Martin Logan Motion 15 Bookshelfs and in-ceiling surrounds

[Dan Silverstein]

Currently I have a 5.1 setup with two Martin Logain 15 bookshelf, a Motion 8 center, a ML Dynamo 500 sub and two Home Theater Direct bookshelf speakers for the side channels. I have the Marantz 5008 receiver.

I'm looking to upgrade the system and going to a 7.1 system. I'm thinking about adding 4 Martin Logan Electo-R 8" in-ceiling speakers to replace the HTD side-channels and to add two rear surround channels.

I'd also like to upgrade the Martin Logan Center Channel to either a ML 30 or ML 50XT.

The system is an an open floor plan living room with a kitchen behind it and a hallway to the side. I know the Dynamo 500 is under powered for the size of the room, but the wife already doesn't like subwoofers or bass. Still I think a 700 would be better and may add as a second sub in the future (not right away though).

Questions:
1. If I install the 8" ML Electro-R's will that blend well with my Motion 15s? The Motion 15's only have 5.25 drivers, so would that be out of balance or sound off to have 8" woofers in the side and rear surrounds and 5.25s" in the front? Should I use the Electromotion In-Ceiling 6.5s"

(note: sometimes I realy wish I had the ML 35XL's on the side to get the 6.5 drivers,but they weren't out when I bought the system and my wife really liked the small size of the bookshelves)

2. For my setup, would I get better mileage out of putting the new in ceiling's in the rears or adding front-height speakers? Similar to question #1, where would I get the best results if I do go with a larger 8" driver?

3. I've even thought of buying 5 new Electro-Rs and installing a switch so I could toggle between the 7.1 with front-heights and front-rears; but that's probably overkill and the wife will say no

Overall I love the ML speakers. crisp and detailed high's, great vocals. Sometimes I wish I'd get better low and mid bass; although I think part of that is just with my center channel vocals, redenering with even smaller 4" drivers. Hoping a new larger center will help this.

If anyone has any other great ideas outside of this let me know!
thanks

 

[Dan Silverstein]

Anyone have any advise on this one?

<bump>

 

[Dan Silverstein]

nobody can offer any recommendation here?
Maybe my question was too complicated.

Should I use 8" in-ceiling Martin Logans or 6.5s" if the rest of the system is the motion series?

 

[Audio A]

I'm sorry, I feel your pain. If you want to find out more in depth help and a wider variety of forums and HELP GO TO THE AVS.com FORUMS BC NOBODY HERE HELPS!! Unless, it's a hot topic that has been buzzing online. My best advice to you is, is to make sure your models have the same timbre match etc... For that I'd go straight to Martin Logins site. Wish I could be of better assistance. I'm sitting around waiting on some advice too.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

nobody can offer any recommendation here?
Maybe my question was too complicated.

Should I use 8" in-ceiling Martin Logans or 6.5s" if the rest of the system is the motion series?

Personally I would use all 8" drivers.

 

[TheWarrior]

Currently I have a 5.1 setup with two Martin Logain 15 bookshelf, a Motion 8 center, a ML Dynamo 500 sub and two Home Theater Direct bookshelf speakers for the side channels. I have the Marantz 5008 receiver.

I'm looking to upgrade the system and going to a 7.1 system. I'm thinking about adding 4 Martin Logan Electo-R 8" in-ceiling speakers to replace the HTD side-channels and to add two rear surround channels.

I'd also like to upgrade the Martin Logan Center Channel to either a ML 30 or ML 50XT.

The system is an an open floor plan living room with a kitchen behind it and a hallway to the side. I know the Dynamo 500 is under powered for the size of the room, but the wife already doesn't like subwoofers or bass. Still I think a 700 would be better and may add as a second sub in the future (not right away though).

Questions:
1. If I install the 8" ML Electro-R's will that blend well with my Motion 15s? The Motion 15's only have 5.25 drivers, so would that be out of balance or sound off to have 8" woofers in the side and rear surrounds and 5.25s" in the front? Should I use the Electromotion In-Ceiling 6.5s"

(note: sometimes I realy wish I had the ML 35XL's on the side to get the 6.5 drivers,but they weren't out when I bought the system and my wife really liked the small size of the bookshelves)

2. For my setup, would I get better mileage out of putting the new in ceiling's in the rears or adding front-height speakers? Similar to question #1, where would I get the best results if I do go with a larger 8" driver?

