Summit vs. Prodigy / Ascent i vs. Vista

[Rich]

From some of the recent posts I have read, I am gathering that some of you don't seem to like the sound of the new generation MLs over the previous generation. Particularly, some have remarked that the Summits don't seem to reproduce the upper to mid-bass range as well as the Prodigies and that the Vistas don't sound as good as the Ascent i.

I am curious if perhaps the smaller, more efficient panels don't sound as good to some as the larger, less efficient panels of the previous generation. As we all know, newer is not always better.

Has anyone had an opportunity to do a side-by-side comparison of the new gen. vs. the previous gen.? I haven't had a chance to audition any of the new stuff yet, so I can't really comment. But since I have Ascents and am considering upgrading to Summits, I am curious what you all think.

 

[yogibear]

I've done side by side comparison with the Vantage/Ascent i and the Summit/Prodigy. In both cases, I found the Vantage and Summit richer sounding. The area that concerned me the most with the Ascent and Summit was in the bass. It was noticeably slower than the panels. The amplification used was a big Mcinthosh amp. I ended up purchasing a pair of Vantages. I've also heard the Odyseys and found the same integration issue. I can easily see how some will prefer the Vantage/Summits and others will choose Prodigy/Ascent. They offer two very different presentations.

 

[logansrun]

I am the one trying to choose between the Ascent and the Vista (I am leaning Ascent), and I have not auditioned the new against the old at the same time, but let me tell you - the Summits are unbelievable. If it were Ascent vs. Vantage, I dont know. But the Summit is in another world of sound imo.

 

[tsd2005]

From some of the recent posts I have read, I am gathering that some of you don't seem to like the sound of the new generation MLs over the previous generation. Particularly, some have remarked that the Summits don't seem to reproduce the upper to mid-bass range as well as the Prodigies and that the Vistas don't sound as good as the Ascent i.

I am curious if perhaps the smaller, more efficient panels don't sound as good to some as the larger, less efficient panels of the previous generation. As we all know, newer is not always better.

Has anyone had an opportunity to do a side-by-side comparison of the new gen. vs. the previous gen.? I haven't had a chance to audition any of the new stuff yet, so I can't really comment. But since I have Ascents and am considering upgrading to Summits, I am curious what you all think.

Most people think the Summit is ground breaking in terms of sound quality for the price. It is one of the few speakers that I think is worth the money that is over $6,000.

In fact the most vocal bashers of the Summit and new MLs have been found to be full of it. Why they troll around sites and make up things about a product is beyond me.

The Vista is better than the Ascent. To me there is little doubt of that. The new panel is just that much better. The speaker has to have a good synergetic amp, but then again all speakers really do.

 

[edwinr]

I audtioned the Monoliths, the Vantage and the Summit. The reason I heard the Monoliths was because they were offered to me at a very good price. I liked the Monoliths, but I thought they were a little muddy in the bass and I had little doubt they would be very amplifier sensitive. They had a HUGE sound though - not unlike Klipschorns.

So I decided to listen to the later ML's. I first heard the Vantage. I was very impressed. The overall soundstage was a little smaller, but the bass was much tighter. I also thought the Vantage was less amplifier sensitive than the Monoliths.

Now the Summits were a totally different animal. They had a huge sound with all the dynamics and coherence anyone would expect in a speaker of this price. The Summits left the Monoliths and the Vantage in it's wake. The bass was extremely tight and with depth and extension I had only previously heard with speaker systems featuring very expensive subwoofers. The Summits are very amplifier sensitive. Look.... anything will drive them and make a sound, but it takes a very high quality amplifier to get the best out of them. Those that have heard the Summits and didn't like them may have heard them with unsuitable amplification. Maybe the source was substandard too.

 

[Rich]

Sounds like the Summits are really incredible. I have simply got to find a pair to audition. That means road trip, since there are none in my area.

I have been totally blown away by the Prodigies every time I have heard them. They are soooo much better than the Ascents, and I love the Ascents. If the Summits are as good or better than the Prodigies, then that is the direction I'm headed. Can't wait to hear a pair.

 

[Reverb2009]

Rich,

I have heard just about every Martin Logan speaker, and until the Summit was released the Prodigy was my must have speaker to own. When the Summit was first revealed as a speaker that was slightly smaller then the ascent but could equal if not better the prodigy, I was very skeptical. But when I finally got to audition a pair of summits for myself, that skepticism immediately when away. The summit produced a sound that was the closed to true life reproduction I have ever heard; I can easily say that the summit smokes the prodigy in performance.

I was hoping the Vantage would do just the same to the ascent, but unfortunately the Vantage is not leaps and bounds better then the ascent. I do like the vantage but I don’t think it’s enough of an improvement to replace my ascents with the vantage. If I was a first time ML buyer and was going to get either the vantage or the ascent I would defiantly go for the ascent.

Hope this helps,

 

[Anthony A.]

i just compared my ascent i to the vista and sorry, it was no comparison. the bass on the vista was terrible. i thought that the ascent i (that i own) were much smoother and the bass was leaps and bounds better (even though i think they are lacking). in any case, the vista is no doubt a downgrade from the ascent i's. i have not heard the vanatage (which uses a powered woofer) so i assume the bass is much better. i still think however, that the older panels were somewhat smoother IMO.

 

[LOGANLOVE]

The Vista is not meant to compare to the Ascent anyway. The Vista replaced the aeon, so your findings are not surprising.

 

[Rich]

The Vista is not meant to compare to the Ascent anyway. The Vista replaced the aeon, so your findings are not surprising.

Actually, isn't the Vista basically the Vantage without an internal amp for the woofer. And if so, isn't it more reasonable to compare it to the Ascent? Or would you bi-amp the ascent and then compare it to the Vantage? I'm primarily thinking along the lines of comparing the sound of the old-gen panels to the new-gen panels.

 

[Reverb2009]

Actually, isn't the Vista basically the Vantage without an internal amp for the woofer. And if so, isn't it more reasonable to compare it to the Ascent? Or would you bi-amp the ascent and then compare it to the Vantage? I'm primarily thinking along the lines of comparing the sound of the old-gen panels to the new-gen panels.

The vantage is a physically smaller speaker then the ascent. What levels the playing field is the Vantages MicroPerf stators and the internal amp. The MicroPerf stators allow more playable area then the older stators did, so the Vantages panels may only be 10” wide but they have a playable area equal to the ascents 13” wide panel. The ascent has a non-powered 10” woofer, and the vantage has a smaller powered 8” woofer. The powered 8” woofer means it can perform as well as the ascents larger 10” woofer. This all adds up to a speaker that is physically smaller then ascent but performance wise is equal to.

It would be unfair to compare the Vista to the Ascent; there is no way the Vista could compete, the mids and highs may be similar but the bass would be no comparison. The vista is basically a new version of the Aeon.

 

[Rich]

Joe,

Excellent explanation. Thanks for clearing that up for me. Also thanks for your descriptions of comparisons between the Prodigy/Summit and Ascent/Vantage. That is exactly the kind of information I was looking for.