MartinLogan Impression ESL 11A

Electrostatic Floorstanding Loudspeaker

MartinLogan Impression ESL 11A

Electrostatic Floorstanding Loudspeaker
$5,999.99
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Overview

IMPRESSION ESL 11A
The goal of the loudspeaker is to disappear into its audio performance. Remove the loudspeaker’s effect and you reveal the pure emotional impact of the performance, with nothing between your audio and your ears.
The Impressionist masterpieces removed the barrier between art and emotion, enhancing the potent feelings their art inspired placing emphasis on immediacy and movement. The Impression ESL 11A achieves this effect with an unprecedented level of audio transparency and realism.


The Immediacy of Exceptional Audio
The Impression ESL 11A is part of the Masterpiece Series. It features a dual 8-inch woofer system, with ARC-honed performance, for a perfectly blended low-frequency response. The groundbreaking integration of this woofer array and MartinLogan’s signature 11-inch wide XStat CLS transducer, coupled with a powerful dual amplifier section, delivers an expressive and dynamic audio experience. It's an experience of pure audio pleasure.


Look at the familiar elements of the classic MartinLogan electrostatic loudspeaker:Advanced MicroPerf stator technology, which allows for almost twice the exposed electrostatic diaphragm surface as a traditional electrostatic panel of the same size. A reinforced electrostatic panel with rigid ClearSpar™ spacers, keeping an exact level of tension on the vacuum-bonded diaphragm without obscuring the beautiful see-through design. Add to these the slender, pointed-arrow design of the new AirFrame™ Bladeconstruction and the result is a powerfully evocative composition creating a harmonious connection between the panel and its woofer cabinet.


Using two 8-inch laser-engineered low-distortion aluminum cone woofers in independently enclosed compact chambers, exclusive PoweredForce Forward™ bass alignment technology controls the interaction between the rear-firing woofer and the wall behind that woofer. With a smart phase-shifting design, this minimizes the effect that wall has on bass information that might bounce back into the listening room. This uniform frequency response results in realistic bass effects you can feel. It’s one more way MartinLogan innovation improves your listening experience in any room.


Achieving the Laboratory Standard in Your Own Room
In the lab, MartinLogan engineers strive for transparency. Outside the lab, there’s one wildcard our engineers can never account for: Your listening room. The unique size and shape of your listening space (and the size and shape of its contents) can make bass waves do unpredictable things, greatly affecting a speaker’s overall performance.


For the first time in electrostatic speakers we are introducing the integration of exclusive Anthem Room Correction (ARC) technology. By engaging ARC to control the low-frequency curve in relation to the output of the ESL panel (as seen in this graph), you will experience performance on par with MartinLogan’s audio test lab.
ARC measures low-frequency sound output in your room and compares it to optimal response curves that account for spatial anomalies. The advanced algorithms of ARC then effectively remove the anomalies, leaving only the ideal standard: realistically blended, natural-sounding bass performance in your listening space.


By minimizing room interactions with PoweredForce Forward bass technology and the advanced room correction capabilities of ARC, along with its unique synthesis of the ESL and bass sections, the Impression ESL 11A produces perfectly-etched imaging and focus; optimum natural reproduction of sound at lifelike listening levels; and agile, full-range operation in open air.


Clearly, it is this level of ultimate performance that separates the merely excellent from a true masterpiece.



New Ultra-Rigid AirFrame Blade Design
Impression ESL 11A XStat panels are joined to their speaker cabinets using MartinLogan’s redesigned AirFrame Blade construction, precision manufactured from an aerospace-grade extruded aluminum alloy. This material, and this exclusive manufacturing process, makes the panels extremely rigid.


The bold, forward-moving styling of this AirFrame Blade rail system, narrow and strong in front, broad and forceful from the side, is a modern design statement. It never obstructs playable surface area or interferes with the panel’s dipole sound radiation pattern. It also provides electrical and acoustical isolation, minimizing intermodulation distortion caused by vibration and resonance. The flowing lines emphasize the groundbreaking integration of the panel itself with the compact woofer and amplifier section. The breathtaking AirFrame Blade design enhances imaging, low-level sonic detail, accuracy, and speaker efficiency.