3. I've even thought of buying 5 new Electro-Rs and installing a switch so I could toggle between the 7.1 with front-heights and front-rears; but that's probably overkill and the wife will say no

Overall I love the ML speakers. crisp and detailed high's, great vocals. Sometimes I wish I'd get better low and mid bass; although I think part of that is just with my center channel vocals, redenering with even smaller 4" drivers. Hoping a new larger center will help this.

If anyone has any other great ideas outside of this let me know!
thanks

Wow, well thought out questions! I'm sorry I missed this!

I see where you're going with all of this, so I must answer your questions, with more questions:

1. What are the room dimensions and listening distance? I understand its open. Pics help.

2. How much time does this system get daily/weekly? Percentage of Movies vs. Music?

3. Are in-ceiling speakers being selected solely for spouse approval?

4. I wouldn't like 'bass' either if I'd only heard it coming from that sub, in that large of a space. And I suspect she thinks of bass and car audio and rattling license plates. In Home Theater, that's called distortion, and we don't care for it either. Bass should be accurate reproduction of the lowest notes the human can hear. I wouldn't recommend any of Martin's subs, there are much better values to be found from Internet Direct companies. It sounds like you are going to be strictly limited to one subwoofer, so its gonna need to have some power to have any hopes of pressurizing that room. What's the highest budget you could allocate for bass?

 

[Dan Silverstein]

Sorry did not see your reply until now. Hopefully you will still see this reply.

1. Room dimensions are Living Room / Kitchen= (27' x 17') + Hallway (13' x 3') + Entryway (~6'x6') - so a total of around ~534 sq. feet. Listening distance is ~10-11 ft away.

2. The system gets approximately 35 hours of use; 90% movies - but would probably like to use it more for music - just tend to spend more time in home theater

3. In-ceilings are being selected for spouse approval and also because of room configuration. In-walls are out because there is no right wall to mount' the hallway is directly to the right of the listening position. Kitchen counter bar is ~ 3 ft behind the listening position, not feasible to put speaker stands behind for the rear channel.

4. I agree that she would probably like a good sub better, but she really doesn't like bass in general or low frequency sounds, so I'm wondering if I started getting down into 19hz if it would bother her, even if distortion was low. I'm thinking I will use a sealed sub for my next purchase. I've looked at the SVS SB-1000 & 2000; Also looking at the Golden Ear Force Field 3-4. My Budget for sub would probably be in the $500-$700 range. My reciever (Marantz 5008) will support 7.2; so I could keep the the Martin Logan 500 and add a second sub with more power. Not sure if it would be best to ditch the ported sub and go exclusively to a sealed or passive-radiator design.

My first priority before the sub is the center channel and the surround channels (sides and rears). Right now I have the $100 HTD for surrounds and no rears. Looking to move both sets to in-ceiling.

: So questions are still, for in-ceilings should I use 8" or 6.5"- will it work well to mix 8" surrounds with 5.25 mains in the ML Motion 15s?

: As I'm looking to replace my center. Currently I have the Martin Logan Motion 8, which is underpowered for the size of the room and diaglog gets lost and is not as full as I would like; especially when playing under reference (the L/R's still sond great but the dialog drops off faster on the center). I'm trying to decide between the Martin Logan 50XT or possibily the Golden Ear Super Center XL or X. My Budget for center is < $900 but if I could get something solid for less that would be a plus.

: Since I'm now considering the Golden Ear's I was wondering if I keep the Martin Logan MOtion 15's for L/R and use a Golden Ear center' would the voice matching be far off, since they both have the folden motion tweeter I was wondering if they would still pair well or should I still stick with the same product line for LRC?

I really like the idea of the passive radiators and 'full range' that the Golden Ear provides, but I have not auditioned them at all yet.

You can't see the speaker setup in this picture but you can see the open floor plan. Also this picture wsa taken before the L/R surrounds were set-up but they are sitting on end tables just behind the listening position at ~110 degrees.

The front L/R's are positioned about 4ft from the center point of the TV.