MartinLogan Focus ESL C18 Center Channel 3-Way Dark Cherry

Dutch Golden Age painters produced photorealistic masterpieces 300 years before cameras were invented. They focused your attention using bright, otherworldly light. Even in their most intimate portraits, compelling light draws your attention.

This kind of sensory focus is the key to realism in your home theater, too. It's your center channel speaker's job to anchor the action and engage your screen. It must reproduce detailed high-frequency information to strengthen the image and also integrate seamlessly with the other speakers in your surround sound system to envelop you in a lifelike soundstage.

MartinLogan introduces a new masterpiece of home theater realism: the Focus ESL C18 center channel speaker, an electrostatic center channel speaker designed for on-wall flexibility.

On the wall or on the shelf, there has never been a more adaptable electrostatic speaker.

The goal is flexibility and performance, and the Focus ESL C18 achieves both. The elegant, sculpted enclosure is solidly braced, resonance-free and beautifully balanced. It is designed to be mounted above or below the screen. Heavy-duty wall-mounting hardware is included, and the innovative brackets allow for multiple mounting angles, so you can aim the Focus ESL C18 directly at your listening position for a perfectly aligned center channel presentation.

The Focus ESL C18 is also at home on a shelf or pedestal. Toggle the convenient "On-Wall/Off-Wall" acoustic contour switch to instantly optimize performance in any mounting position. This feature automatically modifies response to compensate for wall limitations that can reinforce or inhibit bass output. The result is room-filling center channel reproduction with lifelike, full-range verve.

Installation flexibility and tailored center channel performance: now you have more options than ever in your Masterpiece Home Theater System.

Yes, a wall-mountable electrostatic center channel.

What makes the Focus ESL C18 a masterpiece of center channel design and engineering is its astonishing ability to be wall-mounted. And while the Focus ESL C18 boasts a depth of just 9.6 inches when wall-mounted, it is packed with technology that delivers the detailed audio required from a superior center channel speaker.

The 7.5 x 18-inch Curvilinear Line Source (CLS) electrostatic panel, with its gentle horizontal curve, improves output and extends the enveloping mid-range dispersion pattern. The outer grille design matches the look of the MicroPerf stages and bold AirFrame blade seen on other models in the ESL Masterpiece Series, for a sophisticated and coordinated home theater aesthetic.

WBT Premium Pin Binding

Connect your electronics safely and securely using WBT audiophile 5-way Binding Posts. Their pure copper connection plate is highly conductive and free from eddy current effects. These posts are insulated for shock protection and fully damped against vibration. They give you ample room for large-gauge professional speaker connections.

Precision Topology Advanced Vojtko Crossover

Vojtko Voiced, the Focus ESL C18's advanced crossover adds superior midrange clarity to this artistic composition. Painstakingly hand-built using only the finest polypropylene capacitors and air-core voice coils, the crossover utilizes MartinLogan's proprietary Vojtko topology for extremely low distortion and seamless driver/ESL integration. This precisely tuned network preserves even the most microscopic sonic nuances while handling the full dynamics of any source.

Exclusive Folding Motion Tweeter

Located behind the electrostatic panel, secured in a uniquely designed housing, is a MartinLogan exclusive Folding Motion Tweeter. The Folded Motion Tweeter's low-mass diaphragm minimizes distortion, while its short excursion length expedites high-frequency response. The 1 x 1.4-inch Folding Motion Tweeter in the Focus ESL C18 center channel speaker has a diaphragm area of 5.25 x 1.75 inches. The combined performance characteristics of the electrostatic panel and the Folding Motion Tweeter ensure precise and hyper-realistic mixing on stage.

This kind of mid and high frequency performance can only be supported by a huge low-end base. So the Focus ESL C18 also features a passive 6.5-inch woofer array, capable of reproducing deep bass down to 50Hz. Bass output can be adjusted for any installation option with the acoustic contour switch.

SPECIFICATIONS

Frequency Response: 50-23,000 Hz ± 3dB

Recommended Amplifier Power: 20-300 watts per channel

Sensitivity: 90dB / 2.83 volts / meter

Impedance: 4 Ohms, Compatible with 4, 6 or 8 Ohm amplifiers.

Crossover Frequency: 470, 3000 Hz

High Frequency Transducer: 1" x 1.4" (2.6cm x 3.6cm) folded motion transducer with 5.25" x 1.75" (13.3cm x 4.4 cm).

Mid-Frequency Transducer: Patented CLS™ XStat™ Electrostatic Transducer » Panel Dimensions: 7.5″ x 18″ (19 x 45.7 cm) » Radiating Area: 135 in² (868 cm²).

Low-Frequency Transducer: Two 6.5 in (16.5 cm) cast iron baskets, high-excursion rigid aluminum cone with extended throw drive assembly, non-resonant asymmetrical chamber format.

Components: Custom-wound audio transformer, air-cored coils, low DCR steel-laminated coils, polyester capacitors.

Audio Controls: Position: On-Wall / Off-Wall

Signal Inputs: Nextgen™ WBT-0703Cu 5-way binding posts feature a filigree signal made of pure gold-plated copper, nickel-free, non-ferromagnetic, highly conductive and completely isolated. Free from eddy current effects.

Weight: 50 lbs (22.7 kg)

Dimensions (Desktop Mount): 9.6" x 43.5" x 9.25"

Dimensions (Wall Mounted, Flat Mount): 9.4" x 43.5" x 9.65"

Dimensions (Wall Mounted, Angled): 11.3" x 43.5" x 11.5"

Available Finishes: Gloss Black - Walnut - Dark Cherry - Fire Red - Cordoba Red - Deep Sea Blue DX - Basalt Black - Arctic Silver - Desert Silver - Meteor Gray - Gloss White