Sounds Good to Me

When asked, Kim did not vote against letting us upgrade our L/R speakers to these Martin–Logan Vistas. They're near the bottom of the line, because the ones near the top are what one might call "really fucking expensive". Plus they'd be way too big for our room at 70" tall.

We went out to Stereoland today and gave a pair of the Purity model a good listen. They're slightly below the Vista and are self–powered, more for the rich bastard that just wants to easily hook up his iPod to something in the bathroom I guess. We also listened to the same tracks on some Paradigm Studio 100s, which are really sweet. I wanted to see if Kim could tell the difference, but she couldn't hear it, or maybe just wasn't really listening. Being regular dynamic speakers, I could close my eyes and point to where they were, and even these incredibly high quality speakers have some colorations when compared to the openness and transparency of the electrostats. Those produced a depth, a more realistic 3D soundfield. On Bela Fleck's Flight of the Cosmic Hippo, I could easily place the acoustic bass behind the rest of the band, with Bela's banjo a little closer to the front.

But she knew that having a pair of Martin–Logans is something I've always wanted, and she knew our current Definitive Technology fronts aren't that hot. They're alright for watching movies, but as soon as I play music from any source, I'm completely unimpressed with our system. And with the receiver we have, I should not be feeling that way. I've always strived to have good sound in my house and vehicles. So now I will. I'm pleased as punch.