User211
Well-known member
Yeah, they are kinda good, Jeff...
They finally made it!
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Burke
Well-known member
How much better
Are these that much better than the Summits that I should risk it and serious think about the pair s2k has for sale ($14,500, and he might even delivery since I am only 10 miles away)
Are these that much better than the Summits that I should risk it and serious think about the pair s2k has for sale ($14,500, and he might even delivery since I am only 10 miles away)
tonepub
Senior Member
Yes, they are....
I have to second what Jeff says, I too traded a pair of Summits for the CLXs and they are on another level from the Summits and mind you the Summits are not just a good speaker but rather the Summits are a great speaker to begin with. But the CLX, well take everything the Summits do and double it, Twice the sound stage, twice the detail, twice the speed, in fact the words I hear from most people right after hearing the CLX is, " WOW that was unbelievable." and this is from people that heard the Summits and were impressed by them and used that experience as a benchmark for the CLX.
DrJRapp
Well-known member
Jeff......Is the answer really that simple?
User211
Well-known member
When they're sitting in your listening room, probably!
roberto
Well-known member
Hola Jeff...could you tell us regarding the sound of strings (violin) and brass? (trumpet)...how they do with solo instrument, like piano...please do some vocals...please excuse my dare to ask!...i can´t wait...thanks, happy listening,
Roberto.
Roberto.
tonepub
Senior Member
Roberto,
The full review will be in our next issue. But seriously, the CLX does everything well and ML nailed the upgrade to the Descent i with the crossover board. I spent all evening screwing around with mine, trying to get it to mate with the CLX's without opening it up and installing the board. No luck.
Popped the board in and perfect! The Descent mates with the CLX's flawlessly.
We'll have an announcement around Dec 10-15 when the new issue is up. I kind of want to beat TAS to the punch on the review, I know Jonathan Valin will probably write a fairly different review than what I've got up my sleeve.
Being a ML owner again for the last two years and having worked through the product line with the Vantage, Summit and Spire has really given me a lot of perspective on what the CLX is and can do.
My hope is that we can put together a comprehensive review that will be as informative for the non ML owner as well as the people that own them and might be considering trading up.
The full review will be in our next issue. But seriously, the CLX does everything well and ML nailed the upgrade to the Descent i with the crossover board. I spent all evening screwing around with mine, trying to get it to mate with the CLX's without opening it up and installing the board. No luck.
Popped the board in and perfect! The Descent mates with the CLX's flawlessly.
We'll have an announcement around Dec 10-15 when the new issue is up. I kind of want to beat TAS to the punch on the review, I know Jonathan Valin will probably write a fairly different review than what I've got up my sleeve.
Being a ML owner again for the last two years and having worked through the product line with the Vantage, Summit and Spire has really given me a lot of perspective on what the CLX is and can do.
My hope is that we can put together a comprehensive review that will be as informative for the non ML owner as well as the people that own them and might be considering trading up.
roberto
Well-known member
Thanks Jeff, and please forgive my dare, thanks for your understanding..it is just, as you, I have the ML bug too!...believe me with this one, I trust more in you, due to be a truly ML lover, than a person who are not in to what we are used to listen to. Others do not, or don't care. Transparency is not all as of course you do know, and having you the gift to put in words what many of us would like to express of what we perceive and get, and we can not, it is a blessing to have you Jeff. I wish you a very happy listening,
Roberto.
tonepub
Senior Member
Wow, thank you for the compliments.
One of the most difficult thing that any manufacturer struggles with is having their product reviewed by someone who understands it and how to get the most out of it.
I'm lucky that my six reviewers all have pretty different tastes and biases. While I still like the ML sound the best, (British monitors are a close second place) Whenever we get a product for review, I try to send it to the reviewer that has the most experience with that area and then have someone with an opposite interest listen as well.
That way we have the enthusiast viewpoint as well as the skeptical one wherever possible.
Our senior writer Marc Phillips is a dyed in the wool mini monitor guy and has never been terribly fond of my ML's... But when we unboxed the CLX's and fired them up, he just went "wow, these are incredible speakers!"
I'll be curious to what you think of the review when it's finished.
One of the most difficult thing that any manufacturer struggles with is having their product reviewed by someone who understands it and how to get the most out of it.
I'm lucky that my six reviewers all have pretty different tastes and biases. While I still like the ML sound the best, (British monitors are a close second place) Whenever we get a product for review, I try to send it to the reviewer that has the most experience with that area and then have someone with an opposite interest listen as well.
That way we have the enthusiast viewpoint as well as the skeptical one wherever possible.
Our senior writer Marc Phillips is a dyed in the wool mini monitor guy and has never been terribly fond of my ML's... But when we unboxed the CLX's and fired them up, he just went "wow, these are incredible speakers!"
I'll be curious to what you think of the review when it's finished.
roberto
Well-known member
Don Jeff, when I met ML sound about 22 years ago, the little angel called Cupid hitted my heart with an arrow that it is there since...I was seduced by the sound first, then sow them and my mouth melted! my jaws dropped and my eyes were like marvels, and my brain trying to explain to my mind what was in front of me were a pair of speakers...I had previous listened to a pair of Mr. Harold Beveridge the model 2-WS something, I can't recall the model exactly, using xformer less tube amplifiers to drive them, and for image, they have to be facing each other at the side of the room, placing the stage in the center...very interesting, they were in white color, with two subs (pasive) and I was truly exposed to the electrostatic sound for my first time, but when I listen the CLSs, I knew that I wanted them right away!...now I am begining to have almost the same feeling with the CLXs...In a month I will learn more about them, through your ears Don Jeff, happy listening,
Roberto.
