MartinLogan Motion 6 Center Channel Speaker (Piano Black, each)

by Martin

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 3.8 x 17.5 x 5.2 inches ; 6 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B0035FZ12O
• Item model number: Motion 6
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #20,905 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
  • #68 in Electronics > Home Audio & Theater > Stereo Components > Speakers > Center-Channel 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® 6 features an exquisite Folded Motion tweeter and powerful bass technology in a compact and affordable package. Key to Motion 6'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.

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

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great sound, great clarity - excellent center channel, November 7, 2010

By 

Naomi (Storm) (Texas) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: MartinLogan Motion 6 Center Channel Speaker (Piano Black, each) (Electronics)

(What's this?)

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
---------------------------

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 6 Center Channel Speaker Specific Conclusion
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The Motion 6 is tiny for a center channel - and for such a tiny speaker it puts out a whopping amount of sound. As most of you know, the Center channel is the heart of your surround configuration and can be responsible for upwards of 80% of the total sound produced. It doesn't have to provide punch or bass-y thud, but instead just pure, clear tones. The Motion 6 knows how to do this and does it well. The only complaint I would have about this speaker is that it does tend to get tinny when you push a large amount of volume at it, but my testing volume was probably much higher than most people would enjoy during a normal sit-down TV or movie watching (50+ on the Sony receiver).

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nonintrusive, Convenient, Good Sounding Center Channel Speaker, November 4, 2010

By 

Glenn R. Howes (Nashua, NH) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: MartinLogan Motion 6 Center Channel Speaker (Piano Black, each) (Electronics)

(What's this?)

My wife hated my previous center channel, an Aperion Intimus 4C, because it was too bulky and protruded and intruded into our TV room. She's fine with this MartinLogan speaker as it knows its place, not as a centerpiece but as the opposite of a good child, heard but not seen. Not that it's invisible, but it doesn't grab the eye.

The included mounting hardware results in a wall hugging, modest appearance.

Initially, I mounted it vertically under my TV, this had the advantage of easy screw placement, as only one mounting bracket was needed while the speaker hung down under gravity. Later, when I upgraded to a larger TV, I mounted the speaker horizontally over the TV. This was a bit more involved, and required careful measurements to get the screws lined up properly for both mounting brackets and the center of the speaker above the center of the TV, but it resulted in a more traditional and staid appearance, and a good wife acceptance factor.

The speaker wire connection ports are a bit over the top, with large ornate spring loaded buttons to release the clamps; a bit too much, but they do work, and quickly.

Sound is good with decent range. My receiver, a Denon AVR-591, has a microphone based calibration feature, and it gives this speaker a crossover point of 100 Hz which is pretty good. My Aperion had a crossover of 90 Hz. Either way, the subwoofer isn't asked to cover for limitations of the center. Certainly noticeably clearer then the cheap speakers I have for my surrounds. I do not scrimp on my center channel, and you shouldn't either. As I'm fairly impressed with this, I may pick up matching left and right channels when my budget allows.

For such a compact speaker, mounted so close to the wall, the sound is pleasant and transparent, and I would think that only a demanding audiophile would see value in spending more money on a higher end speaker. Having said that, I still prefer the Aperion a bit.

So, I recommend this speaker to anyone putting together a home theater in a moderately sized space who doesn't want intrusive speakers, but still wants good sound.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A worthy component for a smaller home theater, November 2, 2010

By 

Dr. Stuart Gitlow (Providence, RI United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: MartinLogan Motion 6 Center Channel Speaker (Piano Black, each) (Electronics)

(What's this?)

I've been a longtime fan of MartinLogan's electrostatic loudspeakers. The smallest of ML's center channel electrostats, the Matinee, retails for nearly $1500, is 30" long and over 7" high. Frequency response on that unit runs from 73-20,000Hz and you can drive it with up to 300 watts. It's a wonderful speaker. The problem, of course, is that it is overkill for a small room and/or inexpensive home theater. ML's new Motion line is meant to provide an alternative.

The Motion series is not electrostatic in form. Rather these are closer to standard speakers with a twist - literally: the Folded Motion tweeter has been designed to provide a tighter and more rapid response than a conventional speaker, though perhaps not as tight and rapid as a typical ML electrostat. There are three options for the Center channel, the Motion 6, Motion 8, and Motion C retailing for 3, 4, and $500 apiece. As you go up the price chain, you get increasing frequency response and increasing size.

Ultimately your decision as to which center channel speaker to buy may be driven by size or price, but please remember that the Center Channel is the heart of the dialog for most movie soundtracks. Speakers are like camera lenses...you can skimp on the camera itself, but the lens choice is critical. Similarly, the cost of your speakers should, in most cases, be equal to the cost of all your other components combined. That's a rough rule of thumb, but represents a good starting point.

So here we have the Motion 6, which runs from 120-25kHz, can be used with up to 130 watts per channel, and is 5.25"x17.5"x3.75". The unit is 6 pounds, and comes with wall mounting bracket and hardware. As usual with ML, the documentation, packaging, and all the accompanying materials are of high quality. I hooked up the speaker to a single channel of a stereo source, set the preamp to mono, and that allowed for some A/B comparisons. As expected, the midrange and high end response of the Motion 6 is excellent, exceeding that of more expensive traditional loudspeakers. The speaker does not have the precision and quality of an electrostat, but nor should that be expected at this price point. Dialog comes through clearly, but be aware that the low end is not particularly full on the Motion 6. The richness of vocals sometimes comes in at the low end, and for that, I'd probably look more closely at the Motion 8, if price point and size of that unit are acceptable. There's another option: the Motion 4 is $50 less expensive than the Motion 6. While the 4's are designed to be the Right and Left speakers, there's no reason not to use one as a center channel; the Motion 4 also gives you a wider frequency response that goes from 70 to 25kHz. That said, I haven't heard the Motion 4, but looking at the specs, it would be a very reasonable speaker to listen to if you're considering the Motion 6.

I've rated this speaker as five stars; it deserves all five at this price point, but I should underscore the fact that spending more for a similar speaker from ML (say the Motion C) will result in a higher quality of sound reproduction. That said, ML has succeeded at bringing audiophile sound to a smaller room with less expensive components.