please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . december 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message martinlogan type corporation industry electronics founded lawrence kansas 1979 headquarters lawrence kansas key people gayle martin sanders and ron logan sutherland co founders products audio number of employees 70 website martinlogan global martinlogan is an american company producing conventional subwoofer speakers as well as floor standing wall mounted and in wall hybrid speakers using electrostatic loudspeaker and planar magnetic thin film loudspeaker technology . contents 1 origins 2 the first prototype 3 products 3.1 monolith 3.2 the statement e2 generation 3.3 subwoofers 3.4 the design series 3.5 in wall speakers 3.6 the esl series 4 current 5 see also 6 references 7 further reading 8 external links origins edit martinlogan was founded by gayle martin sanders and ron logan sutherland who met in the late 1970s at a high end audio store sanders managed in lawrence kansas . despite different backgrounds sanders had trained in architecture and advertising sutherland in electrical engineering they shared a passion for music and electrostatic loudspeakers . discussion of electrostatic speakers and the available technology led to sanders and sutherland to design and build an electrostatic speaker . sanders organized a research and development team to transform a design he had tinkered with for more than a decade into a marketable electrostatic transducer . the first prototype edit the first prototype was ready in 1980 . the sound quality was adequate but at high volume levels there was arcing within the electrostatic panels . the team began experiments with aerospace materials that led to improved performance . the drivers were made with conductive coatings insulation and adhesives and an ultra light mylar diaphragm between two perforated steel stators . satisfied with the aesthetics sanders still struggled with achieving satisfactory high frequency dispersion without compromising sound quality physically wide transducers radiate high frequencies in a narrow beam rather than fanning them over a wide area . the solution came in a midnight session when sutherland sketched a theoretical sound wave to illustrate how sound disperses . sanders envisioned a horizontally curved panel the curvilinear line source or cls transducer central to the design of every martinlogan electrostat since . with only a mock up and some photographs sanders and sutherland exhibited their speaker concept at the 1982 consumer electronics show ces in chicago . the design was honored with a ces design and engineering award . excited by the response they headed home to kansas to translate their ideas into a working and saleable model . through a network of high technology manufacturers sanders and sutherland enlisted the help of other engineers with expertise and interest in the project . the company that fabricated the space shuttle s filtered windows and the people who had created teflon coated cookware joined the design team . the final driver panel was patented and used a vapor deposition process an optically transparent diaphragm that could support a 5 000 volt charge and a conformal coating that uniformly insulated each perforated stator to a charge of up to 10 000 volts . products edit a martinlogan tower speaker right with signature large curved electrostatic driver . monolith edit by the time of the 1983 consumer electronics show ces they had developed a full range hybrid electrostatic loudspeaker they called the monolith . a high end audio company used a prototype pair in its room at the show to demonstrate its electronics . dealers who heard them were impressed by the sound of the monoliths and were eager to sell them . it was at this point that sanders and sutherland put their middle names to the venture and set about satisfying the demand they had created . martinlogan was created . working with one full time and one part time employee they built and shipped the first 10 pairs of monoliths . sales started to surge in 1985 and the company was finally on a firm footing . sutherland departed to return to his first love electronics . the next year martinlogan moved to its current location . at the same time international distribution for the monolith took off . steady growth followed . by 1988 sales had increased tenfold and the plant had expanded to include a large production space . in 1989 and again in 1990 inc. magazine recognized martinlogan as one of the 500 fastest growing privately held companies in the united states . in the early 1990s martinlogan released the world s first electrostatic home cinema center channel speaker and on wall surround channel speakers establishing the brand in the emerging home theater market . it was during this time in the early 1990s that some of martinlogan s most popular electrostatic speakers were introduced including the aerius sl3 quest and cinema . the statement e2 generation edit martinlogan s next product began to take form in 1997 in the form of the 2000 pound statement e2 loudspeaker . the design and engineering behind the statement e2 fueled the next generation of martinlogan electrostatic speakers not to mention ml s first non electrostatic product . released in 1999 the prodigy electrostatic loudspeaker incorporated much of the design and engineering knowledge gained during the statement e2 project . prodigy in turn inspired a new generation of electrostatic products including the odyssey ascent aeon and theater . subwoofers edit the next product was martinlogan s first non electrostatic product . in 2001 the original descent subwoofer featuring servo control and balancedforce technologies established martinlogan as a major player in the growing subwoofer market . other subwoofer models by martinlogan include the descent i depth i grotto abyss and dynamo . the design series edit in 2003 the martinlogan design series was launched aimed at producing a smaller more affordable line of speakers . speakers in the design series include the clarity mosaic montage fresco vignette as well as the abyss and dynamo subwoofers . in wall speakers edit now established as a loudspeaker technology company not just an electrostatic company martinlogan designed a first for high performance speakers inside a wall the voyage and passage in wall loudspeakers released 2004 . the esl series edit in january 2005 martinlogan released the summit electrostat . a major departure from previous electrostatics summit combined dual independently powered woofers with martinlogan s most advanced electrostatic transducer to date the xstat . later additions to the esl series include the vista vantage and stage loudspeakers as well as the descent i and depth i subwoofers . current edit in october 2005 ml was acquired by a subsidiary of shoreview industries . shoreview is a financial firm that makes investments in companies . shoreview is a passive investor that is not from the loudspeaker or audio business and is not involved in day to day operations . see also edit audiophile high end audio high fidelity loudspeaker references edit further reading edit martin logan on the audio circuit external links edit official website martinlogan owners an ml owners forum retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title martinlogan & oldid 697099313 categories companies established in 1979loudspeaker manufacturersaudio equipment manufacturerscompanies based in kansaslawrence kansashidden categories articles lacking sources from december 2015all articles lacking sources navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout 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