Customer Reviews

MartinLogan Motion 4 Bookshelf Speaker (Piano Black, each)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The MartinLogan Motion 4 bookshelf speaker has been a pleasant surprise for me. I think it is a very good value and an excellent way to upgrade a home theater system.

Note that during listening sessions I compared the MartinLogan 4's with my current Yamaha HTIB system (similar to the Yamaha NS-SP1600 5.1-Channel Surround Speaker System (Black)). I also compared them in a retail store with similarly priced Definitive Technology ProMonitor 1000 Bookshelf Speaker. When applicable I will note comparisons to these other products.

Features - The ML Motion 4 includes a unique Folded Motion Tweeter, which is a similar to the Heil tweeters used in the highly regarded ESS speakers of the 70's - 90's. These are paired with a 4" paper woofer and a rear bass port. The Motion 4 has a frequency response of 70 - 20 KHz +/- 3 dB and can handle up to 150 watts. The box also includes a wall mount mechanism.

Sound - In listening to the Motion 4s I was immediately impressed by the clarity of the sound. Compared to my previous Yamaha HTIB speakers I immediately heard a clarity in the midrange and treble that blew me away. To me the Motion 4 is a "forward" sounding speaker, and sometimes that might not be my preference, but in this case the overall sound is still natural and balanced, and the forward sound and clarity make these outstanding home theater speakers. (Note that more extended listening may soften the sound a bit as the speakers continue to break in.)

After switching between the Motion 4 and the Definitive 1000s during a store demo, they were both excellent choices, and I expect I'd be happy with either. But in the end the Definitive 1000s sounded just a tiny bit recessed or nasal compared to the Motion 4, and I found myself drawn to the overall tonal balance and clarity of the MLs.

One note on the Motion 4s or any small bookshelf / satellite speakers - to get a full range of sound for home theater or music a subwoofer is essential. The Motion 4 only gets down to 70 Hz, and attempting to turn up the bass controls to artificially pump up the low frequencies will just ruin the sound of these. If buying these for standalone use just accept the fact that you will not get as much bass as you with a set of full sized speakers with 8" or larger woofers.

Build - Very good. I'm used to wood or MDF enclosures on speakers, so the plastic used in the Motion 4s was a bit off-putting at first. But these speakers are very solid, weighing in at six pounds each, and unless the speakers are subject to very rough handling or drops I would not be concerned about their durability. The speakers come with recessed binding posts; I'm not thrilled with these, as they look very nice but make it a bit tricky to hook up speaker wire as the binding posts are hidden behind large push buttons. The overall curved shape of the Motion 4 is appealing, and while not tiny these are still small enough to be unobtrusive if needed.

Conclusion - great home theater speakers, esp. when paired with a highly quality subwoofer.

Speaker reviews can be somewhat misleading unless you know what the reviewer is comparing them to and what their setup is. Here are those details.

Listening setup:

Source - Marantz CC4001 connected to Marantz SR7001 via analog cables.
Comparison speakers: B&W 683.

Listening to the Martin Logan at a similar distance and at ear height.

Results:

The Martin Logan delivered amazing clarity making what I initially felt were somewhat sybillant speakers (the B&Ws) feel somewhat veiled. Further listening with a couple different CDs, including the excellently mastered Dire Straits Greatest Hits CD, revealed that that clarity didn't come without a price. With the wrong material the speakers coul easily feel harsh. Even with a great recording, the speakers could a times feel strident. Interestingly I felt the speakers sounded better when standing, putting my ears out of the direct line of fire of the ribbon tweeter.

Not to state the obvious, but for best results these speakers should be paired with a quality subwoofer. They are capable in smaller spaces, but for larger rooms or theater applications, a subwoofer is highly recommended.

Imaging: With only one speaker to review, I can't talk to the imaging abilities of these speakers though I would assume that they are capable of producing a nice soundstage.

