly what they SHOULD sound like, having played them on numerous systems since they were released in the 60's. The vocals are EXACTLY where they should be, along with the electric guitars. My other reference recording to test mids is an obscure Toto album called Mindfields. In my humble opinion , it is one of the best engineered and mixed rock albums in my collection. It is also a record that I am on intimate terms with so I know what I expect to hear from it. Again, the Martin Logan Motion 12's totally satisfied my craving for Lush Mid Range satisfaction. At this point I would be totally impressed even without any bass response which is what I focused on next.With two 6.5 woofers you are pushing a LOT of air. The depth of the cabinets increase towards the bottom of the enclosures and create a very nice space for the bass to emanate from. Also factor in the rear port and you get much more low end out of this speaker than you would have thought. Now days it seems many people are not satisfied listening to music without a ton of over exaggerated heavy bass. However, for MY musical listening needs, which consist mainly of older Classic rock and Pop rock heavy on vocals, Classical , and Jazz, these speakers are more than adequate for what I need in regard to bass response. The bass is tightly defined and the crossover is pretty much seamless, never stepping on any one part of the audio spectrum. The bass response is fast and with proper room placement you should get similar results. Make sure to try these speakers without using your 'loudness' control or artificially boosting the lows which may result in a smearing of the sound and low end in general.Because these speakers were designed as part of a total SYSTEM I wondered what would happen if I connected my Klipsch front firing 12 inch powered sub woofer along with the Martin Logan's. Well, you certainly could FEEL it a lot more and yes the extension certainly went lower. And for movie/TV soundtracks it is probably preferable, but for plain old school 2 channel stereo listening to MY types of music, the Motion 12's all by themselves more than hold their own. I really do think a sub is optional and not mandatory! I am also quite sure many folks might disagree with that statement, but to each their own. I know precisely how I want my music to sound and Martin Logan Motion 12's deliver the goods without adding any artificial sounding subsonics to my classic rock recordings.I am sure that an entire speaker system comprised of Martin Logan components would be simply amazing! I inserted them into my 5.1 system to see what difference they made and it was apparent I could easily replace my current speakers with Martin Logan's and it would be a noticeable upgrade. I am sold on the Motion 12's and plan to wear out my CD player and new Amp going thru my music collection again. The Martin Logan Motion 12's give you true value for money by providing performance rivaling more expensive speakers while providing a stellar signature sound all their own.Paired with additional Martin Logan speaker components you would have a surround system that will blow you away and make your friends green with envy!And in conclusion... To my ears, the Motion 12's are great speakers and I am really happy with them. They shine on many levels and I am sure to enjoy them for many years to come. I will keep my 5.1 system for film and TV sound, but the Motion 12's are now my 'go to' system for music and I am one very happy music fan as a result. Happy Listening!PRODUCT UPDATE 3-20-2011 After using these speakers for the last 5 months I can honestly say they have opened up in a VERY musical way, sounding better each week and now just reaching what I think may be their peak. Once broken in, these Motion 12's just SING... I thought they were great when I first tried them and the sonic improvements since last year have been nothing short of amazing. I find myself listening to music much more now and enjoying it MUCH more.....UPDATE 5-1-12 After owning Motion 12's for almost 2 years I purchased another pair which I run together in series as 2 giant "Motion 24's" giving me a nominal 8 ohm load for my Harmon Kardon high current amp. ! While a series connection is not recommended for lesser brands or mismatched pairs these Martin Logan's sound fantastic with all drivers firing in perfect sync.*** SEE PRODUCT IMAGES to have a look !FINAL UPDATE 2-13-2013 Using my Martin Logan's for almost 3 years now and they are still performing perfectly. For the current asking price they are a STEAL of a DEAL!
22 of 24 people found the following review helpful.
