System #245 (Ascent)

THIS IS AN OLDER PIC, LOOK AHEAD IN THE THREAD. POST #26

1. Member Name: Doug

2. Location: Arlington Hts. Il. Suburb of Chicago

3. ML Model(s): Ascent

4. Year Purchased: August of "07"

5. Mods/Changes: Nothing changed

6. Associated Electronics:
**Conrad Johnson Evolution 2000
**Ultech Audio HDCD UCD-100 CD Player and DAC
**Clearaudio Limited Edition Champion TT
**Clearaudio Unify Tonearm
**Trigon Vanguard II Phono Preamplifier
**Revox A-77 mkIII Reel to Reel
**Nitty Gritty 2.5 Record Cleaner
**Conrad Johnson Premier 14
**Panamax Max 5300
**Clearaudio Aurum Beta S Cartridge

7. When I finally purchased my first pair of MLs (2001 I think) I was just about fed-up with audio. It seemed that most all of the speakers I was listening to (that I could afford) sounded artificial and unnatural. Then I saw a pair of used Sequel II for around I believe $1400. They were a bit dog-eared but not awful looking. When we hooked them up in the store I knew this was the start of something new and different for me. I had NEVER heard a speaker in this price range that had a tonal center that was so pure. Instruments sounded like instruments! I had to have them, but getting them into a SAAB 9000 was a "no go" so I called in the aide of a good friend.
I kept those speakers for around six years before I ran across a beautiful much better looking set of Ascents. I never got a chance to A / B the two but it seemed the right thing to do by trading for the Ascents, so I did. I can't see myself with a different speaker line right now. I just enjoy the ride every time I have the chance to listen.
Here is a pic. I will have slightly updated pics in the near future


http://www.martinloganowners.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=7010&stc=1&d=1206767442

Doug, great looking setup, glad to see it finally posted here.

Do those windows cause you much concern?

Nice setup, Doug. Very clean look. It appears that your ascents are facing straight forward. Have you experimented with toe-in at all? Thanks for posting your system.

Another Pic

This TT replaced my Well Tempered Classic. I was having a lot of trouble adjusting the Well Tempered. This one just "plug and play"

Doug - out

http://www.martinloganowners.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=7011&stc=1&d=1206797205

Meet the Logans

Another Pic of the Logans.

The speakers are toed-in slightly maybe you can see this here?

The window has been a issue. I have been tweaking the placement and have gotten darn close. I believe that the bigger issue is the rather close proximity of the one wall as compared to the other.

Doug - out

Side view

This may show the "wall issue" I spoke of.

Doug - out

Hi Doug, Good morning, Lookin' good !!

Yes, I see what you mean regarding 'wall issues' or shall we say wall and window !

here's my two cents worth of advise...... all of which is based "if you can" !

bring your speakers out into the room another couple of feet, heavy drapes for the windows, corner bass trapping.

as much as you love your sound now, it's a sure bet that will make a huge improvement.

Pull out and Drapes

Dave,

These pics are a tad old as far as placement. I have pulled them out from the window another foot or so and indeed it has helped with the image a bit.
As far as drapes go if you look at a post by me on the "Random Pic" page you will see why drapes are out of the question with my clearly better half. We have a 20,000 gallon koi pond from which there is a great view of from that large window.
On another thread I had mentioned that I had hung a "tailored" blanket from the back of the speakers and that had made only a subtle effect. I was unsure if the effect was good or not. A good friend was over yesterday and thought it "flattened - out" or "veiled" the sound a bit, I agreed, so for now I have abandoned the blanket idea. Thanks for the advice! I believe in this audio world every little thing makes a huge difference. I just moved my rack and TT yesterday and I'll be darned if it didn't effect the image in a positive way. I keep tweaking and tweaking.

Doug - out

Welcome aboard!!

