Brand & Product Overview

Our friends at MartinLogan have just released an incredible update to their line of Motion Series loudspeakers. Completely reimagined with a fresh attitude and sleek design, the series includes four new tower models, two bookshelf speaker pairs, two center channels, and a very cool new multipurpose speaker. These are broken down into two series within the Motion line - the Motion and Motion XT.

The Motion Series was introduced many years ago to deliver an effortless electrostatic sound without the cost associated with true electrostatic speakers. One big secret to their success was the MartinLogan Folded Motion Tweeter, which delivers the open sound people associate with electrostatics in a more conventional design.

These latest additions are the fourth generation of the Motion Series. Audio Advice is one of the largest MartinLogan dealers in the world, which gives us access to their engineers to get the inside scoop on some of the new tech, including some prototypes to test out for this video. Neat huh?

When MartinLogan said, all-new, they meant it - updated drivers, cabinets, and cosmetics. MartinLogan insiders told us the goal was to improve sensitivity, lower distortion, provide higher output, and get even closer to a flat frequency response. We love all of those characteristics at Audio Advice. In our opinion, they have certainly pulled it all off. They also succeeded in changing the look of the new models quite nicely.

First, we’ll cover the tech they all share, and then get into each specific speaker in the series and outline some possible use cases.

First and foremost, the new models are a complete redo of the MartinLogan signature folded motion tweeter. For those of you unfamiliar with this tech, it is lightning-fast and totally effortless. You also get a far larger surface area than a typical one-inch dome tweeter would have, in terms of soundstage.

The folded motion tweeter creates sound by moving air similar to how an accordion operates. The super thin film-folded diaphragm squeezes the air and requires almost 90% less excursion than a dome tweeter which drastically reduces distortion. You get a wide, yet very controlled dispersion pattern with this driver which gives you an amazing sound stage.

The Gen 2 version has an even higher magnetic field strength and more internal air volume. As MartinLogan started testing the changes, they found it had higher output, lower distortion, and was even smoother - all characteristics you want in a tweeter.

MartinLogan wanted to extract just a little more dispersion from their improved tweeter to help accommodate more open floor plan spaces. To do this, they have added a wave guide on the front of the speaker cabinet. This improved both horizontal and vertical dispersion by at least 10 degrees, giving it more controlled directivity in a wider range of listening positions. This design also allowed them more freedom in flattening the response.

All of the new Motion models have this new Gen2 Obsidian Folded Motion XT Tweeter with the XT series getting a bigger version of the same tech.

The crossovers for every single model share some great features. They all have custom air-core coils and low DCR steel laminate inductors with polyester film capacitors and low DF electrolytic capacitors. Every tweeter has built-in thermal protection. While you never really see these parts, it is great MartinLogan realizes the importance of a speakers crossover and uses technology from their more expensive models to make these special.

Another thing all of the speakers share is a sleek cabinet design with three finish options - gloss black, satin white, and walnut. The design takes a departure from conventional speakers, as there is no full-sized speaker grill. Each individual midrange and/or bass driver gets its own round grill that snaps on with a hidden clamping system. The motion tweeter is fully exposed in all models and gets a new black color to blend better with the cabinet face.

Internally, MartinLogan took bracing to a whole new level. There is far more bracing than before and in the models with separate woofers, the midrange driver is in its own solid and sealed cabinet inside the speaker.

All of the models get very nice rear binding posts too, with most of them offering biwiring capability. We really like the new outriggers you will find for all of the towers. These were easy to attach with either a rubber tip for hard floors or a spike tip for carpet. Adjusting these for perfect level is very simple with the adjustment being easy to access on top.

MartinLogan Motion & Motion XT Speaker Models

The Motion series gets a new midrange made from a woven fiberglass. Every single model has a 5.5” version. This means, with the exact same tweeter and midrange, you are assured of an incredibly well-matched home theater configuration with panning effects sounding exactly the same as they move from speaker to speaker. The only thing that did not change in the Motion line was the woofer material in the floor-standing models. The aluminum cone MartinLogan developed is still an amazing performer. Even though the material is the same as prior generations, these are all new designs with a smooth unibody look that eliminated the need for the prominent dust caps seen in prior generations.

These will make a great main surround speaker or if you pair them with one of the fast Dynamo MartinLogan subwoofers. They can throw out a huge soundstage with the subwoofer adding in that missing last octave. We would, however, not recommend them as a full-range speaker in a larger size room as you will probably find the bass lacking.

Dialog sounded great with the C10, but its best characteristic is its high sensitivity. Explosions that were mixed more to the center really came to life and having such a high sensitivity means you can more easily hear the tiny changes in the volume levels of people's voices when they are expressing subtle emotional cues, drawing you more into the film.

Motion XT Model Features

Now let’s move to the XT line of Motion models. There are two major differences with these and the standard Motion models we just covered. First, the folded motion tweeter is over twice as large physically, meaning it can move even less to achieve the same output. The midrange driver is completely different. All of these use a 6.5” driver for either just the midrange or midrange/bass. The material moves up to a woven Kevlar woofer. We started seeing Kevlar many years ago in midrange drivers, but what is new is how MartinLogan uses constrained layer damping. They found a material called Nomex, which has pretty much the exact opposite resonance characteristics as Kevlar. They bond a very thin layer of this to the back of the Kevlar driver, which totally deadens it.

MartinLogan Motion XT F100 & Motion XT F200 Floorstanding Speakers

For the two tower XT models, they all use 3 aluminum cone bass drivers coupled with that great Nomex Reinforced Kevlar midrange and the larger XT tweeter. The big difference between the XT F100 and XT F200 is the XT F100 uses 3 6.5” drivers while the XT F200 uses 3 8” versions. The bigger woofers get you about 4 Hz more extension down to 27Hz compared to 31Hz, but like the other series, the bigger ones to our ears just had far more slam even though they have the same great sensitivity rating of 92db.

For those of you looking to go for a fully immersive home theater experience, There are also several architectural models in the MartinLogan Motion XT CI Series that match up really well with these great in-room speakers. They recently revamped both the Motion and Motion XT CI Speaker series of in-wall and in-ceiling speakers with very similar drivers to what you find in the new Motion and Motion XT in-room speakers. The Motion architectural models have the same type of woven fiberglass drivers, while the XT has Kevlar.

We also love the MartinLogan Dynamo subwoofers. These are very fast subwoofers that also use Anthem Room Correction for super accurate bass. Our team can help you select the right one to pair with any of these new MartinLogan Motion speakers.

Custom Home Theater Solutions

When you purchase your MartinLogan, or any speakers for that matter, from us - you get a group of passionate music lovers behind you. We have decades of experience in speaker placement and setup which means you have access to pick our brains with any questions you have on how to get the best performance in your room. Our team looks at pictures of listening rooms and home theaters every day and we love helping our customers get the best sound possible with our setup tips.

If you are reading this and want to learn more about home theater in general, check out Home Theater Central. Here we have lots of articles on how to design your dream home theater. We even have a free 3D design tool so you can visualize how the screen and speakers should be placed for optimum performance in your room.

If you have any questions about building a theater or choosing your speakers, give us a call at 888.899.8776, chat with us, or stop by our award-winning showrooms. We live and breathe audio and home theater and love to help our customers find the right products for their situations. Once you have your receiver in place, you can use our free guide of the best home theater audio upgrades & optimizations to perfect your sound.