Is Summit to be discontinued?

[patlad]

Sorry for the alarming title

My ML dealer has received the new (increased) price list from the French distributor and to our surprise the Summit is not on that list anymore.
Would it be an error, the Summit not distributed in France anymore, or the Summit is to be discontinued?

Any news?

Thanks,
Patrick

 

[Gordon Gray]

Wow Patrick,

That is interesting.

If they are discontinued, that's just fine with me. My sense is that it will positively impact the resale value of this great speaker, as in keep the relative value up.

GG

 

[tonepub]

Sorry guys, we've been talking about this for a while. The Summit is going to be replaced by an upgraded model, probably sometime next year...

Watch the ML press releases for announcements.

 

[patlad]

Sorry guys, we've been talking about this for a while. The Summit is going to be replaced by an upgraded model, probably sometime next year...

Watch the ML press releases for announcements.

Jeff,

Is it an official announcement from ML or just a discussion on this forum?

 

[FISH_MAN]

summits are done dude! buy a pair of spire's or wait for the next best thing from Logan.

 

[patlad]

Well apparently, the Summit is not on ML site anymore....
http://www.us.martinlogan.com/applications/esl_series.html

 

[tonepub]

The Summit is still an awesome speaker. Now might be the time to get a killer deal on a pair...

 

[JMAUSGP]

Based on the responses on this thread, it must not be generally known but in some research I was doing on Summits I found that as of Friday the 14th of November, the new Summit X release date has been announced along with pricing of such and subsequently the fact that current Summit production will soon or has in fact ended. This should turn Summit sales into the price performance leader from an ML standpoint.

 

[robertawillisjr]

Where was the announcement made and is it public?

 

[JMAUSGP]

Obviously it is not public but it soon will be. The Summitt-X will be about 14K and there will be no upgrade for the Summit, at least not at first.

 

[tonepub]

Talked to the mothership this morning...

Summit X will start at 13,995 and be out sometime in Jan.

This will resemble the Summit in form, but be a completely different
speaker from the Summit incorporating everything they've learned with
CLX development and ongoing R&D.

There are some other cool details that I think you will find interesting,
but on NDA at the moment, can't tell you yet.

Current Summit will NOT be upgradeable at any time in the future.

So, whoever bought Summits at closeout prices got the killer deal of the century... Still a great speaker!

 

[Feltran]

Good news all around! Good news for everyone, because I'm sure they'll be awesome speakers, and good news for me because I bought the Spires betting that I wouldn't be able to afford the Summit X, and that the existing Summit wouldn't be upgradeable.

 

[aliveatfive]

This has got to be the fastest instance of planned obsolescence in ML history. I, for one, am dissappointed. Serves me right for being an early adopter!

 

[C.A.P]

I don't think it was planned. The Spire really threw a curve ball in the way of the Summit.

 

[FISH_MAN]

the summits are awesome period if you have a pair be happy:ROFL:

 

[tonepub]

This has got to be the fastest instance of planned obsolescence in ML history. I, for one, am dissappointed. Serves me right for being an early adopter!

By being an early adopter, you got to enjoy them longer.

I believe the Summits came out at the end of 2004/beginning of 2005. I've seen shorter product life than this and the Summit is still an exceptional speaker.

Trust me as you upgrade your system, there is still a lot lurking inside the Summit that you can enjoy!

 

[DrJRapp]

This has got to be the fastest instance of planned obsolescence in ML history. I, for one, am dissappointed. Serves me right for being an early adopter!

Don't be so upset. I too was an early adopter and when I purchased the Summit MSRP was $10K. I truely doubt that the Summit X will be 40% better. In fact I would be willing to wager that unless you had them side by side in thesame room with the same gear it would be difficult to justify the effort and $$ it would take to upgrade. In fact, even sitting side by side in the same room it ay be difficult. I've listened to the CLX and it's improvements over the Summit are incremental, not monumental, I believe this will also be the case with the Summit X. Certainly, even I had the money I wouldn't rush out and buy a CLX.