RichTeer
Well-known member
Looking forward to your review!
It'd be nice if you could spend a paragraph or two outlining the improvements one can expect hear going up the range. Also, how the CLXs sound with and without the Decent i sub. And for extra bonus points, a comparison to other electrostats (e.g., the Quad 2905, etc.) would be great!
tonepub
Senior Member
We will definitely do a whole section of the review with the CLX in the system...
As for the comparison with the Quad, that's easy. All of the new Quads
(much like the generation before them) go down a touch deeper without
a sub than the CLX does. They are also a bit more tube/low power friendly and have slightly more midrange warmth/magic whatever you want to call it.
However, where the quad really falls down is with dynamics. It just doesn't have the sheer punch that the CLX does.
Same with comparing to the magnepan 3.6 and 20.1. They go down a bit deeper in the low bass than the CLX, but they still both need subwoofers. However, breaking it up between the membrane (magneplanar) panel and the ribbon midrange and tweeter, you are introducing a three way crossover into the equation, which to me negates all of the advantage of the panel in the first place....
Even though the CLX has the crossover, between the woofer and regular panel, they are the same kind of drivers, which maintains the timbral quality of the speaker, giving the CLX such great coherence.
I've owned plenty of Magnepans (still have MG-12's) but have never been a fan for this reason. And they won't play anywhere near as loud and clean as the ML's.
If you just listen to female vocals and chamber music, singer/songwriter stuff that never gets too loud, the Quads with the right tube amp will take you to a very magical place indeed. However, I feel that I can get 95% of that magic with the CLX and have the benefit of the extra resolution and dynamics. So, for my room, system and music collection the Quads won't work for me. Same thing with the Magnepans. I just listen to too much rock music and enjoy cranking it up now and then, that I'm never happy with that speaker.
Personally, I always liked my Acoustat 2+2's and 1+1's, but they never had the resolution that the ML speakers have. But those 1+1's were killer in a small room with my ARC D-79!
As for the comparison with the Quad, that's easy. All of the new Quads
(much like the generation before them) go down a touch deeper without
a sub than the CLX does. They are also a bit more tube/low power friendly and have slightly more midrange warmth/magic whatever you want to call it.
However, where the quad really falls down is with dynamics. It just doesn't have the sheer punch that the CLX does.
Same with comparing to the magnepan 3.6 and 20.1. They go down a bit deeper in the low bass than the CLX, but they still both need subwoofers. However, breaking it up between the membrane (magneplanar) panel and the ribbon midrange and tweeter, you are introducing a three way crossover into the equation, which to me negates all of the advantage of the panel in the first place....
Even though the CLX has the crossover, between the woofer and regular panel, they are the same kind of drivers, which maintains the timbral quality of the speaker, giving the CLX such great coherence.
I've owned plenty of Magnepans (still have MG-12's) but have never been a fan for this reason. And they won't play anywhere near as loud and clean as the ML's.
If you just listen to female vocals and chamber music, singer/songwriter stuff that never gets too loud, the Quads with the right tube amp will take you to a very magical place indeed. However, I feel that I can get 95% of that magic with the CLX and have the benefit of the extra resolution and dynamics. So, for my room, system and music collection the Quads won't work for me. Same thing with the Magnepans. I just listen to too much rock music and enjoy cranking it up now and then, that I'm never happy with that speaker.
Personally, I always liked my Acoustat 2+2's and 1+1's, but they never had the resolution that the ML speakers have. But those 1+1's were killer in a small room with my ARC D-79!
RichTeer
Well-known member
Hmm, sounds like we have very similar tastes in music. My local ML dealer is also a Quad dealer, so if/when I get to that level of speaker investment, I'll be sure to try both!
Incidentally (and perhaps we should take this to PMs or (preferably) email), how does one go about becoming a contributor to Tone Audio?
tonepub
Senior Member
Honestly, at this point we are pretty much set, staff wise. I just added a guy from Nashville to cover country, alt-country and blues. Todd Rundgren's wife Michele is coming on board as a great connection in the music industry, so we are pretty set.
I think my flock has grown to about 25 freelancers and that's about all I can manage!
But thanks for asking.
RichTeer
Well-known member
OK, no worries!
User211
Well-known member
Being British, just curious which ones you rate?
tonepub
Senior Member
I have the current Harbeth Compact 7ES-3 in my living room system and love those. (Monitor 40.1's are on the way for review..) On my desktop, I have a pair of Stirling LS3/5a's powered by an all Nagra system with a ML Grotto i sub.
Also have had my share of ProAc's over the years with excellent results.
I like the big Tannoy's but that doesn't qualify in the "mini monitor" category.
Really, I've been a big fan overall of the British hifi industry...
User211
Well-known member
You'd get on well with KK - he really likes the LS3/5A, Nagra and MLs.
