Why I Love MY SL3s

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Rik_Rankin

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They belonged to an old girlfriend. She didn't use them for 3 years and they were in storage in their boxes in a closet. She sold them to me for $1200. They were just used for a few years because they were a late set. Fantastic open sound; not as good as the Ascent i but they are great for the money. They have a sound that makes me want to listen for hours; that warm lower mid-range and the detail. I would be interested in hearing why other members like their particular speakers
 
Rik_Rankin said:
They belonged to an old girlfriend. She didn't use them for 3 years and they were in storage in their boxes in a closet. She sold them to me for $1200. They were just used for a few years because they were a late set. Fantastic open sound; not as good as the Ascent i but they are great for the money. They have a sound that makes me want to listen for hours; that warm lower mid-range and the detail. I would be interested in hearing why other members like their particular speakers
Hola Rik...you are right when you say ..."They have a sound that makes me want to listen for hours; that warm lower mid-range and the detail"...this ML feature is one of the most important, and also ML gives to us the feeling of the musician(s), and they are playing for us right there in our own room. Because we are music lovers, I better say musician(s) lovers, ML makes possible to listen any of the performer(s) at the stage. We can choose to listen the bass player, the drummer, the guitar, the piano, the flute, the cello, the violin, the singers behind the main artist, any musical instrument(s), and can discriminate all the other(s) and just listen the one that we want. And this one that we had choosen, we can listen the way that he or she is playing, we can get easelly their feeling, the way that plays...our brain is important here, because you have to teach it how to do this, and with ML sound is very easy. The sound of ML does not produce any ear fatigue, and we can listening for hours and hours, getting the same results, no matter the quality of the recording, whom is very evident right away at the first chord. Also due to the large panel, the sound dispersion is different than a cone speaker. ML does not need to play the music too loud to get the right size of the instrument(s), another factor for the long hearing sessions. There are a lot of noise that our ears detect that comes from other speakers, that ML does not produce. Beacuse the ML diaphragm is so light, the inertia of the cone speakers (as an example) produces some air movement that is not part of the music, the lack of this unwanted noise is evident, and we detect that too. ML is not perfect, but there is no perfect speaker. The minor flaws that ML has is the best buy in the market place, regardless of price IMHO. If we don´t feel this, why is that we have a ML fans club? Happy listening, and keep enjoying your wonderful sound!!!
Roberto.
 
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I bought my Sequels from an old friend for $800.00. I've known those speakers for half my life, so there's some sentimental value there. As I described in another thread, they needed a fair bit of cleaning up, but they work great. I love the way they sound; I always have. And I love the way my system drives them. My tube gear has really wakened them up, and these Sequels have given me new levels of definition and clarity. Songs I've known all my life are now as though I've never heard them before! Some day I may graduate up to a pair of Summits, but by that time I'll probably have a HT system. In that case I'd keep my Sequels where they are, for 2-channel use.
 
roberto said:
Hola Rik...you are right when you say ..."They have a sound that makes me want to listen for hours; that warm lower mid-range and the detail"...this ML feature is one of the most important, and also ML gives to us the feeling of the musician(s), and they are playing for us right there in our own room. Because we are music lovers, I better say musician(s) lovers, ML makes possible to listen any of the performer(s) at the stage. We can choose to listen the bass player, the drummer, the guitar, the piano, the flute, the cello, the violin, the singers behind the main artist, any musical instrument(s), and can discriminate all the other(s) and just listen the one that we want. And this one that we had choosen, we can listen the way that he or she is playing, we can get easelly their feeling, the way that plays...our brain is important here, because you have to teach it how to do this, and with ML sound is very easy. The sound of ML does not produce any ear fatigue, and we can listening for hours and hours, getting the same results, no matter the quality of the recording, wich is very evident right away at the first chord. Also due to the large panel, the sound dispersion is different than a cone speaker. ML does not need to play the music too loud to get the right size of the instrument(s), another factor for the long hearing sessions. There are a lot of noise that our ears detect that comes from other speakers, that ML does not produce. Beacuse the ML diaphragm is so light, the inertia of the cone speakers (as an example) produces some air movement that is not part of the music, the lack of this unwanted noise is evident, and we detect that too. ML is not perfect, but there is no perfect speaker. The minor flaws that ML has is the best buy in the market place, regardless of price IMHO. If we don´t feel this, why is that we have a ML fans club? Happy listening, and keep enjoying your wonderful sound!!!
Roberto.
Here are my SL3s
 

