I'm not usually a fan of the blingy/glitzy Martins, but I played a OM-42 at a GC this week which was pretty nice sounding, even with the cruddy strings. I still prefer my Santa Cruz OM/PW though.
Have you played any "boutique" guitars such as Goodall/Collings/Santa Cruz/Huss&Dalton/Froggy Bottom? Martins are REALLY nice, but some of the offerings from these smaller companies are freakin' sweet (as Peter Griffin would say)
Not to knock Martin (I own two of them), but they make around 70000 guitars a year, whereas some of the smaller makers make under 1000 (Froggy Bottom only makes a couple of hundred) a year.
But hey, in the end, we shouldn't obsess about the gear so much as we should just sit down and make music!