Spectacular speakers for the price
By D. Means
The first impression of these speakers came as I unpacked them. The packaging is excellent as it should be to provide the proper protection. So, no surprise, they were delivered in perfect condition. These speakers are beautiful to look at and come with very classy baffles that connect magnetically to hid the speaker cones. Connecting them was very easy since they come with high quality connections that make it easy to make solidly connect with a variety of different kinds of wire connectors.These speakers really deliver whether you are listening to Rock and Roll or classical music. My listing choices ranged from ELP's first album to Debussy's La Mer. Both kinds of music, even though wildly different, sounded great. You get the necessary powerful crunch needed to appreciate rock music, and when listening to classical music they very nicely reproduce subtle musical nuances required to fully appreciate the piece. They work very well for watching television or movies. My wife and I found the clarity to be excellent and made understanding vocals, and thus following conversations, easy.I tested these speakers 3 different ways.First, I tested them alone as a stereo pair. They seemed to disappear and the sound seems to come from the back wall. This is a great illusion that is a mark of high quality speakers! If you get out of the center sweet spot, the illusion dissipates somewhat but they still sound very good nevertheless. They were lacking a bit in the very lowest bass. For that reason, I would recommend coupling them with a nice sub-woofer for reproduction of frequencies below 60hz. This would probably only be noticeable with certain kinds of music played at fairly high volume levels.Next, I tested them using a sub-woofer. This really helped get that powerful feeling that comes when these lower frequencies come into play. My subwoofer allows setting the frequency where it takes over and so I chose the 60hz. This worked great and I found that it was basically transparent as far as telling where the sound was coming from - which is a very good thing!Finally, I tested them along with a center speaker and rear surrounds. All of my speakers were from the same manufacturer and were also of very high quality. When you get all of your speakers from the same vendor in the same speaker family, the good ones are matched with regard to the tone; or overall sound. As a result, properly setup, they can sound almost like a single large speaker that envelopes you. Replacing the two front speakers with these lost that illusion some, but in my opinion, still managed to improve the overall sound quality! The sound seems more accurate, crisp, and powerful! I love it!That said, from this point on, since the main way I listen to my audio/video system is via a 5.1 surround setup, my remaining comments will be based on that listening experience. It is very important to understand that the sound that is eventually delivered to your ears is not totally dependent on the speakers themselves. Equally important is the placement of the speakers and the acoustics of the room in which you are doing your listening. Working within the confines and shape of my living room, I placed the speakers 10 inches from the back wall and 7.5 feet apart from each other. My flooring is wood laminate so I didn't use the MiniETC spikes (which are a very nice touch if you are installing on carpet) that were included; instead I chose to use the pre-installed rubber feet. I have absolutely no doubt that these speakers could sound even better of I had different room size and acoustics to work with.For my listening tests I chose some of my favorite pieces of music and those that I consider to be of the highest quality. Using high a high quality source is extremely important for testing speaker quality. The reason is that if you are testing $5000 speakers using an mp3 recorded at a bit rate of 128kbs, you may as well be listening to a pair of $500 speakers, The more expensive may sound slightly better, but the source itself would limit what the speakers are capable of producing. So, for starters, I have long considered "Emerson, Lake, & Palmer's" first album to be a great way to test any kind of audio gear; partly because of my familiarity with it, and because it is sonically spectacular. I found the experience to be spectacular. In my younger days, I owned Bose 901's, and have always considered them to be the best stereo speakers I have ever heard. These sounded as good and in my humble opinion, that is really saying a lot! Listening is a joy! In all fairness however, the Bose were all by themselves as a speaker pair and I'm listening to these as part of a 5.1 surround system. I can tell you that the sound is definitely an improvement over my previous main speakers. I really wanted to blast these up to ear-shattering levels, but alas, I share walls with 2 neighbors... For a short time however, I did approach that volume and it sounded sweeeeet!Next up, I chose to listen to an SACD by "Porcupine Tree" titled "In Absentia". This