The Article

IMPRESSION ESL 11A FROM MARTIN LOGAN

22nd May 2025

Hybrid electrostatic speakers, do they ever work? Paul Rigby gets to grips with a pair from Martin Logan

I’m a big fan of electrostatics, having lived with and loved my Quad 57 electrostatics for many years. I even have and love my Stax 007 electrostatic headphones. I like the basic tech. Martin Logan’s Impression ESL 11A speakers are not a pure electrostatic design though, it’s a hybrid system. Great for enhancing bass but such constructions don’t always work, the bass and upper frequencies sometimes sounding disconnected from each other.

Hence, I was interested to hear if the Impression 11As could blend all frequency areas and work in literal harmony.

In design terms? The 11A speakers arrive with curved electrostatic panels, spanning 112 x 28cm. To improve bass, always the Achilles heel of electrostatic speakers, the 11As use a subwoofer, attached to each speaker at the bottom. This cabinet uses twin 203mm bass drivers, positioned in opposite directions within the cabinet and powered by 275W Class D amplifiers.

These are heavy speakers at 40.9kg each while the sensitivity is pretty high at 91db. Hence, your amplifier needs to push out around 20W or more to properly drive them.

ROOM CORRECTION

A quick word about the company’s support for the optional ARC (Anthem Room Correction) system. Using PC software and a microphone (not supplied out of the box) you can tune these speakers to your room. I didn’t use it and won’t be reviewing it because I don’t like room correction systems. For me, any digital room correction averages out the room giving an artificiality to the sound and reducing the natural flow of the music.

Saying that? I’m sure ARC is wonderful in its class and I have nothing against the system per se but I much prefer to do my own manual room correction using my ears and my brain, even before a HiFi enters the room. Once done, you should never need room correction software ever again. If you would like to learn more, click here to read up on my own low cost manual room correction system.

Also, the rear of these speakers includes two bass boost controllers that move the frequency from the flat bass attuned to the design itself. One is a fine-tuning rotary knob adding or releasing 10db of bass, the other offers plus or minus two decibels as a quick alternative toggle switch. I’ll talk more about these controls in a moment.

The Vojtko DSP that controls the ARC technology also acts as a speakers crossover if ARC is not utilised.

For positioning and general set up? Electrostatics, given a chance, will beam at you, sounding bright and sharp. The 11As are no different. So careful toeing in is important. My Quad 57s need to fire their treble panels a couple of inches past the ear. These Martin Logans are different. They only need a minor toe in from a straight down the tracks position. Just enough to add emphasis to the stereo image. A couple of degrees of toe-in, therefore. No more.

SOUND QUALITY

I was about to trash the bass EQ options on these speakers but then I began sound testing, spinning the vinyl version of Echo & The Bunnymen’s Rescue off the Crocodile album. I thought that bass on this track was over accentuated. Too much boom, basically. So I reached for the rotary dial on the rear of the 11As and reduced the bass to -4db. This setting retained the default strong, rather cavernous bass response but also allowed the lead vocal a chance to shine, removing an earlier bass bloom around the vocals while the Impression ESL 11A’s inherent midrange clarity was able to shine.

Tonal balance was much better now, the band now provided a strong, powerful performance while retaining fine detail via secondary percussive tambourine and cymbal work.

Then again, playing the track Stupid Girl from Neil Young’s Zuma, I actually preferred the bass set flat at 0db. And this sort of thing continued throughout the test. Different albums suited different bass settings. For example, Peggy Lee’s I’ve Got You Under My Skin from the Crazy in the Heart (Vocalion) benefited from +2db, just to accentuate the upright bass a touch. Three LPs? Three different settings. For some, this constant tweaking with be too much, for others it will serve as an advanced tone control to dial in music to suit.

GENERAL IMPRESSIONS

General sound impressions thus far? The 11A speakers offered a large soundstage in terms of cubic feet. Wide but not especially wide but very deep and high too. The 11As provide a seriously impressive staging of music, adding excellent clarity and a striking instrumental separation. That is, inserting space in between instruments and especially vocals giving an airy feel to music.

I love the Kerr Acoustic K300s to bits but when listening to the lower-cost K300s, there is a sense of disappointment because you lose that oh-so-large soundstage. I almost wanted to dress up in my best bib and tucker when running the 11As. The 11As provided a real sense of occasion. That is, the 11As gave music real presence and, dare I say it, glamour.

Again, I adore the ribbon tweeters from the K300 but the 11A speakers told me where the extra money has been spent. The sense of precision and clarity from the 11As on Peggy Lee’s track Joey, Joey Joey, really come into their own during vocals crescendos, a full-on violin section truly sounded like a bank of strings all flying in formation while the sense of sheer control around the high frequencies was a wonder to behold.

QUAD 57s

Swapping the reference for my Quad 57s, complete with upgrade panels from UK outfit, One Thing Audio, the blindingly obvious change was the reduction in bass power and impact from the 57s. The 57s had the focus and detail but the 11A speakers provided more mass and bass weight from the Echo & The Bunnymen track. Also, with its useful sensitivity rating, the A11s were easier to drive. Again, the upper frequencies from the 57s didn’t have the breadth and scope of the 11As. The 57s sounded constricted and thin by comparison with a shrunken soundstage while the 11A sounded gloriously free and open.

CONCLUSION

If you see music as an event and a unique experience then the Martin Logan 11A speakers will certainly give you that. Is there a bass disconnect? I didn’t hear it specifically although the constant need to tweak bass attenuation means, to me at least, that bass needs corralling. You need to keep an eye on it. Bass is different here, yes but I also attribute that more to the wide open space of the soundstage. Hence, all frequencies, including bass, provided a sense of grandeur that is hard to match.

Presenting music as a moment of importance is just the foundation for the 11As, the combination of the high-frequency focus, precision and, above all, strict control means you hear more and you will enjoy more from your music. No information is lost here because bloom and boom is nowhere to be seen…or heard. So detail doesn’t bleed into the margins. It’s always present. Combine that with the meaty and weighty bass and you have a pair of very special speakers indeed. The Martin Logan Impression ESL 11A speakers not only give you the best from your music, they treat music with the respect it deserves.

MARTIN LOGAN IMPRESSION ESL 11A ELECTROSTATIC SPEAKERS

Website: www.martinlogan.com

Price: £13,995/€16,900/$11,999

GOOD: soundstage, meaty bass, upper frequency control, delicate detail

BAD: needs careful positioning, regular bass EQ adjustments required