New Vista's and Happy

[cstory]

I just wanted to put down a few impressions of the Vista. I picked up a pair over the weekend to replace my Aerius i's. I did some considerable waffling and soul searching before actually getting these. The first issue was my concern that they really didn't represent much of an improvement over the Aerius, and did I really want to spend the money. I did some listening in a stereo store over the weekend, seemed that the Vista didn't do anything worse than the Aerius, and they did indeed sound better overall.

Well to get to the point...In the little bit of listening I have done so far, I have to say that the Vista's are better than the Aerius. Is it a night and day difference? Of course not. But to use an overworn phrase, a veil has been lifted. The background seems blacker, and instruments seem more real. There is more there, there. I first really noticed it on the Young Persons Guide to the Orchestra (Cincinnati Symphony SACD) listening at low levels, the xylophone from the back of the stage was just so right. Instruments are just a bit more realistic. Jay Beckenstines saxophone on Wrapped in a Dream is more focused, as are all the images. Maybe this is what people are noticing as a smaller soundstage. To me it just sounds as if all the instruments are more focused, that there is a less diffuse quality to them and they are more solid. I suppose that the Vista's being the same height as the Aerius will make the image the same height, and I didn't notice too much difference there, but I did notice some sounds outside of the speakers, which I did not notice with the Aerius.

I know that the Absolute Sound review mentioned that the speakers sounded thin, but I do not notice this. On one of the Spyrogyra songs Jay plays a baritone sax, and it sounds terrific. Maybe the Aerius have this same deficency, so I am used to it. I don't know if ML responded to this with a manufacturers comment, but I would be interested in their opinion on DO's comments. These impressions are with ~7 hours on the speakers (didn't listen for 4 of those hours). If there is a problem with the way they sound new, I certainly haven't noticed it.

So to conclude this introduction to my Vista's, they are a better speaker than the Aerius. The overall characteristics are the same, but the Vista is more of what the Aerius is. More detailed, more natural sounding, and more of one piece where the bass is concerned. 2 Thumbs up. :clap:

Chuck

 

[twich54]

Jay Beckenstines saxophone on Wrapped in a Dream is more focused, as are all the images. Maybe this is what people are noticing as a smaller soundstage. To me it just sounds as if all the instruments are more focused, that there is a less diffuse quality to them and they are more solid. Chuck

Chuck, Congrats on the new purchase ! I highlighted your quote above for I believe it points out one of the things I love most about the new ESL panels, when set-up properly they do a marvelous job indeed in pinpointing individual instruments and their locations.

As Tim aka MiTT pointed out on his review of the New Alison Krauss alblum, the acoustic strings that are presented (guitar, fiddle, bass, banjo, mandolin) are so focused and individually identified, with a truthfullness of being there in person ! Yes that is what I too love about the ESL panel !!

Enjoy the great listening ahead of you !!

 

[Joey_V]

Chuck,
Nice review and I will agree that they dont sound thin, perse.... maybe what DO was eluding to was that it just sounds a little thin relative to some other speaker he holds as reference.

Either way, the Vista is one cool cat!

Enjoy!

Joey:cheers:

 

[MickeyVee]

Congratulations Chuck!

If you only have 7 hours on the Vista's, wait until they're broken in. It took my Clarity's a goo 40-50 hourse before they reached peak performance, and wow, what a difference from the first few hours.

Just out of interest, what kind of amp are you driving them with? I'be been toying with trading in my Clarity's for the Vista's but am afraid that they will kill my Rotel reciever.

Hope you post a picture of your setup soon. Happy listening!

 

[cstory]

Mark,

I am using a pair of Rotel RMB-100 monoblocks to drive them with. I don't think Rotel sold too many of those, but they are 100 w/channel cubes that sit right behind each of the speakers. They seem to work really well on the Logan's. The system with the Aerius' is posted as #111. I have still have the Aerius standing near by,so no pictures until I get things cleaned up. I have no idea where I am going to stash the Vista boxes as they are quite a bit larger than the Aerius ones. My project for this evening is to straighten that stuff out to keep the wife happy.

I'll get the revised pictures up sometime in the next week.
If anyone is interested the Aerius' may be going up in the classifieds shortly.

Chuck

 

[cstory]

I need to post an addendum to my earlier post. I am still happy with how the Vista's sound overall, but last night I discovered a buzzing, static like noise coming from the woofer section of one of the speakers. The noise did not get louder as the volume increased, and it was really only apparent during quiet passages. Since it didn't get louder with the music, I don't think it's something loose like the grill or woofer cone, it seems to be electrical in nature. I swaped speaker positions to make sure it wasn't the electronics, but it looks like at least one of the speakers will need to be headed back to ML.

