MartinLogan

MartinLogan really made a splash at High End 2008. As of late the company has produced and marketed what appear to be more décor-conscious, compact loudspeakers instead of all-out assaults on the state of the art, but that appears to be changing. The introduction of the newest full-range electrostatic loudspeaker, and replacement for the much-vaunted CLS, has arrived. The CLX speakers start at $20,000 USD per pair and are available in a number of colors (seen here in deep red). Even though this is a "serious" loudspeaker, we quite like the way it looks.

The way it sounds, though, is what matters. Driven by McIntosh MC501 mono amps and a C500 preamplifier, and fed from an EMM Labs CDSA CD/SACD player, the CLXes were thrilling to listen to. The soundfield was huge and open, and instrumental lines were transparent and as quick as lightning. These large speakers cast the biggest soundstage of any system we heard at the show. Furthermore, they played plenty loud, something that the CLS really couldn't do. In fact, the CLXes did all of the audiophile things you’d want them to do, but they were also just plain fun. We have a feeling that MartinLogan is going to be back-ordered for a long while with these babies.