Martin Logan Motion series promises sound inspired by electrostatic speakers

(Image credit: Martin Logan)

Martin Logan is a high-end manufacturer best known for its hybrid electrostatic speakers, which will set you back thousands. With the Motion series, the company is bringing some of that know-how and design expertise down to a more traditional, more affordable speaker. And now it's back with a refreshed design for 2019 across a seven-strong speaker range, which the company says is a "close relation to MartinLogan’s legendary ultra-high-end electrostatic loudspeakers".

Launching at this week's CEDIA Expo, the new Motion i speakers feature the Folded Motion and Folded Motion XT, low mass tweeters, which aim to deliver speed and power, plus super-low distortion, from a small, 'folded' driver. They also sport aluminium midrange and bass drivers, promising high output and accuracy, plus seamless integration with treble frequencies.

You'll also find proprietary Vojtko crossovers, named after Martin Logan's chief audio technologist (great job title), Joe Vojtko. These are claimed to be as much as part of the company's sound as electrostatic speakers, and use polypropylene and low-DF electrolytic capacitors and custom-wound inductors. Importantly, final sound testing is conducted in 'real-world environments', which sounds good to us.

Martin Logan Motion 35XTi (Image credit: Martin Logan)

There are three floorstanding speakers, the Motion 20i ($849 each/£1595 per pair), which features a Folded Motion tweeter and dual 5.5-inch mid/bass drivers, the Motion 40i ($1099 each/£1995 per pair), which has the same tweeter, one 5.5-inch midrange driver and dual 6.5-inch bass drivers, and the Motion 60XTi ($1599 each/£2995 per pair), which ups the ante with a 6.5-inch midrange and twin 8-inch bass drivers.

For bookshelf speakers, you have the Motion 15i ($399 each/£795 per pair), with tweeter and 5.25-inch mid/bass driver, and the Motion 35XTi ($649 each/£1195 per pair, pictured above), which has a 6.5-inch mid/bass.

There are also two center channel speakers, the Motion 30i ($749/£695), which features a tweeter and two 5.5-inch drivers, and the Motion 50XTi ($999/£945), which increases the mid/bass drivers to 6.5 inches.

The new Martin Logan Motion speakers are set to begin shipping in October.

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Joe is the Content Director for What Hi-Fi? and Future’s Product Testing, having previously been the Global Editor-in-Chief of What Hi-Fi?. He has worked on What Hi-Fi? across the print magazine and website for almost 20 years, writing news, reviews and features on everything from turntables to TVs, headphones to hi-fi separates. He has covered product launch events across the world, from Apple to Technics, Sony and Samsung; reported from CES, the Bristol Show, and Munich High End for many years; and written for sites such as the BBC, Stuff and The Guardian. In his spare time, he enjoys expanding his vinyl collection and cycling (not at the same time).