I think that long term Summit resale prices will remain strong and may even improve a bit from where they are today once all remaining stock is "clearanced". As Jeff and others have said the Summit may turn into one of the greatest bargains of all time as a legacy speaker.

Trust me as you upgrade your system, there is still a lot lurking inside the Summit that you can enjoy!

Jeff isn't blowing smoke...he actually proved it to me.

 

[David Matz]

Folks, I hate to say it, but the Summit is dead. It is an amazing speaker, but it just does not fit into the product line-up. The new Summit will just force people to look either up or down the product line.

The guys who already own the Summit now will not pay an extra $8K incrementally for a version 15% better. For potential new owners, who would pay $14 or $15K for a new speaker when they can get a Spire for $6K less? The Spire with a sub would be pretty close no matter what the incremental upgrades are. Would a new Summit be worth $5K more? Probably not to most people.

I do respectfully disagree with an above post that the CLX is incrementally better than Summit. To me, it's WAY BETTER than the Summit in its coherence, soundstaging, and bass articulation. But hey, this is a choice based on subjective preferences and economic tradeoffs, and we all place a different value on things.

Basically the Summit is the odd speaker out - we just need to accept it. If you got a new one for under $7K, you got a steal. If you bought it for $10K, you got lucky. If you paid $12K, it sucks, but such is life sometimes. However, the Summit is still a tremendous value at $12K. The Summit needs $10-50k of electronics on top to make it sound great, and this says a lot about how good it really is. If you sell it for $5K, what else can you get for that $5K that is even close?

If you own it, just enjoy it, as it is awesome.

 

[DrJRapp]

I do respectfully disagree with an above post that the CLX is incrementally better than Summit. To me, it's WAY BETTER than the Summit in its coherence, soundstaging, and bass articulation. But hey, this is a choice based on subjective preferences and economic tradeoffs, and we all place a different value on things.

The trouble is "way better" is as you noted, subjective, and much of that can be based on the room, an individual's hearing, connected equipment and preferences. In an ideal room for the CLX it probably does sound "way better" in terms of soundstage, however that ideal room is probably much bigger than most of us have in our homes.

As Jeff implied in another thread, the CLX really isn't a full range speaker and needs to be paired with two quality subs such as the Decents in a large room to reach its full potential. I'm sure in that environment under those conditions it is "way better", (which it should be because at that point the investment is over twice that of a pair of Summits). However, the CLX pair that I heard was hollow sounding and had a hole in the middle of the soundstage by comparison to my Summits. I'm sure much of that had to do with setup, but I was assured by the dealer that they had been set up by the ML rep for a "ML Event" they had two weeks before. I was initially impressed with the overall sound, but not overwhelmed. There seemed to be a big difference between the detail and coherence I was hearing from them and the detail I heard from my Summits. That changed radically when I replaced my digital source with a Meridian 808, which was the same source I listened to the CLX with. The detail gap closed up rapidly. This is a clear confirmation of what Jeff has to say about the Summit still having much potential. With the better detail I was able to tweak my setup just a tiny bit and improve coherence significantly. What had previously been slightly blurred became, at first, two "in focus" soundfields just slightly apart, like slight double vision. Correcting the toe by only 1/2" brought everything together.

One thing I will say is that the CLX does have a much larger vertical sound field which is important if you spend a lot of your listening time on your feet, or if your speakers are in a theater room with two tiers of seating.

 

[Gordon Gray]

Have to concur with Jeff and Jerry.

Although I paid $9K and was an early adopter, which is pretty rare for me, I have absolutely no regrets.

As I previously stated, I see this as a good thing for Summit owners regarding value retention.

Given the quality of the product, the number of hours of pure listening pleasure the Summits have provided, and the time yet spent, which will be substantial, it is one of the best high end purchases I have ever made.

Last night's example was listening to the Japanese Roxy Music / Avalon CD.

GG

PS: Question for Jeff or others who may have the inside line on the "X" version. Is the panel size going to remain the same? What are the other differences between the current model and the "X" version?