Pics pics pics... my Vantage pics!

MartinLogan Audio Owners Forum

Help Support MartinLogan Audio Owners Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Joey_V

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 17, 2005
Messages
4,380
Reaction score
1
Location
Dallas, TX
Unpacking the Vantage:
DSC00257.jpg


Very peculiar packaging...
DSC00263.jpg


Almost naked...
DSC00268.jpg


NAKED!
DSC00269.jpg
 
Wandering around the dorm's living room....
DSC00272.jpg


Somehow, they made it to my bedroom...
DSC00286.jpg


Dont know why it looks sooo red...
DSC00291.jpg


Toed in and ready to go!
DSC00292.jpg
 
Sweet spot... a great place to relax and/or read while listening to sweet music!
DSC00302.jpg


From the sweetspot.... forgive the wires.
DSC00295.jpg


Tower of power! And yes, those are a LOT of books and that is a good portion of what I have to memorize by June 16 for the Medical USMLE Boards... yikes!
DSC00297.jpg


Tower of power next to my 24" Dell LCD...
DSC00296.jpg
 
Since the Vantages are on backorder, the dealer allowed me to take home the floor models for the meantime. I will be picking up my true Vantages soon! Probably in 3 weeks time.

I think I have settled in with the MAPLE as my color of choice as it is a lot easier to match with lighter furniture. The Dark Cherry is very elegant but I have a weakness for light wood I suppose. I have until monday to decide so I have all day tomorrow to ponder about it.

Regarding the sound, these demos are only 2 weeks old so they havent been completely broken in yet. However, these sound SUPERB! Very clean and balanced from top to bottom. Vocals are very clear and have the right amount of "weight" to them without getting out of control, unruly, synthesized-sonically, or artificially sibilant. The midrange is to die for.... very liquid and in spades. The bass is excellent! Although the Summits would do better as a true full-range speaker, the Vantage arent slouches in the bass department. I like the quickness and the transient nature of the Vantage's bass... very clean. I am also very fond of the Vantages ability to image..... very precise and much easier to "see" than ANY of my previous speakers (Polk LSi9, Polk LSi7, Onix Reference 1, Sonus Faber Concerto, Sonus Faber Concertino, Axiom M22ti, Martin Logan Mosaic). These Vantages are exactly how I envisioned sound to be (Ok... maybe the Summits are, but these are close enough). Very black between the notes, very good instrument separation, very good 3D depth soundstaging. Very cohesive and "leveled" soundstage width, too. Lastly, I must give props to this soundcard and power conditioner combo, very low noise-floor... not even static. The Vantages at the dealer hooked up to $10,000 of Krell equipment had a nasty buzz when nothing was playing, mine are - luckily - quiet as can be. :)

I like everything about the Vantage, from its sonic capabilities to the way it looks. The only thing that I regret is not having a dedicated room to do these guys complete justice. :(

Final thoughts (for now), I started my adventure exactly 5 years ago when I was a freshman in undergraduate college. I had a pair of $15 Altec Lansing 2.0 computer speakers connected to a 64mb MP3 player and I thought I was living the life. Later that year I found out about the .1 - the subwoofer. I bought a $40 2.1 PC speaker setup and I was in heaven. Then, my girlfriend (same one as now) bought me a Klipsch Promedia 4.1 setup... I was moving up, I thought. Then I started with some Yamaha floorstanders (NS-8390 is the model, I still remember), a Yamaha receiver, and an Inifinity Entra 12" sub. Then I moved to Axioms, then to Polk LSi. Later, I changed the Yamaha receiver to an Harman Kardon AVR-330 receiver and the Infinity sub was replaced by an SVS PC+ subwoofer. Later, the HK was replaced by Rotel and the Polk LSi were replaced by Sonus Faber (Concertino then Concerto). The SF were replaced by the Martin Logan Mosaic (until I decided to save up until the Vantage - 6 months ago) which were returned to Tweeter within 30 days and I temporarily replaced it with the Onix REF1 bookshelf.

Then I sold everything and bought the Vantage.

At 23, I think I'm done for a while... atleast until I graduate. :cool:
 
Last edited:
BTW, my roommate and a friend have heard the Vantage.... and aside from all the questions regarding "where does the music come from?".... they were stunned.

I am not kidding - stunned.

Both (on separate occassions) told me that these are FAR superior to anything I've had before. One of them told me that he can actually "see" the soundstage without having to concentrate or close his eyes (as he had to do in the past). He said that the Vantage are amazing and that he would get Logans once he graduates (he'll also be MD) if only for the looks, but the sound is a definite plus.

"For the ladies," he says. ;)

Alright, enough goofing off... bedtime.
 
Joey they look grate!

But I will stick to my original answer to your question and again say "Maple". The dark wood looks great but I just think the maple wood would fit in with your room much better.

That was what got me hook on the summits, that ability to see the person playing even though there was no one there. When I first herd that demo I was very impress until the person on stage yelled out in the club and his voice snapped right too dead center between the summits and it was as if I was really there, it was the coolest and most life like thing I have ever heard from a speaker, period. The XStat technology just produces a sound that gets into your blood and consumes you like a plague, it’s very intoxicating.

Again they look grate, and you should give your self a big pat on the back for achieving your goal.

Let us know what your final decision on trim is.