Fit and Finish: The gloss black finish of the speaker on the plastic cabinet is beautiful, though possibly a dust and fingerprint magnet. Included in the package are wall mount brackets for those interested in wall maounting. A nice plus. As for connections these come with spring clips only, so no banana clips. The clips are nicer than the cheap ones that you find on budget speakers though should be noted for those wanting to use premade or custom cables.

In summary, as with all speakers, one should listen before purchasing. These are nice speakers with an excellent fit and finish and delivering great clarity that can be unforgiving. Worth a listen for those that desire clarity with those caveats.

I was very pleased with the packing from the company - the speakers come in a very secure box with lots of padding and a dustcover to prevent cosmetic damage. Out of the box, I was so impressed with the build of these speakers - you can feel the quality and craftsmanship. They are heavy, well designed, well balanced (even with the curving design) and overall, obviously well made.

They don't come with speaker wire, so you might want make sure you have some on hand. This is standard, but I thought I'd mention it. The wire is very easy to install on the back once you figure it out. There's a plus and minus type PLUG, and I thought you took it off and put the wire in there, but you don't, you leave that alone, and simply press the top, and the wire goes underneath. That might save you a bit of fiddling.

You have to burn these speakers in - you don't crank them right out of the box. I just put them in a spare room with the radio on for a couple of days because I was anxious to turn up the volume.

They sound great! Compared to my Sony speakers, which are great for their price range, - WOW. The highs are so incredibly clear and true to life and my overall listening impression is 'precise.' Increasing the volume has no effect on the precision, these speakers stay very true to life. These speakers are awesome.

Can I give 4.5? The value delivered in this speaker is virtually unmatched. I think these can compete with bookshelf speakers that cost nearly twice as much. Others demoed include def techs, mirage, paradigm, B&W. The only reason sound is less than 5 stars is because the tweeters are a bit bright and can be too much for some music, but some people like it. For a "warm" recording, they are incredible. For TV and movies, they're great, but I'm a music lover first. Also, the middle of the midrange seems to lack very slightly, but these are minor characteristics and maybe just due to my own preferences. I could see holding onto these for quite some time. Got a great deal from amazon warehouse, which stated there would be some small blemishes. I couldn't find any. Great condition.

These are some amazing speakers. I am not an audiophile, so I can't tell the difference between decibels, , frequencies, ranges or what not. I just go by how it sounds. With that said, these speakers sound AMAZING. I have been using them for a few weeks now, so they should be fully "burned in". I received a pair of these speakers to get the full experience, but they are sold separately.

Voices come out clear and detailed. I enjoy using these to listen to music, but I enjoy cranking them up quite a bit when watching movies. I think they sound super fantastic when I am listening to my favorite classical pieces. So crisp.

The design is nice, and even with the curvy design, they stand straight up and will never lean over on a bookshelf. I didn't mount mine to the wall, but you do have that option.

The speakers have a glossy piano black finish, which makes it look very elegant and art deco like. They do not come with speaker wires, so you will have to have that at the ready if you want to use them right out the box.

Martin Logan has really impressed me with their product. These speakers deserve 5 stars all the way.

Equipment:
1x MartinLogan Motion 6 Center Channel Speaker
2x MartinLogan Motion 4 Bookshelf Speakers
1x Sony STR-K840P

Test Samples:
Top Gun (initial dogfight)
Eagles: Hell Freezes Over (DTS DVD): Hotel California
Melissa McClelland: Passenger 24
Sarah McLachlan: Angel, Building a Mystery, Forgiveness
Various 720P YouTube samplings
720P Digital Copy of Iron Man 2 (Racetrack scene)
Harry Potter: The Half Blood Prince (initial Dementors attack and subway scenes) - Blu-Ray PS3 (over TOSLink)
Walk the Line: DVD - Folsom Prison concert
Blade Runner: DVD - Intro
XBox: Fallout 3: New Vegas

