Tim De Paravacini is the Gandalf of hi-fi. The man behind E.A.R. Yoshino and the go-to guy for anything tube amp related is, without a doubt, one of the world's greatest sorcerers of sound. In Vegas, I had breakfast with the man and, after a 45 minute narrated adventure through the inner workings of a Technics reel-to-reel, it dawned on me that my brain is simply not large enough to handle Mr. Tim's wisdom. I shook his hand and had to go watch some American Idol before returning to CES lest my skull explode with tech talk.

In any case, it should come as no surprise the E.A.R. room with Marten Design loudspeakers was one of my favorites. Tim's now-famous Acute CD player and Disc Master turntable did duty for the new Marten Form speakers.

These new speakers, as you can see in the pic above, are triangular in shape and jaw-droppingly gorgeous. At $6500/pair, the smallish Form speakers immediately struck me as perfect high-performance speakers for the design-conscious hi-fi fan. Edgy Euro-styled faux-industrial loft-living your thing? Your new speakers have arrived.

As for sound, I didn't get a huge amount of listening in, though the Marten speakers are, from past experience, in the Intense group while the E.A.R. components fit roughly into the Vivid camp. This E.A.R. and Marten pairing is a perfect match that leans more to the Vivid side than, say, into the Precise or Intense groups. The speakers being svelte two-ways made for excellent room/speaker interaction that was, to my ears, excellent.

TECH TALK
The Form speakers feature the same Accuton ceramic woofer as the far more expensive Marten speakers, but now with a ribbon tweeter instead of the ceramic or diamond tweeters of the bigger brothers. To my ears, the ribbon was a great choice and did, in some ways, create a more appealing every-day response than the stiff domes. Having heard the Marten Birds, Miles IIIs, Coltrane Supremes and Dukes, I think the new Form speakers are my favorite Martens far. Of course, I may just be in love with the looks, hard to say.

The bass response via the bottom-firing port was tremendous. Marten added a subwoofer a few days into CES, but when I was first there listening sans-sub, the bass was anything but shy. The Form speakers, as the perfect design-conscious speakers they are, don't need a sub for satisfying high-performance, every-day listening. Expect to see more about these triangular Jessica Albas in the near future here on the 'Flare.

Visit our EAR/Marten gallery here for more flattering photos.