Introduction MartinLogan, a well-known name in the audio enthusiast community, is undergoing a radical change. The entire line is being revamped. The Summit retails for $10,000 per pair, which is slightly less than its award-winning predecessor, the Prodigy. In staying true to its history, the Summit is a hybrid design with an electrostatic panel mated with a dynamic woofer, but it features a host of new technology and sports a completely new industrial design. Visually, I find the Summit to be the most attractive MartinLogan I have seen to date. It is more reminiscent of the Scenario than the Prodigy it replaces, in that its panels are not surrounded by visually imposing frames. The panels on the Summit are surrounded by frames featuring MartinLogan’s AirFrame technology and made from aerospace-grade aluminum. The panels feature a whole slew of technological and design innovations that have a bunch of catchy names, such as MicroPerf Stator, CLS, Generation 2 ...

Introduction Consumers are constantly searching for the latest and greatest products and this is especially true in the world of consumer electronics. A high quality product with a unique look, employing the latest technologies and selling at the right price, will grab the attention of most consumers. Over the past two decades, Anthony Gallo has been manufacturing a different kind of loudspeaker: a round one. In fact, the company does not manufacture any traditional rectangular, box-type speakers. Home theater and audio enthusiasts have become highly familiar with Gallo’s satellite product offering, based on a small spherical enclosure which helps minimize standing waves and cabinet distortion and thus deliver highly transparent and accurate sound. The company’s top-of-the-line floor-standing model, the Nucleus Reference 3.1 loudspeaker, was born out of years of research with this technology and targets value-oriented consumers who are shopping for unusually high performance without breaking the bank. Set-Up The floor-standing Gallo Reference 3.1 loudspeakers have a totally unique ...

Introduction Bowers & Wilkins is a company perhaps best known for their reference grade, ultra-high-end 800 Series and Nautilus speakers. The intense research and development (details of which can be read about in Bryan Southard’s review of the B&W 802Ds) that goes into these reference speakers eventually trickles its way down to more affordable speakers, such as the 600 Series 3 speakers, which range from $350 to $1,400 per pair. We had the opportunity to review the largest speaker of this more modest series, the DM604S3, a three-way floor-standing speaker that packs a boatload of energy. For those not familiar with B&W’s top offering, the Reference Nautilus speaker looks somewhat like a giant alien snail with horns. The bass enclosure is basically a tube that is a tapered coil, with three more drivers on top. Each of the upper three drivers has a long tapered tube extending to the rear. The tapered tubular enclosures eliminate nearly ...

Introduction Those of us who find ourselves enthralled by all things audio and video typically have a wish list of gear that would fulfill that ultimate goal of the no-holds–barred system. For most of us it is just that: a wish list. But to dream is human and we must have goals to shoot for. When it comes to the ultimate in loudspeakers, you can narrow the wish list down fairly quickly to a handful of the top contenders. One of those revered names is Revel, and their reputation for producing some of the finest loudspeakers in the world is unquestionable. The industrial design of the Ultima series demanded attention when I first saw them, and when I was finally able to hear a pair of Salons at AVRev.com editor Bryan Southard’s house, I was completely floored by their sound, so floored that I managed to get a pair of Studios for my very ...

Introduction B&W’s nearly 40-year pursuit of speaker perfection has made it one of the world’s most recognizable names in high-performance loudspeakers. Long ago, with what started as a love for classical music and live concerts, John Bowers set out to create the perfect speaker, one that neither added to nor subtracted anything from the recorded music. Four decades later, true to Bowers’ vision, B&W is still on the cutting edge of technology with their latest offering, the 800 Series loudspeakers. The B&W 802D loudspeaker is a three-way, floor-standing vented speaker system that is available in a variety of real wood veneers, retailing for $12,000 per pair. It measures 45 inches in height, 14.5 inches wide, 22.2 inches in depth. Each speaker weighs a backbreaking 176 pounds. The 802D is comprised of two eight-inch Rohacell bass drivers, one six-inch woven FST Kevlar driver for the midrange and B&W’s coveted diamond dome tweeter. Residing third in the 800 ...