New as new can be, could be, or should be.

[DanielAdler]

Hello everyone. My name is Dan and I'm an alcohol- wait... no, I listen to a lot of music. I've owned a pair of Montages for a bit over a year now, and I'm happy to find a forum dedicated to Martin Logan. Why montage? Well, I'm poor. Audiophelia is a rich man's disease, I'm afraid. For me, its an inner struggle of good taste vs. my wallet.

My current system is a panamax 4300pm supplying the power, a pair of Montages in black ash, a definitive Prosub 800 (connected to a panamax Sub conditioner at the outlet), with the speakers being powered by a Yamaha HTR-5940 receiver (which is actually left over from a 2.1 Klipsch setup that I had. The I gave the klipsches to my parents to have at their place).

The upgrades that I am looking at getting into are varied.. possibly an Outlaw Model 970 into an Adcom GFA-555. I was also looking at the Musichall Maven, but its a bit underpowered I think.

So yeah. Hi everybody!!

 

[M@rio]

Welcome Daniel! :music:

 

[Rich]

:welcome: to the madhouse, Dan!

For me, its an inner struggle of good taste vs. my wallet.

Your wallet is bound to lose in this battle. And I promise you that hanging out on this forum will not help. You are likely to catch the dreaded joeyitis disease, which causes you to spend thousands of dollars you don't have upgrading your system until it is near-perfect, and then inexplicably selling it all to start over again from scratch. It is an endless cycle of doom that results in an inevitable decline in psychiatric health and well-being.

You have been warned. :devil:

 

[Satch]

Welcome Dan,

I started off with the Montage speakers and a Dynamo sub and was stunned by how good they sounded... Then I hooked up with this wonderful bunch of lunatics and now I have Vistas, Depth i, Cary SLP 98p, Ayre V-5xe and and and...

Brother can you spare a dime?

Satch

 

[MotorToad]

Hey, man, you don't know poor! I'm driving my Sequels with a borrowed Crown Macro-tech 2400 because my second used Carver amp went mammaries-skyward. (BTW, huge power out of that amp, but also the distortion )

I'm exponentially more impressed with someone that can put an enjoyable system together on the cheap than I am with a system that is built on the nearly infinite funds of the stupidly rich. When you eat ramen to listen to music, you're more of an audiophile than someone who can **** money away on whatever Stereophile thinks is cool this month!

 

[DanielAdler]

Ohh one quick question...

Does anybody know a website or company that manufactures speaker stands/bases for floorstanding speakers? I'm trying to spare the wood floor in my living room from the ETC spikes, and I may fabricate my own if need be, but I'd honestly like something done by professionals if I can.

 

[zaphod]

a number of people have had good results with a piece of granite or similar under the speakers. the slab is kinder to the floor and insensitive to the pokeypokey of the spikes.

check out counter shops for sink cutouts.

i have also seen small cups that are designed to mate with speaker spikes. i have been know to use pennies. dimes would cut too much into my audio budget.

 

[DanielAdler]

i have also seen small cups that are designed to mate with speaker spikes. i have been know to use pennies. dimes would cut too much into my audio budget.

I'm currently using quarters hah. I'm a real high roller.

Granite! Thats a fantasmic idea. Thx much!

 

[TomDac]

my second used Carver amp went mammaries-skyward.

ROFL.. dude, that is a classic!!

 

[SteveH]

I felt compelled to add to this view (and not because I'm rich - stupidly or any other way)...in my humble experience people who invest and build music systems that end up costing alot of $$$$$ typically have to make a lot of sacrifices elsewhere over a period of years. In fact in 30+ years of getting my own system to where it is today, I haven't come across anyone who just had the cash to drop on a big new system. And I'll bet you'll find more Bose systems in super rich homes than ML based (or other decent manufacturers) systems.

I totally agree with the sentiment that this is a hobby with no end in sight - and I also admire anyone who can put a decent, cost effective system together and just settle for it....it's just very hard not to go that next step...and then the next....

Aplogies for this being slightly off topic!! And Daniel - really nice system :music:

 

[MotorToad]

I certainly didn't mean that every expensive system is crap, or anything like that. I'm sure we've all seen a couple of examples, though, of big-money systems that are just a conglomeration of shiny bits and the latest magazine must-haves. Owning MartinLogans, or planar speakers in general, pretty much excludes you from the "buying crap" genre of enthusiast, though.

 

[DanielAdler]

I totally agree with the sentiment that this is a hobby with no end in sight - and I also admire anyone who can put a decent, cost effective system together and just settle for it....it's just very hard not to go that next step...and then the next....

Aplogies for this being slightly off topic!! And Daniel - really nice system :music:

Thanks, and... Who said anything about settling? I'm 400 miles away from my system at the moment, and I'm currently fabricating bases for my speakers. Haha. Seriously though, the sentiment is appreciated!

 

[rockeratheart]

Yeah, I know the feeling . . .

The first pair of MLs that I heard, Ascents I think, were while I was working at a retailer in Minnesota. I have always been a musician, listened to music, and surrounded myself with musicians. I was afraid of the MLs. Wow, I was 22, expecting my first kid, newly married, and knew I couldn't start putting together even a small 2 channel system with MLs. Now, I'm very excited to jump into the used market, I would love a pair of Ascent or Odyssey loudspeakers. I check this site about 5 times a day.

So, I guess I'm nursing a serious infection of the ML bug and can't wait.

 

[DanielAdler]

You know, rockeratheart, I find the hardest thing to find isn't so much the speakers themselves, but a decent amp to power them. I had worked at a Magnolia Home Theater for a year and a half, and the biggest problem a lot of people had were obtaining the right power to drive their speakers (regardless of brand.)

I'm sure you'll be able to get your hands on a nice pair of stats, if you just keep your eyes peeled.

 

[rockeratheart]

good to hear

DanielAdler, thanks for the thoughts. You know, I'm glad to hear you say that. I'm also in the same boat as you. I know I'll be happy when I get to the next level, which is still many rungs down the ladder, and I'm really liking this forum too. My wife and I, as we get older, are finding support systems many places in our life for many reasons. It's nice to have a place for me to go to where there's people even more concerned about placement, and cables, and 2 as opposed to 5 channel philosophical posers, etc.

Amps huh. I'll post a new thread for this one.

Thanks again DanielAdler.

Ben

 

[DanielAdler]

I'm sooooo close to finishing the plinths I'm working on. I'll post pics as soon as I can get them finished and in place.