Chuck

 

[aerius007]

Just out of interest, what kind of amp are you driving them with? I'be been toying with trading in my Clarity's for the Vista's but am afraid that they will kill my Rotel reciever.

Hope you post a picture of your setup soon. Happy listening!

FYI, when I first had my Aerius i's I only had my Yamaha running them, no seperate amp and from what I hear the Vista's are much easier to run than the Aerius. You would probably be fine.

 

[amey01]

I've got about 100 hours on my Vista now, and am extremely happy. They're fantastic, however, while they do most things better than the Aerius, I still feel the Aerius did bass better. Ideally, I'd like a Vista panel on the Aerius enclosure if that sort of makes sense.

 

[cstory]

Amey01,

I do understand what you are saying, but my first impressions of the Vista bass is that it is tighter, and more focused. I guess that does lead to an overall "leaner" sound of the speaker. At the same time, I hear more detail in the bass notes with the Vista than I did with my Aerius'. But there was a pleasing roundness to the Aerius bass that I do miss a little bit. My subwoofer seems more detailed now than it did before, which tells me that it was the Aerius that was smeering things and not my PC-Ultra.

In the end, like most things, it's a matter of compromise and personal taste. I think that technically, the Vista bass is more accurate and more integrated with the panel, but doing so, changes the sound of it. As I get a little more time with my speakers (slight woofer static and all), I may be coming to understand what was written in the Absolute Sound review about the upper midbass being shelved down a bit. It also doesn't help matters for me, that there appears to be a pretty big suckout in my room from 100hz-70 hz.

All I really do know, is that after hearing what the xStat panel can do, there is no going back.

Chuck

 

[Joey_V]

All I really do know, is that after hearing what the xStat panel can do, there is no going back.

Chuck

Chuck,

Wise words.

 

[amey01]

Amey01,

I do understand what you are saying, but my first impressions of the Vista bass is that it is tighter, and more focused. I guess that does lead to an overall "leaner" sound of the speaker. At the same time, I hear more detail in the bass notes with the Vista than I did with my Aerius'. But there was a pleasing roundness to the Aerius bass that I do miss a little bit. My subwoofer seems more detailed now than it did before, which tells me that it was the Aerius that was smeering things and not my PC-Ultra.

In the end, like most things, it's a matter of compromise and personal taste. I think that technically, the Vista bass is more accurate and more integrated with the panel, but doing so, changes the sound of it. As I get a little more time with my speakers (slight woofer static and all), I may be coming to understand what was written in the Absolute Sound review about the upper midbass being shelved down a bit. It also doesn't help matters for me, that there appears to be a pretty big suckout in my room from 100hz-70 hz.

All I really do know, is that after hearing what the xStat panel can do, there is no going back.

Chuck

Absolutely what you say about the panel! I have also certainly found the [lower] bass to be tighter, but unfortunately the upper-bass is where the problem lies for me - a little coloured perhaps? Or maybe just less definition than the Aerius.

However, it is overall that counts, and the Vista speakers are superior, especially with that xStat panel!

 

[akm3]

I wonder if the bass differences have to do with where the Aerius crosses over...does anyone know that off the top of their heads?

-Allen

 

[amey01]

I wonder if the bass differences have to do with where the Aerius crosses over...does anyone know that off the top of their heads?

-Allen

Aerius = 500Hz
Aerius i = 450Hz
Vista = 450Hz

Not a lot in it.

 

[cstory]

Since this thread has bounced back up to the top again, I thoguht I would take a moment to update it a little.

Earlier on I mentioned that there was a rattling sound coming from one of the speakers. A few e-mail exchanges with Jim Power had me taking the woofer cone out of the offending speaker and sure enough, there was something loose in the woofer itself. A new woofer was promptly dispatched from Kansas and 4 days after the problem was registered with Martin Logan, I had the new woofer installed and it has been great ever since.

Those stories that show up periodically about the excelent service from Jim are no exaggeration.

As for the sound, I really do like how they sound. I am looking at getting or making some bass traps to help minimize the 100 hz room null that I have, and once I do that, I think I will be well pleased.

Chuck

 

[Joey_V]

Congrats with the continuing satisfaction with the ML Vistas! They are spectacular speakers with awesome coherence! Heard them driven by a Cambridge Audio Class XD amplifier at Tweeter and I thought they took apart the competitively priced JM Lab Focals with the same upstream equipment.

Joey