Just heard the Summits but...

[Crawdaddy]

...maybe it was just the set-up, or I didn't listen long enough...but I gotta say that I was a little bit disappointed (or encouraged). While they sounded great, I didn't hear what I would consider a "step change" in quality from my recently purchased Ascent i's. I guess I left feeling pretty good about my Ascent i set-up. I'll stay happy for quite some time. To each his own I guess.

Just thought I'd pass along this experience. Cheers!

 

[tascam]

what?

You've got to be kidding!!! On good electronics, there is no comparison between the Summit and Ascent i. The panel sound much smoother with significantly more dynamics on the Summit. The ascent is an old design and is mediocre on big band, and louder complex material. It simply sounds compressed at higher volumes. It looks good, but it has a cheap lousy paint job on mdf. That's why I sent mine back and it is discontinued for a reason. There is something better coming.

 

[Peter_Klim]

...maybe it was just the set-up, or I didn't listen long enough...but I gotta say that I was a little bit disappointed (or encouraged). While they sounded great, I didn't hear what I would consider a "step change" in quality from my recently purchased Ascent i's. I guess I left feeling pretty good about my Ascent i set-up. I'll stay happy for quite some time. To each his own I guess.

Just thought I'd pass along this experience. Cheers!

I'm sure room acoustics must have something to do with it. Did you listen to it at a budy's home...or a hi-fi shop?

 

[Crawdaddy]

You would think so...

...thus the disappointment. I'm sure the Summits are superior...I just didn't hear the night-and-day difference I was expecting in the short time I had to listen. Don't get me wrong...I'm not bashing the Summits (they're great!) rather I'm praising my experience with the Ascent i's. That's all.

 

[Crawdaddy]

hi-fi shop

I'm sure room acoustics must have something to do with it. Did you listen to it at a budy's home...or a hi-fi shop?

Could very well have been placement. FWIW, they were being driven by Arcam multi channel amp and the new Arcam AVP-700 pre-pro. Can't say I know what the source was though. Like I said, it was a brief listen...not a serious audition, but my initial thought was "hey my Ascents sound pretty good in comparison...no need to begin saving up $10k."

 

[DTB300]

Same thing for me on first listen to them. Went back and changed electronics and they were like night and day.

Did you read this thread?

http://www.martinloganowners.com/~tdacquis/forum/showthread.php?t=789&page=1&pp=15


Dan

 

[Jeff Zaret]

Reading all the excitement that is stirring about the Summit is really stimulting. What it seems to me from reading the posts, as I have not yet heard the Summits, , is they seem to reveal more in the "chain" of equipment than the current speaker line up. To say it another way, it seems they will reveal any short comings or mediocre components within the entire audio chain.

So this tells me that $10K USD may be only a down payment to really see a difference. I believe what Crawdaddy is saying is, although they are great speakers and they may be better sounding to his ears and Dan's too, upon second listening with different equipment, in comparison to the Ascent i's, they were not approximatley a $6k wow factor difference.

I believe the Summits may be one of the best speakers manufactured to date, (ok I still love my CLSiiZs ) but are they leaps and bounds better or just an improvement in overall presentation of sound as each new generation of speaker made by ML have been?

Something to think about. I am sure this will really stir the pot now.
hahahahaha

Jeff

 

[rtagle]

...maybe it was just the set-up, or I didn't listen long enough...but I gotta say that I was a little bit disappointed (or encouraged). While they sounded great, I didn't hear what I would consider a "step change" in quality from my recently purchased Ascent i's. I guess I left feeling pretty good about my Ascent i set-up. I'll stay happy for quite some time. To each his own I guess.

Just thought I'd pass along this experience. Cheers!

I too was disappointed when I first heard the Summits. When I heard it the second time (the ML technical team and Gayle Sanders were around this time), it was night and day difference. It was still in the same room and hooked up to the same equipment. So I guess the way the settings were redone made a huge difference! The Summits have some new features that maybe most dealers need to familiarize well. Also, it has just been introduced in the market and experiences of others have not been circulated in the hi-fi world.