Disclaimer:
Most audio reviews are very dependent upon the preferences of the listener. Personally I like "punchy" speakers with a nice warm tone which do well for both movies and music. My home theater system is made up of the Klipsch Reference Series speakers (1 center, 2 floor standing, 2 bookshelf) along with a 12" Velodyne sub woofer. Klipsch speakers are generally known for their good low and middle tones with sometimes muddled high notes. Velodyne subs are generally known for loud, thudding base. The Klipsch Reference Series ranges in price anywhere from an affordable $250 per speaker to the high side over $1000 a speaker. Most of my speakers are in the middle of the road, averaging around $500/ea. I'm providing this info so you can get an idea of the type of sound I prefer and skew my review with this in mind.

The Music Review:
The MartinLogans did very well in my opinion on the music side of the house. The high tones were nice, bright and clear - you could even call them "snappy". However with zero large woofer support, the snappy tones had no body or warmth which was the only drawback. If you plan on purchasing these speakers as your one and only source of sound, make sure to pick up a decent sub woofer at the same time or else you'll be missing a lot of the musical undertones. If you're a vocal music lover you will approve of the clear tones produced by these speakers. If you're an instrumentalist (especially percussionist) you'll probably want to skip having these as the only source of sound. You'll hear the snares, but the toms will be sad and lacking.

Music Conclusion: Purchase when paired with a nice sub woofer as the nice high tones produce an amazingly clear treble pitch. Avoid if these will be the only source of sound as the lack of tone warmth will leave most music feeling flat.

The Movie / Surround Review:
Much like with the music review, watching movies using the MartinLogans produced nice clear tones, but again no "thud". As surround speakers however, these little speakers produced an impressive amount of sound for their size. The test room was a standard living room approximately 25x25 in size with three closed walls and a single open wall into the kitchen. Like most homes an acoustically perfect room doesn't really exist in a home's build plan. That being said, the MartinLogans did well with filling the room with sound and creating the environmental sense of being surrounded with sound - even when only using three speakers. The small footprint of these speakers also lend themselves well to being hidden within media furniture if you decide not to use the provided wall mounting hardware.

Movie / Surround Conclusion:
Great speakers for general sound including movie and TV watching. The lack of bass support does require a sub for added "oomph," however the lack of the low tones may suit smaller rooms and would work especially well for buyers living in apartments or multifamily housing which doesn't allow the volume to be turned up significantly. Both the center channel and bookshelf speakers did well in creating the illusion of sound depth.

Overall Conclusion
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The MartinLogan Motion series of speakers have great sound for a great price but their placement in the home theater market may be very specific if not supported by a good sub woofer. Like their premium electrostatic brethren, these MartinLogans bring a wonderful sound clarity and brightness while sacrificing the warm lower tones. As standalone speakers, the Motion line would do well for smaller rooms and apartment dwellers in both the movie and TV realms. For music lovers however, a more full-bodied line of speakers should probably be considered. When paired with a nice sub however, the Motion line can easily sit proudly with many other mid-range home theater speaker solutions.

As far as the "bang for your buck" factor, the Motion line is sitting in the middle of a very competitive field. Home Theater speakers that are in the $150 to $300/ea range are probably in the most cluttered field on the market right now. The small physical size of the Motion line is both its greatest asset and flaw, all in one. The tiny footprint allows these speakers to go almost anywhere - and again with the Folded Motion Tweeter technology, these babies put out an impressive amount of sound. Unfortunately the size also removes the possibility of a woofer - unless you upgrade to the floor standing Motion 10 or 12's, which also take a huge leap in price. That being said, the MartinLogans are by no means "cheap," and in fact they're hugging the high-side of the general consumerists' market. Don't expect these Motion speakers to rival their bigger, costlier electrostatic brothers either - they're not really in the same ballpark. In the end, you will get what you pay for, but that's a good thing with these speakers. They proudly announce their tone clarity and small physical stature while assuming that you will eventually pair them with a punchy sub or floor standing front speaker to help them fill out the mid and low tones. The Motions are solidly built and come with an amazing piano black finish (with an included polishing cloth because these suckers will attract fingerprints and dust like magnets) that no one will look at and think "cheap".

