Vantage Vs. Ascent I

[mikaelhansen62]

Hello Everyone.

Have just upgraded from Ascent I to Vantage, and have got a big improvement in bass and i can play louder. Even though i find that the Vantage got some " weakness" compared to the Ascent's, special in the midrange where i find the vantage not as open and detailed as the Ascent.
Does anybody have the same experience?
The Vantage hos only been playing for aprx. 20 hours, does anybody know if the ESL panel need's to "break in"?

Thanks in advance

Mikael

 

[eknuds01]

Yup.

Give them some more time. Say 100 hrs, or so, before you really start to critically evaluate the speakers.

Erik

 

[David Matz]

Hello Everyone.

Have just upgraded from Ascent I to Vantage, and have got a big improvement in bass and i can play louder. Even though i find that the Vantage got some " weakness" compared to the Ascent's, special in the midrange where i find the vantage not as open and detailed as the Ascent.
Does anybody have the same experience?
The Vantage hos only been playing for aprx. 20 hours, does anybody know if the ESL panel need's to "break in"?

Thanks in advance

Mikael

I agree with your observation about the bass, but the Vantage midrange is much better and much faster. Furthermore, the integration of the panel and the bass is unbelievably good.

If you lack the patience to break them in, there are cd's for sale that speed up the process @ musicdirect.com.

Also, what amp are you using?

 

[Rich]

It is not just the panel that has to break in, but the woofers. You will find that your bass and your lower midrange both get better after the woofers break in. I own the Summits and the original Ascents, and I think the Summits are better in absolutely every respect. I would expect the same is true of the Vantages.

 

[ralflar]

After 20 hours my Vantages sounded OK but not great. (I had upgraded from Aeon-i.) After 30-40 hours they became even worse. The bass was fine at that point but the panel... During that time I played them only while I was in another room.

After 60-80 hours the Vantages began to develop the ML magic. Somewhere between 80 and 120 hours I realized that harshness and constrictions had disappeared. Everything I had liked so much about the Aeons was back, and multiplied.

So, give your pair at least another 40 hours.

 

[mikaelhansen62]

I agree with your observation about the bass, but the Vantage midrange is much better and much faster. Furthermore, the integration of the panel and the bass is unbelievably good.

If you lack the patience to break them in, there are cd's for sale that speed up the process @ musicdirect.com.

Also, what amp are you using?

Hi David
Thank's for the reply,- i seems that i need to be patience before they "sing"
I'm using Ayre AX-7e amp.
regards
Mikael

 

[asindc]

I also upgraded to Vantages from Ascent-i, and I will echo what everyone has said so far. After about 80-100 hours in my system, the Vantages began to sing. You will hear the difference...

 

[Craig]

Even the Summits sound a little on the dull side until after a lengthy break in period. However, the Ascents and Odysseys do have some nice qualities in the mids and highs that are different that the Vantages and Summits. But the newer speakers are better balanced from top to bottom.

 

[Neil H]

My experience with Summit break in agrees with what everyone else has said. My Summit's never sounded bad to me but they certainly came alive after about 100 hours (it took me 2 months to get to this). Everything from top to bottom now seems to work together.

 

[twich54]

The Vantage hos only been playing for aprx. 20 hours, does anybody know if the ESL panel need's to "break in"?

the ESL panel "breaks-in" ahead of the bass driver. So while your ESL panel will be fine in the next twenty hours or so it won't be untill hour 80-100 that the whole package "comes together". At least that was my basic feeling / impression.

 

[ralflar]

Interesting. For me it was the other way around; the panels needed longer.

 

[twich54]

Interesting. For me it was the other way around; the panels needed longer.

As explained to me, and I concur, there is nothing "electro-mechanical" within the panel to justify a long extended 'break-in', purely the mind getting used to it effect.

 

[bigtickets]

It has been my impression that the stators "break-in" relatively quickly compared to the aluminum woofers. If you bring them up to speed slowly at first, (ie don't rock the house right out of the box) then the process seems to go a little faster. The polymer in the woofer surrounds needs the most amount of time to really loosen up and become more flexible which in turn allows the speaker to speed up. You will notice that the mid-bass becomes much better.