System #57 (Ascent i, Theater i, Descent, Script i)

Member Name: Robin

Location: Calistoga, California, USA

ML Model(s):

• Fronts - Ascent i
• Center - Theater i
• Sub - Descent
• Surrounds - Script i

Rears - Sony SS-MF315

Year Purchased: 2004/05

Mods/Changes:
I have changed how the surrounds - Script i's are mounted. They are suspended from the ceiling for improved positioning, imaging and staging. The wall mounting brackets have been removed.

Associated Electronics:

• Pioneer Elite VSX-59TXi A/V Multichannel Receiver
• Anthem Statement P5 amplifier *** (New addition as of Sept 2005)
• Pioneer 43" Plasma Wide screen HDTV
• LG BH100 ~ Blue-Ray / HD-DVD / DVD / DVD-R / DVD-RW player
• Momitsu V880 Progressive DVD player
• JVC Super-VHS ET VCR
• Cinemaquest/Audioquest speaker cable
• Monster Cable Z2 Biwire cable
• Monster Cable HT power conditioner/surge protectors
• Comcast cable HDTV Receiver
• Pioneer Articulating wall mount arm - for Plasma TV
• Wind Chaser - 9000 BTU air conditioner
• OmniMount "Cosmic Audio Tower" 5 shelves

Comments:

I was on vacation, going through Portland, Oregon, when I desided to buy, the Ascent i's, Descent and Theater i. The added bonus of, "No Sales Tax", started me on my ML journey.

I set up a dedicated Home theater in my home. I converted one of the bedrooms to a HT, and have been learning more and more ever since. I am throughly enjoying myself. I just love the whole Martin Logan expierence. My relatives think I am a little obsessed, but they love the sound and marvel at my HT, almost as much as I do.

I'm looking forward to adding another power amplifier someday. I also dream of adding a tubes to the path, visa vee, a tubed pre-amplifier and a tubed SACD player. Needless to say, I have big plans for the future. I hope to continue to update this forum of my progress. I just love the sound of the Ascent i's, Theater i, Script i's and Descent... Martin Logan speakers, are the center pieces of my Home Theater. ML's are just awsome. By-the-way I think, "The ML Club", is sanfrantastic!!!

Hi Robin and welcome aboard.

If you think your system sounds good now, wait until you can get all of that gear into a bigger room... You'll be able to move the fronts further apart and away from the rear wall, and get the TV off the sub. You will be BLOWN away at how much better it will sound!!

How are the Scripts hanging? Looks like they could just slide down. Are they somehow attached to the things suspending them?

Tom.

PS. Absolutely LOVE your choice in audio racks!!

Holy flying trapeze Batman!!!

Obsessed? Yes!

socialxray said:

Holy flying trapeze Batman!!!

Obsessed? Yes!

Click to expand...

O MY GOD!
Yes ladies and gentlemen, my jaw is on the floor.



Is the plasma mounted to the wall, or sitting on the Descent?

Surely he is just pulling our legs.

Hey guys,

My HT is only, 12'x11'x8'... That's with the closet doors removed in order to fit the, OmniMount Audio, equipment rack and my, 700+ DVD collection. Unfortunately, I have to store my, CD collection, in another room. The up side, is that in about seven years, I will be on moving to our, 3000 foot, home in the state of Washington. It's what they call a, "Day Light Rambler" my HT system, will be set-up in the, 28'x24'x10', great room, "Day Light Basment". I will be looking forward to exspanding my system into that space.

The photo's are a bit hard to tell, but there is about, an inch of space between the Plasma TV and the Descent Subwoofer, so they never touch. As, you all know, the Descent subwoofer, has very low cabinet vibration, which is a big plus... especially in my small HT room. the Plasma TV is mounted on a special, "Pioneer Plasma TV - Articulating Wall Mount Arm", That articulating arm, costs more than most regular tube TV's - $800.00 (which encluded shipping)... It is very heavy and solid / firm, made of solid steel. Once adjusted to any position, it's like a rock. Again, a real positive for my HT, especially with very limited space conciderations.

For the suspending of the Script i speakers, I had to give alot of thought and concideration... given my small HT. I used four heavy duty wood screw, "Eye Bolts" into ceiling beams (two for each speaker). I wanted to position them, in such a way, as to obtain the maxium sound quality, of the highs and mid range, from the Script i's, electrostatic pannels, as all of the bass sounds go to the, Descent subwoofer, via the A/V receiver / processor. I used, 16 feet of single, 12 gage, cooper wire to carry the weight of each Script i speaker. I strung the wire through, 16 feet of soft plastic, plumbers - clear tubing, which grips, with the weight of the Script i speaker. I fastioned each, 16 foot, closed loop to be threaded through the two "Eye Blots" and placed each end of the speaker in each of the loop ends. Each Script i speaker, simply lays on each end of the looped circle, freely and unattached. This enabled me to, freely move and adjust each speaker to any angle or rotation. My goal was to attain the optimal 7.1 surround positioning, without restriction or constraint.
The difficult part was stringing the, 12 gage, plastic coated, cooper wire through, 16 feet of soft plastic clear plumbers tubing. I had to use spray slicone, to keep the wire from binding. I took a while, but I think, the sound, I achieved through positioning each, Script i, has made it all worth while. Besides, it's like a Martin Logan flying circus, at my house... Killer sound from above.

A this point, I just need to obsessively, obtain more power... So, I'm saving up for a powerful amplifier... ML Obsessed as always....

-Robin

Holy Cow Robin!

I just had to comment! You have got some great imagination to put that all together! I would never have thought of hanging them from the ceiling. That is way too cool! As my daughter would say, "Your da bomb!"

