MartinLogan Motion 2 Bookshelf Speaker (Piano Black, each)

by Martin

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 4.5 x 5.3 x 11.3 inches ; 4 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0035FZ11K
• Item model number: Motion 2
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #29,368 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
  • #70 in Electronics > Home Audio & Theater > Stereo Components > Speakers > Bookshelf Speakers

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Built for Audiophiles, Priced for Everyone

Inspired by the clarity and detail of our ultra-high-end electrostatic loudspeakers, the MartinLogan Motion® 2 features an exquisite Folded Motion tweeter and powerful bass technology in a compact and affordable package. Key to Motion 2's performance is the lightning fast response of the tweeter's light-weight diaphragm combined with a large surface area (8-times that of a typical one-inch dome tweeter) which together achieve a smooth, refined sound with stunning dynamic range and jaw-dropping clarity—certain to inspire envy in audiophiles and non-audiophiles alike.

Luxurious Styling, Outstanding Performance

Motion Series speakers are available in floor standing tower and ultra-compact center bookshelf models. Speakers can be mixed-and-matched (along with MartinLogan's high-performance subwoofers) to create a stunning solution for any application—from a spectacular high-performance 2-channel music system to an exhilarating multi-channel home theater system. Voice-matched with MartinLogan electrostatic speakers, Motion Series Speakers also offer a perfect solution for compact rear-channel applications in traditional electrostatic based home theater systems.

Surround Yourself—Without Sacrificing Great Sound

Build a killer home theater that will shame other systems. With a wide selection of MartinLogan Motion models to mix-and-match, you can build the perfect home theater system for your budget in any size room. Add a MartinLogan Dynamo series subwoofer to create a complete 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound system. Dynamo 700 & 1000 are wireless ready, simply add a SWT-1 and you can tuck your subwoofer anywhere in the room for maximum versatility.

Meet The Family

Thoughtful Design: We Sweat the Small Stuff

Ultra-Easy Hookups

Get out your stopwatch and prepare to hook up your new speakers. Thanks to convenient high-quality push-style terminals and curved inserts, speaker wire glides effortlessly into place making Motion Series speakers one of the more enjoyable parts of setting up any system. Remove the rubber plugs in the back and the terminals are ready to accept banana plugs for the fastest connection.

Curve Your Perspective

After refining the perfecting the acoustic details our designers and engineers focused on giving the Motion Series an elegant yet understated styling that would complement flat panel TVs and other high-end components found in today's home theaters. To achieve this we gave Motion compact bookshelf and center channel speakers a flawless high-gloss, piano black finish in a slender and compact enclosure. Subtle curves, along with MartinLogan's signature perforated grille, add to the elegant and timeless look.

Versatile Placement

Not only do the curves on the Motion Series look great, they also serve a purpose—allowing Motion compact bookshelves to mount at two different angles with the included wall bracket. This means you can point sound directly toward the desired listening area for high or low wall mounting applications.

On a wall, shelf or stands

Motion 2 speakers don't have to be mounted. In fact, they look and sound great on speaker stands, or simply sitting next to your TV on a shelf.

Folded Motion tweeter design drastically minimizes distortion and provides a lightning fast response time.

Engineering, Without Compromises

What makes the Motion Series sound so amazing? MartinLogan's dedicated in-house engineering and design team started by utilizing and refining the most advanced, compact technologies and combining them with innovative engineering. The result is an emotionally engaging sound that rivals (and most times trounces) traditional loudspeakers of similar size and price. Our 'no compromise' philosophy gives Motion Series a unique sound you won't find anywhere else.

Voice Matched Sound

Our engineers are picky when it comes to how speakers should sound so when setting out to voice the Motion Series they had their sights fixed on some of the best sounding speakers in the world, which happen to be MartinLogan's ultra-high-end electrostatic loudspeakers. And what they produced is amazing alchemy that blends beautifully with the speed, nuance, and openness of MartinLogan electrostats.

