I am in the progress of upgrading my living room audio setup. This was initially going to be a post to the lounge, but after some skim research I figure I’d ask the community.
Feel free to follow as I figure out what I need
Right now I have a LG C3 OLED, some cheapo speakers from my brother’s karaoke setup. I use the livingroom setup to play party games, light karaoke, and watch movies when I need to entertain guests.
The karaoke setup uses a optical spdif out to a mic and audio mixer. I have my old PC parts as my home theater PC. I would like to upgrade the speakers to standing as they currently block my TV on the stand
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Someone in my local area posted their Martin Logan Aerius electrostatic standing speakers for sale for $425. According to the widow, the owner was into HiFi and got into home theater. They are willing to throw in a klipch center channel speaker as well as the monster cables from the setup.
$425 seems like a stealhttps://www.usaudiomart.com/details/650199101-martin-logan-aerius-speakers/
It has been in storage for 10 years. When I checked them out, their window shades were closed, so I can’t imagine that the have a lot of uv damage
I’m going to use my Dayton audio amp to test it out. The recommended wattage by the aerius recommends a amp with 60-200 watts per channel my amp is 50 watts per channel
From what I have read online, the panels seem to have a lifetime of 12-15 years. Is that based on heavy usage? https://www.avforums.com/threads/should-i-buy-used-martin-logan-aerius-electrostatic-speakers.2221236/#post-26978486
As mentioned, the Electrostatic Membrane does not last forever. While time or age is a factor, I suspect Hours Played is a greater factor. Though it is conceivable that never getting played for 20 years can also be a problem … potentially…not with certainty.
This is what is making me hesitate on pulling the trigger. It sounds like a pain in the butt to repair/refurbish
Also how good are they for A home theater? Reddit says it’s good for tall ceilings. The previous owner liked them enough to use it for their home theaterhttps://old.reddit.com/r/hometheater/comments/7v88v5/are_martin_logan_aerius_speakers_worth_a_750/
I love my Aerius, and I feel that they’ve given the room a lot more sound. Their imaging and soundstage are unlike anything I’ve heard from a cabinet speaker (Polk, monitor audio, infinity, jbl, def tech). They are very room specific, and do sound better further away. If you have an open ceiling I wouldn’t recommend them. If you have a wall behind (2 feet or so) and a 8-10ft ceiling, a decent amp and source I feel that you won’t find a better speaker. I recently moved them into my basement and made a home theater, and being 8 feet from them definitely narrowed their sweet spot.
Also, look at the panel in the honeycomb to see how much dust they’ve collected. I’ve taken mine apart several times, and recently gave the panels a shower. It restored them to nearly new sound. I’ve looked into replacing the caps but haven’t yet.
The only negatives I’ve found is first, their lack of low end oomph, but my 12" velodyne helps. The second negative is that these are very power hungry speakers, with dips below 2ohms in the upper register. I’m looking to add a second sub if emotiva ever gets their airmotiv s12 back in stock
My living room also matches what this OP’s
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Tested the speakers with 1 speaker at a time with my Dayton Audio DTA 2.1 BT amp that I use for my desk setup, since one of the speaker wires were broken.
There wasn’t any noticeable issues so I pulled the trigger. Now to find a receiver that can power it.
I am still debating if I need a receiver, as I use my HTPC for viewing content and games. The main advantage is being able to pass multiple inputs to my speakers
Looking at receivers, people in the past recommendedhttps://www.avsforum.com/posts/13209783/ https://www.avsforum.com/posts/16886507/
I doubt you’ll find an AVR that can drive them in a satisfactory manner within your budget new - maybe used. They have very low impedance - they are rated 4 ohms with dips as low as 1.7 ohms according to this review .
New 4 ohm receivers are expensive - an external amp might be a better choice. And ESL speakers aren’t usually very good at home theater due to imaging off axis being typically poor. What they do best is 2 channel - and for that they excel
Any of the high end receivers or amps will easily power your Martin Logans. All you need is a unit that outputs 75 watts or more at 8 ohms and doubles to 150 watts or more at 4 ohms. Any unit making that level of power will EASILY power any Martin Logans. But to get a unit that does this will be more expensive. Cheap receivers will not meet this requirement.
