MartinLogan Monolith III user manual Dispersion Concepts

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Room Acoustics

Dispersion Concepts

In the field of loudspeaker design, it is common knowledge that as the wave becomes progressively smaller than the transducer producing it, the dispersion of that wave becomes more and more narrow, or directional. This occurs as long as the transducer is a flat surface.

Historically, most attempts to achieve smooth dispersion from large flat panel transducers resulted in trade-offs. After exhaustive testing of these different solution attempts, we found an ele- gantly simple, yet very difficult to execute solution. By curving the radiating

surface, we create the effect of a horizontal arc. This allows the engi- neers at Martin-Logan to control the high frequency dispersion pattern of our transducers. That is why you see the gentle curve on our products.

As can be seen, point source concepts invite a great deal of room interaction. While delivering good frequency re- sponse to a large listening audience, imaging is consequently confused and blurred.

Even though they suffer from "venetian blind" effect, angled multiple panel speakers can deliver good imaging, but only to specific spots in the listen- ing area.

 

A controlled 30-degree cylindrical

 

wave-front, which is a Martin-Logan

 

exclusive, offers optimal sound distri-

 

bution with minimal room interaction.

 

The result is solid imaging with a wide

 

listening area.

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Monolith III User's Manual

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Contents Monolith III Speaker System Contents Introduction Installation in Brief PlacementPower Connection AC Signal ConnectionMonolith III Specifications Monolith III SpeakerHistory Page7 AC Power Connection ConnectionONE Standard Connection for Monolith IIIp TWO Bi-wire Connection for the Monolith IIIpIIIp Connection Three Passive Bi-amplification Page11 Packaging IIIx ConnectionIntroduction Monolith IIIx Crossover connection Crossover Settings IIIx OperationBass Contour Controls Your Room and BassTuning Your Room Monolith IIIx Crossover Bass Contour controlsTheory of Operation IIIx Operation IIIx Technical DescriptionMusical Tastes Monolith IIIx Crossover block diagram of circuit Terminology Room AcousticsYour Room Rules of Thumb Bipolar Speakers and Your RoomVertical Dispersion Horizontal DispersionDispersion Concepts Placement General PlacementBack Wall Front WallExperimentation Final WordGeneral Information Associated EquipmentCare Solid FootingElectrostatic Concept An Electrostatic TransducerAn Electromagnetic Transducer Martin-Logan Exclusives Full Range OperationCurvilinear Line Source Hybrid TechnologyVapor Deposited Film Transducer IntegrityQuestions Do I need an amplifier with high current capability?Troubleshooting No OutputGlossary Page31