Summits: Birds eye or wenge?

[discocarp]

Well, I just paid jtwrace for the summit spikes. My wife isn't overly interested in my idea to go with upgrading the HT before we get the summits, and I'm happy about that! I don't even like movies much! So here's the big poll:

1. Bird's eye and black
2. Wenge and black
3. Wenge and aluminum

I won't reveal my favorite or my wife's favorite before some opinions, but these are the 3 we've narrowed it down to! Choose! The room will be decorated around the choice for the summits (its their room!), so no need to consider that!

 

[Beat_Dominator]

Wenge and Black.... looks really cool with aluminum but I doubt it'll stay ""in style"

 

[jtwrace]

Well, I just paid jtwrace for the summit spikes. My wife isn't overly interested in my idea to go with upgrading the HT before we get the summits, and I'm happy about that! I don't even like movies much! So here's the big poll:

1. Bird's eye and black
2. Wenge and black
3. Wenge and aluminum

I won't reveal my favorite or my wife's favorite before some opinions, but these are the 3 we've narrowed it down to! Choose! The room will be decorated around the choice for the summits (its their room!), so no need to consider that!

If I had to choose from those choices I would go with door #1. Door #3 is really cool but not my style. Either way, they sound the same. I've always told customers when your sitting in the car the color makes no difference. Whichever you choose you will be happy.

 

[TomDac]

I know it's not one of the choices listed, but Black Ash / Black Aluminum would be MY choice.

Total stealth mode!

Black never goes out of style and matches pretty much everything, unless of course it's that "cool" black lacquer of the 80's! GAG! uke:

So, if you plan on keeping them for a long time, black will be a good choice.


Nigel Tufnel: "There's none more black"

 

[captain_tinker]

Discocarp,
Wow, I really like the Wenge and aluminum look out of the three you posted, the Wenge and black would be my second choice out of the three. Though I gotta say I really like that Bubinga with aluminum too. Very pretty looking speakers.

-capT

 

[sleepysurf]

Well, it's pretty d*mn cool your wife is willing to decorate around the Summits! My $0.02 suggestion is too check out the Bubinga option (with black), if you haven't already considered it. Reason is the variegated light and dark grain of the Bubinga actually blends well with both cherry and mahogany, giving you more choices when it comes to other furnishings. I don't think the bird's eye maple or wenge offer that flexibility, but then again, I'm biased!

 

[Audiophiliac]

I think the Wenge would look good with one of these new Salamander racks

 

[Craig]

I've seen Sleepysurf's Bubinga Summits and I think they look great. The sheen or iridesence of the wood grain reminds of Hawaiian Koa wood in a darker shade.

I haven't seen the Wenge. The Birds Eye looks great too if you want to go with a light shade.

I like the older style Salamander cabinets. The black screen doors allow you to use your remote through them. The new style doesn't look remote friendly.

Pretty nice that your significan't other is with on designing the room around the speakers. It's actually much easier to end up with a nice room that way.

LOL!

 

[sleepysurf]

Speaking of the devil... A'gon has a used pair of Bubinga Summits listed!

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrfull&1177739628

 

[sleepysurf]

The Salamander "Berlin" is nice, but I'm holding out for their new "Sonoma" design, pic below (but I would get the "triple" version).

 

[Pcar928fan]

Black never goes out of style and matches pretty much everything, unless of course it's that "cool" black lacquer of the 80's! GAG! uke:

Ah, Tom, you disappoint me man...I LOVE the Piano black (lacquer). I actually don't remember it in the '80's. I know it from Pioneer Elite gear personally and now Samsung and I still like it.

Hell, just updated the Prodigy and Ascent w/ the gloss black rails...I think they look SWEEEETTTT!

Now, the real question at hand... Birdseye maple is classic. Just look at guitars made with that wood...they looked awesome new and still look awesome. My next Abyss guitar (hopefully by summer time) will have a birdseye maple neck! SUPERCOOL! Just hope my wrist heals so I can actually play again! SUCK!

 

[lugano]

Piano black and aluminium

From your selection, I vote for #3, but of course knowing the general color in the room would help.

 

[discocarp]

Thanks everyone! The room is currently air! We're building a new house. It will be ready august-ish. They'll live here, next to the clarities, in the meantime.

We've mostly ruled out the aluminum because of the cost, although I love it and its still in the mix. We think we should just spring for the wood upgrade rather than both though.

My favorite is the wenge and black. I love the simplicity. Wenge almost looks like black on black, but then you do a double take. Wow. That's not black! Its wenge! If you've never seen real wenge in person you are missing out. Its a phenomenal wood. So subtle yet gorgeous. One of my favorites (the others being zebra wood, purple heart, and birds eye!).

My wife's favorite is the bird's eye and black. Stunning contrast. The bird's eye looks great with the black. Absolutely beautiful. I don't like it as much as the wenge, but the choice is kind of like the difference between winning 10 million in the lottery vs. 11 million!

As for the bubinga, its beautiful. However, birds eye and wenge are two of my absolute favorite woods. Bubinga will never bump either of them for me personally. Although the bubinga is stunning, and I can see why it would be your first choice.

 

[Johnson]

the wenge and black = NICE

my friend, while you have the choice, you have to think of the big picture of the surouding, the hardwood floor, funiture, paint, accessory, theme ... keep them a part of the design, when everything come together they'll be like one kick ass showroom.

As wedge and black. the colour very popular in today modern design interior funiture and accessories. would match well with dark walnut floor, or oak and maple in dark stain.

good luck

 

[Joey_V]

I got the Vantage in birdseye/black and I thought it looked pretty good. The thing is, I think that I've seen better BEM veneer elsewhere and so I wasnt overly happy with the sections that I got.

Here are pics of the cabinets while they were being made:

Out of those, I would agree that I think a Piano Black/Silver is the best... followed by BEM/Silver, then BEM/Black... dont really dig the Wenge too much.

Joey

 

[discocarp]

Those are cool pics Joey. Did you get those from ML?

 

[Joey_V]

Those are cool pics Joey. Did you get those from ML?

Yup... they will personalize your ML experience... they'll follow your cabs until completion.

 

[Joey_V]

BTW, Disco... I found this pic in my archives....

It's one of the few "real" BEM/Black Summit pictures that I could find! Enjoy!

 

[discocarp]

<sound of jaw dropping> That picture is way better than the one's on the martin logan site!

And that's really cool about the pictures. Hopefully I'll get some to share soon!

 

[Joey_V]

<sound of jaw dropping> That picture is way better than the one's on the martin logan site!

And that's really cool about the pictures. Hopefully I'll get some to share soon!

Glad I could help....!

(...you spend your money!)