New MartinLogan Preface owner!

[khaliss]

Hi all!

I'm new to the forum and happy owner of 3 new ML Preface tower speakers (that's right, 3! LOL). I know it's unusual, but read on...

Let me start by saying that I've been admiring these speakers for awhile now. I first auditioned them at the local Magnolia-Bestbuy store over a year ago when I was looking for a good receiver to upgrade my old one. I basically sampled all the speakers in the showroom, and this stood out from the rest. At that time, each Preface retailed for $750, which was way beyond my budget and not a priority. I was just amazed with the clarity, detail, and natural-kind of sound vs. the other ones that were sampled.

So anyway, last Saturday, my wife was buying something from a nearby store, so I went ahead and checked out Bestbuy while waiting for her... see if there were any worthwhile deals for Xmas. Found my way back to the Magnolia showroom and eventually to the ML Preface demo speakers which were still there. Something caught my eye, turns out the price has dropped to $499 each, WOW, it was on sale! So I asked the salesman if I could audition them again and called my wife on the phone to come over. We both auditioned a couple of other speakers too. The MLs still sounded much better & clearer than the rest under $1K speakers. Cut the long story short, my wife liked them and she finally gave me the nod after the salesman mentioned a set of the speakers will quality for 36 months 0% APR. He said he was down to his last 3. I then asked him if he was willing to give me a discount on the 3rd one (I already had this idea of trying out a center tower speaker before). He said sure, he'd give me a $50 discount and also that I had 30 days to return any of the speakers if it didn't work out.

Here is my setup:

Onkyo TX-SR806 THX-Ultra2 receiver
ML Preface - Left/Right (replaced PolkAudio RT800s)
ML Preface - Center (replaced PolkAudio CSi5)
KEF Q80 floorspeakers - Surrounds
Velodyne DPS-12 Subwoofer

I hooked them up just this weekend and they sounded pretty good right out of the box (after I got them calibrated with the reciever's Audyssey setup). I know they need to be broken-in for at least 100 hours and I can't wait till they start sounding even better. Our living room space is a fairly large because it is an openfloor-type with an adjoining dining & kitchen area. The 52" Samsung LCD is on a corner so, it somehow allows the front configuration this way:

Left speaker --- LCD TV --- Center ---- Right (speakers are evenly spaced)

Our 3-person couch is close to 15 feet from the TV/speakers so I thought with the slightly angled TV, hopefully the center channel doesn't get localized too much given the listening/viewing distance and wide soundstage of the Preface (at least in theory). After setting up, I sampled all the concerts stored in my Uverse DVR and DVD collection, ranging from Hall&Oates (live at the Troubador), George Michael, Simply Red, Police, David Foster, etc. THEY ALL sounded way much better to my ears compared to the previous Polk L-C-R setup. Also, I closed my eyes and told my wife the same if we could both localize the center speaker on the right side of the TV, we both concluded we couldn't, then again concerts tend to be stereo-sh... so just to make sure, we watched a couple of HD movies from the DVR, and still, we couldn't localize the center channel. Last night, we saw a new BluRay from the mail titled "Not Forgotten" (in full length) which kinda sucked, but we still came to the same conclusion with the center speaker's positioning.

Overall, I'm really happy, the front L-C-R speaker setup now has a seamless soundstage, with the audio transitions flawlessly from Left, to center, to right, vice-versa. The ML Preface speakers are great value, especially at $499 a piece and 36-month no interest BB financing. I highly recommend these speakers to anyone looking for a high quality setup w/ budget in mind!

 

[khaliss]

So now that the short review is out of the way, I have a couple of questions:

1.) Do I really need to upgrade with an external amp to drive the ML Preface speakers? The 806 is THX certified down to 4ohms (Ultra2), and it does seem to handle the MLs without any hickups, but I want to get the best possible SQ. I was thinking of getting this an Emotiva XPA-3 just to drive the L-C-R MLs. The thing is, we don't really listen anything close to reference levels, my wife has very sensitive ears so we usually listen anywhere from -25db to -20db (Onkyo volume levels). Would having external amps make any difference at low listening levels?

