Martinlogan Exclusives; Full Range Operation - Martin Logan ElectroMotion ESL Manuel De L'utilisateur

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FuLL RANGe oPeRAtIoN

Another significant advantage of MartinLogan's
exclusive transducer technology reveals itself
when you look at examples of other loudspeaker
products on the market today. The EM-ESL uses no
crossover networks above 500 Hz because they
are not needed. The EM-ESL consists of a single,
seamless electrostatic membrane reproducing all
frequencies above 500 Hz simultaneously. How is
this possible?
First we must understand that music is not
composed of separate high, mid and low
frequency pieces. In fact, music is comprised of
a single complex waveform with all frequencies
interacting simultaneously.
The electrostatic transducer of the EM-ESL
essentially acts as an exact opposite of the
microphones used to record the original event. A
microphone, which is a single working element,
transforms acoustic energy into an electrical signal
that can be amplified or preserved by some type
of storage media. The EM-ESL's electrostatic
transducer transforms electrical energy from your
amplifier back into acoustical energy.
MartinLogan ElectroMotion
EM- ESL
Panel
crossover point (500 Hz)
Woofer
Figure 16. This diagram illustrates how a conventional
speaker system must use multiple crossover networks that
have negative effects on the musical performance.
e
xclusIves
ESL
Critical Zone: 500 Hz–20kHz
Due to the limitations of electromagnetic drivers,
no single unit can reproduce the full range
of frequencies. Instead, these drivers must be
designed to operate within a narrow, fixed
bandwidth of the frequency range, and then
combined electrically so that the sum of the parts
equals the total signal. While nice in theory, we
must deal with real-world conditions.
In order to use multiple drivers, a crossover network
is enlisted to attempt a division of the complex
musical signal into the separate pieces (usually
highs, mids, and lows) that each specific driver
was designed to handle. Unfortunately, due to the
phase relationships that occur within all crossover
networks and during the acoustical recombination
process, nonlinearities and severe degradation
of the music signal take place in the ear's most
critical zone (see figure 16).
The EM-ESL's electrostatic transducer can single-
handedly reproduce all frequencies above 500
Hz simultaneously. You have in one transducer the
ability to handle in elegant simplicity the critical
frequencies above 500 Hz.
Conventional Loudspeaker
crossover point (2,000–5,000 Hz)
crossover point (100–500 Hz)
Tweeter
Midrange
Woofer
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