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That said, I had to admit that other speakers develop more down-low body. Be it my workhorse Neat Momentum 4i or various older review acquaintances like the PSB Synchrony One or Swans M6F, all those developed more physical force by which bass moved through the room without getting vague. My personal assumption is that during R&D for the ElectroMotion ESL, bass integration that's accurate on time and control won out over ultimate bass power. In my opinion that was the right call to make too since anything else would have corrupted overall speed and immediacy.


Despite such qualifications I found the Martin Logan quite capable of rocking out. Something like "Neighborhood #2" from Arcade Fire's Funeral had proper ignition. The drummer kicks off with plenty of standing tom and low-tuned snare which are both captured with cubits of acoustic reverb. Add tambourine and pearly guitar flageolets for fireworks which are microdynamically and rhythmically loaded well before the song hits high gear and expands with accordeon, strings, orchestra bells and gnarly 'song'. These speakers properly tracked the grand build-up of the song's arc. Each additional instrument rose like a new star in the acoustic heavens—50 cents into the metaphor till—whilst the percussion set the edgy foundation. Yes bass could have had more shove to hit the gut harder but the most direct and on-the-money quality of the mid/high registers made this minor leanness more than acceptable. The ElectroMotion ESL really developed true live vibe in my crib.


Electronica did well too. The Pet Shop Boys' "Love etc. (Dub)" from Yes really had me at hello. This piece sports typically puckered disco beat, nearly illegally frontal-mixed melodic lines in sawtooth synth sounds which over the duration spiral downwards into the lowest octaves. Later there's the band's typical powder-sugar gloss and like phase manipulations the whole is peppered with every forbidden production trick in the good book. The extent of it all had me helplessly drift into the zone. Having silently snuck into the room, I only noted my daughter's address on her fourth attempt. I'd really and truly gone off! This was a prime example for how the ElectroMotion ESL can transport us into an acoustic universe we will feel quite reluctant to trade back for mundane reality.

These auditions all took place not in my usual seating plushy but on a 15cm taller listening stool because I was too lazy to fiddle with spike height. First it took quite a while of moving the speakers about before I found the right position where the stereo panorama locked in fully.


Then I realized that the more I departed the sweet spot toward its vertical low end, the more rear-of-stage illumination diminished. The more I got out of ideal focus toward the top of the sweet spot's vertical window, the more diffusive things became in general yet space opened up further into the rear.


Pleasant and quite an advantage over traditional classic box systems was how well the ESL 'watered' the entire room. The effect of a positively engulfing sonic embrace could be had from nearly any position, perhaps not entirely surprising with all sounds being dispersed front and back. I did expect that tonality would take noticeable hits wandering about the room outside the actual sweet spot but not so.


A few words on dynamics. Rose Kemp's "Morning Music" from A Handful of Hurricanes is a highly dynamic number which starts with clean e-guitar and vocals that shortly build into a quite convoluted climactic peak of distorted guitars, strings and bass before, bit by bit, everything deconstructs and fades again. It's a brilliantly good show for any speaker's tonal and dynamic expressiveness. Rose Kemp's pipes are heavily aged which many a review speaker has translated into a lightly frizzled grainy sharpness. The Martin Logan avoided this faux-pas. Whilst maintaining sufficient detail, the upper registers remained round and warm. Toward the end of the cut where strange guitar sounds (someone seemingly meant to bend the tremolo handle) waft through eerie echo chambers, the ESL played it terrifically ethereal and subtle.