System #180 (Summit)

Hello all ML fan, My name is: An I am a newbie on this ML club. I live in the most rainy weather state of the United State. Seattle Washington.

ML Summit
Purchase on March 18 2007
No Mod/Change on Summit.

2 channel;
McIntosh preamp C45
McIntosh amplifier MC501
McIntosh MCD500
ML Summit
Rel Acoustic Storm III
Furman IT-Reference 20I
Audio Quest Caldera speaker wire.
Audio Quest Niagara XLR
Transparent Audio power cords (Reference,Premium,Plus"mm2")


Home Theater
B&K Ref 30
B&K Ref 7250II
Sony PS3
Vienna Acoustic speaker; Haydn for the front (not show on picture yet), Maestro for Center.
Boston Acoustic; VRX for surround sound (don't have picture yet)
M&K Sub; V125
Panamax 5500, 1000
Stewart Firehawk Luxus Deluxe 100"
Sharp XVZ3000 projector

I have my new ML Summit about 11 days now. The Summit's sound still too new to me. Because I used to listen to my Vienna Acoustic Beethoven for few years. But over all the Summit sounds more open than my old pair Beethoven. I hooked up the Summit with my McIntosh gear for 2 channels only. I will post few more pictures when I have time. :cheers:

Welcome aboard!!

First off, CONGRATS on the Summits and on such a nicely put together system!!

Secondly, :welcome: to our humble abode!

Thirdly, can you compare and contrast the differences between the Vienna Beethovens and the Summits.... in a little more detail comparing the highs, mids, lows, soundstage width/depth, and... most importantly.... imaging and vocal focus/weight.

Joey

PS
My 2000th post! Can't believe it... I was a newbie too, seemed like yesterday. *Sniff sniff*... .

OMG! What a wonderful system!
I had a chance to hear the Summits with Mac and it just blew me away. This is what mys system wants to be when it grows up.
Congratulations and welcome aboard!

An, that is as B-E-A-UTIFUL set up you have there! VERY, VERY NICE! Why not use a pass through on the McIntosh gear so you can use the Summits in your HT too? I have not set that up yet, but I may in the future...

Welcome to the group.

Do you have a REAL F50 in the garage? I see you have a nice yellow one on the McIntosh amp! I think that car is much more attractive than the Enzo. Yea, I know technically and in raw performance the Enzo is a nice step up from the F50, but I still think the F50 is sexier...

I love it when I see a system like yours, nice job .

Sweet System
Really dig the open Salamander rack with no sides and doors.
The framed out acoustical panels are nice,
did you frame them yourself?
Nice touch on the ceiling panels with the glow in the dark stars.
:welcome:

Way to go, another 2 channel via 5.1. I need to hear a MAC mono with a Martin Logan. By the way...do you have 2 subs...one for 2 channel and the other for 5.1?

Hat off, man, your starting point is the arrival one for many !

Joey_V said:

First off, CONGRATS on the Summits and on such a nicely put together system!!

Secondly, :welcome: to our humble abode!

Thirdly, can you compare and contrast the differences between the Vienna Beethovens and the Summits.... in a little more detail comparing the highs, mids, lows, soundstage width/depth, and... most importantly.... imaging and vocal focus/weight.

Joey

PS
My 2000th post! Can't believe it... I was a newbie too, seemed like yesterday. *Sniff sniff*... .

Click to expand...

Hi Joey,
I have owned the Vienna Beethoven for a few years and I liked the sound of Beethoven. Before up grading to the Summit, I have A/B comparison the Summit with Vienna at the dealer store. The Highs of Summit are very detail it seem to me a little brighter than the Beethoven. The Mids of Summit the vocal/soundstage has more width "texture" than the Beethoven. The Lows of the Summit are just day & night, it's very fast and tight ( a lot of torque) comparing with Beethoven. It's very sweet that the Summit includes 2 dedicated 200 watts per woofer for each speaker. Of course Beethoven and the Summit are totally different line/level of speaker. I have to admit the Beethoven has a very smooth and warm sound. I still like the Beethoven if I can keep them for second system in the future. But my wife said they must go or no Summit. Fortunately a friend of mine bought the Beethoven from me.

Pcar928fan said:

An, that is as B-E-A-UTIFUL set up you have there! VERY, VERY NICE! Why not use a pass through on the McIntosh gear so you can use the Summits in your HT too? I have not set that up yet, but I may in the future...

Welcome to the group.

