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User's Manual
The Quest Speaker System
THE ELECTROST A TIC T ECHNOLOGY
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Important Contents Your Quest speakers are provided with an automatic Limited 90 Day Warranty coverage. Introduction 3 You have the option, at no additional charge, to receive Limited 3 Year Warranty coverage. To obtain Limited 3 Installation in Brief 4 Year Warranty coverage you need only complete and return the Certificate of Registration that was included with your speakers to Martin-Logan, within 30 days of The Electrostatic Concept 5 purchase. Martin-Logan may not honor warranty servic
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Introduction Congratulations, you have invested in one of the world’s special high dielectric compound that is applied via a premier loudspeaker systems! proprietary electrostatic deposition process. This panel assembly houses a membrane 0.0005 of an inch thick! The result of cumulative technology gleaned from eight Ruggedly constructed and insulated, as much as 200 watts previous Research and Development projects, the Quest of continuous power has driven the Quest’s energized represents the lat
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Installation in Brief We know you are eager to hear your Step 1: Unpacking Step 1: Unpacking Step 1: Unpacking Step 1: Unpacking Step 1: Unpacking new Quest loudspeakers, so this section is provided to allow fast and Remove your new Quest speakers from their packing. easy set up. Once you have them operational, please take the time to read, in depth, the rest of the informa- tion in this manual. It will give you Step 2: Placement Step 2: Placement Step 2: Placement Step 2: Placement Step 2:
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The Electrostatic Concept How can sound be reproduced by something that you are music. This technique is known as push-pull operation and able to see through? Electrostatic energy makes this is a major contributor to the sonic purity of the electrostatic possible. concept due to its exceptional linearity and low distortion. Where the world of traditional loudspeaker technology Since the diaphragm of an electrostatic speaker is uni- deals with cones, domes, diaphragms and ribbons that are formly
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History In the late 1800’s, any loudspeaker was considered exotic. outcome would dictate the way that future generations Today, most of us take the wonders of sound reproduction would refer to loudspeakers as being either "conventional", for granted. or "exotic". It was 1880 before Thomas Edison had invented the first Bell Laboratory’s electrostat was something to behold. This phonograph. This was a horn-loaded diaphragm that was enormous bipolar speaker was as big as a door. The excited by a pl
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arrays. The test instrument needed an extremely accurate In the early 1960's Arthur Janszen joined forces with the speaker, but Janszen found that the cone speakers of the KLH loudspeaker company and together they introduced period were too nonlinear in phase and amplitude re- the KLH 9. Due to the large size of the KLH 9, it did not have sponse to meet his criteria. Janszen believed that as many limitations as the Quad. The KLH 9 could play electrostats were inherently more linear than cones, s
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Martin-Logan Exclusives Full Range Operation Full Range Operation Full Range Operation Full Range Operation Full Range Operation The most significant advantage of Martin-Logan's of music and then combined electrically so that the sum of exclusive transducer technology reveals itself when you the parts equals the total signal. While this sounds nice in compare to examples of other loudspeaker products on theory, a different story unfolds in real-world conditions. the market today. In order to use
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Vapor Deposited Film Vapor Deposited Film Vapor Deposited Film Vapor Deposited Film Vapor Deposited Film Curvilinear Line Source Curvilinear Line Source Curvilinear Line Source Curvilinear Line Source Curvilinear Line Source The diaphragm material used in all Martin-Logan speakers Since the beginning of Audio, achieving smooth full employs an extremely sophisticated vapor deposited conduc- range dispersion has long been a problem for all tive polymer surface. A proprietary conductive compound is
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Operation AC Power Connection AC Power Connection AC Power Connection AC Power Connection AC Power Connection Signal Connection Signal Connection Signal Connection Signal Connection Signal Connection Because your Martin-Logan Quests use an internal power Use the best speaker cables you can! The length and type supply to energize their electrostatic cells with high-voltage of speaker cable used in your system will have an audible DC, they must be connected to an AC power source. For effect. U
