Expectations

[Steve Hetherington]

Hi guys/girls. First post usually isn't a thread, but money is involved. I have been dying to get sound serious sound equipment. I have always had cheaper stuff, but have always enjoyed quality. I currently have a not-so-powerful Pioneer VSX 1020k receiver and I am looking at a used Marants SR 7005 for sale at a 1/4 of MSRP. I am driving Martin Logan Motion 40 towers only. I am trying decide if the best move is to get a matching center or that higher-output Marantz receiver. What would one expect in only changing the Pioneer over to the Marantz with respect to sound quality?

 

[j_garcia]

What exactly is it you aren't happy with right now? Let's go from there.

 

[markw]

As for swapping the receivers, the only significant "sound quality" improvement would be in loudness in peaks if your current receiver is underpowered. And, the mere wattage number is pretty meaningless. A doubling of power/watts would only amount in a meager three decibels in loudness, and that's barely audible.

Overall, having the front three speakers matching would be more of an improvement.

But,that Marantz for that price is a pretty good deal...

 

[Steve Hetherington]

What exactly is it you aren't happy with right now? Let's go from there.

"not happy" is a little strong. More the case of a pursuit to replicate the sound stage I heard in the demo room. I got the couch off the wall by 2 feet. Speaker distance off the wall to the face of the speaker is over a foot. Geometry triangle has not been tape measured, but a lazy arms length additive has been done. Adjusting the angle/toe of the speakers has been done and the voice image from the towers is dead center of the TV, but when I was at best buy I had the whole "are there only two speakers?" moment. They were only playing the two motion 40s. He was using some Marantz, but I don't remember which. I understand that the room acoustics are a massive factor.

I have not ran room correction from my Pioneer. I use "Direct Pure" mode so it doesn't use my old houses' room correction parameters (I just moved). I can't find my Pioneer's mic. Thought about ordering one, but I saw that Marantz receiver and was wondering if I would experience a difference in music quality from that one change. But I wouldn't be surprised if MarkW's comment is correct. Yeah he is asking $450 and claims everything works perfect.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Agreed - great deal on marantz, but like it was above - it wont improve SQ much.
Based on these findings (below) I will say I would stay away from these speakers

This graph shows the quasi-anechoic (employing close-miking of all woofers) frequency response of the Motion 40 L/R (purple trace), Motion 30 center channel (green trace), Motion 15 surround (red trace), and Dynamo 1000 subwoofer (blue trace). All passive loudspeakers were measured with grilles at a distance of 1 meter with a 2.83-volt input and scaled for display purposes.

The Motion 40’s listening-window response (a five-point average of axial and +/–15-degree horizontal and vertical responses) measures +2.25/–4.34 decibels from 200 hertz to 10 kilohertz. The –3-dB point is at 48 Hz, and the –6-dB point is at 40 Hz. Impedance reaches a minimum of 3.48 ohms at 111 Hz and a phase angle of –44.04 degrees at 69 Hz.

another way putting it is +/- 12db 20hz-20khz, while one should aim for something like +/- 3db 40-20hz

 

[j_garcia]

Yes, while I think the Marantz is definitely a better receiver, I don't think your SQ will dramatically improve. I haven't heard the Motions so can't comment on them, but based on the above, they do appear to have some issues. Room correction software is going to have a field day with those speakers. That doesn't mean they aren't for you, but speakers make the single largest difference in your listening.

Sounds like you've got the details and how to do the physical setup down pretty well. I have room correction as well and I tend to listen to music with it off.

 

[zieglj01]

I am driving Martin Logan Motion 40 towers only.

If you like them - then continue to enjoy them.

It is not easy to overlook that receiver.

You can always save for the center channel

 

[Steve Hetherington]

So .....in summary, I took the Motion 40s back. I auditioned several speakers and some for a second time: Dynaudio Excite, Magnepan 1.7s, some $30k variant of Wilson Audio (no intent on buying them) and I went back and re-listened to the Motion 40s and every competitor that Best Buy offered in the Magnolia store.

I ordered the Magnepan MMGs because they were $600 and I could evaluate them in my house and also return them; plus I really enjoyed the 1.7s.

I also ordered Ascend Sierra S2 bookshelves. After doing some reading and after having BorededSysAdmin scare me with big words and charts I ended up with a finger pointed at Ascend Sierra S2. I really liked the Martin Logan Folded Motion Tweeter and Ascend's Sierra S2 RAAL tweeter seemed like it would pull off the detail I liked in the upper range.

So I got both sets. I'm also keeping both sets. Main living room has the Sierra's and the basement gets the MMGs. The Sierra S2s dominate. I have no complaints of the speakers. They impress me in every aspect.

I would have been perfectly happy with Motion 40s had I been able to replicate what Best Buy had going on when I heard them. And if I owned my home and wasn't renting, I would have probably traveled down the path of room acoustics level2. But I'm not hanging sound absorbent panels everywhere and I'm very limited to setup options due to room construction. I'm an amateur. So take it for what it's worth.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I'm glad you liked Sierra's. Yet to read bad review of any ascend speaker. I heard Maggies and liked it a lot, but sweet spot was too tiny