Martin Logan Summit and Classical music.........

The key to electrostats is a great tube amp (I just got a new McIntosh MC275 MkIV for my CLS's and it sounds even better than my Levinson 23.5) After that, all music sounds totally real.

Summits make using such a tube amp (as the Mac) easy since they provide the SS amp for the bass, so it's pre-biamped so to speak.

Add to that some really clean SS preamp and SS phono pre and you're in biz.
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If your dad likes dynamic impact and energy in classical, then the ML would be borderline -- so yes, it's worth auditioning.

I.e., did your dad LIKE your Innersound "ribbon" sound?

Absolutely would have him audition them, BUT, be forewarned their placement needs a fair bit of tweaking to get the most out of them... lots of breathing room (at least 3-4 ft from front wall and 2 ft from side walls), plus need to experiment with toe-in and front tilt/rake angle. With 400 watts of ice-powered woofers per side, the Summits are a new breed of ML. I mainly listen to acoustic and jazz, with some classical thrown in. Everything sounds FANTASTIC.

Thanks as always for the info!

As the owner of the very first set of "Monoliths" and the Clarity, I would give serious consideration to a set of used Quests. In my opinion they ar perhaps the best value ever produced by Martin Logan! They have a very wide and deep soundstage and excelent tight bass.

Summits are great with classical music.. great timber and great coherence. The beauty of the Summits is the fact that most of the fundamental frequencies and the remainder of the harmonic frequencies are all taken cared of by a single transducer.

Pair the Summits with a good tube preamp and a solid Class A amplifier/tube amp, position correctly, get a good source and you're on your way to world-class sound!

Absolutely recommend the Summits!!!

Joey

the ML Quest line (Quest, Quest z or reQuest) is a HUGE value on the used market. You'll have to have better amplification with these compared to the new MLs like the Summits, which have integrated class D amps for bass module, but when properly driven, the Quest series is awesome.. The panels are HUGE compared to the Summits and much more affordable.

If money is no object, Summits are OK too.. (ha! had to jab Joey V a little bit...)

Good Luck

Tom.
www.martinloganowners.com

I once heard a system of ML's smaller units , Accent I believe.with a CJ tube setup .
With classical music it was flat and dull. Though You may have better luck.

Hey all I see this thread got started back up....
Thanks for all replies but we went with the new Vandersteen Wood Quatro's wich were very impressive during an extensive demo. We heard the Sock Quatro's and there is supposed to be not only a huge upgrade in style but also improoved performance.
So anyway as always thanks for everything and wish us luck, my dad gets them installed next week I hope, and I will be out to his place to check them out and attend the NYC Stereo show in 2 weeks with a couple friends from Agon.

Chad,
Congrats on your Dad's new speakers! Vandys are great in my ears also.

Tom,
We love you Mr. Prez!