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Rik_Rankin said:
Here are my SL3s
Great picture...have you tried to rise the front about 3 to 4 mm with their feet, this will give to you a little more open sound ( I presume ) due to the picture of your room. Nice room by the way. Try it and tell us, please...listen cymbals or percussion instruments...the space between instruments, check the holographic stage and dimensional 3D effect. Also, listen a female voice, the warmth and the air between instruments...happy listening,
Roberto.
 
Great Looking SL3 System....

Rik_Rankin said:
Here are my SL3s
Rik,

Please consider posting your beautiul SL3 system (with the above photo with any other photos) in the 'Members System' section. :) We would love to have your system there with all the rest of our membership (well some anyway). :D

Thank you.
 
Robin said:
Rik,

Please consider posting your beautiul SL3 system (with the above photo with any other photos) in the 'Members System' section. :) We would love to have your system there with all the rest of our membership (well some anyway). :D

Thank you.
I'll work on it this weekend
 
My SL3s changed my whole perspective on audio.

I have always been an audio enthusiast but I was firmly grounded in mib-fi with the thinking that the last percent of performance was not that much different and certainly not worth it from a cost point of view.

While I was very satisfied with my Ascend Acoustic CBM-170s, I had become bored with music. There was no splash, no wow, no holy sh!t. Everything was there but there was nothing to get excited about.

I became intrigued by dipole radiators because I thought that maybe that would put some presence into the music and sound more like the real thing. I started looking for cheap Maggies.

After a purchase fell through I happened to be talking to the seller. Even though he stiffed me I thought his knowledge regarding other speaker might be helpful. He said that he had owned B&W, Revel, Maggies, etc. I had never even considered MLs before but he told me that with the right amplification MLs where hands down the best in every regard except for dynamics. Considering I have 4 kids and a wife I figured I would never get to play them loud enough for that be really become a factor. I took a chance, increased my budget beyond what I thought was sane at the time, and bought some SL3s.

Well I couldn't afford the right amplification but even so these SL3s left me slack jawed for days. They made me giggle like a little schoolgirl and they almost made me cry...almost. The music was exciting again! It lived and it breathed! Holy sh!t!!! Now I understood what those reviewers meant by space, transparency, detail, depth!

The CBM-170s where good speakers; the SL3s where awe inspiring!

What is even crazier it that almost everyone says that the Ascents are better yet! The mind boggles. I don't want to think about it. I am happy with what I have and I have never been bored with music since.
 
Well, I really like my one SL3 a whole lot. But then, there's not much left of it :D

My first ML was my Sequel IIb pair (now my rear channels). These are still amazing speakers. What the SL3 brought was a better crossover and better woofer driver. Overall, people liked this better than the Sequels.

One thing I do not like in the SL3 (and pretty much all subsequent ML's) is that they sloped the panel so they could fit the overall speaker into standard shipping dimensions.
I much prefer the sound that a perfectly vertical panel at the correct height generates.

The 4’ by 13” panel is indeed one of ML’s best achievements. As it balances size, performance and cost in a very effective way.

The art in using that panel is how to integrate with mid-bass and bass. This is where an SL3 (or a Sequel) is a great place to start for tweaking and modding.
 
roberto said:
Great picture...have you tried to rise the front about 3 to 4 mm with their feet, this will give to you a little more open sound ( I presume ) due to the picture of your room. Nice room by the way. Try it and tell us, please...listen cymbals or percussion instruments...the space between instruments, check the holographic stage and dimensional 3D effect. Also, listen a female voice, the warmth and the air between instruments...happy listening,
Roberto.
I did. Each spike is turned up about 3 mm
 
One thing I do not like in the SL3 (and pretty much all subsequent ML's) is that they sloped the panel so they could fit the overall speaker into standard shipping dimensions.
Are you saying they compromised on thier own design and performance just so it would fit better in a box?
 
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