System #315 (Summit X, Helos100)

[houstonshark]

TJ Morgan

Houston, TX

Summit X, 2 Helos100

2009

Pioneer Elite PRO141FD
Integra DHC9.9
Integra DBS6.9
Apple TV
Sumiko Project 1.2
Monster HTS5100 Sig. Series (waiting on Furman Elite20PFI)
Mark Levinson No433
Integra ADM2.1 (rears)
Dedicated 20A Circuit
20A PS Audio Power Port Premier

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[TomDac]

Nice system, TJ. Congrats on the Summit X's

 

[amey01]

Nice "European" room.....

 

[houstonshark]

Nice "European" room.....

Thank you! I'll post pictures of the entire room once all the custom furniture is in. I am still waiting on the ottoman and club chairs for the side of the room. I do have a beautiful, original Womb Chair from 1948 which was recently redone in leather that is in the living room now but it really doesn't match the sectional.

 

[wink]

Nice setup! How do you like the Levinson with the Summit X's?

Dan

 

[Audioseduction]

Nice clean setup you have there. I suggest you pull your Summits away from the wall. They are bipole speakers and need space for them to perform at their best.

 

[urskog]

Sexy stuff indeed!
Btw, I see you have the Monster HTS5100.
Do you feel that it is limiting the dynamics etc of the speakers?
I have the same power conditioner and I've heard from a couple of places that they feel it is severely limiting, among other things, the dynamics of the speakers when connected to it.

 

[houstonshark]

I fully understand that the speakers need to be off the wall more but it's not happening in this room. It would just look terrible and I simply don't have the room. I'll just have to live with it and focus on other ways of improving the sound.

As far as the Mark Levinson amp, I love it. To me (although I don't have a ton of experience with other high end amps the likes of what most here use) it is a great match. It is a very smooth amplifier with just enough detail for my taste.

The HTS5100 is only temporary. It is a major limitation in current at this point since I have a dedicated 20A circuit and it is only a 15A piece. I too have heard that it is not a good choice sonically but I haven't taken the time to A/B with and without it. The Furman Elite20PFI will be in there soon. I will post my findings when I swap them.

 

[gordonmenninger]

Room looks fantastic! If you cannot pull the front speakers away from the wall, you should definitely invest in some acoutic panels behind your Summit x's! This will make a dramatic difference. Look in the acoustics section on here and you will find a wealth of info on this if you have not done so already!

very clean, cool setup! Also, when considering subs, you may want to look in to the JL Audio Fathoms - I own 2 of the 113's and they are unbelievable and match very well with the ML speakers.

gordon:rocker:

 

[houstonshark]

I am a JL dealer as well and the Fathom subs are our preferred subwoofer. I would love to do a pair of the F110 but I don't quite have the space. I may be able to do a pair of the Grottoi due to the taper of the sub. With the Summit X toed in the Grottoi may just fit since they are wider in the front than in the back.

Then again we are still waiting on the JL Fathom IWS (in wall sub system) which is due out around CEDIA, late this summer.

I'm looking into building some sort of in wall acoustic panel behind the speakers.

 

[marck]

HI TJ,

So how do you like the SummitX's? I have recently upgraded my Summits to the X's. It was a considerable outlay and in some ways I thought it may be a bit of a gamble.

However, all I can say is WOW.They are very very different to the original Summit. The bass integration is amazing - it really is seamless (the best I have heard from ML), the midrange is just superb - so open, realistic, airy, the depth and size of the soundstage is way greater than before. You could say I am suitably impressed with them!!

The only criticism I would have is that they should not have called them SummitX - really a new name would have stopped all the bad publicity. They are very different in terms of performance (and price) and hence I don't think there would have been an issue with branding them with a new name.

Just my 2 cents.
Marc.

 

[houstonshark]

HI TJ,

So how do you like the SummitX's? I have recently upgraded my Summits to the X's. It was a considerable outlay and in some ways I thought it may be a bit of a gamble.

However, all I can say is WOW.They are very very different to the original Summit. The bass integration is amazing - it really is seamless (the best I have heard from ML), the midrange is just superb - so open, realistic, airy, the depth and size of the soundstage is way greater than before. You could say I am suitably impressed with them!!

The only criticism I would have is that they should not have called them SummitX - really a new name would have stopped all the bad publicity. They are very different in terms of performance (and price) and hence I don't think there would have been an issue with branding them with a new name.

Just my 2 cents.
Marc.

Marc, I really like my Summit X and I am glad I chose them over the Spire. If I had the Spire in my room there would be no question about whether or not I would need a sub. The Summit X are on the verge of good sub bass performance whereas the Spire (in my room at least) would certainly be lacking. The bass integration to the panel is so seamless and I think better than the Spire.

I would like more control of the subs though. The 50hz adjustment in my room does some really bad things if you turn it past -1. The adjustments are very incremental at 50hz but the 25hz knob seems to have very little effect. It's almost as if they are not getting a full range signal from my Integra DHC9.9 although the main speakers are set to Full Range. What has been your experience?

Many suggested that I move the speakers off the wall quite a bit so this week I finally took a little time to play with the positioning and everyone should be happy to know that I did in fact move them farther away from the wall...about an inch or so... I just can't have a speaker in this room sitting 3' off the wall. I only sit about 11 feet from the speakers and it would look aweful. I already don't like that the TV is so tight to the wall and the panels are about 18 inches from the wall. I may build something like this to pull the TV off the wall some eventually, maybe incorporating an acoustic panel:

This is an example of a wall unit we built for a customer. And yes, that is a Bose Lifestyle system! He already had it and would not part with it! We did however do a nice theater for him, Sim2 projector, DNP Supernova Screen, Parasound separates, JL F113 and KEF CI9000.

 

[engtaz]

Really nice setup. Thanks

 

[RichTeer]

Many suggested that I move the speakers off the wall quite a bit so this week I finally took a little time to play with the positioning and everyone should be happy to know that I did in fact move them farther away from the wall...about an inch or so... I just can't have a speaker in this room sitting 3' off the wall.

One solution would be to have them in their usual place when not being listened to, and then move them out into the room for serious listening sessions. Speakers this good deserve proper room placement!

 

[repman]

I love your room and the dark wood floors, very nice system

I am a little concerned about how close the speaker is to the fireplace will the heat affect the membrane at all? I know my gas fireplace puts out a lot of heat and things to either side of it get quite warm. not a concern this summer but maybe in the winter.

 

[houstonshark]

I love your room and the dark wood floors, very nice system

I am a little concerned about how close the speaker is to the fireplace will the heat affect the membrane at all? I know my gas fireplace puts out a lot of heat and things to either side of it get quite warm. not a concern this summer but maybe in the winter.

Living in Texas we seldom, if ever use the fireplace. I can't imagine it being a big loss if we can't use it due to that speaker being so close. I could shift the whole system to the left about 8" but that would off center it on the wall.

 

[marck]

Tbh, my settings on the bass are fairly flat. However when setting them up with a test tone disc I did find that the adjustments (for both 50 and 25) were pretty spot on.

I was speaking to a dealer in the UK today and he reckons they are the best speaker he has heard in 20 years! I asked about the CLX and he said that in all the rooms that he has heard them he has preferred the SummitX - he alluded that in general the rooms in the UK standard house are just too small for the CLX's to function to their optimum.

I must say I am still amazed by them - I was listening to a Marcus Miller disc (M^2) today and it was just supeb