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CAUTION! CAUTION! CAUTION! CAUTION! CAUTION! Turn your amplifier off before making or breaking any signal connections! The chassis is earth grounded and can present a short circuit to your amplifier if contact is made! OUTPUT INPUT Preamplifier Standard Connection Standard Connection Standard Connection Standard Connection Standard Connection OUTPUT OUTPUT Amplifier INPUT INPUT Connect the speaker wire from your amplifier to the top-most AMPLIFIER AMPLIFIER AMPLIFIER AMPLIFIER AMPLIFIER CONNECTI
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Operation Passive Passive Passive Passive Passive Bi-amplification Bi-amplification Bi-amplification Bi-amplification Bi-amplification For those of you that desire ultimate performance, the Quest may be OUTPUT INPUT passively bi-amplified using the Preamplifier existing internal passive crossover elements. OUTPUT OUTPUT WARNING! Only after the BI- WARNING! Only after the BI- WARNING! Only after the BI- WARNING! Only after the BI- WARNING! Only after the BI- Amplifier INPUT INPUT WIRE/BI-AMP SWIT
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Flat 0dB -3dB -3dB -6dB OUTPUT INPUT Preamplifier 20Hz 200Hz Effects of the Bass Contour Switch Bass Contour Switch Bass Contour Switch Bass Contour Switch Bass Contour Switch OUTPUT OUTPUT Amplifier INPUT INPUT +2dB +2dB 0dB -2dB 2.5kHz 100Hz 20kHz Effects of the Presence Contour Presence Contour Presence Contour Presence Contour Presence Contour Switch Switch Switch Switch Switch Figure 5. Figure 5. Figure 5. Figure 5. Figure 5. Figure 4 Figure 4 Figure 4 Figure 4 Figure 4. Vertical passive bi
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Room Acoustics Your Room Your Room Your Room Your Room Your Room this wave experience like a 3 dimensional pool with This is one of those areas that requires both a little waves reflecting and becoming enhanced depending on background to understand and some time and experi- the size of the room and the types of surfaces in the room. mentation to obtain the best performance from your system. Remember, your audio system can literally generate all of Your room is actually a component and an importa
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Rules of Thumb Rules of Thumb Rules of Thumb Rules of Thumb Rules of Thumb Hard vs. Soft Surfaces Hard vs. Soft Surfaces Break-up Objects Break-up Objects Break-up Objects. Objects with complex shapes, such Break-up Objects Break-up Objects Hard vs. Soft Surfaces Hard vs. Soft Surfaces. If the front or back wall of your Hard vs. Soft Surfaces as bookshelves, cabinetry, and multiple shaped listening room is soft, it may benefit you to have a walls can help break up those sonic gremlins and hard o
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Room Acoustics and Dispersion Interactions Controlled Horizontal Dispersion Controlled Horizontal Dispersion Controlled Horizontal Dispersion Controlled Horizontal Dispersion Controlled Horizontal Dispersion Controlled Vertical Dispersion Controlled Vertical Dispersion Controlled Vertical Dispersion Controlled Vertical Dispersion Controlled Vertical Dispersion Your Quests launch a 30 degree dispersion pattern when As you can see from the illustrations, your Quest speak- viewed from above. Th
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Three Major Types of Dispersion Three Major Types of Dispersion Three Major Types of Dispersion Three Major Types of Dispersion Three Major Types of Dispersion Historically, most attempts to achieve smooth dispersion In the field of loudspeaker design, it is a known fact that from large flat panel transducers resulted in trade-offs. as the sound wave becomes progressively smaller than After exhaustive testing of these different solution the transducer producing it, the dispersion of that wave at
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Placement Listening Position Listening Position Listening Position Listening Position Listening Position The Wall Behind the Speakers The Wall Behind the Speakers The Wall Behind the Speakers The Wall Behind the Speakers The Wall Behind the Speakers By now your speakers should be placed approximately 2 The front wall (the wall behind your speakers), should not to 3 feet from the front wall (wall in front of the listening be extremely hard or soft. For instance, a pane of glass position) and at l
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Experimentation Experimentation Experimentation Experimentation Experimentation Toe-in Toe-in Toe-in. Now you can begin to experiment. First begin by Toe-in Toe-in toeing your speakers in towards the listening area and Tonal Balance. Tonal Balance. Tonal Balance. Voices should be natural and full, Tonal Balance. Tonal Balance. then toeing them straight into the room. You will notice cymbals should be detailed and articulate yet not that the tonal balance changes ever so slightly. You bright and
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Placement Solid Footing Solid Footing Solid Footing Solid Footing Solid Footing The X-tra "Tweek" The X-tra "Tweek" The X-tra "Tweek" The X-tra "Tweek" The X-tra "Tweek" After living and experimenting with your Quests, you will A major cable company developed the following proce- then want to use the spikes included in your owners kit. dure for speaker placement. As a final test of exact The Quest will become more firmly planted on the floor placement, use these measurements for your speakers an
