?surround system

MartinLogan Audio Owners Forum

Help Support MartinLogan Audio Owners Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
M

MikeB

Guest
I just bought a pair of Summits, to replace my Odyseeys. I use a Rotel receiver to drive them and a descent subwoofer. I still have the Odyseys - what do you recommend for a surround system with all four speakers? Can the Rotel drive them.
Thanks for the input.

MikeB
 
MikeB said:
I just bought a pair of Summits, to replace my Odyseeys. I use a Rotel receiver to drive them and a descent subwoofer. I still have the Odyseys - what do you recommend for a surround system with all four speakers? Can the Rotel drive them.
Thanks for the input.

MikeB

Hi Mike,

I'd look to add a higher quality amp for the fronts. I assume a Rotel has Pre-amp outs to enable this.

I would think that the current draw of four or five ML's would tax the power supply in most any receiver.

The Summits deserve a decent amp.

Cheers,
 
Mike, John is right, the fact that you had the $$ to buy the Summitt's tells me don't do them an injustice with a receiver !! I believe you are best served by going the route of a good amp and pre-amp for your two channel enjoyment and leaving the receiver for your "HT" processing with the rest of your speakers. Your ears will thank you !!!
 
I agree a speaker as fine as the Summits are best supplied with an equally high quality signal. However, it doesn't have to be high-powered, unlike the Odyessys that will suffer a little more from being under-driven by a reciever. The Odysseys are a fine speaker in thier own right but are a little more demanding on amp power requirements and will likey put more strain or demand on the reciever and play at a lesser sound quality level than they are capable of. I assume you would use the Odysseys for surrounds and the Summits for front mains?

You can use the reciever to drive the system for a while but watch the reciever for possible overheating. This approach will get you by with a decent sounding system but to hear its full potential, a high quality amp-preamp combo would be required for supporting the demands of these speakers (the Odysseys in particular).

You have options...you can use the reviever as a preamp temporarily and focus on a decent powerful multi-channel amp and add a pre-pro later. The sunfire amps are great at thier price but there are many others to choose from depending on your budget.

Do you plan to add a center channel?

The key here is finding an amp with a high current capacity. While good recievers have relatively high wattage they usually don't have high current to back them up. In general, dedicated amps have more torque (current).

With a full 5.1 channel system using these speakers you would have a kick-ass multichannel SACD, DVD-A or HD-BluRay music system and if it can do those formats well then youcould easily have a realistic and convincing sounding HT system.
 
Last edited:
Your setup is fine. You will have these speakers for many years. The Rotel can drive them quite well till you have the time and money to choose another amp. Rotel receivers are near the best receivers available with plenty of real power. The Summits are easy to drive with their powered woofers and are very efficient. The nice thing about them is that each improvement in your system, be it an amp, better source or better cables will be easily audible and greatly appreciated. :)
 
I agree a speaker as fine as the Summits are best supplied with an equally high quality signal. However, it doesn't have to be high-powered, unlike the Odyessys that will suffer a little more from being under-driven by a reciever. The Odysseys are a fine speaker in thier own right but are a little more demanding on amp power requirements and will likey put more strain or demand on the reciever and play at a lesser sound quality level than they are capable of. I assume you would use the Odysseys for surrounds and the Summits for front mains?

I may have underestimated the capabilities of your Rotel receiver. It should be fine with the Summits and Odysseys. It's just that it can always be better and striving for continous improvement is that little devil on the left shoulder that causes upgradeitis.

Hi-rez multi-channel music should be incredible with these full range speakers. Enjoy your system...
 
Last edited:

Latest posts

Back
Top