Martin Logan speakers

I've got original CLS in a second system. Magic in mid range and with acoustic music, and more convincing than any of the hybrid MLs I've listened to (haven't heard the Monoliths or Summits though).

I would be delinquent if I did not respond. I have had a pair of Vistas for 5.5 years. One speaker made three trips to Kansas and the other made 2 for repairs/replacements. To Martin Logan's credit they paid for everything, including shipping. Just about every part as well as the  two panels were replaced; they even replaced one speaker's base that had some wood chipped off. With the last repair, I received an extended warranty, now expired. Mine were 2K, a sell off from Audio Advisor. All of the cautions about setup are true as are the comments regarding the small window of appreciation. They also need lots of power. Unless you are getting these for a rock bottom price and you know their repair history, I would advise you to look elsewhere.  

I owned the Montis for a while.

You can sum up those speakers by listening to two consecutive Fleetwood Mac songs in Rumours.

The simple acoustic song "Never going back again" sounds as open and transparent as you could ever want.  Simply gorgeous.

By the end of the next track "Don't stop" you'll be ready to put them up for sale here.  They just sound so disjointed and wrong with a driving drum beat and bass line.  And any distorted electric guitar just sounds really dry and flat out wrong.  It's weird.

They SUCK for rock music IMO.

My other gripe is that the cabinets they used on Montis, for a $10k speaker, leave a little to be desired.  The new models seem to have rectified this.

I sold mine and got Focal Sopra 2's.  They sound just as open and effortless in the mids, just as transparent, and their bass driver integration is just worlds better and much more dynamic.  Any ML fanatic who dismisses "cones and domes" simply hasn't heard a really good cone and dome speaker.

Wow.   Great comments.      For those of you who have had bad Martin Logan experiences, I extend my condolences, and my special thanks.   It's always harder to talk about experiences that have not gone as well as they should have.      I admit that I am reconsidering my Martin Logan experiment...

So i have the Summit X. They are not allrounder and sound best on Classic and on music with natural sounding and not amplified instruments. Problem is, Summit/Montis Monolith.... show every detail on the recording. Sometimes to much. On Metal and Funky music stuff you don´t want to hear detail but more the pure groove and punch imo.

A Powerful amplification is essential to the ML Panel. The Bass cabinett ist active on the summit but the Panel´s Resistive resistance need best strong power.
I have a GRUENSCH CSE II  power amplifier which is said one of the best to do the job. I also use a Lyngdorf TDAI Digital amp using for room correction specially for older ML, i had the Request ML for years.
The Gruensch fix the "moving instrument" problem others and smaller amp´s cant solve even if they sound good on first impression.