Seattle Newbie

[elliotma]

My name is Mike and I joined this forum to continue my research on Martin Logan products. Right now, the only Martin Logan equipment I own is a Descent i. I really like the Spires and am hoping to pick up a set within the next year. My current gear is the following:

McIntosh MC205 Amp
McIntosh MX130 Preamp with MAC3 Decoder
Athena S2/P2 front speakers
Athena Surrounds and center channel

My other hobbies include woodworking and tig welding. Does anyone have any do-it-yourself links on improving room acoustics? I saw some sound traps (I'm sure there is a more technical term for them) that were made out of wood that had a bunch of triangles in different directions. I'm curious if these are things I can make in my shop to help flatten out my room.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[johnwa]

Welcome fellow Seattlite. Great start and gear but if you want to get more informaton on room treatments just go to the search function and reference them or go right to jonfo posts and be prepared to be overwhelmed and in awe.

 

[VanDaRo]

IMHO the Spires will be an enormous upgrade in SQ. Keep the Macs and the auxiliary equipment for now. The Logans' will leave you breathless and addicted to this hobby.

Welcome into the fold, my friend. Post up your rig, with or without the Logans, as soon as possible. Save your nickels and dimes just like the rest of us and bask in the glory.... All HiFi junkies are embraced here !!

~VDR

 

[twich54]

Mike welcome ! Given your ability to weld I suggest you search out a fine pair of CLS's, afterwhich you will be able to fabricate your stands / bracing for them !

 

[elliotma]

Thanks everyone. Sorry for the newbie questions. After I posted I found sections that answer questions about sound treatments and such. Seems obvious now

My focus is the Spires right now. That should make the biggest difference in my system. From there, I will upgrade components over time as money is available.

Fabricating stands for the CLS would not be hard at all. I have several friends in the metal fabrication industry who could laser cut/machine parts that I could weld together. It would be a fun project, but I think those would be too big for my room. If the demand is there, I could probably make some for the community to help fund my Spires. I had another idea about fabricating a mount for a future Stage center channel using the wall mount studs on my plasma tv.

 

[Gordon]

Hi Mike and welcome.

I've had the Vantage hooked to my Mac gear since early this year. It has been just stunning. I've learned quite a bit here on room treatments and positioning.

I used the Vantage as a test to see if ML was the speaker for me. Well, it is and yesterday I ordered a pair of Spires. Going to be a long 2 weeks!

Gordon

 

[elliotma]

I still go back and forth about the Vantages. I could afford those now so it is very tempting. I know I would just want to upgrade to the Spires or Summits later so I'm going to try to be patient and save up.

Speaker placement is going to be tough for me. Speakers look much better closer to the wall in my room. The main walkway is in the front of the speakers so I don't have much room to come out further.

What cd player did you have before the Mac? Did you notice a huge difference in audio quality between a Mac cd player versus a standard one?

Hi Mike and welcome.

I've had the Vantage hooked to my Mac gear since early this year. It has been just stunning. I've learned quite a bit here on room treatments and positioning.

I used the Vantage as a test to see if ML was the speaker for me. Well, it is and yesterday I ordered a pair of Spires. Going to be a long 2 weeks!

Gordon

 

[Gordon]

I replaced a Denon 2900 universal player with the 201 so the comparison is not really fair in my opinion. I converted the HT room into a 2 channel system only. I put a small HT in the basement.

Anyway, the 2 channel with the Mac player was worth it. I can't wax poetically on the sound. I can say the stage got deeper and wider and the detail compared to the Denon was what I was looking for. Some hearing damage has made my ears very sensitive to the very high frequencies. The Mac seems to roll off or tone down the highs which is pleasing to me.

While I haven't rolled a lot of pieces in and out of my rig, I'm satisfied with the McIntosh line up. I'm sure you'll notice as you read the threads here that Mac is not the choice of equipment for most members. We definately are in the minority around here. I certainly won't dispute the fact that they may have more experience or know something I don't. I'd say try the Spires with your stuff and if it sounds good, OK.

Most speakers do "look" better pushed nearer the wall. I was helped by several members here on positioning and the Vantage ended up 5 foot off the front wall. That for me was not an issue but it may be in some households. I initially had them about 2.5 feet off the wall and they sounded ok. Once I took the advice of some members, the speakers elevated the sound to a new level which was unbelievable to me. I started a thread I think was "speaker positioning, an observation". There were some great comments made there.

Reading JonFo's threads on room treatments prompted a telephone call to Ethan at Real Traps and one half hour later, several traps were on their way. The best 1K I've spent by far. Still need a couple more pieces to finish it off. Real Traps now has some decorator friendly stuff that my wife is interested in over the pieces already installed!

So, have fun with the toys! To me it has been fun to read something here and try it in my listening room. Some things worked, some things didn't.

Gordon

 

[Ron]

I am using my Mac 871 dvd player for cd playback. It is far better sounding than any other player I have used. Other players are Primare dvd, Denon 3800 bdci blu ray, Sony dvp s 9000 es dvd, and a Denon 5 disk changer. Other Mac equipment are 205 & 402 amp. Maybe they just work better together? Speakers summits.