I raved about the new CLX in an earlier post on Home Theater Review, yet found its large stature and somewhat obscure look a bit of a hard sell for the average home theater or audio enthusiast, despite wanting a pair for myself.  The Spire, like the Summit it replaces, is a more traditional MartinLogan design.  In fact, is looks almost identical to the Summit, give or take a few inches in overall size.  However, that is where the similarities stop.  With a retail price of $8,495 per pair, the Spire is less expensive than the Summit yet, with its new CLX-influenced panel, it sounds noticeably better.  The Spire is a hybrid design, unlike the CLX, with an ESL panel mated to a powered 200-watt 10-inch aluminum woofer, which gives the Spire a reported frequency response of 29-23,000 Hz. The Spire is also "tunable" via its 35Hz level control, which allows consumers to dial in the frequency responses that are most effected by room boundaries and acoustics for a more even, seamless bass response.  The Spire, unlike past MartinLogan designs, is shockingly efficient, with a sensitivity of 91dB into a rather stable four-ohm load.  This means you could power the Spire in a home theater-like setting with a high-powered, high-quality receiver, though separates are still recommended.  The Spire can be bi-wired and can accept either spade or banana speaker cable adapters.  Like MartinLogans of yore, the Spire must be plugged into a standard wall socket to power the woofer, as well as to charge the panel.  The Spire comes in a variety of finishes including, but not limited to, natural cherry, dark cherry, black ash and maple.  There are exotic wood options available at an extra cost, as well as custom finish options through MartinLogan's own custom shop.

Read The High Points, Low Points and Conclusion on Page 2