MartinLogan Motion 15 Gloss White Bookshelf Loudspeaker

I feel like there's two camps of speaker manufacturers out there. One is obsessed with making their speakers look eye-catching with fancy finishes, unique cabinet designs, colored and textured cones, unusual grilles, and so on -- but no money is spent on engineering the speakers to sound good. The other camp of manufacturers doesn't spend a dime on styling the speakers, and cranks out some hideous cabinets that sound like they cost ten times what they really do.MartinLogan, in my opinion, is proving that you can do both...without requiring a second mortgage on your house. I auditioned the Motion 15s (and the rest of the Motion offering) at a local audio store and was immediately blown away with the clarity. The folded ribbon tweeter does live up to the hype and provides very accurate and crisp sound without being harsh or shrill like some of the horn designs. Not only do those tweeters sound accurate, but they also create a very big soundstage. The 5.25" woofers are not going to win any contests with bass-lovers and those wanting to feel every explosion in a movie. The woofers will, however, sound reasonably full and punchy, and play well with the tweeter. When paired with a subwoofer, and properly crossed-over, you can expect very wide frequency response from a 2.1 or 3.1 setup of these speakers.Of course, the finish and build quality is exceptional. As soon as you pull it from the box you can immediately tell this is not only a solidly-built speaker, but a beautiful one too. The piano black is sophisticated and high-tech without looking too sterile, and I think it adds some visual interest to just about any room. I believe that decorators will tell you "every room needs something black", and I think these fit the bill nicely. While they are fingerprint magnets, it's not difficult to (A) tell your guests not to touch them and (B) wipe them down with a soft cloth. Although some will not like the industrial-looking metal grilles, I think they look far better than some cheap black fabric ones would. They are of course removable and held on with tiny magnets. My advice is to just leave them on to protect the woofer and tweeter.MartinLogan does a nice job of packaging the speaker safely and includes the necessary isolation feet, instructional manual, warranty card, and microfibre cloth. The speaker even comes double-wrapped in a lint-free bag (to protect the finish) and a plastic bag to shield it from moisture or debris. As an aside, I will say that the cherry rosewood color (a deep, rich red woodgrain) is easily worth the extra $25-50/speaker if it matches the rest of your furniture and decorating. The cherry is even more beautiful and eye-catching than these! The gloss white is interesting as well, and probably best suited for a small bookshelf setup.Just a heads-up to potential owners: these are 5-ohm speakers. You don't need a special amplifier or AV receiver to drive them, but this 5-ohm rating means they will try to pull a lot of juice from your amp. Cheaper amps will struggle to output clean sound at high volumes, which can be damaging to the speakers. If you have a mediocre amp setup, I would advice caution against really cranking these to full volume. Good monoblock amplifiers can be had for $100-$125 each in the used market and they will really let these Motion 15s sing like they should.As you can tell, I am enamored with the MartinLogan Motion 15 speakers. Sound is very subjective, but everyone who experiences them in my home becomes a big fan. Even the local audio shop guys were snickering about how "[they've] got another MartinLogan convert".

I bought these after auditioning them twice at two different stores with different setups and different amps, and also after reading a lot of reviews of these speakers on-line. I very glad I did. I have mine connected to a Sonos CONNECT:AMP in my office which is a fairly small room. Will try them on my Rotel amp later and will update the review if there is a major difference in sound quality. The show rooms in the stores were much bigger, and the speakers were much further apart from each other, so I was worried that I won't be able to get the same sound stage with them sitting close to me on my computer desk, and also with speakers being fairly close to each other (around 3.5 ft). For reference, in my living room for my main music listening setup I use Bowers & Wilkins speakers, and before those I had Paradigm reference speakers. I am amazed at the great sound from these little speakers! I am not using a Sub, and for my small room, that has not been an issue. There is sufficient bass, and the sound is clear and full. I can't get enough of the vocal reproduction with these speakers - velvety clear, open, and smooth. I am playing lossless 16/44.1 CD quality or 24/96 Hi-Res digital audio from my computer through these (sound card supports up to 24/192), but I tried a few lower res AAC files and they sounded great. But the clarity of the sound of these speakers means if you listen carefully, you'd notice the difference between lossless and lossy music, so it's now tough to listen to my lower quality music! As everyone else has stated, the black piano finish is beautiful and stands out, even for such small speakers. I am going through all my library, re-listening to songs I've heard many, many times before, and through these speakers, they sound so much better. For the price, I can't imagine there would be better speakers. Highly recommended.

These are well made and very good looking speakers but they are very very light on bass and I ran them with a Musical Fidelity Tri Vista 300 that puts out 600 WPS into 4 ohms and 300 into 8. The highs were smooth and silky though, and they excelled with vocal but anything with music or complex passages muddied them up.

I do not often purchase used/unboxed speakers as I have had issues with appearance slowly annoying me over time. Or thinking about Joe Shmoe blaring it at 100 and ruining the integrity of the speaker..I took a chance because the price was right for this Cherry Martin Logan Motion 15. Electronics Expo shipped this out soon after the purchase was complete. Not only was it packed fantastically, it looked brand new! I will defiantly look for their items. The speakers sounds crisp and clear. I am currently using this as a center channel as my other is being replaced soon.

I bought these speakers four years ago and I still enjoy their superb crystal clear sound which I mainly experience with my collection of classical music. This is why I want to point out how this pair of gems means a real joy for the audiophile who loves pure music. But apart from this, another feature I would like to praise in this brand devoted to perfection is its amazing customer service. Martin Logan's high-quality speaker not only are outstanding among the main manufacturers in the field, but they offer the best service ever to its clients whenever you need reliable support that they offer with the best attitude. If you decide to purchase this product, you'll surely receive the physical box with these masterpieces inside but also a lifetime companion with appropriate solutions whenever you need it.

Great sound but without a sub isn't worth the price. I haven't bought a ub yet, but frequencies are crisp clear and solid.