Marten Parker Trio Floorstanding Speakers

The Swedish company Marten is predominantly known to the audiophile public for its reference speakers belonging to the Coltrane and Mingus ranges. These are speaker systems of extreme quality, characterized by breathtaking sonic performance but, alas, necessarily challenging cost given the inherent technological and construction complexities. Nonetheless, it would be ungenerous to say that this company neglects the entry-level segment, however, having the foresight to recalibrate that concept in relation to its catalog. Personally, I have long devoted myself to studying and listening to both the Oscar series, of which I was the happy owner of the stand model called the Duo, and the next series, namely the Parker. Of this series we have tested on our YouTube channel the Parker Duo stand model, while today we are in the presence of the Parker Trio floorstanding model.

Technique

While the Marten Parker Duo are a two-way system, the Parker Trio are two-and-a-half-way. This seemingly strange definition finds justification in the fact that the two 19-cm mid woofers with which they are equipped work with a slightly different roll off. These are speakers with very wide excursion ceramic membranes made by German specialist Accuton to the specifications of designer Leif Marten. The “motor” is a powerful neodymium magnet, and the shape of the beautiful basket, assuming it can still be called that, is reduced to the essentials in order to improve its aerodynamic performance. Interestingly, these components are equipped with a non-removable protective metal grille that is completely transparent to the sound. Therefore, the Parker Trios are not equipped with the classic acoustic cloth covers, which, moreover, are ineffective in terms of protecting the drivers from impact. The same metal grilles are used on the two passive radiators with 22.5-cm aluminum membranes mounted on the rear panel. The use of passive drivers instead of a bass reflex tuning port results, according to Marten, in superior emission uniformity while avoiding the noise inherent in the tuning port. Note that the passive radiator solution is also used on the Parker Duo stand model.

As for the tweeter we have a one-inch ceramic unit, also equipped with a protective metal grille, mounted on a mirror-polished metal flange. The crossover benefits from a technology developed by Marten called Multi-Diverse and impiaga components of unquestionable quality with copper foil coils and Polypropylene capacitors. As with all Marten models, the crossover of the Parker Trios was developed through a rigorous simulation, calculation and measurement process accompanied by hours of listening and testing. It is worth mentioning in this regard that the company has a modern recording studio within which the speakers made in the role of monitors are used. The ability to compare real and reproduced sound almost in real time provides the designer with important feedback in the development and fine-tuning of his designs. The stated sensitivity is 91 dB and impedance 6 ohms with a minimum at 3.1, meaning that the Parker Trios are not a particularly heavy load for whatever amplifier is called upon to drive them. The internal wiring is made with handmade conductors in Sweden from Jorma Cables, a subsidiary of Marten itself, and they use the highest quality copper with the positive and negative conductors separated for more effective shielding.