Do you have a REAL F50 in the garage? I see you have a nice yellow one on the McIntosh amp! I think that car is much more attractive than the Enzo. Yea, I know technically and in raw performance the Enzo is a nice step up from the F50, but I still think the F50 is sexier...

Click to expand...

Hello James,
The reason I didn't use McIntosh gear for HT because my Sony DVD player didn't come with 5.1 decoder output. So I used digital output to B&K for movie and analog output to McIntosh for music. I would like to have 2 channel and HT together. To go that direction which I have to spend a lot of $$$. I spent most my time to listen music (75% music and 25% movie).
No, I don't have the real F50 in my garage. it's only a dream.:drool: That's an empty shelf reserve for the next McIntosh CD player or DVD player in the near future.:banana:

theWB said:

Sweet System
Really dig the open Salamander rack with no sides and doors.
The framed out acoustical panels are nice,
did you frame them yourself?
Nice touch on the ceiling panels with the glow in the dark stars.
:welcome:

Click to expand...

Hello Wayne,
I like it open Salamander rack, so I can see the blue Mac meter moving when I listen to music. yes, I made and framed all the acoustic panels by myself. It took me a lot of time to built them during cold Winter time. My wife was complaining that I have spent too time in the garage. But after I finished and installed them. She just said; Very nice.

[email protected] said:

Way to go, another 2 channel via 5.1. I need to hear a MAC mono with a Martin Logan. By the way...do you have 2 subs...one for 2 channel and the other for 5.1?

Click to expand...

Yes, you should go to your local dealer and give a listen. I think you will be surprise the sound of McIntosh and ML Summit combo.
you are correct. I have 2 subs, one Rel Acoustic for 2 channel and the other MK V125 for 5.1.

lugano said:

Hat off, man, your starting point is the arrival one for many !

Click to expand...

Thank you:cheers:

123acoustic, I am guessing that you ran a 2nd output from the MAC pre-amp to the 2 channel Sub, while the 5.1 sub is running from a normal sub out from the B&K Ref 30 processor?

123acoustic said:

The reason I didn't use McIntosh gear for HT because my Sony DVD player didn't come with 5.1 decoder output. So I used digital output to B&K for movie and analog output to McIntosh for music. I would like to have 2 channel and HT together.

Click to expand...

Maybe not... You can run the Front L/R Pre outs from the receiver to your Mac preamp on a Pre in then just use the preouts they way they are, as the pass through. Obviously the mac will have to be "passive" with regard to volume so you will need to find the "right" volume setting on the Mac to match up w/ the rest of the surround system... UNLESS the mac already has a "pass through" option on it. I don't know the systems well enough to now how they will all match up, but that should work (in theory anyway). We have a long thread on this somewhere else in the forum... Might be a way to get your Summit's into the HT mix w/o having to do a lot of cable swapping.

Maybe someone else can jump in here and give some good advise directly relating to your gear...

Good luck and it does look GREAT!

Pcar928fan, when my system was a 5.1 my Audio Research LS-16 pre-amp had a "By-Pass" switich which allowed the volume to be controlled by a Theta Casa Nova Processor when watching a movie. Several of my audio buddies have the same thing in other pre-amps. I also never seen a MAC pre-amp but would be surprised if they don't carry this rather needed modern funtion.

A very clean, beautiful susyem and set up. Seems well balanced for both music and movies.

I'll bet you spoend a LOT of time in that room. Welcome aboard and Happy Listening!

Summit ~ McIntosh Beauty System...

123acoustic,

Welcome to the ML Club!

Your Summits look lovely with your McIntosh electronics. How do you like the McIntosh power driving your Summit electrostatic panels? Your room looks very cool as well. How do you like your, Stewart Firehawk Luxus Deluxe 100"
silver screen, with Sharp XVZ3000 projector?

Great system! :cheers:

Robin said:

123acoustic,

Welcome to the ML Club!

Your Summits look lovely with your McIntosh electronics. How do you like the McIntosh power driving your Summit electrostatic panels? Your room looks very cool as well. How do you like your, Stewart Firehawk Luxus Deluxe 100"
silver screen, with Sharp XVZ3000 projector?

Great system! :cheers:

Click to expand...

Robin, Thank you for your compliment.
I have dreamed of owning McIntosh gear for years. Finally I got them last year "March of 06" and I enjoy them very much. McIntosh's sound very clean/natural and warm. They sound very good with vocal/Jazz/classical music.
I like my Stewart Firehawk 100" very much. I only use it for movies and video games. The Sharp XVZ3000 is only 720p but it can do up to 1080i as well. I was very surprise at what this combo can do. I enjoy them very much every time I watch a movie.