Curvilinear Line Source (CLS) Electrostatic Panel
CLS technology is an essential ingredient of every electrostatic loudspeaker we produce. Through our proprietary manufacturing method, we have built-in the panel’s gentle horizontal curvature. This unique design enhances the high frequency detail produced by the large radiating surface, without compromising overall sound quality. Notice how the gentle modern curve and perforation pattern gives way to the flat grille of the woofer section.


Controlled Dispersion Sound Radiation
The sound we hear from a loudspeaker is a combination of direct radiation from it to our ears, and reflections off of room surfaces—walls, floor, and ceiling. How our brains integrate this information is far from simple. Depending on the angle of incidence to the ears and the arrival-time difference between direct and reflected sound, reflections can either blur detail and stereo imaging, or enhance the natural impression of depth and openness.


Electrostatic panels, which are true dipole speakers, produce a nearly-ideal controlled dispersion radiation pattern. They send very little sound to the sides, thereby minimizing side-wall reflections, whose short arrival times tend to interfere with the perception of the direct sound. Their strong rear radiation, however, produces a generous amount of natural, ambience-enriching later-arriving mid- and upper register information.
Impression ESL 11A


New PoweredForce Forward™ Bass Technology
PoweredForce Forward bass technology combines two MartinLogan audio innovations: PoweredForce, which allows small enclosures to accurately produce massive amounts of bass, and ForceForward, which significantly reduces performance-robbing front-wall bass reflections.
PoweredForce Forward bass technology uses an advanced crossover topology with phase-timed woofers to minimize destructive reflected energy. By virtually eliminating front-wall bass reflections and working in tandem with the panel, PoweredForce Forward Bass Technology gives you more placement flexibility, and enhances the true audio realism of your sound source.

Masterpiece Series speaker cabinet dimensions create an ideal relationship between the woofers, cabinet volume, and amplifiers in their PoweredForce woofer systems. By providing ample internal volume for the woofers (two sealed enclosures—one per woofer) along with powerful amplification, Masterpiece Series speakers with powered woofer systems are capable of reaching the lowest registers with authority while preserving bass detail.


With ForceForward bass technology, the farther apart the woofers are from each other the lower in frequency its beneficial effects extend. MartinLogan’s ForceForward technology has solved a problem (found in nearly all speakers) where low bass frequency soundwaves reflect off the wall behind the speakers and interact with the waves traveling towards the listener. These interactions create non-linearity in those frequencies as they arrive at your ears and bass information suffers from both cancelations and excessiveness that is not accurate to the original sound. By selectively adjusting phasing of output from their opposing woofers, powered Masterpiece Series speakers eliminate problematic bass energy from behind the speakers.


Additionally, due to their dipole nature, electrostatic panels perform best when placed at least 2.5-feet or more from the wall—a distance that is ideal for the front of nearly any high-end speaker, regardless of driver technology. The depth of Masterpiece Series cabinets lends itself to providing electrostatic panels with adequate distance from the wall, guaranteeing a richly detailed, three-dimensional soundstage.


New More Performance, Versatility, and Safety, with WBT Binding Posts
Connect your electronics safely and securely using 5-Way audiophile WBT Binding Posts. Their pure copper connection plate is highly conductive and free from “eddy current” effects. These posts are insulated for shock protection, and fully damped against vibrations. They give you plenty of room for large-gauge professional speaker connections.


Connect your electronics safely and securely using 5-Way audiophile WBT Binding Posts. Their pure copper connection plate is highly conductive and free from eddy current effects. These posts are insulated for shock protection, and fully damped against vibrations. They give you plenty of room for large-gauge professional speaker connections.



