Description
MartinLogan Classic ESL 9 is your ticket to a life-changing experience with a masterpiece of audio performance. This completely passive design features a 9.2-inch (CLS™) XStat™ electrostatic transducer, dual 8-inch aluminum-Cone woofers, and custom 5-way bi-wire tool-less binding posts.
Classic ESL 9
A masterpiece doesn’t just inspire emotions. It changes the way you feel, and it sticks with you long after you’ve left the art gallery or the concert hall. It’s considered a masterpiece precisely because of its ability to alter something inside you. Once you experience it, you’ll never be the same. Enjoying a masterpiece in your own home is something to aspire to.
Consider the Classic ESL 9 your ticket to a life-changing experience with a masterpiece of audio performance. You will never be the same.
A Classic Masterpiece of Sound Reproduction
MartinLogan unveils the Classic ESL 9, its newest modern Masterpiece. All the familiar elements of MartinLogan’s flagship ESL series are here, with some revolutionary refinements. The heart of this exceptional loudspeaker is its 9.2-inch-wide Curvilinear Line Source (CLS) XStat vacuum-bonded electrostatic transducer. Advanced MicroPerf stator technology reveals more of the diaphragm surface area than any other electrostatic panel in this size class, efficiently increasing the narrow panel’s output.
New Ultra-Rigid AirFrame Blade Design
Classic ESL 9 XStat panels are joined to their speaker cabinets using MartinLogan’s redesigned AirFrame Blade construction, precision manufactured from an aerospace-grade extruded aluminum alloy. This material, and this exclusive manufacturing process, makes the panels extremely rigid.
Curvilinear Line Source (CLS) Electrostatic Panel
CLS technology is an essential ingredient of every electrostatic loudspeaker we produce. Through our proprietary manufacturing method, we have built-in the panel’s gentle horizontal curvature. This unique design enhances the high frequency detail produced by the large radiating surface, without compromising overall sound quality. Notice how the gentle modern curve and perforation pattern gives way to the flat grille of the woofer section.
Controlled Dispersion Sound Radiation
The sound we hear from a loudspeaker is a combination of direct radiation from it to our ears, and reflections off of room surfaces—walls, floor, and ceiling. How our brains integrate this information is far from simple. Depending on the angle of incidence to the ears and the arrival-time difference between direct and reflected sound, reflections can either blur detail and stereo imaging, or enhance the natural impression of depth and openness.
Big, Well-Blended Bass Performance
Rounding out the dynamic performance of this Masterpiece is a passive pair of high-excursion 8-inch laser-engineered aluminum cone woofers custom designed by MartinLogan’s in-house engineering team. This efficient, cast basket woofer design improves cone suspension and the magnetic flux field, maximizing response time, to produce truly profound bass output (down to 34Hz) with vanishingly low distortion.
Turning Unused Space Into Better Bass
The depth of Masterpiece Series speaker cabinets was carefully chosen to maximize benefits of advanced bass technologies, providing a level of low-frequency precision that is truly unique.
Additionally, due to their dipole nature, electrostatic panels perform best when placed at least 2.5-feet or more from the wall—a distance that is ideal for the front of nearly any high-end speaker, regardless of driver technology. The depth of Masterpiece Series cabinets lends itself to providing electrostatic panels with adequate distance from the wall, guaranteeing a richly detailed, three-dimensional soundstage.
CLASSIC ESL 9 SPECIFICATIONS
Frequency Response
34–23,000 Hz ±3dB
Recommended Amplifier Power
20—400 watts per channel
Horizontal Dispersion
30°
Vertical Dispersion
44″ (112cm) line source
Sensitivity
90 dB/2.83 volts/meter
Impedance
4 Ohms, 0.8 at 20kHz Compatible with 4, 6, or 8 Ohm rated amplifiers.
Crossover Frequency
380Hz
High Frequency Transducer
XStat™ CLS™ electrostatic transducer » Panel Dimensions: 44″ x 9.2″ (112 x 23cm) » Radiating Area: 405 in² (2,576 cm² )
Low Frequency Transducer
Two 8” (20.3 cm) cast basket, high excursion, rigid aluminium cone woofers with extended throw drive assembly, non-resonance asymmetrical chamber format
Components
Custom-wound audio transformer, air core coils, low DCR steel laminate coils, polyester capacitors
Signal Inputs
Custom 5-way bi-wire tool-less binding posts
Power Draw
Max: 2W per channel Standby:
Weight
78 lbs. (35.4 kg)
Dimensions
59.8″ x 10.4″ x 25.4 ” (152cm x 26.4cm x 64.6cm)