Can you get better all-around speakers for the same price? - More than likely, yes.
Will they have the same brightness of tone or small foot print? - Probably not.
Will you be happy with the purchase of the Motion series? - Yes, I think so.

Motion 4 Bookshelf Speaker Specific Conclusion
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Honestly I was probably expecting more from the Motion 4 than from the Motion 6 Center. When using a Center channel, you can more easily assume that the user will be placing the speaker into a home theater situation, complete with a 5.1 or 7.1 installation. With bookshelf speakers however, many people purchase these as their single source of sound. Many living rooms or bedrooms are simply not configured for a good 5/7.1 surround setup or there's simply not enough room. While the floor standing speaker would be the first "go-to" for stand-alone speakers, these are generally large, bulky and often take up more room than most people are comfortable with in a small living area.

The Motion 4 bookshelf speakers shine when placed into a full 5/7.1 architecture, however as a single stand-alone product, they leave a bit to be desired.

I hooked up a pair of the MartinLogan Motion 4 speakers to spruce up the sound of the TV we have in our bedroom. Using a Yamaha receiver with decent current capability, these speakers really open up. Using the SPDIF output from our Verizon FIOS box and the DAC in the receiver, we get clear dialog and sound for TV and movies. At times, the tweeters are actually a bit too revealing -- stations that don't do a good job with their audio (e.g., ones that run poorly produced local ads) stand exposed before you as you hear all the hiss and compression.

Using a Harman/Kardan DVD player as an audio source, the speakers do a good job with music to reasonably loud volumes. They're wonderful for acoustic and folk, competent for jazz, and fair for rock/dance. We're using them without a subwoofer (it's a bedroom set up, after all), so music that depends on thumping bass comes up a bit short. For acoustic, jazz, and classical, however, they do a nice job of imaging (given the source we're using to drive them) and provide a good, airy presentation that makes instruments sound natural.

These knock the socks off the old 5 1/4" Infinity speakers we used to use, making those sound like an old man with chest congestion by comparison.

The piano-black plastic finish is attractive, but you'll see plenty of fingerprints and dust. Get some microfiber cleaning cloths to keep them clean and free from scratches. The grilles are OK, but they don't seem to detach at all. No biggie.

All in all, these are a solid choice for someone looking to take a step up from the bulk, consumer-oriented Polk/Infinity bookshelf speakers that you find at most big box electronics stores.

I got these to replace my Boston Acoustics bookshelf speakers and I am glad I did. The sound out of these is by far the best I have heard out of any bookshelf speaker. The only problem I have with these speakers is that I didn't get them sooner. Now I just need to convince my wife to get the rear speakers to go with them. If you are thinking of getting these speakers, I do recommend not to wait. Just get them.

I use some DCM Timeframe speakers as my primary speakers and JBL as my rear. Being a music lover I am always eager to try new speakers and having never listened to Martin Logan this was an unexpected treat. For such a small bookshelf speakers I was impressed with the clarity of sound coming from these, especially from the tweeter. I put on Mannheim Steamroller Christmas 25th Anniversary Collection and was really blown away with the rich sound of the bells and orchestra instruments on this CD. The lower end of the sound spectrum was lacking and felt compressed, but that can be fixed with a subwoofer. For smaller spaces these can work well as primary speakers, and as rear channel speakers these are amazing. Although JBL makes some great speakers, these were better than my JBL bookshelf speakers so I will be handing the JBL's down to my son and installing these permanently in the family room as the rear channel.

I have had these speakers for about six months now and they are great for the money. Yeah, I know one could get speakers at a big box store for much cheaper but they would sound pretty bad. These, paired with the Dynamo 500, and do well with music or TV. They sound like they cost much more than they really do.