Clarity,details, soundstage, accurate and very deep bass, no "gap" between bass element and panel anymore, much higher quality of the cabinet than before.

DEMANDS very good electronics!

Finally Martin Logan has built a loudspeaker that really sounds great in every aspect!. What really hit you is the amazing clartiy and transparens they produce in comparison with the older serie (Request, SL3 and Aerius). Imagine is superb with a razor sharp pinpointing in a 3D spectra. These loudspeakers are extremely revealing in electronics used. They really demand a very good amplifier to bring out this incredible soundstage. The sound is open and effortless with unbeatable mid/high. Even the dynamic is very good which has been a problem with older M.L. The bass is very tight, deep and accurate and can produce enough energy if you have the "right" electronics behind. The 10" element is really fast and impress in the lower end. I highly recommend these speakers to anyone who wants speakers that really bring out the music to come alive in your living room.

Similar Products Used:

Infinity kappa 9, JBL XPL 200(In my youth!), Polk Audio SDA SR+ ?(don''t remember)

Transparency, homogenity, dynamics, detail, spaciousness, neutrality, musicality...

Really nmothing I can think of... Maybe a small sweet spot.

I do not own these speakers, but I can tell you I will one day... Everything about these speakers is right: they are very musically convincing, very dynamic and quick, have a very spacious, detailed and precise sound that let's you know exactly what's on a recording. They do not colour the sound in any significant way and can ROCK too!

I now own the MartinLogan Scenario, but these just blow them away. The scale of the sound is just awsome. And don't you LOVE the looks?!

A friend of mine who doesn't like electrostatic speakers is seriously considering these speakers as a next purchase.

Negative points? They have a sweet spot smaller than many dynamic speakers, but it is still larger than all other electrostatics. It's also rather big and can be hard to place.

I think the Ascent betters the SL3 in almost any department, but especially dynamic range. I think they are on par with the MartinLogan Re-Quest, which sounds different, but is at the same level.

Maybe they are not for all-out rockers, because the sound is just a bit too polite. But that's more because the sound is so undistorted I think.

I listened to these speakers with a Mark Levinson No. 383 Integrated Amplifier and a Mark Levinson No. 39 Compact Disc Processor. A great combo with the Ascents, which need the best in sources and amplification. Nordost cables were used throughout the system.

Similar Products Used:

MartinLogan Scenario, B&W Nautilus

Unparalleled clarity, transparency, look, and build quality. Sounds better than dynamics I listened to costing much more. Awesome for home theatre.

Price? So accurate in reproducing what's there that it's merciless to bad recordings. The kind of sound electrostatics have is perhaps not the best for rock and rollers--go for a cheaper dynamic to get that punchier sound . . .

It had been ten years since buying any stereo equipment, so I decided to go for broke and assemble a high quality two-channel stereo system for under $5K. While I didn't quite achieve my goal money-wise, I started first w/the speakers, since they are the most expensive yet usually weakest link in a system.

I had heard some dynaudios and B&Ws and was duly impressed--hey, there are a lot of good speakers out there. But on an a to b comparison between MLs and some good dynamics (I tested them against some $5K proacs) I liked the MLs better, and these were just aerius's (at $2300) I was listening to. The sound, esp the vocals, was so much more alive. I didn't buy then, but months later I finally went shopping again and this time the Ascents had just been intro'd. I liked the aeriuses (great sound and more affordable), but the Ascents had more bass and a larger sound, so I bit the bullet and have been pleased I did.

On my audio salesguy's recommendation I bought the Rotel tuner/amp to drive them and later upgraded my old CD player to the Sony DVP 9000 ES DVD player and that made them sound even better. My system is basic but sounds great to me:

Toshiba TW40X81 (HDTV)
Sony DVP 9000 ES (DVD)
ML Ascents
Rotel RX-975
Plain old copper speaker wire

I may eventually upgrade my cabling and do the whole amp/preamp thing but I'm in no hurry--my system shines.

My complaint re: the price is because I suspect these speakers are an upgraded version of ML's SL3s which listed new for around $3K (now discontinued), so you may save dough by buying some used SL3s. I wanted the newest and latest and didn't really want to buy used equipment. Ironically, my speaker sales guy pushed these over the Requests (at about $1000 more), stating that the the Ascents had a tighter sound. I didn't bother to audition the Requests since they exceeded the price limit I had set. Also, the bass response on the Ascents requires a little burn in time, but the ML manuals tell you that, so it's no suprise.

The main thing is, if you like the electrostatic sound, and not everyone does, these speakers are probably the best buy for the money even if they are a little overpriced. They deliver clear, beautiful electrostatic performance w/out sacrificing bass response (a problem with the smaller MLs). It's hybrid speakers for me from here on out. . .

