MartinLogan Dynamo 1500X, User Manual

Home Theater     29

H

ome

 t

Heater

It had long been the practice of stereo buffs to connect their 

television to a stereo system. The advantage was the use 

of the larger speakers and more powerful amplifier of the 

stereo system. Even though the sound was greatly improved, it 

was still mono and limited by the broadcast signal.

In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s two new home 

movie formats became widely available to the public: 

VCR and laser disc. 

By 1985, both formats had developed into very high quality 

audio/video sources. In fact, the sonic performance of some 

video formats exceeded audio-only formats. Now, with 

theater-quality sound available at home, the only element 

missing was the "surround sound" presentation found in 

movie houses.

Fortunately, Dolby and DTS encoded DVD’s emerged  

with the same surround sound information encoded on 

home releases as the theatrical release. Additionally, 

new high-resolution home-viewing formats such as Blu-ray 

as well as high-definition content provided via cable or 

satellite have evolved which include multi-channel encod-

ed audio  that is virtually master tape quality. All that is 

required to retrieve this information is a decoder and addi-

tional speakers and amps to reproduce it.

Home theater is a complex purchase and we recommend 

that you consult your local MartinLogan dealer, as they 

are well versed in this subject.

Each piece of a surround system can be purchased sepa-

rately. Take your time and buy quality. No one has ever 

complained that the movie was too real. The following list 

and descriptions will give you only a brief outline of the 

responsibilities and demands placed on each speaker. 

Front Left and Front Right

If these speakers will be the same two used for your stereo 

playback, they should be of very high quality and able to play 

loudly (over 102 dB) and reproduce bass below 80 Hz. 

Center Channel

This is the most important speaker in a home theater 

system, as almost all of the dialogue and a large por-

tion of the front speaker information is reproduced by the 

center channel. It is important that the center speaker 

be extremely accurate and mate well with the front 

speaker, and that it is recommended for use as a center 

speaker. This is not the place to cut corners.

Surround Speakers

We recommend (along with the film industry) that the sur-

round speakers play down to at least 80 Hz. Surround 

speakers contain the information that makes it appear that 

planes are flying over your head. Some may suggest that 

this is the place to save money and purchase small, inex-

pensive speakers. If you choose to do so, be prepared 

to upgrade in the future as discrete multi-channel digital 

encoding is proliferating rapidly and the demands on sur-

round speakers have increased.

Subwoofer

With any good surround system you will need one or 

more high-quality subwoofers (the .1 in a 5.1, 6.1, or 7.1 

channel surround system). Most movie soundtracks contain 

large amounts of bass information as part of the special 

effects. Good subwoofers will provide a foundation for the 

rest of the system.

Figure 13.

 Dynamo subwoofers as the LFE (effects) channels, MartinLogan 

speakers as front, center, and surround (effects) channels.

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