MartinLogan CLX user manual Full Range Electrostatic Operation

Full Range Electrostatic Operation

Another significant advantage of MartinLogan’s exclusive transducer technology reveals itself when you look at exam- ples of other loudspeaker products on the market today.

The CLX uses no crossover networks above 360 Hz because they are not needed. The CLX has a single elec- trostatic transducer reproducing all frequencies above 360 Hz simultaneously. How is this possible?

First we must understand that music is not composed of separate high, mid and low frequency pieces. In fact, music is comprised of a single complex waveform with all frequencies interacting simultaneously.

An electrostatic transducer acts as an exact opposite of the microphones used to record the original event. A micro- phone, which is a single working element, transforms acoustic energy into an electrical signal that can be ampli- fied or preserved by some type of storage media. The CLX’s electrostatic transducer transforms electrical energy from your amplifier back into acoustical energy.

Due to the limitations of electromagnetic drivers, no single unit can reproduce the full range of frequencies. Instead, these drivers must be designed to operate within a nar-

row, fixed bandwidth of the frequency range, and then combined electrically so that the sum of the parts equals the total signal—in theory.

To use multiple drivers, a crossover network is enlisted to attempt a division of the complex musical signal into the separate pieces (usually highs, mids, and lows) that each specific driver was designed to handle. Unfortunately, due to the phase relationships that occur within all crossover networks and during the acoustical recombination pro- cess, nonlinearities and severe degradation of the music signal take place in the ear’s most critical zone above 360 Hz (see figure 16).

The CLX’s high-frequency electrostatic transducer can reproduce all frequencies above 360 Hz simultaneously. You have in one transducer the ability to handle in elegant simplicity these critical frequencies.

The crossover phase aberrations that are associated with traditional tweeter, midrange, and woofer systems are eliminated. The result is a dramatic improvement in imag- ing and staging performance due to the minutely accurate phase relationship of the full-range panel wave launch.

Figure .16.. This diagram illustrates how a conventional speaker system must use mul- tiple crossover networks that have negative effects on the musical performance.

16 Electrostatic Advantages