Natural, Controlled Sound and the Ability to Pair with a Wide Range of Equipment: MartinLogan Motion 20i Floor-Standing Loudspeakers Hit Price-Performance Sweet Spot

There's a reason most budget speakers tend to sound either dull and lifeless or harsh and fatiguing: Not much effort is put into their designs. Find out what a difference 40 years of research and development can make with MartinLogan's Motion 20i floor-standing loudspeakers.

Able to move more rapidly and effectively than a typical dome or cone type, the company's custom-designed Folded Motion tweeter provides the kind of smooth, natural, and emotionally engaging high frequencies that average dome tweeters can't touch. And because it employs an extremely low-mass diaphragm that squeezes air and requires less excursion, the tweeter drastically minimizes distortion while clocking lightning-fast response times. Plus, its increased surface area provides wide albeit controlled dispersion to create the kind of realistic, carefully rendered soundstages that make music and movie soundtracks come alive all the while avoiding room-reflection artifacts. Add a pair of audiophile-grade 5.5-inch aluminum cone woofers and a rear-firing bass port, and you have a muscular floorstander built for reproducing dynamic thrills and subtle details.

Rated at 90db efficiency with 20-200 watt recommended power rating, and given new enclosures with reinforced baffles that virtually eliminate cabinet resonances, Motion 20i is extremely flexible and can mate with both big, solid-state home-theater receivers as well as a wide range of lower-power tube amplifiers. Its dynamic performance partially owes to a precision Vojtko filter with custom air-core coil and low DCR steel-laminate inductors as well as polyester film capacitors in series and low DF electrolytic capacitors in parallel.

While Motion 20i won't break the bank, MartinLogan's commitment to fit and finish means it looks luxuriously expensive. A meticulously polished, high-gloss finish and satin-smooth edges call for ogling and admiration. Meanwhile, its 33.6 x 6.8 x 11.8-inch (HWD) footprint and wide dispersion characteristics allow it to be unobtrusively placed in a living room or positioned in a space-challenged entertainment space. Equipped with five-way bi-wire binding posts, it can be set up in a matter of minutes. MartinLogan's five-year warranty does the rest.

"Sound was consistently smooth and natural, and the 20is were never fatiguing, making them a great choice for those who like to listen for long periods of time."
– Dylan Seeger, Home Theater Review, four-star review

Engineering without Compromises

Sound Inspired by Electrostatic Speakers
The success of Motion Series is directly attributed to its close relation to MartinLogan's legendary ultra-high-end electrostatic loudspeakers. The desire to transmute that level of performance into a more traditional loudspeaker at a more affordable price drove the initial design imperatives that created Motion Series.

Folded Motion Tweeters
MartinLogan's signature Folded Motion tweeter utilizes an extremely low mass diaphragm that squeezes air, thus demanding significantly less excursion than the typical one-inch dome tweeter. Its folded design allows for a much larger surface area (compared to that of a regular one-inch dome tweeter), controlled dispersion characteristics, and vanishingly low distortion. It's a miracle of audio engineering that's able to deliver much of the high-frequency detail and speed of a large, dynamic electrostatic panel in a small space.

Powerful Aluminum Cone Mid-Frequency and Bass Drivers
Custom built, low-distortion drivers pair high-power magnet structures with aluminum cone diaphragms to deliver massive excursion and sound output, preserve minute bass details, and maximize power handling capability, all without a hint of distortion. A unique concave dust cap design reinforces the strength and rigidity of the cone while reducing break-up modes. The use of aluminum for cones maximizes rigidity and strength of the drivers without adding excessive weight. This, along with the exceptional damping properties of aluminum, ensures the smooth, non-resonant response necessary for seamless blending with high-resolution Folded Motion tweeters. An added benefit of aluminum is its outstanding thermal conduction capability which allows cones to serve as efficient heat sinks for voice coils. To deliver accuracy in the critical midrange, mid-frequency drivers feature a specially engineered stiff suspension. Stiffening the suspension (the spider and surround) raises the driver's resonant frequency and optimizes its performance to achieve a natural roll-off and inherently operate within an ideal range for a mid-frequency reproduction (as opposed to a comparably sized woofer).

Low-Mounted Woofers Minimize Floor Bounce
Floorstanding Motion models utilize 2.5-way designs that feature woofers positioned low in the cabinet and close to the floor. This deliberate design addresses a phenomenon known as floor bounce where sound reflected off the floor (from drivers positioned high on a cabinet), and those aimed directly at the listener interfere with each other. Without addressing these issues, listeners would experience bloated bass and massive increases and decreases in sound levels throughout critical midrange frequencies. Through careful crossover design and driver positioning, floorstanding Motion speakers deliver a flat, balanced response through the bass and midrange regions. Such considerations are crucial when seeking to achieve accurate reproduction of vocals and instruments such as kick drums.

Proprietary Vojtko Crossover Networks
Premium Motion Series speakers feature proprietary Vojtko crossover networks using polypropylene and low-DF electrolytic capacitors, custom-wound inductors, and thermal and current protection. Vojtko crossovers are named after MartinLogan's chief audio technologist, Joe Vojtko. His unique approach to crossover design is as big of a part of the MartinLogan Sound as are electrostatic and Folded Motion thin-film driver technologies. A Vojtko crossover isn't so much a set of design requirements as it is a philosophy. Vojtko crossovers are designed in such a way that all drivers are kept within their optimal frequency range and balanced with one another. The drivers themselves are as much a part of a Vojtko crossover as are capacitors and resistors. Before the design of any crossover begins, drivers are carefully selected or designed to operate within a very intentional frequency range and with precise and predictable performance parameters. Vojtko crossovers are always built from high-quality parts, and care is taken to avoid overly complex topologies – a straightforward objective due to the careful selection of woofers and tweeters. The final (and most critical) aspect of a Vojtko Crossover is that final voicing is conducted in a space that is indicative of a real-world environment. This pragmatic approach allows MartinLogan speakers to sound their best in real-world rooms.

Modern Design Featuring Luxurious Finishes
Discreetly hidden behind fabric wrapped magnetic grilles, Folded Motion and aluminum cone drivers are held securely in place beneath matte black trim that masks tweeter and woofer mounting hardware for a clean, modern aesthetic. Solid cabinets, designed to eliminate fidelity robbing vibrations, are constructed from 18mm (0.7-inch) MDF with 31mm (1.2-inch) thick front baffles. MartinLogan's premier Motion Series speakers are available in three luxurious finishes and matching metallic trim – gloss black with black grilles and gunmetal grey trim, matte white with silver grilles and silver trim, and red walnut with black grilles and champagne colored trim.

Custom Five-Way Tool-Less Binding Posts
Premium gold-plated five-way tool-less binding posts assure a stable connection while accommodating a wide range of connections. Two sets of binding posts accommodate bi-wire connections to increase signal carrying conductors and allow each portion of the crossover to be directly coupled to the amplifier.