I have a home theatre running 5.2.2 svs system with svs pb 3000 dual.
can any receiver power my next purchase?
pair of martin logan source or other small martin logan electrostatic speakers ( used of course)
can the new 8 k denon , marantz, yamaha,...
Looks like 4 ohlm seems to be the spec
A more recent recommendation from 2020 is
On any ESL, an amp that delivers sufficient voltage to the demanding impedance is necessary, which typically means a robust A/B amp that can double its output for every halving of impedance. Class G or H amps (like Anthem or Sunfire) are good choices.
I have a home theatre running 5.2.2 svs system with svs pb 3000 dual.
can any receiver power my next purchase?
pair of martin logan source or other small martin logan electrostatic speakers ( used of course)
can the new 8 k denon , marantz, yamaha,...
Electrostatics can be stiff and may need power in the suggested range just to move and make any sound at all. Check with wiser heads than mine on electrostatic speaker, it may be that you’re pushing energy through them and they’re not making sound, they may just be be heating up.
K3n.
k3ninho:
Electrostatics can be stiff and may need power in the suggested range just to move and make any sound at all. Check with wiser heads than mine on electrostatic speaker, it may be that you’re pushing energy through them and they’re not making sound, they may just be be heating up.
it played audio off of one channel and one speaker at a time. Someone else want to explain why I was able to play it for a short period of time?
I’ve been reading this
Information on the best ways to connect your HTPC to a sound system and/or display, configuring the software, along with information on audio concepts, formats and interfaces. (PCM 5.1 Gaming audio, DD/DTS/DTS-HD/TrueHD/Atmos/Bitstreaming)
Seems that the scenario 1
Scenario #1 listed below, with video passthrough through your sound system, is the best scenario. However, if you have an older sound system that doesn’t support video passthrough for the features you need, like 4k, HDR or high refresh rates for gaming, then the best scenarios in order are: #2 (earc), #3 , #4 , #2 (arc/optical).
Consult this section of the Hardware Components Guide for cable/adapter recommendations. Consult this section below for sound system recommendations.
Scenario #1 - The ideal scenario, connecting your HTPC to your sound system and then your sound system to your TV
In this scenario, the sound system gets the audio and video first and then passes the video through to the display, e.g. HTPC (HDMI) → Sound System (HDMI) in → Sound System (HDMI) out → TV (HDMI).
Connect the HTPC’s primary HDMI output to the Sound System’s HDMI input, e.g. HTPC (HDMI) → Sound System (HDMI). If you only have a Displayport/USB-C connector, use an ACTIVE adapter first, but expect to be limited to Lossy codec/PCM audio. Otherwise, see Scenario #3 .
Connect the Sound System’s HDMI output to an HDMI input on the Display.
Configure your media players for the audio codecs you can support per Software/OS Setup
Where this doesn’t work is when the sound system:
Doesn’t support the required video resolution/refresh rate for passthrough to the display. e.g. you want to pass through 4k video to a 4k tv but the sound system only supports 1080p passthrough. See alternate scenarios below.
Doesn’t have both input and output hdmi ports (e.g. cheap soundbars with only 1 HDMI ARC port) or no HDMI ports (only S/PDIF/Optical). See alternate scenarios below.
If I opt for this setup, the Denon X3800 seems like the right pairing as it can do multiple HDMI 2.1 inputs (4K 120hz hdr) and can power my speakers.
The X3700 is great, but it seems to only do 1 HDMI 2.1 at a time, but I gotta wonder if I need more than 1 HDMI 2.1 because I’m just going to use my PC.
If you only want 1 HDMI 2.1 connection at a time, with your PC/Xbox going through the receiver, the 3700 is enough. But that means swapping sources by hand whenever you want to change over. The 3800 would let you just switch sources through it as all inputs are 2.1.
You could choose to use the 2.1 ins on your TV and hope eArc does the job well enough for your needs.
You have options
https://old.reddit.com/r/hometheater/comments/yxgfpc/denon_x3700h_or_the_denon_x3800h_novice/iwqe2ge/
I also need to be able to have mic inputs for karaoke. A temporary solution might be to get a audio interface and a external amp (that can power the left and right channel speakers in addition to the center channel) similar to my desk setup.
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