MartinLogan CLS IIz Full Range Operation, Conventional Loudspeaker, Critical Zone 200Hz-20kHz

Full Range Operation

The most significant advantage of MartinLogan’s exclusive transducer technology reveals itself when you look at examples of other loudspeaker products on the market today.

The CLS IIz uses no crossover networks because they are not needed. The CLS IIz consists of a single, seamless elec- trostatic membrane reproducing all frequencies. 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.

The electrostatic transducer of the CLS IIz essentially acts as an exact opposite of the microphones used to record the original event. A microphone, which is a single working element, transforms acoustic energy into an electrical signal that can be amplified or preserved by some type of storage media. The CLS IIz’s electrostatic transducer transforms electrical energy from your amplifier 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 narrow, fixed bandwidth of the frequency range, and then combined electrically so that the sum of the parts equals the total signal. While nice in theory, we must deal with real-world conditions.

In order 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 process, nonlinearities and severe degradation of the music signal take place in the ear’s most critical zone (See Figure 13).

The CLS IIz’s electrostatic transducer can single-handedly reproduce all frequencies simultaneously. You have in one transducer the ability to handle in elegant simplicity the 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 imaging and staging performance due to the minutely accurate phase relationship of the full-range panel wave launch.

Tweeter

Conventional Loudspeaker CLS IIz

crossover point (2–5kHz)

Critical Zone: 200Hz–20kHz

Midrange

crossover point (100–400Hz)

ESL Panel

Woofer

Figure 13. This diagram illustrates how a conventional speaker system must use multiple crossover networks that have negative effects on the musical performance.

14 Electrostatic Advantages