Take care, my friend.
 
Joey_V said:
BTW, my roommate and a friend have heard the Vantage.... and aside from all the questions regarding "where does the music come from?".... they were stunned.

I am not kidding - stunned.

Both (on separate occassions) told me that these are FAR superior to anything I've had before. One of them told me that he can actually "see" the soundstage without having to concentrate or close his eyes (as he had to do in the past). He said that the Vantage are amazing and that he would get Logans once he graduates (he'll also be MD) if only for the looks, but the sound is a definite plus.

"For the ladies," he says. ;)

Alright, enough goofing off... bedtime.
Hola Joe...happy listening and trust your ears!!!!
Regards from Costa Rica,
Pura vida,
Roberto.
 
at 23 going to college :eek: , YOU HAVE MOXEY ;) , AND CUHUNAS AS BIG AS THEY GET :D happy listining and keep all roomates away from them with AC/DC :eek:
 
Quite a discrepancy between your electronics and your furniture. You certainly have your priorities straight: food for the soul before food for the body. Congrats! I love cherry but I think that you are correct about maple.
 
They look cool...

Joey_V said:
BTW, my roommate and a friend have heard the Vantage.... and aside from all the questions regarding "where does the music come from?".... they were stunned.

I am not kidding - stunned.

Both (on separate occassions) told me that these are FAR superior to anything I've had before. One of them told me that he can actually "see" the soundstage without having to concentrate or close his eyes (as he had to do in the past). He said that the Vantage are amazing and that he would get Logans once he graduates (he'll also be MD) if only for the looks, but the sound is a definite plus.

"For the ladies," he says. ;)

Alright, enough goofing off... bedtime.

Joey,

Your Vantages look soooo cool. I'm glad they sound as good as they look... :D You wrote an excellent review. Thank you for including us with your sequential photo shots of the unpacking and setting up of your beautiful babies. Keep your room under lock and key to protect your Vantage children... :D I think your system is very high tech., by-the-way what kind of computer do you have? I don't think I've ever seen that kinda computer...

Thanks again for sharing your joy Joey... :D
 
Robin,
The computer is a home built watercooled computer. It was top of the line 2 years ago but it can still hang with the big boys nowadays (Lian Li aluminum case). My videocard is a 6800Ultra watercooled and an Athlon 3200XP watercooled. Both are overclocked to bejebus land, and the watercooling helps keep it safe temperature wise. I think you can see the water in the "sweetspot" picture.

Everyone,
Regarding the Maple... I think you guys are right. They will probably look better in my room. Plus, I thought about it, since I shop at IKEA for most of my furniture, it wont be hard to coordinate a "maple" room whereas it would be very difficult for me to coordinate a dark cherry room since this requires REAL furniture... like a brown leather couch and expensive dark cherry tables/dressers/side tables.

I think I'll call my dealer on monday and put the order in for Maple.

Once I get those, I'll post on the System's Forum.

Thanks for the compliments guys... very appreciated! Greetings from Chicago!

Your friendly neighborhood Joey.
 
Hey Joey -

Bet when you started posting here you didn't realize the V stood for Vantage!
 
aliveatfive said:
Hey Joey -

Bet when you started posting here you didn't realize the V stood for Vantage!


:eek:

I never realized that... wow.....

But that takes me out of Summit contention.. maybe it should have been Joey_S.
 
Just a little FYI...

I'm listening to Steadman - "Wave Goodbye"... and I was brushing my teeth in the bathroom... and the hair on my back stood up!

I havent had that happen to me ever....

Can you say "superb speaker"?
 
Joey, All I can say is wait till you get 100-200 hrs of break-in time on those babies. I know that after three weeks with mine it was as if a veil had been lifted. Oh, by the way Audio Amplifier rule #1....NEVER stack anything on top of your amp, if its got vent slots it's gotta get air !!!

Happy listening !!
 
Amplifier Ventilation....

twich54 said:
Joey, All I can say is wait till you get 100-200 hrs of break-in time on those babies. I know that after three weeks with mine it was as if a veil had been lifted. Oh, by the way Audio Amplifier rule #1....NEVER stack anything on top of your amp, if its got vent slots it's gotta get air !!!

Happy listening !!
Joey,

I am in total agreement with twich54, please concider giving optimal cooling to your amplifier. The breath of life to your amp. a foot of air above the amp. would be optimal... ;) I also trust you will have even more beautiful listening pleasure in store after your Vantages are broken in... :D
Happy listening Joey...
 
Lucky puck. :D

You need a better listening chair, perhaps something at lap dance height - the only way to make things better in there. ;)
 
Last edited:
Hay Joey,

If you think your Vantage sound good now, try pulling them out from the wall about 2 feet and see what happens? :D
 
truly awesome

Thanks for the pics.The setup looks awesome.
Njoy
PS what happens when you become an MD? will you sell the speakers coz you may not have for music? heh heh just kidding
 
Sunnyboy 1956 said:
Thanks for the pics.The setup looks awesome.
Njoy
PS what happens when you become an MD? will you sell the speakers coz you may not have for music? heh heh just kidding

I'll have time... I'm real busy right now but I find time. I figure I'll need something to relax to. :p

Maybe when I become MD I can afford the bigger gear. ;)
 
Back
Top