System #179 (Summit, Theater, Descent)

[kcl]

Name:

Ken Lidster
​

Location:

Davis, California (about 20 miles west of Sacramento)
​

Martin Logan Models:

Main L/R - 2 Summits
Center - 1 Theater
Front Sub - 1 Descent sub
​

Dates Acquired:

Theater and Descent - Purchased new in 2002
Summits - Bought used (14 months old) in March, 2007
​

Mods/Changes:

None.
​

Associated Equipment:

Non-ML Speakers:

Surround L/R - 2 Definitive UIW BP/A Bipolar In-Ceiling
Rear L/R - 2 Definitive UIW 64/A Cast Basket In-Ceiling
Rear Sub - 1 Definitive ProSub 100TL Subwoofer

Audio:

1 Oppo DV970HD player w/Reference Audio Mods
1 Slim Devices Squeezebox 3 digital music client
1 Infrant ReadyNAS NV+ digital music server w/4 320GB drives

1 CIAudio VDA-2 24 DAC / VAC-1 PS
1 Sunfire TGP-5 preprocessor
1 Sunfire TGA-7400 amp

Video:

2 Series-3 High-Definition TiVos (Comcast cable)
1 Escient DVDM-100 DVD Manager
3 Sony DVP CX777ES 400-DVD players (1200 total, 1000+ in use)

1 Lumagen VisionPro HDP video processor
1 Panasonic DMR-ES46V DVD writer

1 Pioneer Pro-730HD, 65-inch, high definition TV
1 Sony G90 projector
1 Stewart Studiotek 130, motorized, drop-down screen

Cabinetry:

2 Salamander S40 racks, each w/black perf steel sides, extended depth rear panels, and perf doors w/cherry panels.

Power:

1 Richard Gray RGPC 400 line conditioner
1 APC SUA1500 Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)
​

General Comments:

This system and the room it is in (the 'great' room) is the focal point of our home. My wife and I are 60 (this is 2007) and we've been married for 40 years. She is handicapped and we built this house in 2002 with her limitations in mind, and for it to be our 'last' home. We probably spend 95% of our time when at home in this room.

I first heard Martin Logan speakers when I was in an old business partner's high-end A/V shop back in about 1990. It was the first time I had really heard audiophile music, and I fell in love with the detail and quality of the sound produced by the Logans. I also fell in love with the Sony projectors, but both they and the Logans were way out of my price range at the time. But I always dreamed of owning them both.

Fast forward now to 2002 when we were designing our house. My wife and I agreed that we would each be able to have one 'extravagance' in the house. She chose a wall-to-wall custom china cabinet in the dining room. I chose Martin Logan Ascents, Theater, and Descent speakers. (We both think we got the best of the deal.) At that time I also 'fell into' an unbelievable deal on a Sony G90 projector, which is generally accepted as one of the two best projectors in the world. I was able to get that, too, so I ended up with both of my dream components. Then, when I retired this year (well, I was supposed to), I decided to give myself a present and bought a pair of Summits to replace the Ascents.

Our A/V system is by necessity a music/HT hybrid. I love listening to music so I want the best 2-channel setup I can get. My wife enjoys listening to music too, but her real passion is her recorded TV shows and watching the movies she loves. So the overall goal of this system as it evolved was to provide the best of each. I would say that I've been able to achieve each to a level I didn't believe was possible.
​

Images:

There will be a total of four photos in this and follow-up posts:

• Overall system (below in this post)
• Right rack opened (in 1st follow-up post)
• Left rack opened (in 2nd follow-up)
• G90 projector with screen lowered (3rd follow-up)

 

[TomDac]

Welcome Ken! Great photo. Such a clean looking system!

 

[kcl]

Right-side rack

The right-side component rack. From the top down:

• On top: MRF-300 IR repeater and Squeezebox 3 digital music server
• Empty slot for the Opp DV970HD (being upgraded at Reference Audio Mods)
• Sunfire TGP-5 Pre-Processor
• Sunfire TGA-7400 amp
• Series-3 HD Tivo #1
• Series-3 HD Tivo #2
• Lumagen VisionPro HDP video processor
• CIAudio VDA-2 DAC and VAC-1 High Current PS

 

[kcl]

Left-side rack

The left-side component rack. From the top down:

• On top: MRF-300 IR repeater
• Panasonic DVD writer
• Sony DVP-CX777ES 400-DVD player #1 (200+ slots in use)
• Sony player #2 (all 400 slots in use)
• Sony player #3 (all 400 slots in use)
• Escient DVDM-100 DVD Manager

 

[Jeff Zaret]

Ken,
Your system looks great. It is clean and really simplistic with all the equipment and I see the DAC has it's own shelf.

Jeff

 

[kcl]

Projector and screen

This is a back view showing the Sony G90 projector on the ceiling, along with the lowered Stewart Studiotek 130 screen.

 

[theWB]

Ken,
Beautiful System
Love the clean organized look
Envious of all you Summit owners.
Really dig all the Dvd players hooked to the Escient
Never have to change discs

 

[Robin]

Super Summit System...

kcl,

OMG.... :wow: Wow!

