Fabio owns a pair. Chandler and Joey had a pair in their apartment during the first few seasons of “Friends.”

And according to various employees of MartinLogan speakers, Garth Brooks, Ice-T, Jason Biggs, Madonna and Mariah Carey also own a pair.

“We don’t have a complete celebrity list because celebrities don’t usually register their products,” said Devin Zell, marketing manager for the Lawrence-based speaker company. “We usually hear about them from the dealers, or some people see them on MTV’s ‘Cribs.'”

With speaker systems that range in price from $1,500 to $80,000, MartinLogan caters not just to celebrities, but audio enthusiasts across the world. The company designs and builds electrostatic (ESL) speakers, a unique technology that a number of companies have tried to develop but seemingly only MartinLogan has perfected. With 65 employees and 25 years in Lawrence, it’s one of the town’s most successful businesses, yet also one of its least visible.

“A lot of people don’t even know we’re here,” Zell said.

One of the reasons for the company’s under-the-radar local profile may be that the closest place to actually buy a pair of MartinLogan speakers is in Overland Park. Though the speakers are designed and built at the company’s headquarters at 2101 Del., the factory is largely closed to the public (with the exception of pre-arranged tours).

The company prefers to keep a low profile to maintain its competitive advantage, according to David Allen, director of product development.

“There’s a fairly high level of security on information that flows out of here,” Allen said. “A large percentage of the market pays attention to what we’re doing, because we’re essentially either breaking new ground or refining categories that redefine the market.

“We’re not chasing anybody; everybody’s chasing us.”

MartinLogan Speaker Company owner Gayle Sanders lounges with two of his company's speakers: the Fresco, left, and the Clarity.

Ride the lightning

MartinLogan is the brainchild of Gayle Martin Sanders and Ron Logan Sutherland, who tested their first ESL prototype in 1978. At the time, the speaker was simply a thin membrane suspended between two flat, perforated plates that Sanders compared to a “big, ugly screen door.”

“I remember putting the tone arm down and it was Joni Mitchell … from that very first moment that we played the music I could see the promise of a dream,” Sanders said. “Of course, then I said those famous last words: ‘Let’s turn it up.’ I cranked that volume level up and … “Boom!” a big old lightning bolt went off and blew a hole in the diaphragm.”

So began a frustrating journey to develop a safe and reliable consumer ESL speaker. Sanders spent the next couple of years researching new aerospace materials — adhesives, conductive coatings and insulations — and tinkering with the design. When he finally developed a reliable (or so he thought) model, lightning struck again.

“We got about 200 pairs of speakers out there and they all broke,” Sanders recalled. “I was up all night every night trying to solve this problem, and I couldn’t solve it … I remember leaning up against a big pillar, very close to tears … if not crying. I’m looking at this transducer and I’m thinking, ‘Tomorrow, tomorrow I have to shut the doors on this company.'”

Foiling the cold hand of fate, Sanders solved the problem that night and began work on what would become the world’s first non-self-destructing ESL speaker.

A pair of Ascent i speaker cabinets get their first layer of primer in the paint booth from MartinLogan employee Rick Carr.

“Immediately we just started blasting out replacements all over the country,” Sanders said. “MartinLogan from that day on became known as a company that solves their problems, as opposed to a company with products that break.”

Tower of power

The company set to work developing a line of consumer models. Today, MartinLogan sells more than a dozen models for music and home theater, all designed, manufactured and shipped out from its Lawrence headquarters. Its trademark curvilinear design — patented by Sanders in the company’s early years — allows the sound to spread out across a larger field than a flat ESL speaker would.

MartinLogan’s ultimate creation is a $79,900 four-tower, one-ton ogre of a system known as the “Statement evolution 2” (the next most expensive system lists at $10,995). The system is so enormous and intricate (the subwoofer alone contains 16 12-inch speakers) that the company can only make about 10 a year — just enough to accommodate demand.

“(The Statement is) not about making money; it’s about why Ferrari has a Formula 1 racing vehicle,” Sanders said. “If we believe that we’ve got the world’s best technology to reproduce sound, then we need to put our money where our mouth is.”

Gilbert Yeung is a member of the elite group of people who actually owns a Statement (Fabio is one too). The 34-year-old entrepreneur and proprietor of Blue Circle Audio in Ontario bought the Statement e2 system two years ago.

Yeung already owned 15 pairs of MartinLogan speakers, but he said the Statement was essential to complete his dream setup.

“You have to put it in perspective: after you spend $80,000 on the speaker, how much more money are you going to spend on the room and the electronics?” Yeung said. “That can add up to maybe $350,000 easily.”

Though he makes a good living with his high-end amplifier business, Yeung emphasized that he bought the Statement because he wanted the best sound system in the world, not because he wanted to show off.

“I’m driving an eight-and-a-half year-old station wagon that leaks oil and coolant; I live in a house that is 120 years old … my computer is seven years old and I don’t have a TV,” he said. “I just set my priority to audio. And I’m single — that helps.”

Sound evolution

With the company’s reputation in place, Sanders must now focus on adapting to the challenges presented by the digital music revolution and the changing tastes of consumers. And it means keeping an eye on the future.

“I would be willing to wager money that in 10 years we will be building speaker products that will be intelligent … it will know what’s going on in the room and be able to interact with it and adjust itself to achieve a perfect sound,” he predicted.

When the stresses of work become too much, Sanders can always retire to his home listening room — equipped, of course, with the Statement “evolution 2.”

“I love classical; I love rock,” he said. “If I’m sitting down and listening, I want it loud.”