sounded fantastic using my previous speakers. So good in fact that I found it hard to believe it could sound any better but - wow - the Martin Logan's sound even better - amazing.! The power and clarity is almost overwhelming. By the way, I can't recommend this album any more highly. It is one of my favorites in my entire collection.For one of my classical music listening tests, I chose a piece by Debussy called "La Mer" that was recorded in DTS Surround. Again, I found these speakers to be quite excellent! I could easily hear all kinds of subtleties and make out the individual instruments. Shutting my eyes, I could easily imagine being seated at a live performance. It doesn't get much better than that. Other pieces I listened to were very convincing at reproducing the nuances of the violin and piano.Not forgetting that an important part of today's home theater system is watching movies and television, I also checked out a few movies and again found that these speakers really deliver. For example, I put in a DVD of "The War of the Worlds" starring Tom Cruise. I jumped to the part where the lightning strikes start happening (close to the beginning of the movie) and was wowed by the awesome power and clarity. Continuing to watch the next 10 minutes of the movie it just sounded great. In fact, everything I've listened to on these sound great. They can definitely deliver crunch and power but still allow voices to be easily heard and understood.My wife was skeptical about their size but she too has decided she loves these speakers. In most ways she was perfectly happy with our previous setup but what really impressed her the most was how much easier it is to understand dialogs when watching a movie. While she agrees that listening to music sounds even better, that's what really makes her the most happy.I have listened to other, lesser quality, speakers in the past and find that after an hour or two, I experience what has been called listening fatigue. I think this is because your brain has to work harder to process less than perfect sound. That is clearly not the case with these. I was still immensely enjoying these even after having them on for several hours.Overall, the words that come to mind to describe the sound these speakers produce are: powerful, controlled, accurate, crisp, tight, solid... For the money, one would be hard pressed to find speakers as good as these. These speakers are well worth considering for anyone who really cares about getting the best sound in the under $3000 price range.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful.
Good speakers, though you should audition others
By Stephen M. Lerch
As part of the Amazon Vine program, I actually received the MartinLogan Motion 8 Center Channel Speaker (Piano Black, each) and was in the market at the time for new set of speakers for my home theater. The "free" Motion 8 actually provided the impetus for shopping around. Initially I was set on purchasing the Motion 12s to complement this center, but in the end my final decision went to a competitor and I'll explain why.First, the Motion 12 is, without question, an outstanding speaker for the price, which is why I've given it 5 stars despite ultimately choosing a product from a competitor (B&W).I personally auditioned these speakers on 4 different occasions, in 3 different locations. Your local big box retailer, the place with the yellow price tag with black lettering for a store sign, sells Martin Logan speakers in their Magnolia section. It was there that I first auditioned the Motion 12s. In fact, I auditioned the Motion 12s in 2 different stores of this chain, followed by auditioning in a local hi-fi shop twice. My audition ran the gamut of material I planned on using on my home theater. I used Moody Blues on CD and SACD to compare the fronts of several vendors, along with some Anthrax (Belladonna and Bush for good measure), some classical via some Mozart CDs I own, followed by several movies on Blu Ray, such as The Matrix (the elevator sequence has great separation) and Saving Private Ryan's opening Normandy sequence. Each time I went from the Martin Logan Motion 10s to the 12s, followed by what I ultimately chose (B&W 683s), then back to the 12s, then the 10s. Each time the difference between the speakers was apparent.What I originally owned were kit home theater in a box satellite speakers. Anything would be an upgrade. Going from those, to the Motion 10s it was like pulling 2 heavy wool blankets from the satellites I owned. Going from the Motion 10 to the 12s was a similar experience, though not as profound; maybe pulling a fleece throw off the Motion 10s to give the Motion 12s tremendous sound. Then I compared the Motion 12 to the Bowers and Wilkins (also known as B&W amongst audiophiles) 683s. The Motion 12 to the B&W 683s was an even further step into clarity. I'd say it was like pulling two bed sheets from the Motion 12 to the B&W 683s. The clarity was tremendous among each speaker, but ultimately the seeming needle sharpness of the 683 drove me to purchase the B&W 683s over the Motion 12s. Even