Folded Motion™ Tweeter

The Folded Motion Tweeter works by moving air (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 excursion than the typical 1" dome tweeter, which drastically minimizes distortion while providing a lightning fast response time. The increased surface area also provides a wide, yet controlled sound dispersion to create a realistic and carefully etched sound stage.

Product Description

Inspired by MartinLogan's ultra-high-end electrostatic loudspeakers, the Motion Series was created to provide stunning sound for your ultimate-performance home theater or stereo. MartinLogan's dedicated in-house engineers carefully crafted the Motion Series to create an extremely affordable and compact product line that seamlessly blends our exquisite Folded Motion transducers with powerful, compact bass technology. The result is a smooth, refined sound with stunning dynamic range and jaw-dropping clarity. Complementing Motion's sonic accuracy is elegant yet understated styling. Flawless high-gloss, piano black finishes and subtle curves, along with our signature perforated grille, give Motion Series speakers an elegant and timeless look. Tower models feature a real-wood veneer finish and a stylish aesthetic certain to blend with any decor. The curves also serve a purpose; they allow Motion compact bookshelves to mount at two different angles with the included wall bracket. This means you can point sound directly toward the desired listening area for high or low wall mounting applications. Beauty and brains! Convenient push-style speaker terminals and curved inserts help guide speaker wire effortlessly into place. The rubber end caps on the terminal are also removable for the use of banana plugs instead of bare wire. So simple, you'll actually enjoy hooking up these speakers.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Yes, "Budget" Hi-Fi Bookshelf Speakers, October 21, 2010

By 

techdad review (San Francisco Bay Area) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: MartinLogan Motion 2 Bookshelf Speaker (Piano Black, each) (Electronics)

(What's this?)

MartinLogan. Honestly, when I received the Motion 2, it was the first I had heard of them. To the layman, they are certainly not as ubiquitous to stereo electronics as say, Sony, Pioneer, Harman Kardon, Yamaha, Polk Audio, Bose or Onkyo. There's a reason for that really. Until the Motion Series of speakers, MartinLogan specialized in extremely high-end electrostatic speakers that were priced way beyond the realm of affordability for the average consumer. We are talking tens of thousands of dollars. Ah, but what's this? MartinLogan has decided to let us common folk finally appreciate what the elite have been enoying for years. Watch out! Here comes the comMotion.

PROS:
- Affordable high-fidelity
- Fantastic highs and mids
- Sleek good looks
- Unique cable connection
- Includes wall mounting kit

CONS:
- Insufficient bass as stand-alone bookshelf speakers
- Not magnetically shielded

Over the years, I had drastically down-sized my stereo components due to lack of ideal space and the grabby-hands of little children. What remained before receiving the Motion 2 speakers were an Onkyo receiver, a Pioneer DVD/CD player, a TiVo Series 2, and a 32" CRT Sanyo television. A sad state of affairs, I know. I wasn't sure if I would be doing the Motion 2's justice with this set up. I quickly found out that while better quality source components would indeed help, even the most pathetic systems would benefit greatly from the inclusion of MartinLogan's Motion Series. Keep in mind that I am reviewing the Motion 2's as bookshelf speakers, not as part of a surround system.

AESTHETICS
I generally prefer classier, reserved aesthetics in my stereo components. This is why when I was actually trying to keep up with hi-fi circles, I invested in Linn equipment. What I wouldn't give to have my Linn equipment again to match up with MartinLogan speakers. The Motion 2's have a glossy black finish and come in a cloth-like bag to protect it during shipping. A cleaning cloth is also included in the box to help keep them looking shiny and pristine. The curves of the speakers give them a distinctive appearance and is much more attractive than the standard, boring rectangular speakers you often see. There aren't any giant logos on the speaker grill either and it was at least several minutes before I even noticed the small MartinLogan name badge on the bottom of the grill, which by the way, is removable!