What an incredible mega Summit HT system you have got there.
Lovely Sunfire electronics as well. Your system set-up is marvelously displayed and looks to be very user friendly... :drool:

 

[Joey_V]

Ken,
I said it before, I'll say it again.... congrats on such a well put-together system! It's an amazing amalgam of components with the Summits at the helm of the whole shabang!
Joey :cheers:

 

[Cherian]

I like the look of the Sunfire TG-5 and amp. How is the sound? Are you happy with it? I think this is the last of Sunfires that Bob Carver worked on.

 

[kcl]

Your system set-up is marvelously displayed and looks to be very user friendly...

Thanks, Robin. The user-friendly aspect is one of the primary design goals. I had to be able to make everything "one button" on a programmable remote for my wife (the MX-850 best suits her needs), as well as allow all of the feedback to be visual on the TV screen. It works great!

 

[Robin]

MX-850 ~ Universal Remote Control...

Thanks, Robin. The user-friendly aspect is one of the primary design goals. I had to be able to make everything "one button" on a programmable remote for my wife (the MX-850 best suits her needs), as well as allow all of the feedback to be visual on the TV screen. It works great!

kcl,

I think you recommended the MX-850 to me before... I am going to look into this further. I have just too many remotes...

Thank you for the recommendation.

Beautiful system :cheers:

 

[kcl]

I like the look of the Sunfire TG-5 and amp. How is the sound? Are you happy with it? I think this is the last of Sunfires that Bob Carver worked on.

I absolutely love the sound. The upgrade I just did went from Ascents with a B&K AVR317 to Summits with the Sunfire pre-pro and amp. I was quite happy with the sound I was getting from the Ascents, but Summits/Sunfire combo is at an entirely new level.

 

[kcl]

I am going to look into this (the MX-850) further. I have just too many remotes.

Robin, you might want to consider the new MX-950, as its a much more configurable and powerful remote. I would have moved over to it, but the buttons are a bit too small for my wife to be able to manage.

 

[captain_tinker]

kcl,
Wow! I really like it! I bet it sounds really really nice. By the way, we are neighbors. Davis isn't far from me, just down I-80 a little bit. I'm up in the Roseville area. We hear about Davis all the time on CBS 13 news. In fact, I don't know if you watch that or not, but if you do, do you ever watch the Call Kurtis Buy it and Try it? My wife was on it in November trying out the Scrubbing Bubbles Shower cleaner!

In any case, I really like your setup. It looks great!

-capT

 

[Beat_Dominator]

Very pretty setup. Too bad I cannot have a listen!

 

[Robin]

Cool...

Robin, you might want to consider the new MX-950, as its a much more configurable and powerful remote. I would have moved over to it, but the buttons are a bit too small for my wife to be able to manage.

kcl,

Yes, I shall.

Thanks again for the fine recommendation.

 

[philox]

kcl, what can you tell me about the CIAudio VDA-2 DAC? Is it 5 channel or 2 channel? I am guessing that the Sunfire TGA-7400 amp is a 5 channel amp? Have you ever thought of running a normal stereo amp to play the Summits and then a 3 channel amp to run the balance during a movie?

 

[kcl]

kcl, what can you tell me about the CIAudio VDA-2 DAC? Is it 5 channel or 2 channel?

Its this DAC here and is two channels. I got it from Jeff Zaret after he got his 'new' Krell SACD transport. It included the VAC-1 PS, and I'm using it with the digital output from the Squeezebox. Jeff he couldn't tell the difference between the Krell and the VDA-2 and therefore didn't need it any longer (and gave me good price on it).

I am guessing that the Sunfire TGA-7400 amp is a 5 channel amp?

Nope. Its 400 watts on 7 channels at 8 ohms.

Have you ever thought of running a normal stereo amp to play the Summits and then a 3 channel amp to run the balance during a movie?

I don't think I'm ready for that step yet. This upgrade (just a few days ago, now) changed the Ascents / B&K AVR317 pairing to the Summit / Sunfire TGP-5 / Sunfire TGA-7400 combo, and that's such a significant increase in quality that I'm not sure I could appreciate any additional difference. I need to break myself in with the new system first.

 

[philox]

kcl, I am with this audio club in southern Calif and if I remember right 1/2 of us separated the 2 main channel speakers with a stereo amp and use either a 3 channel or 5 channel amp for the center and rear speakers. I can write that I first bought my Martin Logan SL3 and hooked them up to a Yamaha amp...they sounded just like my cone speakers. I then mated the SL3's to an Aragon 8998BB Dual Mono amp and the speakers came alive. Later I got a deal on some Aragon Palladium mono blocks and again a difference. My system use to be a 5.1 HT but once I moved I went back to a stereo. A few months ago I traded up from the SL3 to the Odyssey and again a difference. There is no end to this madness You got be thinking on how you set up your DAC with 3 DVD transports...WOW. Have fun and keep us informed on your upgrades