Similar Products Used:

none

Transparency, image, soundstage, well integrated hybrid

Placement, jigsaw like impedance curve,

Basically the Ascent does everything the SL3 does but better! As a matter of fact I believe it outperforms the soon replaced ReQuest as long as the room size is not too big. I audited the SL3 and a pair of Sonus Faber Grand Piano at the same time. To start with I thought they showed the same weakness, lack of bass! I loved the transparency of the logans but preferred the more rich sound of the SF. Everything changed when the Anthem amplifier (sorry don't remember the model) was changed to a Pass Labs X600. I don't even know why they bothered to connect the Anthem to the Ascent. After replacing the amp. The result was jaw dropping! Suddenly the Ascent outperformed the SF in every single category! Still they were a little bit bass shy.
Once at home in my smaller listening room (10mX 7m X 3m) even the bass sounded more then okay (needed a week of burning in). Also the change to my Krell FPB 300 could have change things as well.
I would say that placement is important for best result. Even so I believe you have 90 percent of the performance even if you placed them "incorrectly". With this 90 percent you still get a much better speaker then anything I can think of in the same price range. I rate a good current friendly amplifiers as much more important then the room placement.
I would say that the Ascent can rock as well. They could sound a bit "thin" if you are use to big flabby cone speakers, this could partly be compensate with an extra sub woofer. Even so the sound is I would say different compared to cone speakers. Once your ears get used to the "new" sound you don't want to get back to the cone world.

Equipment used:

Meridian 508.24
Mark Levinson 38s
Krell FPB 300
Tara Air 2 interconnect
Kimber BiFocal X

Similar Products Used:

ML SL3, ReQuest, Quad ESL

Excelent sound, good looks

Price

I have been shopping around for speakers for about 2 months. Even though these were way out of my price range i went and looked at them anyway, because I was just curious how they worked. I was impressed when I heard them; however, I was more impressed with them when I heard a pair of B&W 602s. You see the 602s was the speakers I was leaning to buy and after listing to a pair of Martin Logans the 602s sounded like the music was being played inside the box. I don't know what you call that, but it made me so sick that I am not buying any speakers till I can afford a Pair of these.

affordable nirvana of loudspeakers, works well in bad rooms

Needs largish room, low impendence amps to handle 2 ohm load

My background is pro mixing and mastering. I prefer vinyl and SACD as CD sources with its 44.1 16 bit sounds a lot like cassette tape (no detail, compressed dynamic range because the mastering process pushes everything up to clipping and as the treble is rolled off before filtering it won't do drums) on playback but that's another story.

These new speakers from ML require you sit at least 10 feet back and place them out from the back wall a few feet. You wanted a "large" properly scaled sound? They do not sound the same in the next room as they do when listening in the sweet spot and at chair level nearby.

The sound focuses where the listener is. Which is a blessing with hard sounding reflective rooms as placement is much more a non issue. Bass is much tighter and deeper than the little Logans. Gail Sanders at Logan is a rocker and I really don't understand the comments that these don't do rock well. A great sub woofer placed on the front wall between these will extend their bass presentation to a lower octave but they do all the fundamentals quite well without tuning the room for more deep bass.

Having said that the big deal over smaller Logans is that these are more "Steinway Grand" sized in their presentation.

The smaller Aerius designs are left in the shade if you have the larger space required to hear these and more power to run concert volume clearly. They are perhaps the best practical sized speaker I have ever heard and an incredible value for those that aspire to the upper limits of fidelity. A bit of rear wall treatment can really help tame the dipole reflection and "size" them to the listening spot for maximum effect but placed anywhere they create less room "honk" than any dynamic box speaker I have ever heard.

What do they "sound" like?

Imagine a speaker with less "sound" than you have heard before at this price point. A speaker that takes you deeper into your rack's ability to produce a recreation of the actual event you are witnessing. Incredible amounts of cymbal detail and midrange vocalist fidelity. A speaker that shows why you spent money on class "A" preamp and sources and that gives a return on your investment. The clarity will astound you and a much needed lower end "plantedness" is the obviuos benefit from Gail's design of his $70,000 Statements with their multiple subs and midrange panels. This guy is an absolute freak about music and I wish you could meet him as I did and spend some time at his factory and home watching the level of fanatacism his empire of manufacturing pursues.

Every driver is inspected. Every speaker is run in tested.
Every employee is dedicated. What else can you do that is profound in Lawrence Kansas? They play music and hang out in a music college town that is in some kind of time warp where rockers still perform at the local bijou on stage.

Gail prides himself on having a price no object manufacturing plant that you can eat off the floor. His employees are a collection of the coolest and completely involved hard workers you could meet in the US today and every single one I met takes great pride in assembling a speaker that will "blow minds".

There are other tweak brands out there. Horns. Collectible theater setups that make a PA soundstage. Dynamic behemoths that have rows of midrange and ribbon tweets. But nothing is as simple and elegant a design as what the boys and girls from Lawrence Kansas can offer you.

And at this price you should run to your nearest dealer and snatch a pair of whichever Logan fits your room. Or spend years trying to make an inferior design sound "Like a Logan" when the exercise will only wear you out for your trouble.

Enough said.

Similar Products Used:

No dynamic speaker sounds like these, Genelecs, Tannoys, Boxers, Thiels, JBLs, Altecs, all sound compressed compared to MLs.

