Summit X

sound revellation
1st pardon my spelling. 2nd this is long but I need to explain. I've been a music lover since the age of 4. I am now 71. As you can assume I started life with the magic of tubes there was no solid state to be found. In 1954 my mother bought a tube zenith console consisting of a radio and record player. monaural. when I played that sucker I couldn't keep my feet still. It lasted about 7 years until and it made the long journey. Being a blue caller worker I could never afford the good stuff. over the years I had variety of RCA, NAD, carver, and Denon all pretty good stuff but nothing magical. Remember the pallet forgets. A couple of weeks ago I took my wife shopping at Mace's while I went my way to BestBuy to browse. I walked by a music display not paying any attention to it until I past it. I said to myself holy crap went back to the display to a pair op martin Logan 15A. Remember the pallet never forgets. But at 15 grand they were way out of my league. The sales lady said she had a pair of last years summit x's. listening to them I was sold. after 67 years I'm a very happy guy.

Quality at a low cost.
Have been using Summit X for more than 12 months and I am still amazed by the pleasure I extract from EVERY listening session. Even powered by an old 50W Rotel 840BX2 all you get is music. Krell 700cx is brilliant to awesome but huge power is not a requirement for enjoyment just improves imaging depth and stability. Has become the item of desire for all my friends and visitors. Thanks Martin Logan for an outstanding product I cannot live without.

25 year wait
I have been heavilly mucking around with audio since I was a teenager in the late 1970's. I was absolutely obsessed with audio purity, and in the age of LPs I was NEVER satisfied. In the early 90s I heard a pair of Martin Logans and my audio life was transformed. Their transparency was amazing. I had never heard anything like them. Unfortunately, at the time, they were out of my reach financially. Almost a quarter century later I finally puchased my dream speakers - the Summit X. While they are not broken in yet, they are so very sweet. I really cannot convey how demanding I am audiologically in this note, but you will have to trust me on this one point - from one of the fussiest recorded music listeners on the planet, these speakers were soooo worth the 24 year wait!

Tiny Dynamine
It has taken me well over a year to find a pair of speakers my ears and heart felt passionate about. I listened to the likes of B&W, Focal, Steinway, Dynaudio, Kef, McIntosh XRT1K and XR100 [Note: McIntosh speakers shockingly disappointing performance - frankly, both are an abomination of a speaker] and many others...very many others. None of them aroused my ears. That is [wait for it] until I listened to the Martin Logan Summit X electrostatic speakers. Within minutes of listening to these babies - I knew I had found THE PERFECT SET OF SPEAKERS. Without hesitation, I purchased them immediately. The Summit X speakers performance are hypnotic, will awaken you and are breath taking. I really can not come up with any adequate adjectives to describe the perfection of these speakers. I can say this, though, I am now hearing, for example; sound depth in vinyl records that I have never heard before. Their that good. I was completely unaware that my old vinyl from the late 70s through present had anything new to share with me. With these new speakers, I now get the chance to play all my vinyl as if they were a purchased for the very first time. What thrill to listen to these records again with the same thrill as the day I peeled the cellophane wrap from their protective sleeves. The Summit X speakers are in a league of their own and well underpriced given the competition. In fact, a bargain! Thank you Martin Logan for making it safe and fun to listen to music with both passion and excitement. Wow! GEAR: McIntosh Amplifier MC2301 [Pair] McIntosh Preamplifier C2500 McIntosh CD Player MCD550 McIntosh Turntable MT10 McIntosh Room Correction MEN220 OPPO Blue-Ray Player BDP 105D Furman Power Conditioner P-2400 IT Martin Logan Reserve ESL Series Summit X [Pair] Astell & Kern DAC AK240 Klaudio Ultrasonic vinyl cleaner Sound Anchors: Amp and Equipment stands

