My first listen to Summits!

[timm]

I have listened to the Summits on two different occasions with Macintosh electronics. I enjoyed them but am not ready to swap them for my Prodigy's.

I would agree. I have Odysseys and have recently added the descent. I heard the summits in the exact same room as the odysseys. Panel/woofer integration - definitely goes to the summits. However, that was never an issue for me. I always listen for soundstage/imaging/'the spooky voice in the room feel. What I noticed immediately about the summits was the low end (I think everyone does don't they?). I think they are great speakers and the additional low end gives them a more 'solid' sound. What about transparency? I think the additional low end takes a bit away from that. However, I think it adds a 'realness' to the sound. Like Ken - I just never felt the need to pull the trigger. I felt the descent would get me the lower bass. As far as size - I think it does matter... I just think a bigger panel is going to appear to put instruments in places a smaller speaker can not.

Have any Summit owners listened to Maggie 20.1s? Curious about your thoughts on those. I like the summits / 20.1s / and my Odyssey descent combo - all for different reasons:
Summits: for the 'solidity' of the sound - a drum stick hitting a cymbal sounds like exactly that.
Maggie 20.1s - The unbelievable transparency that they give.
Odyssey/Descent - I feel is a combo of the two above...not necessarily better - just I get what I think is a 'see through' feel with the Odysseys and the solidness from the Descent.

If given a free swap - I would have to listen to each in my listening environment.

 

[edwinr]

Have any Summit owners listened to Maggie 20.1s?

I heard mainly the 3.6R's before buying the Summits. I thought the Maggies sounded great but I once you started asking some serious spl's from them, they became a bit harsh and 'blary'. In comparison the Summits just kept on saying "... is that the best you can do? C'mon sucker, give me your best shot!"

Also consider that ALL the Maggies I heard sounded a little soft vis a vis the reproduction of fine detail. That's not a big problem overall, because they made up for it with a wonderful musicality... but still, for the sort of money I was paying, I wanted everything that was recorded on a CD reproduced as accurately as possible.

The other thing, I thought the Maggies were more fussy than ML's to set-up, and that's saying something... Plus the Maggies LOVE power. But feed them lots of this power, the Maggies don't reward like the Summits do with almost infinite spl's...

 

[Rich]

I auditioned a pair of Maggie 20.1's when I was auditioning tube gear before I bought my CJ components. I think they were driven by Audio Research gear but I can't remember what. This was after I had my Ascents, but long before I bought my Summits.

What I remember is that I was really impressed with the size of the sound coming from them. The 20.1's just put out a wall of sound, which was impressive in its own right. A much "bigger" soundfield than I have ever gotten with any of the Martin Logans.

However, the bass was relatively weak and I don't really recall being that impressed with other aspects of the speaker's performance. Certainly not enough to even consider them when it was time to upgrade my Ascents.

 

[Joey_V]

I auditioned a pair of Maggie 20.1's when I was auditioning tube gear before I bought my CJ components. I think they were driven by Audio Research gear but I can't remember what. This was after I had my Ascents, but long before I bought my Summits.

Rich,

SHouldnt you be updating your sig any time soon?

Joey

 

[tonyc]

I would agree. I have Odysseys and have recently added the descent. I heard the summits in the exact same room as the odysseys. Panel/woofer integration - definitely goes to the summits. However, that was never an issue for me. I always listen for soundstage/imaging/'the spooky voice in the room feel. What I noticed immediately about the summits was the low end (I think everyone does don't they?). I think they are great speakers and the additional low end gives them a more 'solid' sound. What about transparency? I think the additional low end takes a bit away from that. However, I think it adds a 'realness' to the sound. Like Ken - I just never felt the need to pull the trigger. I felt the descent would get me the lower bass. As far as size - I think it does matter... I just think a bigger panel is going to appear to put instruments in places a smaller speaker can not.

Have any Summit owners listened to Maggie 20.1s? Curious about your thoughts on those. I like the summits / 20.1s / and my Odyssey descent combo - all for different reasons:
Summits: for the 'solidity' of the sound - a drum stick hitting a cymbal sounds like exactly that.
Maggie 20.1s - The unbelievable transparency that they give.
Odyssey/Descent - I feel is a combo of the two above...not necessarily better - just I get what I think is a 'see through' feel with the Odysseys and the solidness from the Descent.

If given a free swap - I would have to listen to each in my listening environment.

I listened to the Maggies several times over the years and loved what they do well. I ultimately bought Summits due to three things. The Summits are smaller and easier to place. The Summits are more transparent-the Maggies have their own sound-no matter what the source. Advantageous financing on the Summits at Tweeter!

 

[Joey_V]

I have heard an all out system with the Maggie 3.6 and was favorably impressed. The only thing that I have against it is the fact that I could sort of tell where the ribbon hands off to the magneplanar.... odd, but it was sort of present.

Also, I'm not sure, but I thought the images were kind of... big.

Joey

 

[Rich]

Rich,

SHouldnt you be updating your sig any time soon?

Joey

Well . . . . yes, now that you mention it. But I was kind of waiting until I made some decisions on several electronic components I am mulling over for the new listening room. And I promise once I get that room set up (in another month or two) I will post my system in the member's systems section. But I guess I could do a temporary edit of my sig. How's this:

 

[babydoc]

Summits versus the rest of the world

I have had Summits for a year and a half. They replaced Ascent i's since the room was too small for the larger M-Ls. I think that their sound staging once properly set up is second to none. I have had over the years many ESL systems and the Summits get so much of the timbre of real music right. Like all speakers they are sensitive to room placement, room treatment, and associated electronics, power treatments and cables.
Once set up properly for the given room, they are an amazing system which gets the best of the sources presented to them.
There are probably better speakers out there but these are plenty good enough for my critical listening ears.

 

[Gordon Gray]

If there's a better speaker than the Summits for the price, I'd love to hear it

ML Amigos,

I'll chime in on this thread and ask everyone the following:

If you've heard a better speaker for the cost of the Summits, what is it and how is it better? Don't mean to steal / redirect the thread but I'd love to hear other members input on this question. Hope that's OK Tom.

GG

 

[Sambob2]

ML Amigos,

I'll chime in on this thread and ask everyone the following:

If you've heard a better speaker for the cost of the Summits, what is it and how is it better? Don't mean to steal / redirect the thread but I'd love to hear other members input on this question. Hope that's OK Tom.

GG

Gordon,

Go ahead and start the new thread. It will be more visible and attract a lot more direct answers than being "hidden" in this thread.

Sam