Vantage panel break-in observations

After years in the Magnepan camp, I just purchased a set of Vantage’s. I assume what I'm experiencing is related to all of the newer designs, but may be common to electrostatic panels in general.

Martin Logan’s manual says very little about the break-in characteristics of the electrostatic panel so I didn't know exactly what to expect. I already assume that any conventional driver needs hours of break-in before sounding right, yet I have experienced quite a change in the panel’s sound in the first 20 hours. At least I have found an acceptable initial placement while I wait for these to settle in.

My question is specific to some sonic issues I’m having right now.

I was wondering if a mid-range veil is usual during break-in. It is unusual in that it isn't affecting the entire midrange area. I’m currently experiencing a lack of lower midrange openness on both voices and piano. You can actually hear it change as a piano runs through the octaves. It also seems like the speed is faster in the upper mid to high registers and the low midrange frequencies are slightly behind. Air and openness is definitely there in the upper ranges already. I have only 3 nights and about 20 hours on them so far and I wouldn’t expect any speaker to be right at this point. What I’m experiencing is a bit different than the break-in on any other speaker I’ve owned, so I guess I’m looking for that “this is normal” type response. Thanks for any and all input. BTW, there are no other components in my system that are new or going through burn-in and I’m very familiar my rooms idiosyncrasies.

:welcome:, Tgun.

I fell in love with bipolars after auditioning Maggies. :rocker: Since my space is limited in both width and depth I thought that Logans would be a better match. Not because I thought Logans are better, but because I hoped that they are more practical. And so I got hooked. What's your story?

Regarding your question. You asked if "this is normal". I think the short answer is Yes. The long answer follows.

I lost track of the hours I logged on my Vantages, so it is hard for me to say which changes occured when. This is not because I have so many hours on them, quite the opposite, but I did not log playback times. I do recall that the first two hours were really bad. They were much better after those initial hours, and improved gradually until 30 to 40 hours or so. At that point I experienced a phase of a few days during which the sound became so edgy that I played the speakers only if I was in another room. After that both bass and midrange developed. Right now I should have between 80 and 120 hours on them - I'm guestimating. The bass still tightened recently, and the midrange has truly blossomed. One or two Summit-owning members of this forum have reported panel break-in times of 500 hours... Surely any changes after the first 60 to 100 hours must be very subtle, though, IMO.

And lets not forget, it may be the upstream gear that you're hearing incoherence from.... not just the panels' characteristics and break-in.

Either way... :welcome: to our loony bin!

Joey

Thanks for the responses.

Since my Maggie 3.6's didn't have the issue and the equipment hasn't changed, I have to assume it is the panel.

Did you get these from Audio Visions?

TGun, Welcome, I too was a former "Maggie" owner(for over twenty years), 3.6's as well. Raflar's assesment is like mine as well. One thing to remember, the Logans are 'transitional' between panel and bass driver whereas your Maggies were transitional between the panel and the ribbon tweeter. What I'm saying is that there is a freq 'handoff' opposite of what your'e used to. Lets say somewhere around 40-80 hrs after the bass driver has settled in I would hope you wouldl get the same ahhhhhhh factor I did, for as much as I loved my Maggies I do believe the electrostatic panel of the Summitt's / Vantage's is even more seamless.

Good Luck.

Your upstream equipment loooks to be superb, btw.

I would say that it's probably just break in. It's only a matter of time before the panel becomes sweeter and sweeter.

Also, let's not forget your reference pov here, it's most likely the 3.6. I've heard that particular speaker driven by Ayre and Classe and I thought it was a great speaker although I felt that there was unnaturalness somewhere in the handoff between the ribbon and the magneplanar. What you might think as veil relative to your reference may just be the opposite and that the magnepan had a peak in that FR band. It's all relative.

Hola chicos...another thing that I do like most, is the coherence and no phase problems...the crossover cut frequency at the Vantage is around 400 Hz. At this frequency there is not phase shift and the Vojtko crossover is awakesome . It is very difficult to do the cut at 2Khz or above. To my ears, the Vantage is more natural with voices and some instruments like wind instruments and strings. Listen as an example, the cd from ARCAGELO CORELLI Sonate a Violino o Cimbalo op. V, Harmonia Mundi HMX 290854. The size of the violin and the cembalo is breath taking. Maggies are super good sounding also, but they exaggerate the size of the instruments on some notes...if there would be no ML, this are the ones that I probably would be listening. The tweeter (ribbon) is one of the fastest and cleanest tweeters that I do like too, but you can listen it easy. With ML, the blend from the woofer and the panel is very articulated, and I can not listen it. If you can, there must be something wrong. You should not to. The stage, the right size of the instruments, voices, and percussion instruments are so transparent with huge of dynamics with the new Stat panel and the new airframe tech. There are no bad resonances now...wait a little bit, you will be amazed soon as I am now with this great new ML speaker. Happy listening,
Roberto.

I ran my vantages for over a week at about 80db bwfore I did any tweaking. The break in plus the tweaks (placment, tilt, angle) have given very very good sound.

Joel