though the Motion 8 I received was sonically matched to the Motion 10s and 12s, I couldn't leave that extra level of clarity on the showroom floor and went home happy, though saddened that I'd now also have to begin saving money for a different, sonically matched, center speaker for the 683s. And pairing the Motion 8 to the 683s is proving difficult given the boosted performance from the 683s compared the Motion 12s it should be mated with.For those of you who have the WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor) to deal with, both the Motion 12s and the B&W 683s passed the FAF (Fiance Acceptance Factor). In fact, my fiance was there during one of the auditions and after stating unequivocally that she would never hear a difference between speakers, she did, in fact, hear the same results I did. We started with unpowered Martin Logan electrostatic speakers. The sound was amazing, but the laser focused, pin point accuracy required for said speakers shot those down instantly. Between the Motion 10 and 12, her reaction was the same as mine; like a layer was removed from in front of the speaker when moving to the Motion 10 to 12. Moving from the Motion 12 to the 683, her eyes lit up and I could see it was an epiphany. At the price she wouldn't allow me to purchase the Motion 12s at all and insisted on the 683s. It's always nice to have the WAF/FAF covered and can never be denied or ignored! Take your significant other with you when shopping, definitely, even if it means making return trips on your own to really put the speakers through their paces.Sonically, the Motion 12s are fantastic. They hit the high highs and go fairly low. Frequency response, according to the manual and stated specs, is 40 Hz to 25,000Hz which is quite good. It will hit a lot of the bass you're looking for, but for best bass response you will definitely want to look for a subwoofer that will cover the range below 40 Hz.These speakers, as with most Martin Logans, are power hungry. They are rated for 4 Ohms of power, so make sure your A/V receiver can handle the ultimate draw these things pull. According to correspondence via email with Martin Logan, they are supposed to be efficient enough to work with 8 Ohms output as well and all the testing I heard was using the receiver I own (Denon 3311) and even at higher volumes the receiver didn't seem to struggle nor did the speakers seem to lack power. I'm just putting this in the review as a precaution for potential buyers with older AV receivers. Almost any other manufacturer you look into will state 8 Ohms is the desired input.Ultimately I chose the Bowers and Wilkins 683s for my front left and right channels because of an added clarity to the speaker and the price was exactly in line with Martin Logan's MSRP of $750 per speaker for the Motion 12s. Had the price of the Motion 12s been $600 (as is currently the case on Amazon due to a sale), I may have made a different decision and used the extra $300 towards the rear channels I purchased. Though thinking back on it and the audible apparent difference, I believe I ultimately would have made the same decision and ended up with the 683s. If you like the Motion 12s sound, don't hesitate to purchase these.When deciding on what speakers to purchase, there are some steps you should take first.1) Decide on your budget.2) Once you know your budget per speaker, look at multiple vendors' offerings (decide on floor standing or bookshelf; PLEASE do not buy cube speakers or speakers from that well known and advertised vendor without comparison shopping, despite the high WAF of said vendor). Look at the specifications on paper and decide not based on brand name, but on how closely the specs match, on what to focus your potential purchase on.3) Find somewhere that stocks your main choice, and hopefully other choices and AUDITION THE SPEAKERS IN PERSON. This step CANNOT be overlooked. Do NOT purchase on a whim from Amazon. Audition several speakers side by side with exactly the same material, hopefully a broad spectrum of what you plan on using on the speakers. If you like what you hear and Amazon has a better price, THEN buy from Amazon, but please don't deaf buy (kind of like a blind buy, but since it's a speaker, it's deaf) any speakers, ever. You may be happy but you'll likely have a nagging in your head that you may not have made the best sonic decision you could at the price you wanted to pay.4) Find another location that offers the same speakers and audition there as well.5) Purchase somewhere that you can return them without much hassle. Even if you love them in the store, depending on the acoustics of your room, you may find they aren't the speakers for you, in which case it is imperative you be allowed to return them for a full refund.6) Ensure you properly configure your listening room/area and speaker configuration. Many times speaker "problems" are really just the location of the speakers.7) Enjoy your final purchase for many, many years to come
See all 23 customer reviews...
Miserable Doesn't Describe It
The wireless signal is incredibly weak