MartinLogan’s dedicated in-house design and engineering team created an extremely precise 24-bit Vojtko Digital Signal Processing (DSP) engine to work in conjunction with these powerful new amplifiers. It gives these speakers the ability to deliver detailed low-frequency performance reaching down to 24Hz. Advanced DSP allows complete control and performance optimization over the low pass filters, woofer equalization and limiting functions, all of which are mapped mathematically in the digital domain.


Complete control of the signal, along with instant response, huge amounts of clean power, and efficient, integrated performance, paints an original picture of lifelike audio performance.



Precision-Built Advanced-Topology Vojtko Crossover
Vojtko voiced, the advanced crossover and electronics in Impression ESL 11A add mid-range clarity to this artful composition. Carefully hand-built using only the finest polypropylene capacitors and air-core coils, the crossover employs MartinLogan’s proprietary Vojtko topology for vanishingly low distortion and seamless driver/ESL integration. This precision-tuned network preserves even the most microscopic sonic nuances while handling the full dynamics of any source.


Reviews

Customer Reviews

Based on 2 reviews
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PennyLane
Cheapest Time Machine In the World

After living with the Impressions for several months now, I must comment on just how well they perform. I've owned many very good speakers in the past from top brands, but these are on another level for sure. It took a little time to dial them in perfectly but the effort was well worth it and the speakers now completely disappear, leaving just a huge soundstage that both expansive and deep.
The mids and highs are just spot on. I have never heard vocals as lush and realistic as the impressions and everything I've read about electrostatic clarity is true. Bass was a bit boomy out of the box but settled in nicely with about 100 hours of break-in. I then used the ML PBK kit and ARC software to automatically match the bass with the room. Now we are talking! The subwoofers in these speakers hit hard an play down to about 25 hz in my room. I really don't feel the need for a sub with these speakers at all.

Here is a breakdown
Cons:
Tall and hard to get up to a second floor.
A bit more effort is needed to get the speakers dialed in but it is worth it.
Sweet spot is not as wide as a cone and dome speaker.
Will not smooth over poor recordings. They tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Pros:
Ulta transparent and natural sounding.
Truly full range sound from ultra deep bass to the highest highs.
True to life soundstage. Singers don't come off as being 3 ft tall as they do with many traditional speakers.

P
PennyLane
Pure Audio Bliss

Just a quick work on the ESL 11A speakers. I have auditioned dozens of speakers in the $9-15K range and I firmly believe this is one of the best speakers you can get for the money. A) It is truly full range, with amplified dual 8 inch woofers built in that can easily pressurize my room with deep bass when called upon. Using the ARC room correction software fixed a large peak at 55hz and a few smaller ones as well. the result was tighter, more balanced bass with absolutely no thickness or boom. Anyone who is using speakers without some type of room correction for the bass is missing out.

B) They throw a huge soundstage that is both wide and deep. By pulling my speakers out from the wall to where the panels are just about 5 ft from the wall, the speakers just disappear sonically. I've struggled to get my previous speakers to soundstage anywhere close to these.

C) My 100 wpc integrated amp is plenty of power to drive these speakers to impressive volumes louder than my ears can take. Quality power trumps quantity here. which brings me to D) The Impression 11As just tell the truth. Sub-par sources and amplification up stream have no where to hide. The same can be said for recordings, grungy recordings with high compression will sound harsh and flat. Well recorded music will give you goose bumps.

I just listened to the latest re-release of Abbey Road on Qobuz. It was just spectacular. Same with the new Billie Eilish theme song to 007 No Time to Die. She may not be everyone's cup of tea, but her recordings are well done and her voice can be as haunting as the best of them. "Audiophile" albums like Dead Can Dance's "Dionysus" or Patricia Barber's "Clique" give you a feeling like you are in the studio standing in front of the artists. There is a real 3D quality to the sound that Electrostatic speakers project easily when set up properly.

All I can say is that you get a lot of speaker for the money. I know they aren't inexpensive, but they certainly are worth the investment if you are in the market.