Spire vs. Vantage

[David Matz]

What does one get for the extra $$$? How much better is the Spire? In what ways?

Anyone who has lived with both or extensively auditioned the two speakers in same environments, please chime in!

 

[FISH_MAN]

I have lived with both and am a critical A-hole as my friends say.I feel that you get every penny from the spires. they are what martin logan is all about effortless midrange and smooooth sound. they have a bigger and more mellowed out sound effortless is the word. they also did something to the electronics to make the sound cleaner

 

[eknuds01]

You will also want to consult with Dave (twich54) as he was a Vantage owner for years and now has the Spire.

He also mates his gear with first rate electronics - he used to employ the Plinius SS amp and now has Rogue monoblocks. Thus he should be able to elaborate how the Vantage sounded with good SS and tube gear vs the Spire with the same electronics.

We've heard nothing but good things about the Spire but I see why one would be restrained here - jumping up to the Spire (after selling the Vantages) you'll need cough up quite a bit of extra money (unless buying a used Spire). But I always think we face this 'problem' - is worth the extra 1, 2, or $4k?

Erik

 

[twich54]

David, as Erik said having owned Vantage's for three years and recently upgraded to Spire's last month here's my intial impressions:

http://www.martinloganowners.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7882

Now with 100 plus hours the changes brought about are improved seamless bass integration, espescially with my DD-15. Me thinks the redesigned cross-over network has something to do with this as well. The increased panel size I'm sure helps with soundstage improvement, and for whatever reason it appears instruments are better focuse and locallized. The reason I bring this up is that when in Acoustic Sounds Reference listening room and listening to the big Avalon's it was their imaging and sounstage along with the location thing that I mentioned that just keeps coming back to me as a reference upon which I judge.

 

[theWB]

What does one get for the extra $$$? How much better is the Spire? In what ways?

Anyone who has lived with both or extensively auditioned the two speakers in same environments, please chime in!

Joeyitis??

 

[Bernard]

The comparison I would really like to read about is between the Spire and the Summit X......did Vojtko spin his magic on both ?

 

[Dougster]

What does one get for the extra $$$? How much better is the Spire? In what ways?

Anyone who has lived with both or extensively auditioned the two speakers in same environments, please chime in!

Hi David I have had Vantages for 2 years and now Spires for 250 he's (before Vantages Ascents Quad 63 and briefly CLX amongst others)

The Vantages are lovely in all ways, but the Spire gives a much bigger soundstage improved coherence throughout the frequency range and more of the signal comes through the Panel improving transparency. They give extra dimensions to all music you know well, not only through increased detail but also via better dynamics and faster response increasing the delight of detailed interplay between musicians/ strands of the music.
They are also better balanced tonally so that a piano is less treble emphasised than with the Vantage - I think of it as violas sound like violas on the Spires whereas they sound a bit too much like violins , on the Vantages. I uses to notice this shortcoming in the Vantage particularly on returning to my system after a holiday break.
Lastly the bass is more articulate and keeps up/ drives the music more than the Vantage.
Visually both are beauties - I like the spire proportions better.

The Vantages are still excellent After all you listen to them in their own right and they do things well and make music fun!

 

[David Matz]

Joeyitis??

No, just curious if the upgrade is "significant" or "dramatic", especially in a small room.

Thanks to all who have responded.

 

[Gordon]

I'm a relative newb (1 year) with ML. I had the Vantage in my 11.5 X 23 X 8 Living room for 6 months. I've had the pleasure of also having the Spire in the same room for the past 5-6 months. While I'm not as adept in description as others, I'd say based on your "significant" or "dramatic" qualifiers, in my case it was dramatic.

Gordon

 

[RichTeer]

I borrowed a apir of Vantages for a week and recently took delivery of a pair of Spires. In addition to what others have said (I too prefer the Spires' proportions), the Spires' bass is better. I think it's a combination of the larger driver (10" vs 8") and the lack of a tuned port.

 

[twich54]

No, just curious if the upgrade is "significant" or "dramatic", especially in a small room.

Since I'm a believer that far too many people LOVE to use the phrase and at the same time are...."dramatic", I'll go with the "significant". Having owned and operated a very fine pair of Vantage's for three years in what I call a 'medium' size room 14'6" x 23', the only way one could say the difference was 'dramatic' is if they DID NOT have their Vantage's properly set up in the first place !!