VERY REVEALING,ULTRA REALISM,BASE AND PANAL MESH VERY WELL TOGETHER

NONE REALLY

I WENT TO THE DEALER HERE IN ATLANTA JUST LAST WEEK TO AUDITION A PAIR OF THE BRAND NEW SPEAKERS FROM ML,A WEEL AS THE PRODIGY'S. I JUST WANT ANYONE TO KNOW WHO IS INTERESTED IN PURCHASING A PAIR OF THESE OR ANY OF THE OTHER MODELS THAT ML OFFERS.WOW!WOW! WOW! NOTHING BEATS THSES SPEAKERS FOR THE PRICE ARE ABOVE THEM FOR THAT MATTER EXCEPT THE BIGGER ML'S.THE ELECTRSTATIC PANELS AND THE BASE UNIT MESH EXTREMELY WELL TOGETHR,WITH NO LAG BEHIND FROM THE BASE UNIT.EVERYTHING FROM MALE AND FEMALE VOCALS,PIANO,STRINGS,WINDS AND PERCUSSION ALL HAD AGREAT REALISM LIKE NO OTHER SPEAKER I'VE EVER HEARD.BLOWS AWAY B&W 802'S,THIELS 7.2'S AND OTHER SO CALLED HI-END BOX SPEAKERS.ALL OTHER MUSIC SOUNDED SO COMPRESSED ON THE THIEL'S,BUT THE BREATH OF LIFE ON THE ML'S. ONE OF THE BEST BUYS IN AUDIO PERIOD.

Similar Products Used:

PRODIGY'S,ODYSEY'S

EVERYTHING. INCREDABLE CLARITY, VAST SOUNDSTAGE.

THERE NOT FREE.

THERE'S MARTIN LOGAN AND THEN THERE IS EVERYONE ELSE. I HEAR DETAILS IN SONGS I NEVER HEARD BEFORE. I HAVE MINE POWERED WITH A KRELL AMP AND ANTHEM AVM 20 PREAMP. THEY ARE CERTAINLY WORTH THE BUCKS.

Suberb clarity, mid's and highs are sweet, smooth and full sounding. Awesome to look at!

none

A superb set of speakers. As above the clarity and smooth reproduciton of the singers and instruments is incredible. Holly Cole is no longer playing on a CD, but it is like she is in front of me, or to the left of the centre of the stage as she moves around!

I just purchased the Rotel 991 Amp and the speakers are now Bi-amped with the Rotel powering the sub and what a difference. Clean, precise and again effortless. The panels are powered by the Arcam Alpha 10 (with DAVE).

I had heard that these speakers are power hungry, or better yet the older generation was more power hungry than these new series - and when the speakers were bi-wired with the Alpha 10, I could hear that the speakers were not performing to their potential, it was as if they were trying, but they were not efficient. Now (and I know it will improve once the 991 breaks in) the music is effortless, crystal clear, full bodied and true.

Appearance - fit and finish are top notch, the packaging was a pleasant surprise (and difficult to handle) but considering the cost it is to be expected! (I did not know foam could be molded as it was!! never mind the fact the boxes are larger than a coffin!) but they are a pleasure to look at. Considering their height they do not dominate the room, but rather make an addition to it... but blend in at the same time. (room size is 18x24', with the sweet spot located about 13' infront of the speakers (if triangulated)). I would prefer a little more room to give the speakers to breath, to take them a little farther from the walls, but alas that will be the next house!

Would I recommend these speakers?? hanks down - if one had the power to run them, a clean source, high end cables and the room to place them they would not be dissatisfied.

Other products:
Arcam Alpha 10 (with DAVE)
Arcam MCD player
Sony 360 DVD
Rotel 991
2 x Rotel 916 (powers rears, one powers centre channel)
Sony 53" rear projection
High end cables are teh next purchase!!

Similar Products Used:

have auditioned high end B&W's with no comparison

Amazing clarity, transparent, crisp and extremely detailed. Tight Bass. Amazing looks.

Price.

Let me just say WOW. These speakers are what its all about. I have been dying to get my hands on a pair of ML's ever since I first layed ears on them and I finally got them.
Let me start by saying these speakers are very touchy. You need to put some serious time into breaking them in and setting them up right. The slightest shift makes a HUGE difference. After a good two weekes of breaking them in I settled with them at about 2 1/2 feet from the side wall and 3 feet from the rear wall slightly angled in to the listening spot.
One of the things that attracted me to the ML's is there amazing clarity. Being a musician (trumpet player)I have a very good ear for knowing what instruments truly sound like and these speakers reproduce that well. Being a trumpet player, my ears tend to lean towards bright sounding speakers but for those who dont like that they can simply lower the treble on there units to compensate. The one thing that bothered me a tad in the beginbnig was the lack of bass. I went into my B&K ref 30 menu and left the treble setting flat but maxed out the bass. This solved the problem. The bass jumped up to match the mids/highs and with the subwoofer filling in the rest of the bottom it was like BUTTAH!
I highly recommnd this to anyone who has the components to back up these speakers. These things will expose crap so only hook the good stuff to it!

Similar Products Used:

Never used electrostats. Previous speakers Klipsch, Velodyne, B&W