A-MAZ-ING. I’ve had these for a day now and I am impressed! These speakers replaced my ML ESL electrostats and although the sound is a bit different I like it much better. I am running these with a Marantz SR5010 which provides 100w per channel, ML Motion FX for surrounds, ML Motion 8 center channel, and an SVS PB2000 for my subwoofer. The power from my amp is clearly enough to power these at higher power, I haven’t broken the in yet so I’m sure they will sound better over time. I had my ESLs for 8 years now and was very accustomed to the electrostatic sound however these speakers give a deeper spacial sound with a better midrange which balances out the sound. What I like better is that I have a big sectional couch and with electrostats your “sweet spot” is much narrower and with these it is much broader which is what I need. I can say whether it’s movies or music I prefer these traditional type speakers. I don’t think they look as impressive as the electrostats but they are very well designed. The black gloss is very well done and I love the grills over each cone vs. a grill over the whole front. The feet are very well crafted and look beautiful. The one thing I would change, not that it’s a dealbreaker, is the whole speaker is piano gloss black minus the front. I wish they had carried it to the front as well. I think the ML logo is perfectly placed on the front. The packaging is exactly what I would expect from ML. Even if the worst shipper beat these up the package protects them. Just for extras, the speakers come with high quality dust covers and 2 large ML stickers per speaker to show off your brand. Overall, these are great. The ESLs are great but I believe these are better. Midrange is tighter, bass is tighter, and the 2nd gen folded tweeter sounds as good as electrostats.

Great power full speakers. Feels like you are taking into a concert. Movies and music are will now take you into 4th dimension as you are immersed. Worth the money for these twin towers.

Martin Logan F20 speakers. I can’t claim to love my movie entertainment any more than I love my vast selection of music. Having the best reproduction of sound has been an ongoing pursuit. I want to have seat shaking sound when tanks rumble by or when rockets launch skyward on the screen and still be able to have accurate representation of individual instruments in a full orchestra or the overtones that separate the sound of a violin from a cello. With so much music and movies accessible at exceptionally high quality via streaming and disks, it’s now possible to recreate a theater or concert venue at home. I’ve been on a quest most of my life to do that very thing.
PREVIEW: Yes, these Martin Logan speakers demonstrated an ability to deliver accurate reproduction of every sound. Honestly, I’ve found several competing speakers that are similarly accurate. What separates these Martin Logans from the pack is their ability to cover a range of quiet, even delicate tones or voices and deliver explosive sounds with equal ease. Although I anticipated Martin Logan’s famous capabilities in the upper frequency ranges, I was surprised at their competence handling bass with authority, and especially their very dynamic presentation. It was as if they had two personalities. They are subtle, beautifully delicate with detail layered on top of a rock’n roll’n raucous bad boy slam. The front stage they create is broad and it holds up well even seated off to one side of a room. They make voices easy to understand. My only internal debate concerns what room will they end up in: theater or my large family space?

