New here,which ML speakers are for me?

New here. I am in the process of upgrading my home theater system. Just added the Arcam AVR 600 and am now looking at new speakers. My room is about 20x24 with 8 foot ceilings. Watch mostly movies,little videogaming on PS3,and hardly any music. Looking to do a 5.1 system, already have a SVS sub. Need fronts, center channel and surrounds. What should I take a look at?Thanks for the info. John

John,

I'm not an HT / gaming person but if you give us an idea on budget, I trust you will get some recommendations from the HT folks on this forum.

Also, folks are likely to ask if you are opposed to buying used gear so factor that in when you provide a figure.

Also, are you looking at the stat line or something else in the ML line?

Good luck.

GG

PS: In my mind, the Arcam AVR's are the way to go.

Right now I have $5500 to spend. I have no problem at all purchasing used speakers. I will look at any speaker in the ML line.

jmy2469 said:

New here. I am in the process of upgrading my home theater system. Just added the Arcam AVR 600 and am now looking at new speakers. My room is about 20x24 with 8 foot ceilings. Watch mostly movies,little videogaming on PS3,and hardly any music. Looking to do a 5.1 system, already have a SVS sub. Need fronts, center channel and surrounds. What should I take a look at?Thanks for the info. John

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A fantastic Martin Logan speaker for not much money would be the SL3 from the mid 1990's. I think a pair of these can be picked up for around $800 or something. Lovely sounding speaker. This was and still is being used by some hi-fi magazine reviewers as a system reference to judge and evaluate other hi-fi components.

Dan,

Had those for five years or so before I went to the Summit. Totally agree with your recommendation. Mucho bang for the buck and will give one a very good taste of ML stat magic.

And there are some very inexpensive mods that will increase their performance.

Usual issue is panel condition.

GG

Gordon, what are the mods you mention?

For $5k you can get used Summit and perhaps Spire.

Depends on how comfortable you are in spending more for a higher end ML....

With a $5,500 budget you could get yourself a used pair of Summits, then you pretty much have the best (Summit X and CLX forgone), and you're done. They look stylish, have the latest technology, and perform great.

If you get a set of older SLs, to test the waters, expect quickly that you'll love it and then look to upgrade (where I am right now). That isn't a big deal in itself as buying/selling speakers is part of the game.

Also realize that the MLs are a strong music speaker. That doesn't mean they don't sound great for HT, but for just HT, you could do fine with a smaller MLs like the Vista, Clarity, Aeon and save yourself a bundle. Then spend on the center channel instead.

Just my thoughts....

Bernard said:

Gordon, what are the mods you mention?

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I think the one mod where for $5k you can get used Summits. That would be the best Mod Gordon mentioned.


jmy2469,

If I am to assume that the $5500 is mean't to cover the cost of ML center, ML Fronts, and ML rears. Then if you go used you can pick up some pretty nice stuff.

I have an SVS PB Ultra with 4 Stylos, and a Stage, along with 2 Fresco i speakers for the side channels.

You could do that for under 5.5K pretty easily. But what you might want to look at is a pair of Vistas at 2K used and a Stage at under 2K used and then there are many choices for the rear channels that you could get for under $1500.

This would give you a very good X-stat sound across the front and center, and then maybe Sources or Scripts or Stylos or something else in the rear. With Sources this would be a killer multi-channel HT system.

I currently have 3 separate Martin Logan HTs and 2 of them could be configured speaker-wise for less than $5500 on the used market, if you don't count the sub woofers.

Good luck and enjoy the ride, afterall half the fun is just getting there, the other half is how you arrive and the last half is if you can't leave.

There are other HT guys with more experience than me so you should come up with lots of choices from this group, probably 1.5 times as much.

Hello,
Dual pairs of Ascent i's and a Theater i make for an fantastic HT. My younger brother uses this setup for his HT with a Descent i Subwoofer and the results are truly stunning. The dual Ascent i/Theater i combo should come in right at your budget.

Dual pairs of Vista's if available with a Stage Center Channel would be great as well. I really am a big fan of using full size ESL's for Surrounds.

I use Vantages, Stage, Vista and Depth in my HT and am beyond pleased.
Cheers,
JJ

Hi John,

With $5500 to spend , I would probably get the Ascent or Ascent i model for the main speakers which can be found on www.audiogon.com at greart prices. I was just on there and saw a set with a ML center channel.

The Ascent i has an improved stator panel, same one as in the Odyssey. You could pick up the Aerius model for the rears. I used to have the Aerius i model, great speaker. So with the $5500, I would get Ascent i for the mains , Aerius i's for rears and an ML center channel.

Your room is fairly large and the Acsent would work quite well and fill the room. There are a couple pairs of Odyssey's on gon also.Definately buy used, your money goes way further.
Cheers, Greg

Bernard said:

Gordon, what are the mods you mention?

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I'd also like to know...

SL3 mods

Tosh, Bernard,

I'll post this weekend in the tweeks section.

Gordon

Ascent i or Ascent or Prodigy maybe even... Odyssey maybe too... I just love the look from that era.

SL3 mods

Bernard said:

Gordon, what are the mods you mention?

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Bernard and Tosh,

Please see the "tweaks" section. Once approved, it should show up momentarily.

Gordon

JMAUSGP said:

I think the one mod where for $5k you can get used Summits. That would be the best Mod Gordon mentioned.

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What have you been smoking ?

Bernard said:

What have you been smoking ?

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Only the good stuff, Bernard, just the good stuff,......what were we talking about.

i bet your hungry now arent you?

Seriously, as much as I love my ML's, if you are primarily using your speakers for home theater and you're using an Arcam receiver as your source, you might want to consider a good cone/dynamic speaker.

I'd make it a point to get a decent ML demo somewhere, because it might not be to your liking. The Summits will play very loud, with a lot of dynamics, but they are very revealing of what's behind them, i.e. your Arcam may not be up to the task of delivering the level of sound quality you might be after.

Again, I'd at least give a few things a test drive before you commit.

tonepub said:

Seriously, as much as I love my ML's, if you are primarily using your speakers for home theater and you're using an Arcam receiver as your source, you might want to consider a good cone/dynamic speaker.

I'd make it a point to get a decent ML demo somewhere, because it might not be to your liking. The Summits will play very loud, with a lot of dynamics, but they are very revealing of what's behind them, i.e. your Arcam may not be up to the task of delivering the level of sound quality you might be after.

Again, I'd at least give a few things a test drive before you commit.

Click to expand...

Ditto. You will need a better amp (quality wise). Not being a snob, just a pragmatist.