Da New Guy

MarkNewbie,

Thank you for the kind words. They say, 'necessity is the mother of invention', well my HT room is so small, that I just had to adapt... The main thing is, I really have fun enjoying this hobby. I love movies. I love music and I just love the beautiful sound, produced by Martin Logan speakers.

Thanks again, Mark...

and enjoy your new Ascent i's...

-Robin

tubing

what is that flex tubing used for that is going out your window

To cool things down...

lexor,

The flex tubing is used to vent / exhaust all of the hot air, from my HT room to the outside, visa vee, my in-room, (9000 BTU) "WindChaser" air-conditioner.

As you know, I had heavily sound-proofed / insulated my HT room..., and what with all the audio equipment / gear, plus two to four people, it all generated, way too much heat. My HT became a "Hot Box" essencially... I had to add the air-conditioner as an after thought...

My system HT is cool and comfortable now...

Cheers

-Robin

I have photo's of the Anthem P5...

Hey everyone,

I just got some new photo's of the new addition to my, "system #57"... The "Anthem Statement P5" amplifier, looks soooo good, and what is better, the P5 makes my ML's sounds/sing, soooo good.... What a difference the P5 makes in my system. It's totally awesome!

Please see attached photo's...

Cheers

-Robin

Robin said:

The up side, is that in about seven years, I will be on moving to our, 3000 foot, home in the state of Washington. It's what they call a, "Day Light Rambler" my HT system, will be set-up in the, 28'x24'x10', great room, "Day Light Basment". I will be looking forward to exspanding my system into that space.

Click to expand...

You really plan ahead girl.

Rock on.

Always Rock'n-on in ML syle...

kach22i said:

You really plan ahead girl.

Rock on.

Click to expand...

kach22i,

I'm always thinking at least, a dozen moves ahead..., It's my defining characteristic. Generally, I try to, 'never assume anything', which are really good words to live by...

Cheers

-Robin

Fantactic new sound quality...

Lately, I have been experiencing, even better sound dynamics, with my ML system. I have been experimenting with manually adjusting my Pioneer VSX 59TXi processor, to increase ML speaker level, distance thus giving so much more over-all sound dynamics detail. I'm simply astounded and amazing by how beautiful my ML speakers can sound, properly adjusted, even after I have had my system, for a while now...

I love the fact, that I can always discover new tweaks or adjustments, to improve the over-all sound of ML speakers. Their are always be new horizons with my ML system...

It just gives me a very good feeling inside...

Cheers

-Robin

Robin,

For multichannel listening, you should check out AVIA home theater essentials DVD. The disc in conjection with a Radio Shack sound meter can yield remarkable improvements. Coherence and phasiness between 7 speakers was a problem for me. Using AVIA really fine tuned my multichannel exprerience. SACD/DVD-A are really enveloping for me. Use the RS meter to make sure that the distance controls yield the same dB from your listening position. Even better, you can use it to calibrate the color of your plasma display. It's really a great tool. Happy listening

Robin said:

Lately, I have been experiencing, even better sound dynamics, with my ML system. I have been experimenting with manually adjusting my Pioneer VSX 59TXi processor, to increase ML speaker level, distance thus giving so much more over-all sound dynamics detail. I'm simply astounded and amazing by how beautiful my ML speakers can sound, properly adjusted, even after I have had my system, for a while now...

I love the fact, that I can always discover new tweaks or adjustments, to improve the over-all sound of ML speakers. Their are always be new horizons with my ML system...

It just gives me a very good feeling inside...

Cheers

-Robin

Click to expand...

AVIA theater essentials DVD...

gstring said:

Robin,

For multichannel listening, you should check out AVIA home theater essentials DVD. The disc in conjection with a Radio Shack sound meter can yield remarkable improvements. Coherence and phasiness between 7 speakers was a problem for me. Using AVIA really fine tuned my multichannel exprerience. SACD/DVD-A are really enveloping for me. Use the RS meter to make sure that the distance controls yield the same dB from your listening position. Even better, you can use it to calibrate the color of your plasma display. It's really a great tool. Happy listening

Click to expand...

gstring,

Thank you for your kind suggestion. I will give it a try...

Cheers

-Robin

Avia and Digital Video Essentials are grate tools to have. Both of those DVD’s with a sound meter can help you tweak your system to perfection, or more so then you can by ear and eye alone.

Avia or Digital Video Essentials...

Zip3kx07 said:

Avia and Digital Video Essentials are grate tools to have. Both of those DVD’s with a sound meter can help you tweak your system to perfection, or more so then you can by ear and eye alone.

Click to expand...

Joe,

Have you used them before on your fabulous system? I am going to give them a college try...

Cheers

-Robin

I have not tried Avia, but I have tried Video Essentials, Sound & visions Video Tune-up, and the Newest Home Theater tweakers DVD, Digital Video Essentials.

Sound and Vision's is the easiest to use but does not have the advanced test tones and patterns of the others. Digital Video Essentials is one of the best if not the best, but the menus are tuff to navigate. But with a little time and a dB Metter the results are very positive.

Digital Video Essentials...

Zip3kx07 said:

I have not tried Avia, but I have tried Video Essentials, Sound & visions Video Tune-up, and the Newest Home Theater tweakers DVD, Digital Video Essentials.

Sound and Vision's is the easiest to use but does not have the advanced test tones and patterns of the others. Digital Video Essentials is one of the best if not the best, but the menus are tuff to navigate. But with a little time and a dB Metter the results are very positive.

Click to expand...

Joe,

Dosen't Digital Video Essentials have newer, more advanced versions, which is what you are recommending, correct?

Cheers

-Robin