MartinLogan The Quest Speaker System user manual Martin-Logan Exclusives, Full Range Operation

Martin-Logan Exclusives

Full Range Operation

The most significant advantage of Martin-Logan's				of music and then combined electrically so that the sum of
exclusive transducer technology reveals itself when you				the parts equals the total signal. While this sounds nice in
compare to examples of other loudspeaker products on				theory, a different story unfolds in real-world conditions.
the market today.				In order to use multiple drivers, a crossover network is
The Quest uses no crossover networks above 150 Hz				enlisted to divide the complex musical signal into the
because they are not needed. It consists of a single,				separate parts (usually highs, mids, and lows) that each
seamless electrostatic membrane reproducing all				specific driver was designed to handle. Unfortunately,
frequencies above 150 Hz simultaneously. How is this				due to the phase relationships that occur within all
possible?				crossover networks and during the acoustical recombina-
				tion process, nonlinearities and severe degradation of the
First, it is important to understand that music is not				music signal takes place in the ear's most "critical zone".
composed of separate high,						See Figure 1.
mid and low frequency						So, music in the "critical
pieces. In fact, music is						zone" becomes delayed in
comprised of a single		Conventional		Loudspeaker		time. These delays can be
complex waveform with all						picked-up by your ear and
frequencies interacting		Tweeter				result in poor imaging and
simultaneously.				Critical	Zone	ambience cues.
The electrostatic transducer		Midrange		250 -	20kHz	The Quest's	electro-
of the Quest essentially acts						static transducer can
as an exact opposite of the						single-handedly repro-
microphones used to record		Woofer				duce all frequencies
the original event. A						above 150 Hz simulta-
microphone, which is a		Martin-Logan	Quest Loudspeaker			neously.
single working element,
transforms acoustic energy						The crossover phase
into an electrical signal that		Quest				discontinuities that are
can be amplified or pre-				Critical	Zone	associated with traditional
		Electrostatic
served by some type of						tweeter, midrange, and
		Transducer		250 - 20kHz
storage media. The Quest's						woofer systems are elimi-
electrostatic transducer						nated in the Quest. This
transforms electrical energy						results in a dramatic
		Woofer
from your amplifier into						improvement	in imaging
acoustical energy with a						and staging	perform-
single membrane.	Figure 1. Illustrates how		a conventional speaker system			ance due to the mi-
						nutely accurate phase
	must use a crossover network that has negative affects
Upon looking carefully at a						relationship of the full-
	on the musical performance, unlike the Quest which
traditional magnetic driver						range panel	wave
	needs no crossover networks in the "critical zone".
(i.e. dynamic, ribbon,						launch.
induction), no single unit can
reproduce the full range of
frequencies. Instead, these
drivers must be designed to
operate within narrow areas

Page 8 Quest User's Manual