Summits, power amp/powered woofer interface

[jvitez]

I've been pondering amplification, and how this effects the sound related to the powered woofers. As a clear example, Bryston amps sound extremely lively, lots of bass slam, lots of midrange impact, but I do find them fatiguing rather quickly. The McIntosh MC275 all tube amp sounds very smooth, liquid midrange, but no bass slam. Do these bass characteristics remain with Summit's powered woofers?

If the power amp essentially triggers the Summit's class D amp but doesn't actually drive the woofers, do the nuances that make up the difference between the above two power amps for example still "get through" being translated by another amp? I can see needing less power overall, that makes sense. But I wonder if the variations we all hear in different power amps bass response are reduced by the class D amps of the Summit. What have people found who have made big changes in amplification?

 

[danman]

A comment concerning the Bryston's being fatiguing well, I can tell you that the all new "square" series has fixed this problem that coming from a direct comparison. The highs are now very smooth.

As for the other part of your question, I cannot answer that as I own the Quests but I am curious to what responses you will get.

 

[Rich]

The answer is a definite YES. The powered woofer will sound different depending on the quality of the signal that is fed to it. I auditioned a Sunfire amp and an Anthem amp using the Vantage speaker, and I was amazed at the difference in the bass response between the two amplifiers. The Sunfire had deep, tight, accurate bass. The Anthem, for whatever reason, had loose, flabby, wooly bass. It was a night and day difference between the two. All other components stayed the same. We just switched out the amps, and the difference in bass response was amazing. I specifically asked an ML exec about this when we toured the factory and he confirmed that the powered woofer will reflect the quality of the signal that is fed into it. Some amps will synergize better with these speakers than others.

 

[jvitez]

Exactly what I wanted to know. Thanks! :bowdown:

 

[C.A.P]

The answer is a definite YES. The powered woofer will sound different depending on the quality of the signal that is fed to it. I auditioned a Sunfire amp and an Anthem amp using the Vantage speaker, and I was amazed at the difference in the bass response between the two amplifiers. The Sunfire had deep, tight, accurate bass. The Anthem, for whatever reason, had loose, flabby, wooly bass. It was a night and day difference between the two. All other components stayed the same. We just switched out the amps, and the difference in bass response was amazing. I specifically asked an ML exec about this when we toured the factory and he confirmed that the powered woofer will reflect the quality of the signal that is fed into it. Some amps will synergize better with these speakers than others.

Imagine what a Krell can do !

 

[gregadd]

Damping factor

With dynamic (or cone )speakers damping factor is a good indciator of an amplifiers bass performance.

"The Sunfire had deep, tight, accurate bass. The Anthem, for whatever reason, had loose, flabby, wooly bass" Rich

Can you help me understand something?

If you have a powered sub i.e. a speaker with it's own amp how does another amplifier feed it a signal? Just curious as to how that works. Every sub I had worked off a feed from the preamp.
gregadd

 

[twich54]

If you have a powered sub i.e. a speaker with it's own amp how does another amplifier feed it a signal? Just curious as to how that works. Every sub I had worked off a feed from the preamp.
gregadd

It dosen't unless YOU configure it that way, normally, like you said, it's either an LFE connection or in my case the second pair of outputs from my preamp feed my DD-15.

Totally different animal with the powerd 'bass' drivers in our Vantage's, Summit's and Spire's for they receive the 'amplified' signal from the amplifier itself, so there in lies the 'signature' of the driving EXTERNAL amp in the mix.

 

[Rich]

Rich

Can you help me understand something?

If you have a powered sub i.e. a speaker with it's own amp how does another amplifier feed it a signal? Just curious as to how that works. Every sub I had worked off a feed from the preamp.
gregadd

To understand for sure, you will need to contact Martin Logan technical support. It is their design, not mine. But my basic understanding is that they have circuitry in the bass module that takes the speaker level signal and converts it to line level and then sends it on to their on-board woofer amp. When I asked them about the difference I heard, they basically said that the quality of the bass response was directly relative to the quality of the signal going in. GIGO. No surprise there.

By the way, I don't think the damping factors were that much different between the two amps. The Sunfire probably had a little higher damping factor than the Anthem, but not enough to account for the difference I heard.

 

[gregadd]

damping factor

I did not know which amp you listened to. So I selected two multi-channel amps from both Sunfire and Anthem. The Sunfire had a damping factor of 150 and the Anthem 130 @1khz. The Sunfire is better but it remains difficult to explain the big difference you heard.

I'm sure at some point somebody will mod the Summit with an outboard crossover and Bi-amp it.

 

[Rich]

I'm sure at some point somebody will mod the Summit with an outboard crossover and Bi-amp it.

I'm a little surprised JonFo hasn't already done this.

 

[Audioseduction]

Imagine what a Krell can do !

Also a PASS Labs! :music: