MartinLogan

Motion XT B100 Bookshelf Loudspeakers

£1,895 RRP

Although most people’s first thoughts about MartinLogan will centre around gorgeous looking, sensually curved, large electrostatic or hybrid loudspeakers, the company also makes conventional and affordable box designs for those with more conservative tastes. For 2023, it has introduced significant updates to the latter, specifically on both its Motion and premium Motion XT lines – and the new Motion XT B100 tested here is a key beneficiary.

It’s a conventionally shaped bookshelf design, but uses an interesting film tweeter mated to a conventional cone mid/bass unit. As such, it’s perfect for rooms with limited space or as a part of a home theatre system. MartinLogan cheerily states that this is the best, most high-specification bookshelf speaker it has ever made, with benefits to the frequency response, power handling, sensitivity and overall quality that distinguish it from the rest of the Motion family. In other words, it’s for those wanting maximum performance without moving to a tower speaker.

UP CLOSE

The Motion series is known for its use of a Folded Motion tweeter, a carefully constructed folded diaphragm material that compresses and expands air, squeezing the sound forward. Because the tweeter has a very large internal surface area (79.8 cm2) and yet is made of an ultra-light material, it is capable of fast response times, great detail and is unstressed by volume, the company says.

The new second-generation model has been designed with a larger motor structure that should play louder and with less distortion. Specific to the XT version is a tweeter with a forty percent larger surface area than the standard model. This is deeply set into a sculptured waveguide that has apparently been carefully selected after an extensive evaluation of nearly fifty different designs. It’s said to deliver wide dispersion and consistent sound quality anywhere in the listening room.

Taking care of business below this is a new 165mm mid-bass driver with a lightweight Nomex-reinforced Kevlar cone; this sports a woven textured finish and is without a separate dust cap. This material is claimed to have very good anti-resonance and anti-ringing properties, and sounds like a paper cone when tapped. The basket is made of cast aluminium.

The cabinet is made to a very high standard. When first receiving my review pair of XT B100s, I was struck by the weight – 9.3kg is a lot for a compact box measuring 368x203x318mm [HxWxD]. The knuckle rap test to the sides produces an even, solid tone, with the front face having a more dead ring to it. There are no exposed fasteners, and the tweeter is attached from behind to the front face.

The rear panel features a port, so it’s a bass reflex design, and there are four lovely, easy-to-grip and twist binding posts, suitable for bi-wiring or bi-amping. Three finishes are available, namely Gloss Black, Walnut, and Satin White. My review pair is black with an impeccable piano gloss shine that looks classy and elegant. A pair of woofer covers are supplied that can clip into position, but the tweeter is always exposed.

MartinLogan uses a McCracken-Vojtko crossover for this speaker, which works at 2.6kHz. Not much is given in the way of specifics, but this two-way design has a stated frequency response of 45Hz to 25kHz (± 3 dB). It’s said to have 93dB sensitivity and a 4-ohm nominal impedance. The recommended amplifier rating is 20 to 250W. All of which means this is an unusually efficient speaker that should go loud with relatively little power. All the same, it needs an amplifier that can drive low-impedance loads without breaking into a sweat.

A specialised speaker stand is offered for the B100 called the STAND25, which was used for this review and is bundled at no extra cost with the loudspeakers at the time of writing and only for a limited time. Several amplifiers were involved during the audition period, boasting 40W of power and upward; it’s definitely a case of ‘the more, the merrier’ in terms of amplifier output.

THE LISTENING

The Motion XT B100 is a highly polished sonic performer, with a clean and articulate nature that digs deep to reproduce musical detail and tonal colour. From the moment I started my listening sessions, I was impressed by how balanced a musical communicator this little loudspeaker is.

For example, the opening guitar in Sergio Leone by Jackson Brown had an immediacy and realism that conveyed the illusion of the guitar being in the room with me. This track has quite large dynamic swings, from soft to loud and back again, but the XT B100 never tensed up or became harsh, and instead managed to track the crescendos with consummate ease. The music simply flowed naturally, remaining balanced and in control at all times. This speaker has been voiced to sound tight and accurate rather than warm and bloated, yet proved surprisingly forgiving of less-than-perfect recordings.

Bass is deep for a loudspeaker of this size and price, and I enjoyed the low-end grip and lack of overhang. It does an excellent job of handing over to the midrange without any annoying peaks – and it’s the latter area where this speaker really excels. Voices and acoustic instruments sound very natural, and are carried with lots of detail. Treble has impressive extension up top, and just sparkles. High frequencies never sound stressed regardless of the volume, although they can be a little well-lit at times. Still, this isn’t to say the MartinLogan is bright – rather, there’s more lustre to upper harmonics than you might expect.

Use Me by Grace Jones has electronic effects and background fill-ins that shone through beautifully with the XT B100. This speaker has the ability to highlight even minor details within a recording very clearly, thanks to its highly capable tweeter. Indeed I found that any small changes to the cables and component isolation can easily be heard, the tweeter providing real insight into what’s happening elsewhere in the system.

When it comes to rhythmic ability, the little MartinLogan gets this important aspect very right. Deutschland by Rammstein features powerful electric guitar and kick drum and snare work, but this failed to throw the speaker off the scent. Possibly in part thanks to its light tweeter diaphragm, the intensity of heavier tracks is well carried without compression. Indeed I played Spitfire by Infected Mushroom at almost concert levels and was amazed at the ability of this small speaker to deliver such a clean, tight and punchy sound. There was so much detail coming from the recorded acoustic, yet a complete lack of glare or harshness.

Creepin by Melbourne indie band Kingswood showed me how flexible the MartinLogan is at relaying spatial information. My review pair threw a large open soundstage into my room, one that went well beyond the actual speakers. Inside this, the main vocal was rock-solid, with the rest of the band at varying distances away. Depth perspective was very good, and the sweet spot surprisingly wide too.

I lined up the well-recorded Don’t Know Why by Norah Jones to compare the MartinLogan’s sound with a couple of familiar loudspeakers that I had to hand. Compared to the larger and warmer sounding PSB Passif 50, the XT B100 made the piano appear realistic, with a purer and more natural tonality. It also came across more like a studio monitor than a home speaker, with a greater sense of authority. Vocals were smoother and more tightly controlled, too.

Bowers & Wilkins’ 705 Signature has long been a reference bookshelf speaker for me, but back-to-back, it fared less well against the MartinLogan. Both designs excel at presenting clarity, detail, balance and bass extension for their size. To my ears, the B&W sounded slightly smoother and more laid back, with superior tonal purity. On the other hand, the MartinLogan produced a more immersive soundstage, which brought vocals more front-and-centre to the performance. Treble was less refined, but there was more dynamic expression. So considering that the B&W costs one and a half times the MartinLogan’s price, the latter acquitted itself very well.

THE VERDICT

MartinLogan’s Motion XT B100 is a serious performer with no obvious drawbacks, and therefore represents extremely good value for money. The company is to be commended for taking a fresh look at the Motion range and elevating it into something quite sublime. Anyone looking for a compact loudspeaker that sounds fantastic should give this a listen.

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