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Old time religion

Posted by Lew (A) on September 28, 2001 at 12:46:37

In Reply to: Re: A-S MA-1 MKII.2 + Martin Logan CLSIIz + Zero = !!WOW!! posted by Travis on September 27, 2001 at 17:05:53:

When I first heard the original CLS I, I was absolutely blown away by the mid-range transparency, and I bought a pair for use with my then Futterman amps. The sound was wonderful. Then the CLS II came out amidst claims that it would have better bass and treble response. Like a typical audiophool, I replaced my beloved CLS Is with the CLS IIs as soon as I could get a pair. Boy, was I underwhelmed. Turns out that the Is had a really nice high impedance (ca 16 ohms) and were a great match for OTLs, but the IIs had been "improved" to make it easier to drive them with transistor "amplifiers". These "improvements" resulted in an impedance that dipped below 1 ohm in the low treble! I called ML to complain; their response was that I was using the "wrong" amplifiers. But others must have complained, too, because before long the II became the IIA and then the IIz, the latter designation to imply that the impedance or "Z" problem had been solved, which is NOT true. The impedance now dips to about 2 ohms at near mid-range frequencies, instead of <1 ohm. (Hooray?) So, I eventually got rid of the II/IIA/IIz and went on to the Sound Labs. Paul (and Ralph, lest we forget) have made it possible for tube-ophiles to consider the CLS once again. Now, I wonder what two pairs of CLSs would do............. Be still my heart.

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