I experienced something similar with my Summits. In my situation I believe it was due to room acoustics. I added a number of acoustic panels which seemed to mostly fix the problem.
Summit X midrange
- Thread starter autoformer
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I experienced something similar with my Summits. In my situation I believe it was due to room acoustics. I added a number of acoustic panels which seemed to mostly fix the problem.
autoformer
Well-known member
The banana plugs I'm using are the gold plated high current spring loaded type that we use for self launching model gliders. We routinely run 90 amps through those things in 15-30 second bursts without fusing them to the socket.
autoformer
Well-known member
Gordon, the Transparent Music Wave stuff I tried today had some nice big spades on them. I think I prefer them to bananas now. More secure, I think, and almost as easy to use.
Bernard
Well-known member
Gordon, I used to use X-Terminators when I had Quad 57's, but was never happy with the lack of tightness between the spade I was using and the X-Terminator plug (even with the screw), though the contact between the plug and the socket was great because of the expandability (you could not accidentally pull them out). I much prefer plain spades with my SL3. I really like it that you can crank down on those binding posts with your bare hands; ML has a great connector there.
Want to buy some X-Terminators ?
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Gordon Gray
Well-known member
Bernard and Auto,
I agree that using spades only is a better connection. I still believe that if possible, bare speaker wire is the way to go.
In my case, I'm using the speaker wire spade (amp to speaker) on the upper terminals and "strapping" from the upper to the lower terminals. Eventually would like to bi-wire or bi-amp.
Didn't want to have two spades connected to the same upper terminal since my Analysis Plus jumpers are terminated with spades. Hence the use of the "X-terminator". Haven't had an issue with a secure fit between the spade and the "X".
Yes Bernard. How much per pair?
Gordon
I agree that using spades only is a better connection. I still believe that if possible, bare speaker wire is the way to go.
In my case, I'm using the speaker wire spade (amp to speaker) on the upper terminals and "strapping" from the upper to the lower terminals. Eventually would like to bi-wire or bi-amp.
Didn't want to have two spades connected to the same upper terminal since my Analysis Plus jumpers are terminated with spades. Hence the use of the "X-terminator". Haven't had an issue with a secure fit between the spade and the "X".
Yes Bernard. How much per pair?
Gordon
Bernard
Well-known member
Gordon, I have two pairs, and checked to see if they were still okay. In the process I broke one of them, so you can have them all free; just cover the shipping cost, which I'll let you know after I send them. Please PM me your address.
Tosh
Well-known member
As long as you're comparing apples to apples and keeping the type of connector the same when you try different wire.
autoformer
Well-known member
Hi Everyone!
I wanted to follow up on this old thread with an update.
By June or so, some 6 months after I first received my Summit Xs, they had broken in nicely. That thin, hard midrange is now gone. The high end is still articulate, but is now very smooth and enjoyable. Many contributors to this thread suggested that my room could be a problem and it is possible that the installation of window shades (which are always down in the "translucent" position) helped with some ringing off the bare glass surfaces. I did note an improvement after the shades went in. At the time I first got the Summits, the amp and preamp were also new, so perhaps those components have also broken in, yielding another positive improvement. Other factors influencing the better sound are using the 2 ohm tap on the McIntosh amplifier and switching to the Transparent speaker cable.
I spoke with Peter Soderberg at RMAF this year and described my initial experience with the Summits which you can read at the top of this thread. He indicated that my experience was completely typical. The owner's manual talks about break-in related to the woofers, but Peter said that the panels go through an equally dramatic break-in process. So I asked him, "Why don't you guys just say in the manual that these speakers are going to sound like absolute crap until they're broken in and to give them 6 months before passing judgement?" Well, apparently, they did have those discussions at ML, but they were concerned that saying something like that would put customers off the product. Salespeople quoting from the manual would only reinforce what customers might perceive as a big negative. In the end, they decided to keep the break-in language innocuous and deal with people like me on an exception basis. Personally, I would have responded better to the dire yet truthful warning. On the other hand, I will concede that most of their customers, especially those new to hi fi, may not know the difference anyway and by the time they do, the speakers may have caught up.
Anyway, all is well now in my theater at last. My sincere thanks to all the members who contributed to this thread. I appreciate all your helpful and constructive comments!
I wanted to follow up on this old thread with an update.
By June or so, some 6 months after I first received my Summit Xs, they had broken in nicely. That thin, hard midrange is now gone. The high end is still articulate, but is now very smooth and enjoyable. Many contributors to this thread suggested that my room could be a problem and it is possible that the installation of window shades (which are always down in the "translucent" position) helped with some ringing off the bare glass surfaces. I did note an improvement after the shades went in. At the time I first got the Summits, the amp and preamp were also new, so perhaps those components have also broken in, yielding another positive improvement. Other factors influencing the better sound are using the 2 ohm tap on the McIntosh amplifier and switching to the Transparent speaker cable.
I spoke with Peter Soderberg at RMAF this year and described my initial experience with the Summits which you can read at the top of this thread. He indicated that my experience was completely typical. The owner's manual talks about break-in related to the woofers, but Peter said that the panels go through an equally dramatic break-in process. So I asked him, "Why don't you guys just say in the manual that these speakers are going to sound like absolute crap until they're broken in and to give them 6 months before passing judgement?" Well, apparently, they did have those discussions at ML, but they were concerned that saying something like that would put customers off the product. Salespeople quoting from the manual would only reinforce what customers might perceive as a big negative. In the end, they decided to keep the break-in language innocuous and deal with people like me on an exception basis. Personally, I would have responded better to the dire yet truthful warning. On the other hand, I will concede that most of their customers, especially those new to hi fi, may not know the difference anyway and by the time they do, the speakers may have caught up.
Anyway, all is well now in my theater at last. My sincere thanks to all the members who contributed to this thread. I appreciate all your helpful and constructive comments!
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