2.) 3 big floorstanders up front arranged in this way looks a little unconventional (LOL)... should I just return the 3rd one and get the ML Encore TF Center Channel speaker? It's black though so it might not match well with the dark cherry preface. Also, big possible downside is I want a perfect/seamless front soundstage, and even though Encore is probably timbre-matched with the Preface, I'm not sure the sound quality with be exactly the same.

 

[jostenmeat]

So now that the short review is out of the way, I have a couple of questions:

1.) Do I really need to upgrade with an external amp to drive the ML Preface speakers? The 806 is THX certified down to 4ohms (Ultra2), and it does seem to handle the MLs without any hickups, but I want to get the best possible SQ. I was thinking of getting this an Emotiva XPA-3 just to drive the L-C-R MLs. The thing is, we don't really listen anything close to reference levels, my wife has very sensitive ears so we usually listen anywhere from -25db to -20db (Onkyo volume levels). Would having external amps make any difference at low listening levels?

Congratulations! -25db is pretty darn quiet, at least it is for me with blurays. I think there would be a lot of people that might recommend adding an amp, but if it sounds fine, and that's seriously as loud as it gets, do it when you feel like it. Nice thing about ID brands such as Outlaw or Emotiva is that you can simply return the amp if you feel it does nothing for you. I'm pretty sure Outlaw even pays for the return shipping (better check).

2.) 3 big floorstanders up front arranged in this way looks a little unconventional (LOL)... should I just return the 3rd one and get the ML Encore TF Center Channel speaker? It's black though so it might not match well with the dark cherry preface. Also, big possible downside is I want a perfect/seamless front soundstage, and even though Encore is probably timbre-matched with the Preface, I'm not sure the sound quality with be exactly the same.

Do not change a thing. Three identical speakers, vertically arrayed, all on the same plane, is IMO, the best possible first move one can do audio-wise for an HT (or mch system in general). I'd kill to be able to do that right now.

 

[khaliss]

^ Thanks Josten for your input... when I'm alone and watching a bluray movie, I usually crank up the volume anywhere -14db to -10db (Onkyo levels), but only rarely since my wife and our toddler are usually around. Sometimes, when we watch something that doesn't have loud soundeffects, she would allow me to go a little higher than usual. But does an external amp actually help in getting better detail or sound quality at our usual listening levels? The Onkyo is factory rated at 135watts per channel, and never broke a sweat driving my old 8-ohm Polks, and seemingly the same case with the new 4-ohm MLs.

 

[jostenmeat]

^ Thanks Josten for your input... when I'm alone and watching a bluray movie, I usually crank up the volume anywhere -14db to -10db (Onkyo levels), but only rarely since my wife and our toddler are usually around. Sometimes, when we watch something that doesn't have loud soundeffects, she would allow me to go a little higher than usual. But does an external amp actually help in getting better detail or sound quality at our usual listening levels? The Onkyo is factory rated at 135watts per channel, and never broke a sweat driving my old 8-ohm Polks, and seemingly the same case with the new 4-ohm MLs.

I'm not qualified to answer. For those who are qualified to answer, even they may differ. My feeling is that at -25 to -20 you're fine, even if you still a good distance away at 15 ft. As typical of ML it seems, your speakers have high sensitivity (easy to drive), but low nominal impedance (tougher to drive).

OTOH, -10 is getting up there, and that is around what I have it for the lights off, packed house showing. If this is not just a super rare occurrence, but does happen time to time, I would look towards adding an amp, if only for peace of mind, extra headroom (whether needed or not), a new toy to lovingly pet, you know . . . btw, I also sit 15 away at front row, my speakers are 6 ohm nominal, and 4ohm minimal, and I'm using my 805 as a pre/pro to a NAD mch amp. I have not compared the performance between the two amps, as I already had the NAD before the Onkyo. The NAD is pretty darn heavy, maybe 70 lbs, but the 805 ain't wimpy by any means, and is 52 lbs IIRC.

Yeah, if you want to go to -10, I'd add an amp for peace of mind. Worst case scenario, you have extra headroom, best case scenario, it'll sound better for typical listening volumes.

If you got the cash floating around, it doesn't hurt to try. If you perceive no difference, then you can return it. It doesn't lose its value immediately either by any means. And note that the ID brands normally have a 5yr transferable warranty making a sale pretty easy once past the month return period.