user’s manual ®
WARNING! Do not use your EM-ESL C loudspeakers outside of the country of original sale—voltage requirements vary by country. Improper voltage can cause damage that will be potentially expensive to repair. The EM-ESL C is shipped to authorized MartinLogan distributors with the correct power supply for use in the country of intended sale. A list of authorized distributors can be accessed at www. martinlogan.com or by e-mailing info@martinlogan.
x1 Serial Number:_____________________________ Record your serial number here for easy reference. You will need this information when filling out your warranty registration. The serial number is located near the binding posts and on the product carton.
WARNING! Do not use your EM-ESL C loudspeakers outside of the country of original sale—voltage requirements vary by country. Improper voltage can cause damage that will be potentially expensive to repair. The EM-ESL C is shipped to authorized MartinLogan distributors with the correct power supply for use in the country of intended sale. A list of authorized distributors can be accessed at www. martinlogan.com or by emailing info@martinlogan.com.
Step 4: Signal Connection Use the best speaker cables you can. Higher For detailed setup instructions, please turn to the Speaker Level Connection section of this manual quality cables, available from your specialty dealer, are recommended and will give you superior performance. for more details. Step 5: Listen and Enjoy Now, you may turn on your system and enjoy! Attach your speaker cables to the signal input section on the rear panel.
CONNECTIONS LOW-VOLTAGE (DC) POWER CONNECTION Your EM-ESL C speakers use external low-voltage power supplies to energize their electrostatic panels. For this reason the proper low-voltage power supplies are provided. A power supply should be firmly inserted into the ‘DC Power In’ receptacle on the rear connection panel of each speaker, then to any convenient AC wall outlet.
do not overtighten—do not use a tool to tighten the binding posts. Be consistent when connecting the speaker cables to the signal input terminals. Take care to assign the same color cable lead to the (+) terminal on both the left and right channel speakers. If bass is nonexistent and you cannot discern a tight, coherent image, you may need to reverse the (+) and (–) leads on one speaker to bring the system into proper polarity.
By 1985, both formats had developed into very high quality audio/video sources. In fact, the sonic that the center speaker be extremely accurate and mate well with the front speaker, and that it is performance of some video formats exceeded audio-only formats. Now, with theater-quality sound available at home, the only element missing was the “surround sound” presentation found in movie houses. recommended for use as a center speaker. This is not the place to cut corners.
ELECTROSTATIC ADVANTAGES How can sound be reproduced by something that you are able to see through? Electrostatic energy extremely light and flexible. This allows it to be very responsive to transients, thus perfectly tracing the makes this possible. Where the world of traditional loudspeaker technology deals with cones, domes, diaphragms and ribbons that are moved with magnetism, the world of electrostatic loudspeakers deals with charged electrons attracting and music signal.
cannot be driven uniformly because of their design. Cones are driven only at the apex. Domes are driven at their perimeter. As a result, the rest of the cone or dome is just “along for the ride”. The very concept of these drivers requires that the cone or dome be perfectly rigid, damped and massless. Unfortunately, these conditions are not available in our world today.
FOLDED MOTION™ TWEETER The Folded Motion Tweeter works by moving air excursion than the typical 1” dome tweeter, which drastically minimizes distortion while providing a (which creates sound) perpendicular to the folded ridges of the diaphragm, similar to how an accordion works. This extremely low mass diaphragm “squeezes” air and requires almost 90% less lightning fast response time.
performed splendidly. They had never heard instrumental timbres reproduced with such realism. response to meet his criteria. Janszen believed that electrostats were inherently more linear than This system sounded like real music rather than the honking, squawking rendition of the acoustic gramophone. Immediately, they knew they were on to something big. The acoustic gramophone was destined to become obsolete. cones, so he built a model using a thin plastic diaphragm treated with a conductive coating.
played very loud, it had poor bass performance, it presented a difficult load that some amplifiers did not like, its dispersion was very directional and its power handling was limited to around 70 watts. As a result, many people continued to use box speakers with cones. In the early 1960’s Arthur Janszen joined forces with the KLH loudspeaker company, and together they introduced the KLH 9. Due to the large size of the KLH 9, it did not have as many sonic limitations as the Quad.
What size amplifier should I use? We recommend an amplifier with 100 to 200 physical nuisance. If this is the case, replacing the electrostatic transducer will be the only solution. watts per channel for most applications. Probably less would be adequate for our smaller hybrids or when used in home theater where a subwoofer is employed.
whenever they are not in use. A power strip is an easy way to do that. Could my children, pets, or myself be shocked by the high-voltage present in the electrostatic panel? No. High voltage with low current is not dangerous. As a matter of fact, the voltage in our speakers is 10 times less than the static electricity that builds up only charge the panel while music is being played. This improvement has made a tremendous difference in the consistent performance of our product.
See ‘Weak Output from Electrostatic Panel, Loss of Highs’. Lack of Bass, No Bass • Check your speaker wires. Is the polarity correct? • Check the binding posts. Are the dirty? If so clean them with rubbing alcohol. • Check the binding posts. Are the loose? Make sure they are firmly hand-tightened. GENERAL INFORMATION WARRANTY AND REGISTRATION Your EM-ESL C speakers are provided with an automatic Limited 90 Day Warranty coverage.
SPECIFICATIONS* System Frequency Response 66–23,000 Hz ±3db Recommended Amplifier Power 20–300 watts per channel Dispersion Horizontal: 30 Degrees Sensitivity 89 dB/2.83 volts/meter Impedance 4 ohms. Compatible with 4, 6, or 8 ohm rated amplifiers. Mid-Frequency Driver 23” x 6.375” (58.4cm x 16.2cm) CLS™ XStat™ electrostatic with two 9” x 6.375” (22.8cm x 16.2cm) transducers with total playable area 114 in2 (740cm2) Woofers Two 5.25” (13.
Clipping. Distortion of a signal by its being chopped off. An overload problem caused by pushing an amplifier beyond its capabilities. The flattopped signal has high levels of harmonic distortion which creates heat in a loudspeaker and is the major cause of loudspeaker component failure. given electrical input. Often expressed as decibels/ watt/meter (dB/w/m). ESL. The abbreviation for electrostatic loudspeaker. Headroom. The difference, in decibels, between the peak and RMS levels in program material.
(AC, DC, battery) to operate. The crossover in a typical loudspeaker is of the passive variety. Passive crossovers TIM. The abbreviation for transient intermodulation distortion. consist of capacitors, inductors and resistors. Phase. The amount by which one sine wave leads or lags a second wave of the same frequency. The difference is described by the term phase angle. Sine waves in phase reinforce each other; those out of phase cancel. Pink noise.
1.2” (3cm) 7.3” (18.5cm) DIMENSIONAL DRAWINGS 15.9” (40.4cm) 22.8” (57.9cm) 7.6” (19.3cm) 5° 1.2” (3cm) 3.9” (9.9cm) 16.1” (40.9cm) 5.9” (15cm) 2” (5.1cm) ® Lawrence, Kansas, USA tel 785.749.0133 www.martinlogan.com ©2016 MartinLogan. All rights reserved. fax 785.749.