TrumpetDoug said:

Dave,

These pics are a tad old as far as placement. I have pulled them out from the window another foot or so and indeed it has helped with the image a bit.
As far as drapes go if you look at a post by me on the "Random Pic" page you will see why drapes are out of the question with my clearly better half. We have a 20,000 gallon koi pond from which there is a great view of from that large window.
On another thread I had mentioned that I had hung a "tailored" blanket from the back of the speakers and that had had a subtle effect. I was unsure if the effect was good or not. A good friend was over yesterday and thought it "flattened - out" or "veiled" the sound a bit, so for now I have abandoned the blanket idea. Thanks for the advice! I believe in this audio world every little thing makes a huge difference. I just moved my rack and TT yesterday and I'll be darned if it didn't effect the image in a positive way. I keep tweaking and tweaking.

Doug - out

Click to expand...

Yeah, I tried that blanket behind the speaker idea, but it sounded kinda weird to me too....

Congrats on such a nice system btw.

Very nice system, Doug. I always wanted a ReVox. What do you use yours for (home taping, playing prerecorded tapes, etc)?

Great to see your system here!

Revox

Bernard said:

Very nice system, Doug. I always wanted a ReVox. What do you use yours for (home taping, playing prerecorded tapes, etc)?

Click to expand...

At one time I used it to tape rehearsals of my band. We would rehearse at a place on the near west side of Chicago called Dressed Rehearsals. I had a instrumental fusion group at the time, lots of fun and very rewarding from a art perspective. The recordings are............so so. I wasn't to concerned at the time with fidelity just something to listen to and then make corrections at the next rehearsal. I hope to purchase some pre tapes one day from a web-site called "The Tape Project"........... (I think thats right). I would also like to mess around a bit with taping some vinyl.
I haven't used the machine in some time it is sitting there because I just got it back from the shop. They cleaned and adjusted everything for me so its ready to go.

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome!!

Doug - out

Hey Doug,

I see you figured out the digital photo stuff, great job. You know how we love the pics here.

Awesome TT and thanks for all the advise for my analog adventure... What a wonderful world as the real "Satch-mo" put it.

Been playing with sax players the last few nights, great fun! My buddy said, "Doesn't anybody play trumpet?" I said, I know a guy in the Windy City...

Satch

Satch-mo

Satch said:

Hey Doug,

I see you figured out the digital photo stuff, great job. You know how we love the pics here.

Awesome TT and thanks for all the advise for my analog adventure... What a wonderful world as the real "Satch-mo" put it.

Been playing with sax players the last few nights, great fun! My buddy said, "Doesn't anybody play trumpet?" I said, I know a guy in the Windy City...

Satch

Click to expand...

Finally figured how to set to the proper size.:duh: Thanks for the compliment on the TT. I will be posting updated pics on a new stand I'm working on. It seems to be working great so far.
Love to come out and play but that would be "one hell of a commute".

Doug - out

TT stand part 2

Here is a couple of pics of a new stand (end table) that I have spiked for now. Next will be to set the base into a 4" redwood slab and spike that. I think some BDR pucks underneath the table and motor itself will probably also be in the near future.
Thoughts?

Doug - out

Very nice system, Doug! My first MLs were a pair of Ascents and I had those for about 5-6 years. I had them paired with the original Descent sub, and it wasn't until the Summits came out that I was tempted to replace the Ascents (which I did last year). I really liked that system, and I'm sure your's is superb.

Doug,

Very nice set up, Beautiful TT.
The Chicago contingent continues to grow
:welcome:

Whoever is marketing ML in Chicago is doing something of an amazing job - there's got to be money made in promoting this mob.......

Hey Chicago Contingent

Thanks for the welcome Adam, Wayne and Ken. I do love this site, we should get a ML walk together this summer. The Chicago Audio Society meets in Arlington Heights each month, be a great place to start and meet. Do any of you Chicago guys go? I hope to attend this month.
I get so many ideas from this site, I swapped out my synergy rack this past week for a different one. Has a ways to go but I think there is some real potential. As you can see I already came up with something of a change for the TT. I will post pics of the component rack after everything is in order. My better half and I both like the looks of the TT stand, still evaluating the sound. It seems to be fine but will need some more tweaking. I'm always ready to spend some time doing those things.

Doug - out