MartinLogan Monolith III Rules of Thumb, Bipolar Speakers and Your Room, Vertical Dispersion

Rules of Thumb

Hard vs. Soft Surfaces. If one surface of your room (wall, floor, ceiling) is hard, a good rule of thumb suggests to try to have the opposing surface soft. So, if you have a hard wall of glass or paneling on one side of the room, it is best to have drapery or wall hangings on the opposing wall. If you have a hard ceiling, it generally is a good idea to have a soft floor of carpeting or area rugs. Large, soft furniture also counts to help damp a highly reflective room.

This rule suggests that a little reflection is good. As a matter of fact, some rooms can be so “over damped” with carpeting, drapes and sound absorbers that the music system can sound dull and lifeless. On the other hand, rooms can be so hard that the system can sound like a gymnasium with too much reflection and brightness. The point is that balance is the optimum environment.

Break-up Objects. Objects with complex shapes, such as bookshelves, cabinetry, and multiple shaped walls can help to break up those sonic gremlins and diffuse any dominant frequencies.

Solid Coupling. Your loudspeaker system generates frequency vibrations or waves into the room. This is how it creates sound. Those vibrations will vary from 20 per second to 20,000 per second. If your speaker system is not securely planted on the floor or solid surface, it can shake as it produces sound, and consequently the sound can be compromised. If your speaker is setting on the carpet and only foot gliders are used, the bass can be ill defined and even boomy. Additionally, the imaging can be poorly located and diffuse if the system is not on solid footing.

Bipolar Speakers and Your Room

Martin-Logan electrostatic loudspeakers are known as bipolar radiators. This means that they produce sound from both their fronts and their backs. Consequently, musical information is reflected by the wall behind them and may arrive either in or out of step with the information produced by the front of the speaker.

The low frequencies can either be enhanced or nulled by the position from the back wall. Your Monoliths have been designed to be placed 2 to 3 feet from the back wall to obtain the best results, however your room may see things differently. So, listening to the difference of the bass response as a result of the changes in distance from the back wall can allow you to get the best combination of depth of bass and tonal balance.

The mid-range and high frequencies can also be affected, but in a different way. The timing of the first wave as it is first radiated to your ears and then the reflected information as it arrives at your ears later in time, can result in confusion of the precious timing information that carries the clues to imaging and, consequently result in blurred imaging and exces- sive brightness. Soft walls, curtains, wall hangings, or sound dampeners (your dealer can give you good information here) can be effective if these negative conditions occur.

Vertical Dispersion

As you can see from the illustrations, your Monolith III speakers project a controlled dipersion pattern. Each Monolith is a four foot line source beginning two feet above floor level. This vertical dispersion profile minimizes interactions with the floor and the ceiling.

Horizontal Dispersion

Your Monoliths launch a 30 degree dispersion pattern when viewed from above. This horizontal dispersion field gives you a choice of good seats for the performance while minimizing interactions with side walls.

Make sure both speakers stand exactly at the same vertical angle, otherwise the image can be skewed or poorly defined. The wave launch of both speakers is extremely accurate in both the time and spectral domain and, consequently small refined adjustments can result in noticeable sonic improvements.

Monolith III User's Manual Page19