See my earlier review on the Monolith III (pur date 1992) when I powered the ESL panels with a Pass X350 SS amplifier (700W/ch into 4 ohms) and Pass X3 preamp and used a Sony SCD-777ES SACD player as source. Since then, I have upgraded to the even better sounding Pass X350.5 power amp. Also, a few months ago I blew a woofer on my Monolith III and tried to buy a replacement from the factory, but as the speaker is over 20 years old, the woofer supplier is out of business. So after researching for about 3 weeks, I purchased a pair of 500W aluminum cone, long throw, high definition 12" woofers from Peerless (new Model XXLS-P835017). These excellent and fast woofers are actually similar in many electrical specifications to the originals (I am an EE), except for their higher power handling and their better sound. The bass is now tighter and deeper, but not before I purchased two Velodyne SMS-1 Digital Woofer Correction Systems. With each woofer now individually equalized to my room, and their crossover points perfectly tailored to match the equalization curves of the M-L IIIx (EXOS) active crossover, the bass is far better than the original stock speakers - deeper, tighter, better defined, no boomy hangover, and just overall more musical and realistic.
Also, after reading many glowing reviews (ref. Sterophile Mag), I recently purchased the awesome Sony HAP-Z1ES ("Z") HD Digital Audio Player. Wow!! This thing is better sounding than any CD or SACD player that I have ever auditioned - clean, articulate, 3-dimensional, musical and a dead quite noise floor. All of my CDs are now ripped to 16-bit/44kHz WAV files and stored on the Z's internal hard drive, so never again do I need to go off and search though cabinets full of CDs to find a certain album - they are all on the Sony at a touch of a button! And my smartphone app can fully control the Wi-Fi connected Z. So now my modified and equalized (bass only) Monolith IIIx speakers sound far better than ever. Wow, I'm loving it!! .... News Flash .... This just in .... M-L has just released the "Son of Monolith", the Neolith (Nov 2014). Check that baby out! So after being discontinued since year 2000, M-L has reinvented the Monolith as their very best speaker ever, the Neolith is the new ESL World Reference Speaker System! Just goes to show - what goes around comes around. Indeed!

I have owned many amazing pieces of audio from sound lab ultimate ones to Jm lab grand utopia bes . Not to mention many in between. I went through three pairs of nova Utopias regular Utopias ml prodigys at least three pairs and original summits three pairs. I found these speakers on craigslist for a great price thinking they would fill in before I picked up the summit x or the clx with subs. Well I was in for a major surprise . The monolith 3s crushed my wonderful prodigys I just sold. They are more detailed and open with a larger soundstage and much better separation . I still have not ordered anything else and every time I listen I am always shocked at how realistic these speakers are. I sing with many great vocalist on a regular basis and feel the monolith sounds as close to being beside them as possible. One of the best speakers ever regardless of price.

No crossover in the midrange.
Incredible customer service.
Holgraphic soundstage.

Large size-not a problem for me as I have a huge space for them. Your wife might disapprove of the size and their need to be placed several feet into the room-buy her flowers and be nice or divorce/kill her.
Are "full-range" but once you've used them with a high-end subwoofer you'll realise the bottom octave was not being reproduced.
Make you fall asleep enveloped in beautiful music-or is that a strength?
Panels are a difficult load for amplifiers to drive-need plenty of headroom.

Unbelievably realistic speaker (with synergistic electronics). If you buy a pair be prepared to upgrade all your signal chain unless you already have high end gear. Have heard them sound fantastic with only one SS amplifier-a very expensive and powerful beast! I run my panels with VTL tube monoblocks for an incredible sound with zero listening fatigue. How anyone can return to cone speakers after living with these is beyond my understanding. Female voices soar so sweetly.

Customer Service

Could not be any better.

Similar Products Used:

None

These beast are 1 under the Martin Logan Statements which go for 100,000 pair. Great bargin for the price. These will please any audiophile

Big and fussy with placement. Heavy too You must use the active x'over. I know its an extra $4,000 but awesome and sweet

I want to share my pleasure listening to the Monolitic III's. Incredible soundstage and transistion to base after proper placement. Tube amps (mono) are a must for that real life stage sound. I drive each panal with Yakow Aranov 100W tubes. KAV 250's work fine for each bass. These speakers will find your weak component, so be prepared to upgrade. Vinyl recordings are sweat. If you use CD's be prepared to shell out more bucks. I finally chose a used Krell KPS 20i to spin my CD's.

Similar Products Used:

Krell KRC preamp, KPS CD, KAV250(Bass) Yakow Aranov tube amps for mids and trebles Solid Silver speaker cables

Clarity, mid-range warmth and detail, surprisingly good bass response

size, tough to find the sweetspot

I have owned Martin Logan speakers since 1992 and have been completely taken by the ESL's massive strength in the midrange frequencies. So, when it was time to upgrade the Sequel II's, I went to check out the Monolith III's. I spent weeks comparing them to the latest and greatest dynamic speakers within an equivalent price range. I went so far as to go blind-folded in order to avoid a bias for brand or price. And I settled on the Mono III's. Once they arrived at my home and were connected, I found they were in need of significant burn-in time. And power. While the SL3's were little piglets, the MonoIII's are state-fair-prize-winning-sized hogs! But then, when is having too much power a bad thing? I acquired a Krell KSA 250 for the panels and a Krell KAV250a for the bass frequencies. (And swapping my 20amp switch to a 30amp switch in my electrical panel.) Having tried the passive approach, I much prefer the bi-amped sound through M-L's great Exos active x-over. The sound is truly remarkable. While placement is a challenge, once the sweetspot was located, the soundstage became a mile wide and 100 yards deep! And the detail was so sharp that weakensses in source material are always revealed! I expected the bass frequencies to be the speaker's greatest weakness (quite noticeable on the SL3's) but was pleasantly surprised with how quick and tight the subs reproduced sounds. The active crossover also helped a ton at this point with flexible adjustments to match my room through both the contour and boost capabilities.) I have since heard a few dynamic speakers that have caught my ear (ie Vandersteen but at nearly 2xs the price), but have never regretted my decision to buy the Mono 3's.

extremely realistic, 3-D, superb detail, sub + full range ELS.

