gofar99 Messages: 1942 Registered: May 2010 Location: Southern Arizona
Illuminati (5th Degree)
Hi Fred, good link. I believe it is spot on regarding the placement from the wall behind the speakers. Mine are at 40 inches. That would result in a reflective path of about 11-12 feet to the listing spot. Additionally I suspect that Martin Logan attacked the wrap around at higher frequencies by using the curved panels. It would tend to support the good sound even off center. The increased reflective sound field is also true and is what I personally like, but a lot of folks would prefer the more precise sound stage of conventional speakers. Yes it is also true if the panels are too far apart there can be a tendency to make instruments in the center to be huge. A really odd effect that you have to hear to believe. This requires a rethinking of how far apart the speakers should be. The common equilateral triangle is a big no go. It seems from my experience that the angles to the speakers is closer to a 75 degree angle than a 60. (speakers about 1/3 closer than you would expect).
Just FYI for all you folks that will go to LSAF in May. I am anticipating bringing the Vistas to it so you can hear and see some of the good or bad of this type of speaker.
One additional thing... most ESLs are very power hungry. The Vistas are rather the opposite and drive very well with as little as 10 watts. Like other planar types they have a decreasing impedance at high frequencies going from a nominal 4 ohms down to 1.2 at 20KHZ. Seemingly a difficult load for a tube amp, but my KT88 Oddblocks have no problems with it. Also at LSAF I plan to have a both the updated KT88 and new KT120 amps to drive them.
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I believe it is spot on regarding the placement from the wall behind the speakers. Mine are at 40 inches. That would result in a reflective path of about 11-12 feet to the listing spot. Additionally I suspect that Martin Logan attacked the wrap around at higher frequencies by using the curved panels. It would tend to support the good sound even off center. The increased reflective sound field is also true and is what I personally like, but a lot of folks would prefer the more precise sound stage of conventional speakers. Yes it is also true if the panels are too far apart there can be a tendency to make instruments in the center to be huge. 
A really odd effect that you have to hear to believe. This requires a rethinking of how far apart the speakers should be. The common equilateral triangle is a big no go. It seems from my experience that the angles to the speakers is closer to a 75 degree angle than a 60. (speakers about 1/3 closer than you would expect). 
