MartinLogan Motion i Series: Home Theater Speaker Options

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If you are the lucky owner of a pair of MartinLogan Motion series towers or bookshelf speakers and have been considering expanding into home theater, you will be delighted to know, MartinLogan has you covered! Since their introduction in 2010, the Motion series has delivered a pure transparent sound their large electrostatics are famous for in a much more compact and cost-effective package. One of the secrets is their Folded Motion tweeter design used in all the models that gives you that effortless sound of an electrostatic panel in a much more compact speaker. MartinLogan also makes use of exotic materials, super high-quality crossovers, and well-braced cabinets.

This review is all about the other speakers you might consider adding to your main left and right Motion speakers to put together a perfectly matched home theater speaker system. In a home theater system, the center channel speaker is super important. Without a great center speaker, you will never be able to understand the dialog track. If possible, you get the most seamless soundstage across the front three channels if the speakers are as close as possible to each other in design. Heck, the ideal setup is to have three of the exact same speakers across the front, but for most people that is just not practical. The MartinLogan Motion lineup makes use of two different folded motion tweeters in the models. We think it is great they offer up two center channels with the different tweeters so you have an exact match to the Motion speakers you are using for your main left and right channels. For the Motion models in the 40, 20, or 15 series, the Motion 30i will be the center channel you should consider. It has the same sized Folded Motion tweeter as your main speakers. The dual 5 and a half inch woofers used are of the exact same material as your speakers as well. They are aluminum cones with a Vojtko crossover just like the one in your left and right speakers. The new ‘i” series offers up more finishes, so you will have a choice of gloss black, matte white, or red walnut all with cosmetically matched fabric grills.

The 50XTi uses the same larger Motion tweeter found in the 60XT and 35XT series, so if you have one of those models for your main speakers, this is without question the correct choice for you. Just like the 30i, you have the same cabinet finishes. With the larger Motion tweeter, the 50XTi steps up to dual aluminum 6 and a half inch woofers with a bigger and even better braced cabinet. These offer bi-wiring as well, which the 30i does not.

With Dolby Atmos and it’s incredible object-based surround sound, surround speakers are more important than ever. MartinLogan has a large range of choices with something for just about any situation. For Dolby Atmos, you need at least one pair of lower surround speakers and one pair of upper Atmos speakers. Ideally, you would have two pairs of lower and two pairs of upper Atmos speakers for a super immersive experience. For the lower surround speakers, they can be either a stand-mounted bookshelf type speaker, a wall-mounted smaller speaker, or an in-wall architectural speaker.

In the perfect world, the upper Dolby Atmos speakers would be mounted on your ceiling firing down towards your listening area. For many people though, this is not practical as it requires getting wiring into the ceiling. This caused a new category of speakers to emerge that sit on top of your main front and/or rear speakers and aim the sound up at the ceiling to have it bounce back down into the listening area. Home theater receivers companies have made adaptations for this new type of speaker in the software and you now tell your home theater receiver if you are using the Atmos speakers that aim up or ones that are mounted to the ceiling. The MartinLogan AFX comes to the rescue with their version of this speaker type, and guess what, yes it uses the great Folded Motion tweeter for another match to the rest of your MartinLogan speakers.

If you are able to get wiring to your ceiling, MartinLogan also have several great in-ceiling options that all have that great Folded Motion tweeter. As you can tell now from all these different choices, MartinLogan makes it super easy to put together a perfectly matched home theater speaker system. No matter what kind of room limitations you may have in your space, they are likely to have a solution.