 

[Crawdaddy]

Well said.

So this tells me that $10K USD may be only a down payment to really see a difference. I believe what Crawdaddy is saying is, although they are great speakers and they may be better sounding to his ears and Dan's too, upon second listening with different equipment, in comparison to the Ascent i's, they were not approximatley a $6k wow factor difference.

Thanks Jeff for helping me articulate

 

[MarkNewbie]

Love reading a thread when Jeff gets it going!

To say it another way, it seems they will reveal any short comings or mediocre components within the entire audio chain.

So this tells me that $10K USD may be only a down payment to really see a difference. I believe what Crawdaddy is saying is, although they are great speakers and they may be better sounding to his ears and Dan's too, upon second listening with different equipment, in comparison to the Ascent i's, they were not approximatley a $6k wow factor difference.


Something to think about. I am sure this will really stir the pot now.
hahahahaha

Jeff

Jeff - As my 21 year old daughter would say "You rock dude!" I love when ever the "next best thing" comes out. Everyone (well not everyone but some people) starts bashing what was considered "Great" before it. No doubt that there should be some improvement with the Summits. But aren't the Summits actually replacing the Prodigys? Shouldn't we be bashing the comparison there? I thought this was a Martin Logan fan club? We know our current events history, don't we? Why are we comparing the Summits to the Ascent i? Maybe we should compare it to the Montage too? I have the Ascent i as well. Now If I could have justified spending another $3-4000.00, I would have bought the Prodigy instead. I did not see a $3K "WOW" factor there. I admit that I have yet to hear the Summits and probably should not comment until I do but I couldn't help myself. Just thought I would put my hand on the laddel too and stir it some more!

 

[Reverb2009]

Jeff - As my 21 year old daughter would say "You rock dude!" I love when ever the "next best thing" comes out. Everyone (well not everyone but some people) starts bashing what was considered "Great" before it. No doubt that there should be some improvement with the Summits. But aren't the Summits actually replacing the Prodigys? Shouldn't we be bashing the comparison there? I thought this was a Martin Logan fan club? We know our current events history, don't we? Why are we comparing the Summits to the Ascent i? Maybe we should compare it to the Montage too? I have the Ascent i as well. Now If I could have justified spending another $3-4000.00, I would have bought the Prodigy instead. I did not see a $3K "WOW" factor there. I admit that I have yet to hear the Summits and probably should not comment until I do but I couldn't help myself. Just thought I would put my hand on the laddel too and stir it some more!

People are comparing the summit to ascent because they are very close to the same size. History has taught us the bigger the electrostatic panel the bigger the sound. The summit has a lot to prove, that it can beat the ascent and equal if not surpass the Prodigy.

Martin Logan may have rewrote the book on ESL’s, with Microperf and the summit.

 

[Jeff Zaret]

I think, as Joe (Zip3kx07) and MarkNewbie have alluded to, is we really have to wait. We should embrace the newness and the change but it may not be a fair comparison to the Ascents. In reality, we are not comparing apples to apples here. There are simularities but also new technology that is only related to the old and not the same.

We have new electronics, dual speakers with dual amps, a new design of the panel and a significant differnence in cost. Maybe when the smaller version of the Summits come out with one woofer and amp (?) it will be a closer comparison to the Ascents.

I think we need to realize that the Odyessy and the Prodigy were pretty close in design and that from a marketing standpoint the Summits make sense.

By no means should we stop the comparisons and challenges we just need to understand the differences as well.

Ok I guess I have put in 4 cents now.

Jeff

 

[MarkNewbie]

Point

Here is a quote from the ML website.

"Please note:
As of December 31st, 2004 the Prodigy was officially discontinued. If you are interested in this model, please contact your local dealer to inquire about their remaining stock. To read about Prodigy's replacement, the Summit, please click here. "

My point was that the summits are replacing the Prodigy and NOT the Ascent i. And as others and ML have indicated, a smaller speaker similiar to the Summit is due to replace the Ascent i's