SUMMIT X in the House

[Gordon Gray]

Hi Jeronamo,

Thanks for the reply.

Totally agree with Fish's last post. Fish, no offense taken, by the by, regarding taking a trip. I appreciate your input and ideas. However, in times like this, money is way tight so it would be difficult for me to justify.

Regarding having both Summit models available, wouldn't that be a wonderful thing but unlikely since most dealers want and need the most current models. Then there's the cash flow issue.

Best regards,

Gordon

 

[Gordon Gray]

Hey Gordon:

What I'm always curious about is what does it take a guy like you, who has a very good system, enough motivation to upgrade something?

With the gear you have now, you are getting to that point that to get even a fair increase in sound is going to probably take big bucks...

And I don't necessarily mean going from Summit to Summit X. Just an overall increase. For example, what does your system NOT do that you would really like it to?

Hi Jeff,

Darn good question. The biggest limitation in my system's performance is my room. It's relatively small in the length (distance away from the speakers) category.

Having said that, I'm pretty darn happy with the sonics especially after adding some ATS panels to the back / reflecting wall.

As a result of the dreaded "dots" thread, I decided to give some panels a try. Well worth the minimal investment. Improved body, imaging, and mid / low bass definition.

Used suction cups to attach 4 - 2' X 2' panels to the window. Placed them behind my rather full plants at the bottom of the window. Plants hide the panels (sort of) and they don't compromise my view. The other panels are near the floor and on the side walls so they are pretty benign from a visual impact standpoint.

I've really tried to keep all my components "balanced" from a price / point perspective.

I know my stuff is not SOTA but, IMHO, I think it's pretty darn good. That's why I am so interested in the "X". If it is a huge performance jump, it would be my logical next step. Assuming that it is not (I will count on you to provide the comparisons), I'll just stop hardware upgrading and buy more music, which is what this hobby is all about anyway.

I recognize, if I do go to the next level, I'm looking at some serious change with unknown results. I would think that a $20K digital playback system would sound better than my Cary but with my current room, would it be a worthwhile investment? Same goes for my preamp. I noticed that it was on the TAS recommended list up until about a year ago. And what amp would I upgrade to that would substantially outperform my Pass Labs?

I really like all of those pieces. The system is quick, transparent, has great imaging and dynamic capability, is dependable and maintenance free (except for the occassional cable cleaning and panel vacuuming) and is full range. And, IMHO, it is very musical and a joy to listen to.

So long story short, I don't know what I'm missing or, given my listening room size, what I would like to try to substantially improve the performance without spending an obscene amount of money.

I'm open to suggestions from you or other members.

Thank you for asking.

Best regards,

Gordon

 

[tonepub]

Personally, I think the Summits are so good, that upgrading your sources
or amplification will let more music through to the speakers you already have.

The Summits always had enough resolution to tell the difference between very expensive cartridges, CD players and even speaker cables, so with the already very good system you have now, I don't see the Summits as your weak link.

And you've done a really good job at balancing the level of performance in the rest of the system, so if you upgrade one area, get prepared to go further with the others.

 

[FISH_MAN]

I can think of about 20k I could justifiably spend on my system right now! and none of it would involve upgrading my speakers. I have begun to get so hooked on the analog thing :devil:

 

[Jeronamo]

Hello Gordon
I was just curios and I contacted an authorized ML ESL dealer that may be somewhat close to you, the very nice man I spoke to Tom seemed extremely knowledgeable on current ML products. Last year he hosted a ML open house that included the new Spire and CLX, he was able to hear the Spire along side the Summit and has some very interesting comments about the comparison. He is planning another open house in a couple months that will include the Summit X and the CLX, at least you can listen to the Summit X and compare it to the Spire and of course hear the new CLX, Here is the link to the dealer http://www.utahaudio.com. I hope it's okay to post info on a dealer, I have no association with this dealer as I located him off the ML site. Tom was very, very nice and very enthusiastic about talking anything ML. Hope this helps.

Regards Jeronamo (Jerry)

 

[houstonshark]

I think when it is all said and done and someone has a chance to A/B the Summit and the Summit X you will find that the differences are marginal at best and certainly not worth selling the Summit in order to upgrade to the X. If money were no object and you just had to have the newest, latest and greatest then yes, the piece of mind most certainly would be worth it.

I agree with Tonepub though, in your system the Summits probably are not the weak link Gordon (although most would have a hard time pointing to a particular piece and saying it is weak since you have assembled such a nice system). The Summits probably still have more in them.

I can say though that in regards to the CLX system I have been working on I think we have reached the max of the CLX with the Mark Levinson No502 and Reference No53 monoblocks. The speakers just cannot do much more than they are doing now. I didn't think that when we had the No436 monoblocks on them.

 

[Gordon Gray]

Hi Houston,

Thank you for your comments and input.

Best regards,

Gordon

 

[Gordon Gray]

Hi Jerry,

Thanks for the dealer lead and input.

There is an ML dealer in Boise where I purchased my Summits. Might consider a drive to do some auditioning if they have the stuff I would like to listen to.

Gordon

 

[houstonshark]

Hi Shawn,

I know its still a little early but have you sold a pair of Summit X yet? Have you had any requests for demos? After having them for awhile (I assume they are pretty well broken at this point) what are your impressions? I think I remember you saying that you are powering them with the Mark Levinson No433. How do you like that combination? I have a No433 that I am going to use with the Summit X for my home as soon as they arrive.

Thanks,

TJ

 

[urskog]

Hi Shawn,

I know its still a little early but have you sold a pair of Summit X yet? Have you had any requests for demos? After having them for awhile (I assume they are pretty well broken at this point) what are your impressions? I think I remember you saying that you are powering them with the Mark Levinson No433. How do you like that combination? I have a No433 that I am going to use with the Summit X for my home as soon as they arrive.

Thanks,

TJ

Must.. order.. Summit.. X......

 

[Craig]

Keep in mind that I made spikes that were 3" tall but the consescus was that height was not needed. Maybe some will chime in here that got the 3" spikes from me..

I'll chime in. I have a set of the spikes that jtwace provided and they are a significant upgrade for the Summits. Height is definitely needed for the Summits, especially in my case where they sit on pile carpet with thick padding underneath that. With the regular spikes the Summits sink down into the carpet and the bottom firing woofer is very close to the floor. I think you might notice an improvement just from increasing the space between the floor and woofer.

The other benefit of the longer spikes allows for more forward tilt of the speaker. The Summits are raked back quite a bit while some ML speaker models are almost completely vertical or perpendicular to the floor (forward tilt). I would say that most of us prefer to tilt the Summits a little forward especially to emphasize the sound for the seated position.

In fact, I could use another set of four to raise to the total height of the speaker more like the SummitX. By the way Jason, I'd like to buy another set of spikes if you happen to have any more laying around.

 

[DaVinci Media]

Hi Shawn,

I know its still a little early but have you sold a pair of Summit X yet? Have you had any requests for demos? After having them for awhile (I assume they are pretty well broken at this point) what are your impressions? I think I remember you saying that you are powering them with the Mark Levinson No433. How do you like that combination? I have a No433 that I am going to use with the Summit X for my home as soon as they arrive.

Thanks,

TJ

We've had 3 people come in for demos. No sales yet, although I am pretty sure one pair is selling from those demos. They are great with the 433, also used the MC2301s and personally I prefer the 433.