SETUP: From the heavy packaging to the accessory box with the gorgeous outrigger speaker supports, Martin Logan lets you know they think these speakers are special. Sliding the flawless black gloss speakers our of their fabric sock seals the deal. These are special speakers challenging the rest of the $3-5,000 competition.
My largest room listening/viewing area is equipped with a Yamaha Aventage RXA860 acting as a pre-amp for a Parasound 5125 multi-channel amp, providing an honest 125w/channel into 8 Ohms, and 185w/channel into 4 Ohms, which is the load these Martin Logans most often present to an amp. Later on during my early listening tests I moved them to my smaller (14’ square) theater room where I use a Yamaha Aventage RXA2070. This less demanding space allows the 140w/ch available power to easily drive the F20s. These are demanding speakers which will over-stress AVRs that don’t have robust power supplies or aren’t stable with 4ohm speakers. [Such AVRs will have stickers advising you of problems with 4 ohm speakers.] With these two amplifiers, the Motion F20s will play loud, louder than the previous speakers that occupied these locations.
Phono purists might be disappointed that I rely on Apple Music (up to 24-bit/192kHz) music streaming exclusively but that also means I can listen to Dolby Atmos-powered Spatial Audio. Movie sources include the highest quality audio streaming but more often I use the UHD or Blu-ray disk formats because I really do prefer best available audio/video quality. [Because I knew I would be listening to multi-channel music and movies, I added Martin Logan’s Motion 50XTi center channel speaker from their previous line-up. That deserves its own review, but, I can say it is equally impressive.]]
LISTENING to MUSIC: I started with popular music from my youth, because it is so familiar to me. The Doors, “Spanish Caravan”, John Lennon’s voice on “Girl”, and the harmonies of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young all have strong bass and drum accompaniment and very natural, recognizable male voices. Music was fun to listen to, but before I used room equalization on both of my AVRs, there were times when the upper bass stepped forward more than I remember. It didn’t keep me from increasing the volume on Van Morrison’s “In the Afternoon”. Here Morrison’s voice sounded like he was sitting on a stool in a club, very intimately sharing a memory. I also sampled selections from Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” because it features the orchestra’s a wide variety of instruments which all get are properly presented with the Motion F20s detailed and lightning fast transient response.
I came forward in time and played a mix. Starting With Paramore’s “Big Man, Little Dignity:, Hayley Williams’s voice stays smooth and intimate. Miley Cyrus sounded raucous with her new recordings, especially the live recordings. Alicia Keyes “Butterflyz” and Alison Krauss “When you Say Nothing At All” were delivered with delicacy and proper attention to the variety of instruments and musicians on hand. Of course I had to invite song birds Arian Grande, Adele, Mariah and even Sam Smith to the audition. All of them easily filled the room with music that never fell short of realistic in quality, accuracy and volume. These speakers have no bad habits. Billie Eilish’s thundering bass accompaniment never sounded more present.
LISTENING TO MOVIE SOUND-TRACKS: I have this internal debate about what I want in my speakers. I’ve typically put my money on speakers that are completely neutral, with a ruler flat frequency response. This too often has meant I must sacrifice dynamics, the widest range of the loudest to the quietest sounds. My very accurate speakers often sound strained when forced to cover a broad volume range. If dialog is fine, the explosive scenes must be limited. These Martin Logan F20s toss out that limitation. These F20s challenge you to play your most dynamic movie sound tracks and enjoy the entire range of sounds. Almost every Jurassic Park movie, Star Trek movies, the Mummy series, Star Wars all want to be played on a sound system that can soar to the extremes while staying loud but no harsh in any way. I sampled scenes from each of these and these movies haven’t sounded better. The newest Top Gun sequel could convince the neighborhood to run to their windows for a flyby. It demands to be be played at realistic volumes, and the F20s don’t disappoint. I also remembered to play my favorite streaming soundtrack, “The Politician”, and the wonderful “River” by Joni Mitchell sung by Ben Platt. I have never heard it sound better, more real, more “right there in the room” like the entire episode (and series) which was recorded wonderfully.
QUIBBLES? You definitely want to use your AVR’s or pre-amp’s auto-equalization. Those systems in my two Yamaha’s nicely corrected what I interpreted as an over-active bass response that starts in the lowest frequency range and has the potential of muddying male voices. Well, I’m probably the only person trying to dial back the bass region of these wonderful speakers. Some owners will see this as an opportunity to delay buying subwoofers. Another fault, which you likely will NOT see as a problem, is these speakers really love to be played at volume. I find they come into best tonal balance at louder volumes in larger spaces. Don’t get me wrong, I usually listen at normal even softer volumes, but the Martin Logan’s create an urge to surge the volumes.
SUMMARY: These Martin Logan’s fill my large family room better than any speakers I’ve ever owned, and with less sense of strain. I strongly urge that new owners match these with an AVR or Amp that has an equalizer, better yet, AUTO-equalizer feature to get the best performance. Many end users will want to ensure the bass equalization brings the Martin Logans into a balance for YOUR unique room size and layout. After doing this for my room, that upper bass sounded authoritative but balanced. The lower bass is outstanding. The treble always sounded natural, and I preferred a towed-in orientation of my speakers. Many buyers will wonder if they should have spent extra for the bigger Martin Logan Motion Series. I can’t imagine needing larger unless you have a massive living space. Highly Recommended.