Well, rather negative impression, not from the speakers at all (did not listen to them) but from one of the salesmen at Hifi Linzbach in Bonn.
Last week at the demo, one of the employees was very kind and I told him that I'd like to come back to better be able to listen to the speakers. That day of the demo not only there were too many people, I didn't know well the music that was being played for the demo, and most importantly, other Marten speakers were playing rather loudly in adjacent rooms simultaneously, absolutely terrible for truly critical listening. That employee, a young man, told me that of course I could come back any time and listen to them again.
Well, I went today, but a different employee/salesman received me, an older man. I asked if I could listen to the Coltrane Supreme 2 speakers, inquiring whether they had certain music available whether CD or LP (Ana Caram from Chesky Records, an excellent recording, Norah Jones, Diana Krall, Tool,) in general music I'm familiar with. I explained that I couldn't bring my own CD's because I don't have them in Germany, moved here last year and haven't brought my stuff yet.
This employee not only started questioning whether I would ever be able to afford and buy such speakers, he said that they in general had no list of music available for listeners (when they have the back wall where the Coltrane Supreme 2's are full of shelves with LPs.) What is more, he started arguing that if I wanted to check female vocals, listening to one was listening to all, that I didn't need to listen to two or three female vocal CDs to tell how good the speakers were (as if there weren't different instruments and other sounds besides midrange vocals that I might care to listen to from the different tracks). And in general, that I needed to listen to much better music for critical listening. ¬¬
The man continued arguing that even from the demo alone I should have been able to tell that the speakers were the best there are, regardless of listening position, and regardless of noise from the other rooms. (Whaaaa?) Then he went on explaining that turning on the speakers alone would take half an hour to warm them up, and that it's costly for them, that they could charge for that, that they certainly don't, but that I should think about the fact that it's costly for them to demo the speakers, and so and so forth. That they could do let me hear them today, and I could come back in half an hour or so if I wanted, to listen to whatever music they had, or I could come with my own CDs later in any case.
Well, I had to respectfully disagree with many of the points he made, but I quickly realized that this was the kind of salesman that is not a true audio enthusiast, and that this was the kind of stubborn and disrespectful audio salesman I avoid as fast as possible. So I explained to him and to other younger salesmen who were also there at that point, that I'm really not new at all to the high-end audio enthusiast world and business. That I've auditioned many high-end and flagship models particularly in the USA, told them some of the brands I've heard (Dynaudio, Fokal, B&W, Revel, Paradigm, Martin Logans, etc. etc.) and I understand that what's a free audition for me represents some electricity and effort for them. So I said I'd rather not listen to the speakers today but sometime later with my own CDs, and thanked them, and left.
What I did not tell them is that absolutely all other high-end audio stores (literally dozens, in New Orleans, Pensacola, Orlando, Indianapolis, Seattle, San Antonio, etc. etc) I've ever visited have been much more welcoming, absolutely none had such ridiculous objections to auditioning their highest end speakers, and some even asked whether I had in mind any CDs or music that I had not brought, and produced them on the spot. In any case, none had ever questioned the music I've wanted to play through their speakers. To me what that salesman said not only gives away a rather poor understanding of true critical listening, it even suggests some sort of lack of confidence on their flagship rig. Just my opinion of course, but that's the impression I got.
I said I would come back with my own CDs, but you can bet I don't plan to go back there ever again. Counting this as one of the bottom 2 experiences I've ever had in audio stores.
PS. Wrote an email very similar to this post (in any case, even with a link to this thread) and sent it to the contact email of Marten.
