Sleepysurf was kind enough to invite me to his home this week to see and listen to his setup. He has a very nice home and was a great host.
I had never seen the Summits and was surprised they were not larger. I have gotten use to looking at my SL3s and CLSs and the Summits were a radical change. The new panel perforation makes them so much more transparent and with no frames around them the panels almost seem to hang in the air.
Sleepy described his system as sounding analytical.
It was very clear and crisp sounding. The bass blended nicely from the woofers and never seemed hang on more than it should. I would guess much of the crispness was from the SS Belles amp he uses with the ModWright preamp. The Summits had a wide image that isolated voices and instruments wonderfully. The depth of the music was what I was most taken by and how delicate yet powerful it was. It's always, startling how much sound is produced by ML panels.
He asked me how it compared to what I was use to listening to. I know didn't give him a very good explanation at that time and I still may not have one. My CLSs with tubes sounded warmer and fuller as I would expect based on my past, some what limited listening to other systems. The SS amps I have listened to have had a (for lack of another description) tighter sound, less relaxed. They both had that classic ELS sound we have all chosen. Our rooms and listening distance are different so that adds more to the mix of the difference in the sound. I can't say one sounded better than the other, just different. I need to listen to other Summit and CLS systems before I could begin to decide which I might think is better. For now I could live with either one with no problem.
It does reinforced my feeling that the large cabinet between my CLSs although slightly behind them has a definite effect on the sound depth.
Sleepysurf as well as a number of you, uses a SqueeezBox system for much of his listening. It seems like a wonderful way to access your music from anywhere in the house. He explained how the system is implemented with the use of a laptop or another hard drive device. Thou the sound was very good he said for critical listening he still would use original material. I think I would be hard pressed to tell you which is which.
I told my wife about the SqueezeBox and even she seemed to get a bit of Joeyitis saying she would like it in our house.
Thanks again to Sleepysurf, I look forward to another chance to listen to them.
I had never seen the Summits and was surprised they were not larger. I have gotten use to looking at my SL3s and CLSs and the Summits were a radical change. The new panel perforation makes them so much more transparent and with no frames around them the panels almost seem to hang in the air.
Sleepy described his system as sounding analytical.
It was very clear and crisp sounding. The bass blended nicely from the woofers and never seemed hang on more than it should. I would guess much of the crispness was from the SS Belles amp he uses with the ModWright preamp. The Summits had a wide image that isolated voices and instruments wonderfully. The depth of the music was what I was most taken by and how delicate yet powerful it was. It's always, startling how much sound is produced by ML panels.
He asked me how it compared to what I was use to listening to. I know didn't give him a very good explanation at that time and I still may not have one. My CLSs with tubes sounded warmer and fuller as I would expect based on my past, some what limited listening to other systems. The SS amps I have listened to have had a (for lack of another description) tighter sound, less relaxed. They both had that classic ELS sound we have all chosen. Our rooms and listening distance are different so that adds more to the mix of the difference in the sound. I can't say one sounded better than the other, just different. I need to listen to other Summit and CLS systems before I could begin to decide which I might think is better. For now I could live with either one with no problem.
It does reinforced my feeling that the large cabinet between my CLSs although slightly behind them has a definite effect on the sound depth.
Sleepysurf as well as a number of you, uses a SqueeezBox system for much of his listening. It seems like a wonderful way to access your music from anywhere in the house. He explained how the system is implemented with the use of a laptop or another hard drive device. Thou the sound was very good he said for critical listening he still would use original material. I think I would be hard pressed to tell you which is which.
I told my wife about the SqueezeBox and even she seemed to get a bit of Joeyitis saying she would like it in our house.
Thanks again to Sleepysurf, I look forward to another chance to listen to them.
