Vantage/Summit vs Maggies 3.6R

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abhijit

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I am looking forward to upgrade my speaker system from SL3. I have a room which measures 25' by 13'. Currently, my speakers are 6' from the back wall and 2' from the side wall. My listening position is 7' from the speakers. I am very happy in terms of imaging and the overall quality. I am using Plinius SA-102 AMP( 200 Watts in 4 Ohms load), Sonic Frontier's Line -1 preamp (Siemens NOS Tubes) and Wadia 861 CD player, DH LABS Q10 Biwire speaker cable and DH Labs Silver revelation Balanced IC. I listen to jazz mostly. I have an option for going for Magnepan 3.6R or ML'S Vantage/Summit. I think this will be my final investment on speakers. I will be moving to a place in future where there are lots of humidity and the room size will be similar. I look forward for any of your valuable advice.
 
Oh baby , oh baby, right up my alley ! having owned Maggies for twenty years, incl the 3.6's prior to making the M/L plunge I would say you have a tough descision to make. Your room size is close to mine and we both use the same amp, which will do wonders with both the Vantage or Summitt. Now if Bass is high on your priority list then by all means head to the Summitt. In so far as room size goes your 13' width is close to the minimum IMHO for the Maggies, for I believe they require more patience than even the Logans for set-up, incl more "air / space" to make them sing. Also the ribbon tweeter may need some tweeking. There is no doubt that both designs excell in the mid and treble region, therefore only you and your ears can decide. Can you home audition ?? Is the WAF to be considered / my wife used to call my Maggies, "privacy curtians" ! One last consideration....$$$ value, the Maggies have the edge here I believe.

Good luck, either way you will have picked a winner !
 
Thanx for your reply. I am particularly not fond of bass specially my room has a problem of taming the bass. I believe that Maggies are not affected by humidity. If you have been given a choice between 3.6R/Summit/Vantage (considering the best value for monet) which one will you choose? Can Plinius SA-100 drive Maggies 3.6r or it need higher power? One thing, I am not in favor is the involvement of electronics (power amplifier for bass) which has limited longivity.
 
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abhijit said:
my room has a problem of taming the bass.

All the more reason to choose The Summit. It has the ability to control the bass BOTH at 50hz and 25hz which has done wonders for my ability to cope with a boomy echionic room.
 
abhijit said:
If you have been given a choice between 3.6R/Summit/Vantage (considering the best value for monet) which one will you choose? Can Plinius SA-100 drive Maggies 3.6r or it need higher power? longivity.

if asking my opinion based on ownership of two of the aforementioned as well as some serious listening time on the Summitt's I would say it's a tossup between the Maggie's and the Vantages. Given your jazz preference and the slight $$ advantage to the Maggie's, It's soooo close I feel you must listen and decide !! If you have the $$$, Jerry makes a good point for the Summitt's with their bass control. as far as your amp which I thought was a 102 per your first post, I think it would do fine with any of the three.
 
Thanx guys for your valuable advice. I will keep you posted about my decision. Do you think that I have to place the Summits about 6' from the front wall as I have done with my SL3. What sort of positioning do you suggest for Maggies 3.6R
 
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My Summits seem to work best with the stat panels almost exactly 3' off the front wall. In the other room my MC1 Maggies are wall mount so that won't give you much info on the bigger ones.
 
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I auditioned the Maggie 3.6R before I bought the Summit. The 3.6R is a great panel speaker but is very room and amplifier sensitive - much more so than the Vantage/Summit. The 3.6R has a lot of great attributes BUT you should be aware of some drawbacks compare to the ML's. The 3.6R's don't go as loud, they tend to glare a little when pushed, the low frequency response isn't as tight as the ML's, the ML's have a larger sweet spot, the Maggies can be a real pain when replacing the ribbon tweeter, the build quality isn't a patch on the ML's. Also I reckon the Vantage would be the 3.6R's natural competitor and the Summit would be the 20.1's natural competitor.
 
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Hi Guys, I have decided on ML Summit! I am expecting the delivery within a week. I have chosen black grill with Dark Cherry finish. What is the burn-in period?
 
EXCELLENT! Good luck with it!

Burn in period is variable depending on who on the forum you talk to. As for me, about a week or so is good enough to get your ears adjusted to it.

The important thing about the Summit is placement, placement, placement. I would suggest aggressive toe-in despite the fact that the manual says only about a 1/3 toe in.

Joey
 
Burn in actually takes 500-1000 hrs+.

I fully agree with Joey re aggressive toe-in. Played around with my Summits this week, and now they are about 35 degrees, such that I can see the LATERAL sides from the "sweet spot." With MY room acoustics, this actually WIDENED the sweet spot, and improved off-axis imaging. YMMV.
 
Yup... as per Sleepysurf, for some reason, the Summits sound better with toe-in. And I've tried every position.... but as always YMMV.
 
I would say the amount of toe in would depend on the room. I've used the Vantages in two different rooms and the set up requirements were different. Prior to the Vantages I owned Magnepan 3.6 and Quad 988. All three are great speakers. I like the Vantages the most.
 
No doubt though... the Maggie 3.6 are one hell of a speaker. Wouldnt mind a pair at all...

Joey
 
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