Calling Marten exclusively a high-end loudspeaker company does not come close to describing what you will find when you deal with the Swedish luxury manufacturer. The company from Mölndal, on the picturesque Swedish west coast, also owns a recording studio and a music label – and is famous for its analog recordings. With this 360-degree music approach, it is immediately clear that true music lovers are at work here. In their pursuit of perfection, especially when it comes to decoupling their audiophile loudspeaker masterpieces, Marten exhibits a no-compromise attitude: following a rigorous selection process, they exclusively rely on their specially developed Marten isolators by IsoAcoustics.
At Marten, three brothers are working constantly to impress the audiophile world time and time again. In the seventies, it was brother Leif Olofsson, the middle brother, who turned his passion for loudspeakers into his first product: the Marten Mingus. Brothers Jörgen (now CEO) and Lars (now marketing) followed his passion and their collective hobby turned into a company that has become one of the most respected high-end loudspeaker manufacturers in the world today.
The Olofsson brothers – and their team of high-end enthusiasts – are united by their love of music, so all new developments in the company are evaluated from a musical point of view. Measurements are important for building world class loudspeakers, of course, but in addition to the laboratories in the company’s headquarters, three listening rooms invite you to stay for a while.
Apart from outstanding acoustic performance, Marten is famous for the aesthetic design of its masterpieces. Beautiful woods and a choice of excellent finishes ensure harmonious integration into the living space. This commitment to perfection spans from top to bottom and into the speaker’s feet – which are provided by IsoAcoustics.
The brothers came across IsoAcoustics through the latter’s Swedish importer: “He was so enamoured with these products that he strongly recommended we test them in our lab,” comments Jörgen Olofsson, CEO of Marten. “Until that day, we had a carbon fiber cone and puck solution for our reference series – but the moment Leif played it with the IsoAcoustics GAIA, we were immediately really impressed.”
After playing a few songs, the decision was made – the IsoAcoustics GAIA series looks beautiful and provides excellent decoupling, which is uniquely beneficial to music reproduction. “Using IsoAcoustics makes the music feel fuller and cleaner at the same time,” Jörgen elaborates.
As passionate loudspeaker designers, the three brothers know how important it is to isolate the speakers from the ground. With their test set of GAIA, they continued to listen and measure. Their findings: the patented IsoAcoustics solution results in a much more precise music reproduction by delivering a higher level of clarity and openness – so even a multi-award-winning high-end loudspeaker sounds better!
Leif Marten, who is responsible for the speaker design, adds: “We tried several solutions, even something that had a similar working principle, but nothing sounded as good as the IsoAcoustics solution.” In addition, Leif compared classic spikes and IsoAcoustics. “When I started working with IsoAcoustics, I was absolutely surprised how well they disconnected the speaker from the surface. I still remember how amazed I was – as well as my brothers. The first impression was that the loudspeakers ‘disappeared’ completely in the soundstage, and the focus, especially in the voice, is much more stable. The bass dynamics were also much better and faster, so the overall impression was that almost everything was better.”
The three brothers realized that not only their selected speaker benefited; the isolation stands were perfect for all speakers in their portfolio. So they made the decision to include IsoAcoustics with all Marten loudspeakers from then on.
Following this decision, brother Leif started working with IsoAcoustics on the design of what is now called the Marten isolator. “Leif and Dave (Morrison, IsoAcoustics) worked together on the Marten isolator,” Jörgen continues. “We started with Dave’s design and optimized it for our speakers, regarding the weight and of course the matching design of our speaker.”
However, it was important to Marten that the company’s own design language should also be reflected in the isolators. In close collaboration with IsoAcoustics, they created their own design with the Marten logo laser engraved, perfectly matching the shape of the speakers. “Our speaker stands are stainless steel, so we chose to make the isolators stainless steel as well,” Leif adds.
Today, the Marten isolator by IsoAcoustics is an integral part of the Marten speakers. “We want to have it as a permanent part of our loudspeaker design,” says Jörgen and continues: “It gives us an advantage over our competitors.”