Very fussy about placement, require SOTA electronics

Purchased in 1990. Room definitely needed sound treatment due to the curved bipolar ELS panels. Tried many different electronics over the years. Gary tubes (SLAM-100) sound excellent in mid and top, but too fat in the bass. Solid state amp needed on 12" woofer for sure. Added a little damping mat inside woofer cabinet - now tighter bass! Pass Labs X350 on top, B&K 442 on woofers. Sony 777ES player, M-L electronic crossover (designed by ex-Krell designer working for M-L), passive pre-amp.
Deep, powerful and tight bass after years of tweeking components, room, room placement. 4AWG woofer wire helps! 8AWG to stats which drop to 1 ohm. Seamless transition from woofer to stats. Overall, amazing 3-D imaging, very deep and large. Awesome dynamics in medium size room. Extremely fine detail and resolving power with very little colorations - and no tweeter beaming like is heard with every conventional "cone" speaker design! Excellent liquid clear mids and sweet extended highs. Very musical but you must have clean electronics!
Last fall, I purchase new ELS panels - the original ones were showing their age (10 years) - they lost some efficiency and one panel became slightly soft in the top octave, so stereo image shifted. New panels, once broken in are excellent - very alive sounding (better dynamics), and top octave has returned. Overall, extremely involving and life-like sounding.
By the way, the factory has very nice, knowledgeable people if you ever need service or advice. The Pass amp is the best sounding SS amp I have heard, very "tube like" dimensionality and dynamics but far deeper and tighter bass.

Similar Products Used:

Ohm Acoustics Model A - full range speaker (omni)

Reveals everything

Reveals everthing

I have the Monolith III's mounted in CSL IIz frames.The woofer is a pair of Vaf DC-X [vaf.com.au].These are fed by an active crossover at 125hz with a Rotel 985 THX. The Logans were being driven by a Krell 300i in throu-put mode.The sound was sweet but a little thin.150W[300w-4ohmn] wasn't enough for these power-hungery babys.A Carver A-760X reveald layers of sound that were only hinted at before.Fed by a Arcam Alpha 8SE CD[HDCD] and Audible Illusions Modulus 3 preamp; BLISS!!!

Owned Monolith IIIx's since 4/90. Power supply for panel failed in first 5 months but repaired (house call!) by dealer. Xover upgraded in late 1990 and both 'stat panels replaced (they ship them to you, you pop them in) two times. First time due to dust/pollen build up and the second time due to small pin hole from what I guess would be a mfr. issue. Customer service is exceptional.
Bottom end driven by Bryston 4B, panels by tubes, initially Audio Research D-125, later VAC P-160 II's.

Big and effortless sound. Treble is a little rolled off which could be due to impedance curve dropping combined with tube drive although the VAC's have a 2 ohm tap. I've had them for longer than any other speaker although they're in storage now as living in London precludes their size.

Will probably go for something smaller and not dipole when I return. Monolith is a versatile speaker for rock, jazz, folk and classical. Not perfect by any means. Bass could be better and placement is critical. Fine reproduction of the human voice as well as the dynamics and timbre of the piano. Also, they will play loud and cleanly.

This is the 2nd pair of ML speakers that I've owned. Started with SL-3's, which I have moved to the rear to make a surround system. Compared to SL-3's Monolith III's are much larger physically. Panel is over 6 feet tall and over 2x as wide. This allows the soundstage to be much, much wider and taller. Also allows the electrostat to produce down to 125hz, compared with 250hz for the SL3. Result is much more seemless transition in these crucial frequencies. The trade-off is the electrostat needs more power to move, as the stasor pannels are further apart. Also has a 12 inch woofer, which is not quite as dynamic as the 10" on the SL3. But definately goes much deeper. I opted for the active Krell made crossover which is very transparent. Bi-amping with Krell FPB 600's. Excellent match. With this much current the speakers are incredibly dynamic, and unbelievably clean. The timbre is breathtaking. One more comment, the build is good, but not excellent. There are no real flaws, but to keep the price reasonable, ML opted not to use real leather on the sub housing, and the stasor is surrounded by a shiny plastic surround that looks cheesy, at least to me. The grill also seems flimsy for a $6000 plus speaker. The simple design of the SL3 works better and doesn't have any faux styling. But oh that Martin Logan sound, it doesn't get any better.

I normally wouldn’t give free advertising to a company doing as well as Martin-Logan, but in this case I’ll gladly make an exception. This is a very fine speaker system and by far the best I’ve ever owned. They do, however, require an investment of time to get the best from them. First of all, straight out of the box they sound awful. The 100-plus break-in hours are not optiona. Second, placement is critical; distance from the back wall will completely change the low-mids; toe-in one speaker 1/2 inch more than the other and the center image shifts. So be prepared for a little work. It took me 3 months of adjusting before I found the best position for them. And I’d also recommend an assortment of Tube Traps for your listening room to further fine tune the Monoliths. But once you’ve found the right position and feed them with the right power (I have a Bryston 4B on the bottom and an Audio Research VT-100 on the panels), you’ll be rewarded with an unbelievably clean yet HUGE image. They’re really fun.