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9
If the entire front wall consists of heavy drapery,
your system can sound dull. You may hear muted
music with little ambience. Harder surfaces will
actually help in this case. The front surface ideally
should be one long wall without any doors or
openings. If you have openings, the reflection
and bass characteristics from each channel can
be different.
THE SIDE WALLS
A good rule of thumb is to have the side walls
as far away from the speaker sides as possible.
However, MartinLogan’s unique controlled
dispersion electrostatic transducer inherently
minimizes side wall reflections—a position as
little as two feet from the side walls often proves
adequate. Sometimes, if the system is bright or the
imaging is not to your liking, and the side walls
are very near, try putting curtains or softening
material directly to the edge of each speaker. An
ideal side wall, however, is no side wall at all.
EXPERIMENTATION
Toe-in
Now you can begin to experiment. First begin
by toeing your speakers in towards the listening
area and then facing them straight into the room.
You will notice the tonal balance and imaging
changing. You will notice that as the speakers are
toed-out, the system becomes slightly brighter than
when toed-in. This design gives you the flexibility to
compensate for a soft or bright room.
Generally it is found that the ideal listening position
is with the speakers slightly toed-in so that you are
listening to the inner third of the curved transducer
section. A simple, yet effective method to achieve
proper toe involves sitting at the listening position,
holding a flashlight under your chin and pointing it
at each speaker. The reflection of the flashlight should
be within the inner third of the panel (see figure 5).
Imaging
In their final location, your EM-ESL’s can have a
stage width somewhat wider than the speakers
themselves. On well recorded music, the
instruments can extend beyond the edges of
each speaker (left and right), yet a vocalist should
appear directly in the middle. The size of the
instruments should be neither too large nor too
small, subject to the intent and results of each
unique audio recording.
Additionally, you should find good clues as to
stage depth. Make sure that the vertical alignment,
distance from the front wall, and toe-in is exactly
the same for both speakers. This will greatly
enhance the quality of your imaging.
Bass Response
Your bass response should neither be one note
nor should it be too heavy. It should extend to
the deepest organ passages and yet be tight
and well defined. Kick-drums should be tight and
percussive—string bass notes should be uniform
and consistent throughout the entirety of the run
without booming or thudding.
Tonal Balance
Voices should be natural and full and cymbals
should be detailed and articulate yet not bright
and piercing, pianos should have a nice transient
characteristic and deep tonal registers. This will give
you clues on how to get closer to these ideal virtues.
FINAL PLACEMENT
After the full break in period, obtaining good wall
treatments, and the proper toe-in angle, begin to
experiment with the distance from the wall behind
the speakers Move your speaker slightly forward
into the room. What happened to the bass
response? What happened to the imaging? If the
imaging is more open and spacious and the bass
response is tightened, that is a superior position.
Move the speakers back six inches from the initial
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