New Hybrid Speaker from MartinLogan

by The Audio Beat | March 11, 2016

reviewed two months ago at CES but shipping now, MartinLogan's new Renaissance ESL 15A ($24,995/pair) is an electrostatic/dynamic speaker with built-in bass amplification. It combines MartinLogan's latest-generation Curvilinear Line Source (CLS) X-Stat panel featuring an ultra-rigid frame with a pair of 12" aluminum-cone woofers. The 15" x 46" panel's curved profile helps improve horizontal dispersion, while the speaker's nearly 70" height ensures vertical coverage while still controlling floor and ceiling interaction.

As with all MartinLogan hybrid speakers, the CLS panel covers a very wide frequency range -- from 22kHz to 300Hz in the case of the Renaissance ESL 15A -- omitting the treble-to-midrange crossover that listeners can so often detect. The Renaissance ESL 15A has dual 500-watt amplifiers for the front- and rear-firing woofers. The class-D amplification uses MartinLogan's 24-bit Vojtko DSP engine to improve linearity and extension. Bass level is adjustable to help tailor the Renaissance ESL 15A to rooms of various sizes and dimensions.

The Renaissance ESL 15A's quoted sensitivity is high, 92dB/W/m, and its bandwidth is wide, 22kHz to 21Hz. Anthem Room Correction is optional, as are multiple veneer and glossy paint finishes.