Absolute Sound Summit complaint

tonyc · Feb 17, 2006

I just received my copy of TAS in the mail today and read the review of the Summit. After reading all of your posts I was expecting a lukewarm review. I have read every issue of TAS for the last 22 years and can unequivocally state that the Summit review was in fact a RAVE. You folks are a tough crowd to play!

jfm · Feb 17, 2006

Like tonyc, just got my copy and was amazed that it was indeed a rave. Reviewers like to point out one "weakness" just to hedge. He did compare it with an MBL 101 E in a roundabout way, and reading between the lines it seemed to me he was implying that the Summits could compete with them at a lower price, while giving up only a little.

I was hoping that Valin would be the one to review it, as he's more critical, has been reviewing some state-of-the-art speakers, and was a long-time CLS owner. Or he could have provided a comment. I miss the old TAS commentary system, among other things.

Anyway, a nice tidbit about the review is that there was no ML advertisement in the same issue.

aliveatfive · Feb 17, 2006

ML has had no advertising in TAS since the takeover.

If you do an in-depth evaluation of the Summit, you can tell the reviewer doesn't have a clue as to what these speakers are about. Read a TAS review of Wilson WATTS or Sophias and tell me the TAS review was a rave. I'd like to hear what HP has to say about them. At least you'd have some material for discuusion. This review does not even provide that.

tonyc · Feb 18, 2006

You all may recall HP's disclaimer acompanying TAS intial review of the WATT. Dave Wilson was a reviewer for TAS before he founded Wilson Audio-a pretty good one. HP vowed he would never formally review a Wilson speaker, tho he has made several oblique critiques of Wilson speakers in his many ramblings. I do wish Barry Willis had tried the Summits with more amps, particularly tubed amps, since that is what I eventually hope to use. I will choose to see the glass as half full.

aliveatfive · Feb 18, 2006

tonyc said:
You all may recall HP's disclaimer acompanying TAS intial review of the WATT. Dave Wilson was a reviewer for TAS before he founded Wilson Audio-a pretty good one. HP vowed he would never formally review a Wilson speaker, tho he has made several oblique critiques of Wilson speakers in his many ramblings. I do wish Barry Willis had tried the Summits with more amps, particularly tubed amps, since that is what I eventually hope to use. I will choose to see the glass as half full.

Here's the other half:

I auditioned my Summits with a BAT VK51SE (preamp,) an ARC VT 100 III (amp,) an SME model 10 tt with a Graham arm, an Esoteric DV 50s (for digital sources.) All amplification equipment is tubed. I have owned ML speakers since 1990. I've owned 3 pairs (not including HT components) in total. Prior to the Summits, I had Sequel IIs and Ascent is. I was expecting an improvement when my new speakers arrived, but I was not prepared for the improvement that I got. Music now has a weight, a feeling that I never experienced with MLs before. The woofers are indistinguishable (by me) from the panels. This was always noticeable before. Spatial depth and stage dimensions are more easily heard with the new speakers. No part of the musical frequency spectrum seems to be emphasized at the expense of another. There is no treble glare; there is no bass boom. I'm sure, if you spent $50,000 on speakers, you could do better. For my purposes and budget, these are the ultimate. I could go on, but I'll spare you.

roberto · Feb 18, 2006

aliveatfive said:
Here's the other half:

I auditioned my Summits with a BAT VK51SE (preamp,) an ARC VT 100 III (amp,) an SME model 10 tt with a Graham arm, an Esoteric DV 50s (for digital sources.) All amplification equipment is tubed. I have owned ML speakers since 1990. I've owned 3 pairs (not including HT components) in total. Prior to the Summits, I had Sequel IIs and Ascent is. I was expecting an improvement when my new speakers arrived, but I was not prepared for the improvement that I got. Music now has a weight, a feeling that I never experienced with MLs before. The woofers are indistinguishable (by me) from the panels. This was always noticeable before. Spatial depth and stage dimensions are more easily heard with the new speakers. No part of the musical frequency spectrum seems to be emphasized at the expense of another. There is no treble glare; there is no bass boom. I'm sure, if you spent $50,000 on speakers, you could do better. For my purposes and budget, these are the ultimate. I could go on, but I'll spare you.

Hola...yes, to my ears happened the same thing, I love the Summits sound...happy listening,
Pura vida,
Roberto.