What do you get for the audiophile who has it all? How about $80,000 worth of electrostatic awesomeness from the sonic masters at Martin Logan? The company just took the cover off of its latest innovation, the Neolith, a new speaker that employs the largest electrostatic transducer ML has ever created to produce what the company calls “living sound.”
What’s an electrostatic transducer you ask? First pioneered in the 50’s, the technology uses a thin membrane suspended in an electromagnetic field to create a stunningly accurate soundstage. But with the new Neolith, Martin Logan takes things a step further. Bending across the front of the tower like a futuristic windscreen, the speaker’s monstrous new “curvilinear” transducer employs proprietary Controlled Dispersion Technology to produce a 3-dimensional soundstage.
While electrostatic drivers are notorious for their lucid accuracy and detail, the ultra-thin membrane has trouble reproducing the lower frequencies. To remedy the issue, the Neolith takes a lesson from its forefathers, the 80s-era Monolith, and the more recent Statement e2 speakers, by supplementing the treble with traditional drivers at the base to shore up the low end. Specifically, the Neolith employs a 12-inch midrange driver at the frontside, and a 15-inch rear-firing subwoofer set in a “super-dense” chassis for potent, resonance free performance.
Leveraging decades of electrostatic research and development, the Neolith was three years in the making, and the striking new speaker is going on the road soon to show what it can do on a tour Martin Logan is calling the Truth in Sound Tour. The tour began with a two-day event in Wilmington, DE, and continues next week in Raleigh, NC. At the events, ML will be answering questions, and letting attendees audition their own music through a pair of Neoliths to, as the company puts it, “experience it again for the first time.”
No word yet as to when these behemoths will be available for purchase, but at $80K per pair, when the Neolith does become available you’d better bring your Amex Black Card and a couple of forms of ID if you want to take these babies home.
