New Martin Logan Speakers!

[Gordon]

Peter has ML experimented with applying Dynamat to say, the Spire cabinet? I've noticed other DIY'ers doing this to other brands but I've been unable to locate any of this type of mod to ML.

Perhaps this should be in the tweaks section?

Gordon

 

[robertawillisjr]

to add to the dialogue. The long lever that is created by the extrusions will flex if pressed at the top. Our goal with the change was to knock down some higher frequency issues that crept into the panel. You should know that we read ideas from this site and review most of them. But, sometimes, under the analysis of engineering, marketing, cosmetic exceptance by the market, impact on freight costs, etc. seemingly logical ideas have to be rejected so be patient with us. A good example of that is when the Summit replaced the Prodigy. As excellent as the Prodigy was, it ultimatley was not successful. The Summit sales destroyed them as the Summits where able to get into far more homes than the Prodigy with what most people felt was improvements in performance.
As to Clarity, no retros will be done at the factory as the resonance peak could not be dealt with and is overall minor and caused no technical damage. That is why new models are developed. All cabinets have peaks somewhere in general. Dynamat is a resonance killer that one could add internally and yes, more weight (general answer) could help. But then freight and manufacturing costs go up, taking them out of the well recieved price points they sold at. ahh, choices..

If can't be sold and make money, a company will expire. Compromises are unfortunate and have unfortunate consequences.

 

[Peter Soderberg]

We do not have measurable data on the use of it in this application but I have had success with it in the past. A tweak it is. With the small cabinet dimensions of the Spire and the low frequency it is operating in, I will offer only conjecture on the value of it for internal mods.

 

[GaryG]

As excellent as the Prodigy was, it ultimatley was not successful. The Summit sales destroyed them as the Summits where able to get into far more homes than the Prodigy with what most people felt was improvements in performance.

Peter, the Prodigy's are still excellent and seem to do well in the resales arena. But alas to make the Prodigy's shine requires good amplification and a large room. I am sure the room size requirements for the Prodigy's and not improved performance ultimately made the Summit a more marketable speaker.

 

[Rich]

Unfortunately, Peter is dead-on that factors like marketing acceptance, freight costs, meeting certain price points, etc., play a big role in the sales numbers, and therefore, design of a speaker. The Summit is infinitely more user-friendly to place in a room than the Prodigy. And easier to integrate sonically.

I do disagree with the idea that it has better performance, though. The Summit may be a little more neutral, but the Prodigy has much more depth of tone and an overall "bigger" sound than the Summit. I have heard a few great Prodigy systems, and a few great Summit systems, and I think generally the Prodigy systems sound much better. You must have a room that can accommodate it though, no question.

 

[squasher100]

Unfortunately, Peter is dead-on that factors like marketing acceptance, freight costs, meeting certain price points, etc., play a big role in the sales numbers, and therefore, design of a speaker. The Summit is infinitely more user-friendly to place in a room than the Prodigy. And easier to integrate sonically.

I do disagree with the idea that it has better performance, though. The Summit may be a little more neutral, but the Prodigy has much more depth of tone and an overall "bigger" sound than the Summit. I have heard a few great Prodigy systems, and a few great Summit systems, and I think generally the Prodigy systems sound much better. You must have a room that can accommodate it though, no question.

I haven't had a chance to listen to the Prodigy for a LONG while, but how would you compare them to the Summit X?

 

[GaryG]

I haven't had a chance to listen to the Prodigy for a LONG while, but how would you compare them to the Summit X?

My listening room is large (18' wide x 40' long x 11' high) so I had my Prodigy panels 5 feet off the front wall making the rear firing woofer 3 feet from the wall. IMHO (don't want to offend anyone) the summits become preferable when the room size is smaller but in the large space I prefer large panels. ML literature will speak about total area of mylar exposure and SPL in the new panels but the Prodigy's produce a "wall" of sound.

To Peters point, the ability for the summit to work in a smaller room made them placeable in more homes. And it's generally counter productive to keep 2 similar price point speakers in the company production line, so eliminating the lower sales Prodigy was a no brainer.

As an aside, yesterday I was at a high end audio dealer and he said it was difficult to place the CLX's, as great as they are, for similar room size reasons.