Perfect System
I would just like to comment on how happy I'm with my stereo only system that was recently completed about 1 year ago. The system consists of a pair each of Summit X speakers and Descent i subs with the source being a McIntosh MCD 500 SACD/CD player connected directed to a McIntosh Amp (no preamp - the KISS principle). In addition to the CD player this system also has an addition source from a Sonos connect. (See picture attachment - it only shows one sub the other is 90 degrees along the wall on the right about 10' from the front wall.) I have always been interested in music listening but until recently have not had the ability to move up to the level of equipment nor the separate room to house it. I first heard these speakers by accident in a store a couple of years ago and from that time on could not get the high quality sound I heard out of my head. I compared what I heard to traditional box speakers of widely varying price points and the auditions confirmed at least to me that the Summit X's were superior by far - actually no contest. This is my first experience with electrostatic speakers but once I heard them the "boxes" although good just fell short. Once I was convinced that these were the speakers for me I proceeded to put a system together around them that not only complemented them but extracted ever last nuance from a source. I find myself excited to just pop in a SACD/CD and just kick back to unwind from a day of work - it's just so relaxing. Just sitting there and marveling at the wide sound stage, quality sound and how invisible they are never gets tiring. I'm also the type of person that likes innovation and cutting edge technology. These Summit X's certainly are futuristic, compact and a good conversation topic for uninformed visitors or audiophile visitors for that matter. I just can't say enough about these speakers and how impressive they sound in my listening room. I wanted a music only room no video, games or cable just great music being played very realistically as I enjoy a quality single malt scotch!

Dream Answered
I'm a musician. I love live music. I've spent my entire life, give or take 40 years, in search of the ultimate audio speakers that would provide me with a listening experience that would truly approach a live performance. I recently purchased a pair of Summitt X speakers. Alas, my dream has been fulfilled. These are actually better than a live performance. It's like sitting in a recording studio and listening to playback on a set of cans. Flawless, incredible annunciation, phenomenal...almost surreal quality. Thanks to Martin Logan...my dreams FINALLY came to life.

High end & affordable!
I've listened to these speakers with some reputable reference systems behind them & also some of the little gems that are out there that people have the novelty & privilege of putting together to call their own, not once have I been disappointed with these speakers. I am a 2 channel audiophile & they are the only speakers in the system, they are all that I need to listen to the music that I have. These are the first ESL speakers that I've owned & all I can think of is goodbye to the conventional boxes! Yes!!! It is so refreshing to be able to tune these speakers in the way of placement, they truly are a marvel at what can be done with a small movement here or there, saves on buying cables in search of the elusive synergy to the room acoustics. Walking into a room with the ML Summit X's playing & I quite often get that same feeling of walking into an intimate club gathering for a live performance & that realisation as you enter the room that the artist & the sound is really good, you are just so pleased to be in the surrounds & life is good.

Summit X
Just purchased these speakers, and as they aren't broken in I can't comment on my own pair yet. However, the experience I had at "Digital Ear" in LA when making the purchase was an experience to share -- I am a classical musician and therefore I am always haunting for the 'real' experience. I don't need the sound to be loud, beautiful or bassy, I just need it to be 'real' and very very THERE. If you think the musician is in your room, and if you can hear just everything without fatigue, that's my speaker. I was able to hear the Martin Logan Summit X's next to a Focal / Burmester system (I guess the employee said it was worth over 1/4th million USD, which would comply with what I know about the component's price tags), and BOY did the Summit Xs outperform this eight times more expensive system! If you're up for heavy metal, don't go for the Summit X. If you want the air miraculously filled with music, if you want to be able to _count_ the number of violins in the NY Philharmonics, if you want to listen to musicians and not devices, these are the best speakers I've ever heard. Nils

Finally I can enjoy my multichannel SACDs
Finally bit the bullet of obtaining 6 matched Martin Logan speakers (Summit X L/R; Stage center, Vantage SL/SR, Descent i LFE) driven by an Arcam 888/777 combo. Finally I can enjoy my collection of classical SACDs in multichannel mode. They used to sound better in Stereo than multichannel with my old system; but with this new setup the multichannel actually sounds better than the Stereo track; less distortion in high-energy violin episodes; more fullness in the orchestral experience. I have programmed the Arcam to also exploit the subwoofer in Stereo mode, this is certainly beneficial for the organ pedal on my CDs. Of course the Cinema experience is awesome, and I no longer notice a change in sound coloring when an actor walks from left to right. I do still miss some control/consistency in the lower (not lowest) frequency but have not done 80 hours playing yet so may report on that later.