RENAISSANCE ESL 15A

What makes a masterpiece? Is the “Mona Lisa” just a picture of a woman smiling, or is there more to it?

We consider something a masterpiece when uncommon skill and artistry shapes familiar elements in an unexpected way, revealing an essential truth.

For MartinLogan, the essential truth revealed by our skill and artistry is audio realism. Fittingly, our next generation of electrostatic loudspeakers debuts with the new Renaissance ESL 15A. Three decades of audio design and engineering innovation, distilled into a startling fresh loudspeaker ideal.

A Masterpiece of Design & Engineering

Befitting a loudspeaker of this name, MartinLogan has combined decades of innovations, and more, to reinterpret the uniquely detailed electrostatic loudspeaker. This is a flagship audio achievement for the 21st Century.

The pièce de résistance is the integration of MartinLogan’s award-winning 15-inch wide Curvilinear Line Source (CLS™) XStat™ electrostatic (ESL) transducer with its robust woofer section, the revolutionary melding of design and engineering.

Look at the familiar elements of the classic MartinLogan electrostatic loudspeaker: Advanced MicroPerf stator technology, which allows for almost twice the exposed electrostatic diaphragm surface as a traditional electrostatic panel of the same size. The panel is reinforced with rigid ClearSpar™ spacers, keeping an exact level of tension on the vacuum-bonded diaphragm without obscuring the beautiful see-through design. Add the slender, pointed-arrow design of the new AirFrame™ Blade construction; a powerfully evocative composition creating a harmonious connection between the panel and its woofer cabinet.

Now notice some radical refinements: Inspired by our own breakthrough design, we have reinvented the Renaissance ESL 15A woofer section, powered by new dual 500-watt Class-D amplifiers, and controlled by a 24-Bit Vojtko™ DSP Engine and ARC™ (Anthem Room Correction).

Using two 12-inch laser-engineered low-distortion aluminum cone woofers in independently enclosed compact chambers, exclusive PoweredForce Forward™ bass alignment technology controls the interaction between the rear-firing woofer and the wall behind that woofer. With smart phase-shifting logic, we minimize the effect that wall has on bass information that might bounce back into the listening room. This uniform frequency response results in realistic bass effects you can feel. It’s one more way MartinLogan innovation improves your listening experience in any room.

Achieving the Laboratory Standard in Your Own Room

In the lab, MartinLogan engineers strive for transparency. Outside the lab, there’s one wildcard our engineers can never account for: Your listening room. The unique size and shape of your listening space (and the size and shape of its contents) can make bass waves do unpredictable things, greatly affecting a speaker’s overall performance.

For the first time in an electrostatic speaker we are introducing the integration of exclusive Anthem Room Correction (ARC) technology. By engaging ARC to control the low-frequency curve in relation to the output of the ESL panel (as seen in this graph), you will experience performance on par with MartinLogan’s audio test lab.

ARC measures low-frequency sound output in your room and compares it to optimal response curves that account for spatial anomalies. The advanced algorithms of ARC then effectively remove the anomalies, leaving only the ideal standard: realistically blended, natural-sounding bass performance in your listening space.

By minimizing room interactions with PoweredForce Forward bass technology and the advanced room correction capabilities of ARC, along with its unique synthesis of the ESL and bass sections, the Renaissance ESL 15A produces perfectly-etched imaging and focus; optimum natural reproduction of sound at lifelike listening levels; and agile, full-range operation in open air.

Clearly, it is this level of ultimate performance that separates the merely excellent from a true masterpiece.

New Ultra-Rigid AirFrame Blade Design

Expression ESL 15A XStat panels are joined to their speaker cabinets using MartinLogan’s redesigned AirFrame Blade construction, precision manufactured from an aerospace-grade extruded aluminum alloy. This material, and this exclusive manufacturing process, makes the panels extremely rigid.

The bold, forward-moving styling of this AirFrame Blade rail system, narrow and strong in front, broad and forceful from the side, is a modern design statement. It never obstructs playable surface area or interferes with the panel’s dipole sound radiation pattern. It also provides electrical and acoustical isolation, minimizing intermodulation distortion caused by vibration and resonance. The flowing lines emphasize the groundbreaking integration of the panel itself with the compact woofer and amplifier section. The breathtaking AirFrame Blade design enhances imaging, low-level sonic detail, accuracy, and speaker efficiency.

Specifications

Specifications are subject to change without notice

Frequency Response 22–21,000 Hz ±3dB

Recommended Amplifier Power 20—700 watts per channel

Horizontal Dispersion 30°

Vertical Dispersion 46" (116.9cm) line source

Sensitivity 92 dB/2.83 volts/meter

Impedance 4 Ohms, 0.5 at 20kHz Compatible with 4, 6, or 8 Ohm rated amplifiers.

Crossover Frequency 300Hz

High Frequency Transducer XStat™ CLS™ electrostatic transducer. » Panel Dimensions : 46" x 15" (117 x 38cm). » Radiating Area : 690 in² (4,446 cm² )

Low Frequency Transducer Two 12” (30.5 cm) PoweredForce Forward™ woofers with cast basket, high excursion, rigid aluminium cone and extended throw drive assembly, non-resonance asymmetrical chamber format.

Amplifier Woofer: 2 x 500 watts/channel (4 ohms), 2 x 1,000 watts peak

Room Correction (Bass Section) Anthem Room Correction (ARC™) ready (Sold Separately)

Components Custom-wound audio transformer, air core coils, polypropylene capacitors. 24-bit DSP based preamplifier (used with woofer amplifier).

Audio Controls Bass: ±10 dB under 75 Hz Mid-Bass: –2 dB, 0 db, +2 db Light: On, Dim, Off ARC™ Room EQ: On, Off

Signal Inputs WBT-0703Cu nextgen™ 5-way binding posts feature a filigree signal conductor made from gold plated, nickel free, non- ferromagnetic, pure copper for high conductivity and fully insulated. Free from eddy current effects.

Inputs AC Power, RJ45 (for ARC), mini USB (for ARC)

Power Draw Idle: < 0.5W/channel Max: 900W/channel

Lighting LED intensity control: on, dim, off

Weight 140 lbs. (63.5 kg)

Dimensions 69.8" x 15.75" x 28.9 " (177.3cm x 40cm x 63.3cm)