A passive hybrid electrostatic floorstander at the top of the MartinLogan catalogue, built to order and supplied as a pair: a 122 x 56 cm XStat CLS panel, a sealed 30.5 cm front woofer and a ported 38.1 cm rear woofer.
Neolith: structure and drivers
The Neolith is a physically large loudspeaker: almost 190 cm tall, 76.9 cm wide and 175 kg per cabinet. The curved panel provides 6,832 cm² of radiating area and reproduces very nearly all of the mid and high frequencies. Below 250-400 Hz the 30.5 cm front woofer comes in, with its carbon-fibre sandwich cone; below 60 Hz the 38.1 cm aluminium rear unit does. Stated response is 23-22,000 Hz within ±3 dB, sensitivity is 90 dB, and suggested amplification goes up to 1,300 W per channel.
An electrostatic driver has a single moving part: an extremely light film, made conductive and stretched between two stators of perforated sheet steel, which moves as a whole in step with the signal. MartinLogan fixes the assembly by vacuum bonding, adopts small-hole MicroPerf stators to enlarge the useful area and ClearSpar spacers to maintain tension. The horizontal CLS curve widens the soundstage, while dipole radiation cuts side reflections and, together with limited vertical spread, those from floor and ceiling.
The load-bearing structure is phenolic resin polymer, a dense and non-resonant material finished in automotive-type gloss paint; the woofer cabinet is covered in leather. The design is passive: the Vojtko crossover employs 1% resistors on heat sinks, polypropylene capacitors and two toroidal transformers for the electrostatic element. A set of jumpers lets the owner trim the bass by 4 or 8 dB and match the speaker to the listening distance. The WBT terminals, with a silver conductor, accept bi-wiring and bi-amping.
Specifications
- Frequency range: 23-22,000 Hz (±3 dB)
- Sensitivity: 90 dB (2.83 V at 1 m)
- Impedance: 4 ohms nominal, 0.43 ohms at 20 kHz
- Suggested amplifier: 20 to 1,300 W a channel
- Crossover points: 60 Hz and 250-400 Hz
- Horizontal spread: 30°
- Electrostatic panel: XStat CLS, 122 x 56 cm, radiating area 6,832 cm²
- Front woofer: 30.5 cm, carbon-fibre sandwich cone, 7.5 cm voice coil, sealed box
- Rear woofer: 38.1 cm, aluminium cone, cast basket, reflex loaded
- Structure: high-density phenolic resin polymer
- Crossover: 1% resistors on heat sinks, polypropylene capacitors, twin toroidal transformers
- Bass adjustment: 0, -4 or -8 dB by jumper
- Distance adjustment: up to 3 m, 4 m, 5 m and beyond
- Terminals: WBT-0705Ag nextgen in silver, ready for bi-wiring
- Mains consumption: 1 W in standby, 15 W at most per speaker
- Lighting: LED with three levels, full, dimmed, off
- Size (H x W x D): 189.9 x 76.9 x 87 cm
- Supplied: sold as a pair, 175 kg per speaker
