I’ll admit I’ve had a sweet spot for MartinLogan since the late 1990s when I bought my first pair of electrostatic speakers. Electrostats provide an openness and transparency that’s hard to beat, but they’re fairly expensive. 25+ years later, I decided to check out their least expensive speaker, the MartinLogan Motion Foundation B1 bookshelf. And while it does not use electrostatic drivers, it does use an AMT (Air Motion Transformer) tweeter – a folded ribbon design which provides a similar sound to electrostats.
What Is It?
The MartinLogan Motion Foundation B1 is a 2-way passive bookshelf loudspeaker. Unlike powered speakers, which are gaining in popularity, the B1 does require an amplifier of some kind in order to make sound. And you’ll want to buy at least two B1s for stereo or more if you’re putting together a multi-channel surround sound system. The B1 features a two-way design with a 1″ x 0.94″ second generation Obsidian Folded Motion tweeter with custom waveguide and a 5-1/2″ aluminum cone midrange/bass woofer with a removable grille. It uses a ported bass-reflex cabinet and has a rated frequency response of 48-23,000 Hz (±3dB), though I will say I didn’t hear much below 60 Hz (more on that later).
With a retail price of $349/each, but currently selling online for $279.99/each, the B1s offer excellent value. Though you will probably want to add a decent pair of stands, and (if you like bass frequencies) a powered subwoofer for best effect. I did most of my listening with MartinLogan’s matching speaker stands, the STAND25 ($249.99/each) but I did some listening with the more affordable Vanguard stands from Vera-Fi ($99/pair) and also got good results. It seems a little lopsided to pay almost as much for the stands as you do for the speakers.
The fit and finish of the MartinLogan B1 are quite good. The 5-way binding posts are well constructed. The B1 is available in black, walnut and satin white finishes. I opted to review the black version and preferred the look with the grilles off. The folded motion tweeter is exposed for all to see though the waveguide does include a protective grille of three strips to protect the ribbon from any damage.
The Set-Up
As a passive pair of speakers, you’ll need a pair of speaker cables to connect the B1s to your receiver or amplifier. The 5-way binding posts on the back of the B1 accept bare wire, spade lugs or banana plugs. I used banana plugs, which fit snugly with a solid, secure connection.
Assembling the STAND25 stands was simple enough, though I admit I thought they were defective as the plastic decorative trim strips for the front and cable management cover for the back are about 1/16″ to 1/8″ longer than the pedestals in which they are meant to be placed. I thought they’d crack when I tightened the base and top, but they did not. A MartinLogan rep told me they make them that way in order to prevent any rattle after assembly. One benefit to sticking with these MartinLogan stands is that the B1s come with bolts that secure the speakers tightly to the STAND25 stands for improved rigidity and isolation. The STAND25 also includes a channel for cable management so you can maintain a nice tidy installation.
For power and source material, I paired the B1s with WiiM’s latest flagship powered streamer, the WiiM Amp Ultra. With 100 Watts of Class D amplification into 8 ohms (200 WPC into 4 ohms), the Amp Ultra provided an excellent match for the MartinLogans. MartinLogan seems to like the WiiM pairing as well as they offer a bundle of B1s with the more affordable WiiM Amp. The WiiM Amp Ultra supports lossless and high res streaming from all the top music streaming apps (except Apple Music) and supports Qobuz Connect and Alexa Cast for seamless playback of high res audio files from Qobuz and Amazon Music.
Listening Notes
During my review, I had Radio Paradise running several hours a day on the WiiM Amp Ultra so I heard a wide sample of classic rock, jazz, electronic music, World Music, modern rock and singer-songwriter fare over the B1s. If you’re into an eclectic selection of great music, then definitely check out Radio Paradise. It’s available in lossless CD quality on most platforms (including WiiM) and even in MQA high resolution format on BlueSound devices. I also cycled through my favorite tracks and playlists on Qobuz and Amazon Music Unlimited.
What struck me most about the B1 is their airy transparency in the upper mids and treble regions. Cymbals and strings sounded crisp without undue harshness and female vocals in particular sounded ethereal. Overall treble response is slightly elevated. I’d characterize these speakers as “bright-leaning” though it’s nothing that mild EQ can’t fix. Deep male vocals like Muddy Waters also sounded natural though perhaps not as full-bodied and throaty as they do on some other (mostly more expensive) loudspeakers.
I listened to several EDM tracks with deep low bass energy like Kx5/deadmau5 “Alive” and “Bright Lights” and while the bass was taut and well defined, it didn’t go very deep. That rated extension down to 48 Hz (+/- 3 dB) seems a bit optimistic. But on mellower singer/songwriter fare like Billie Ailish “The 30th” and Aoife O’Donovan’s “Prodigal Daughter,” the B1 presented the layered vocals effectively, and reproduced picked and strummed guitars with ease and delicacy.
On well-recorded modern jazz cuts like “Wedding March” and “Tricycle” from Flim and the BBs, the B1s did a fine job reproducing the substantial dynamic range of these tracks. But, as on the EDM tracks, the low bass from bass drum and synths was sadly absent. Of course, there’s only so much bass a small speaker – and small cabinet – can reproduce, so we can’t expect miracles here. The good news is that low bass is something that is easy enough to add, via a powered subwoofer.
During the review, I added a budget powered sub from Vera-Fi to the system, the Vanguard Caldera 10-inch sub ($199). With this in the system, the MartinLogan B1s really shined, providing the high quality midrange and treble they are best at, while allowing the powered sub to do the heavy lifting in the lower bass. Music became more dynamic and punchy with oodles of detail in the upper mids and treble frequencies and a welcome heft in the low frequencies. I’d recommend exploring a budget sub like the Vera-Fi, or one from RSL, SVS or MartinLogan if you want proper low bass performance.
TV or Not TV?
With the WiiM Amp Ultra’s HDMI/ARC input, I also connected our BRAVIA 8 II OLED TV to the system so I could listen to some movies and TV shows on the MartinLogans. My positive impressions from music carried over to TV and movie content. On “Dune” in the worm attack on spice harvester about an hour into the film, the B1s made sense of the cacophony of sounds with clarity in the Bene Gesserit voices and fine spatial rendering of the soundstage. I was almost fooled into thinking more than two speakers were present as the depth and spatiality were excellent. And the dramatic performance of “Never Enough” by Loren Allred (lip-synched quite effectively by Rebecca Ferguson) in “Greatest Showman” carried all the power and emotion required by that climactic scene.
Although I didn’t test the B1s in a true home theater setting, I believe they’d make an excellent foundation for a budget immersive sound system. With two pairs of the B1s, a MartinLogan Motion 6i center, a pair of MartinLogan Motion in-ceiling speakers and a Foundation 10 powered sub, you’d have a complete 5.1.2-channel home theater system for well under $3,000. Just add your favorite A/V Receiver and away you go.
The Bottom Line
For a street price of under $600/pair, it’s hard to do better than the MartinLogan B1. With excellent transparency and refined upper midrange and treble response, the B1s perform extremely well with acoustic, jazz and singer-songwriter fare and can easily keep up with the complexity of movie and TV soundtracks. While the low bass leaves something to be desired, an affordable powered subwoofer can bring these little gems to the next level of performance.
Pros:
- Airy transparent sound
- Excellent upper midrange and treble reproduction
- Affordable
Cons:
- High frequencies are slightly elevated
- Limited deep bass
Where to Buy:
Related Reading:
- MartinLogan Dynamo 10″ Subwoofer Review
- Chesky Audio LC1 Bookshelf Speaker Review
- WiiM Amp Ultra Review: The Powered Streamer with (Almost) Everything