SOUND
As with most good audio equipment, burn in time is recommended. MartinLogan recommends at least 72 hours. I have to admit that I did not burn the Motion 2's in for the recommended time. I didn't feel the need as I was immediately impressed with the sound. I started out by playing some music through them and I really could not believe my ears. You hear a lot of people say that good equipment, speakers and headphones especially, make you hear elements of a song you had never heard before. This was absolutely true for me with the music I was playing. I even paused the music a few times because I thought I was hearing external sounds from outside my home but it was that I hadn't heard the sounds before in the music! I played a range of music from rock, pop, synth pop, and folk. I could've dug up the few classical CD's I owned but those were buried in a box somewhere in a closet so I decided against it, fully believing that Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake would've made me weep. Also, these speakers were meant to be played loudly. They shine more brightly at mid to high volumes. The only drawback I found in the sound department was the lack of bass. I can hardly blame the speakers since you typically need a subwoofer to get the best overall sound from a system. Bookshelf speakers normally lack the proper bass characteristics without them, even the very expensive ones. Still, if you intend to use them as bookshelf speakers, you'll either have to live with insufficient bass, or invest in a sub.

MISCELLANEOUS
MartinLogan uses a unique, proprietary cable connection that works well. It's a push-button style which you can use to insert bare speaker wire into the speaker that allows the wire to become more flush with the back of the speaker. This is ideal for mounting on walls. Should you choose, you can also use banana plugs.

The only problem I had with the MartinLogan Motion2's was the fact that they were not magnetically shielded. Why? Because it appears that I am that lone jerk who refuses to upgrade their TV set to an LCD/LED or plasma. See "grabby-hands" comment above. Due to the speakers being unshielded, I had to make sure I kept them a fair distance away from my CRT television. MartinLogan recommends 2 feet! I had hoped to put the Motion2's right next to my TV on the TV stand but alas, I had to use a pair of speaker stands to avoid damaging my TV.

SUMMARY
The MartinLogan Motion2's sound amazing. However, a subwoofer would greatly improve the overall sound. They are a classic hi-fi trap; they make you want to upgrade everything else to achieve the best possible sound, even though they sound wonderful with even the most basic systems. For use without a sub however, I might recommend giving the Motion 4's a listen. The Motion 4's at least have a bass reflex port for better bass. If you want hi-fi on a budget, MartinLogan's Motion Series deserve very serious consideration.

5.0 out of 5 stars Love these little speakers, February 10, 2012

By 

Lonzo - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: MartinLogan Motion 2 Bookshelf Speaker (Piano Black, each) (Electronics)

I have the Motion 2s as my back speakers and the 4's for the front. For these, I've decided to use the Rocketfish wireless HD set and it sounds great! Easy and everything sounds great! Next step is to buy the Motion 6 for the center and I'm set. I highly recomment these speakers tho!

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing small speakers, February 14, 2011

By 

Sheri Fogarty (United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: MartinLogan Motion 2 Bookshelf Speaker (Piano Black, each) (Electronics)

(What's this?)

We have two very good Polk floor speakers, on a quality stereo system and that is what I had to compare these to.

They compared very well. They are small and very attractive looking and would work great for any home theater system. You can put them on a shelf or mount them to the wall.

The clarity of sound was very impressive. Only the bass was not quite as good as our Polk speakers but it was a very slight difference. And the MartinLogan 4 are supposed to have improved bass for only $20 more per speaker, so that could be considered as well. Hooking it up was easy and they have a push style terminal that was easy.

I had not heard of MartinLogan before I saw these speakers, and I am very impressed. We listened to 8 - 10 of our older albums, both rock and classical on variations of our Polk speakers and the MartinLogan speakers. I think as we hit the 72 hour burn in time (which they recommend) that the difference between these and our Polk's will be very small indeed.

These are very impressive, especially considering how small they are. Recommended!