I want to upgrade to Martin Logan 60XT

lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
I would never buy B&W, they stuck a penis on top of there speakers. I did listen to the 700's tho, they sound pretty good.
LOL never heard them described that way! While there are acoustic reasons, they do look odd.
 
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chrysler82000

Full Audioholic
have you had an opportunity to listen to any of the electrostatic Martin Logans ? I know your listening space is not presently configured to use them but if you changed things around ............
yeah I listened to the mega huge electrostatic 7 feet tall or somethin like that, I think they were $20k at best buy magnolia. No wow factor. There ugly. I'm holding out for the paradigm 7f. They were impressive
 
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chrysler82000

Full Audioholic
LOL never heard them described that way! While there are acoustic reasons, they do look odd.
Yeah I get it and Adam Best Buy associate explaned it to me. My suggestion was why didn't B&W just make the tower a bit taller and put a hole in it. That's what the penis was made for
 
Mikado463

Mikado463

Audioholic Spartan
yeah I listened to the mega huge electrostatic 7 feet tall or somethin like that, I think they were $20k at best buy magnolia. No wow factor. There ugly. I'm holding out for the paradigm 7f. They were impressive
Those would have been the 15a's, the fact that you listened to them @ Magnolia explains in spades why there was no 'wow' factor. If you ever have the opportunity to audition them in and under the correct environment I suspect you'd 'sing a different' tune ! I could never understand why Logan put their flagship speakers in Magnolia ......
 
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chrysler82000

Full Audioholic
Agree. I just think for the cost now, discounted ML Motion 60XTs became a reasonable option. At full retail price, not so much.
But the caveat is that OP has not actually heard many speakers and is living on YouTube reviews, it seems.

Watching Youthman can only take you so far, I'm afraid.
After driving store to store to store today. You're right. My basement will be a dedicated theater room and my living room will be dedicated sound. I demo'd the paradigm 7F, OUTSTANDING!!! Yeah they retail at $25K but they are on sale for $17k. My room is not big enough to take advantage of all the 7F can do, so, paradigm 5f more my speed. They retail at $12k, on sale for $8500. What else can I get for $7k to $8k? ^)XTI's were did not impress me in the least. Nor did anything in that price range. I want WOW. I'll own them for 20 years then I'll be dead
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
only 2 options, I have it at 1.4
That's the sensitivity level. Where are the gain knobs positioned, or more interestingly, how did you determine their setting?

What about dynamic volume? Why use it?
 
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chrysler82000

Full Audioholic
That's the sensitivity level. Where are the gain knobs positioned, or more interestingly, how did you determine their setting?

What about dynamic volume? Why use it?
I turned it all the way up. I can use the Marantz volume control to make any volume adjustments from there. I use it to get the most volume available.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
I turned it all the way up. I can use the Marantz volume control to make any volume adjustments from there. I use it to get the most volume available.
You are likely fine with the gain all the way up, but it really doesn't get you any more volume once you calibrate the system. You just want sufficient gain on the amp to get full use of it but without clipping, but the higher you set it the higher the noise is, too.

The dynamic volume isn't for most volume available if that's what that last bit answers, it limits it, it's a dynamic compression routine.
 
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chrysler82000

Full Audioholic
You are likely fine with the gain all the way up, but it really doesn't get you any more volume once you calibrate the system. You just want sufficient gain on the amp to get full use of it but without clipping, but the higher you set it the higher the noise is, too.

The dynamic volume isn't for most volume available if that's what that last bit answers, it limits it, it's a dynamic compression routine.
Really? ugh...grrrr...crap. I've ran audyssey 3 times today. Moving stuff around. I'll try it your way, thx
 
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chrysler82000

Full Audioholic
Really? ugh...grrrr...crap. I've ran audyssey 3 times today. Moving stuff around. I'll try it your way, thx
I went shopping today for a new system I want to put together, , something more simple strictly music but just as expensive. Sound is subjective but I am hooked on paradigm persona 5f. There on sale $8500/pair. What else is there to look at in this price range? $3000 Martin Logan, SVS, Klipsch, B&W, Canton are nice but no WOW. I'm looking for the WOW factor
 
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chrysler82000

Full Audioholic
If you're not clipping I wouldn't worry about it much. Do you ever see the clipping light come on?
This is embarrassing. Yes the lights do come on occasionally. Never more than two lights. I played around for hours and hours yesterday. Later in the afternoon I did some speaker shopping yesterday and had an opportunity to step into a home theater environment other than my own, the best buy magnolia store, ABT and Simply Stereo down the street from me. Best Buy is Best Buy, ABT just another retail store how good is it gonna sound. But Simply stereo had a pretty sweet set up. My dad and I were in that store for hours we both agree, mine is better :) . I didn't catch everything they were running. They were running a really sweet paradigm center, paradigm subs, paradigm towers and I saw an Anthem in the corner.

We sat down in this theatre room after we had already spent 90 mins in awe listening to the Paradigm 7F. OMG, these thing's were Impressive. They were running them on a $5000 100 watt tube amp, and sob I can't remember the name of that amp. It was really pretty. There was no cover or anything on it. Just a bunch of tubes with some really fancy machined heat sinks. For $30k retail, on sale for $20k blew away Best Buy. They had a $70K Mcintosh/B&W system they fired up for us.

I was not the least bit impressed with the ML60XTI's or 60XT's. Or the Premium SVS, Or the Klipsch 8060's or the B&W 700 series. All of these speakers sound nice. But not even close to a Wow. I would say these speakers at this price range would be great starter speakers for the person with a slightly larger budget. Particularly what I had budgeted for. But I have two stereo set ups and to spend $2k-$4k for a little better. Not worth it

I have concluded: I can clean up some of the mistakes I made in my theatre room and do the tweaking you all are suggesting. I'm pretty close, I did quite a bit yesterday. And as ryan was saying he said it more than once, "why not just make a system strictly for music?" He's right on. My budget just tripled and that's what I'm gonna work on. No way I will get the 7f's. They were BIG and carry enough sound to fill a 2000 squ ft room. I have a 200 squ ft room. I want to take a listen to the paradigm 3f and 5f. Any suggestion from any of you would be greatly appreciated. My budget went from $3200 to $9000 for 2 speakers.
 
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chrysler82000

Full Audioholic
Those would have been the 15a's, the fact that you listened to them @ Magnolia explains in spades why there was no 'wow' factor. If you ever have the opportunity to audition them in and under the correct environment I suspect you'd 'sing a different' tune ! I could never understand why Logan put their flagship speakers in Magnolia ......
Sorry if my opinion was short and maybe a bit harsh. I was beat tired and a bit crabby. Mom asked me to get dad out of the house. Dad is someone you can spend a couple hours with, but he and I hung out for about 11 hours. He never shuts up and he drinks all my booz. When I say he don't shut up, I mean it. There is NEVER more than 3 seconds of dead air with him. I live alone, I have some great conversations with me.

My impressions of the electrostatic: Well the first thing you do is look at them, then you get to listen to them. So my first impression is they look like a bug lamp or an air filter. They have a unique acquired sound to them. The technology is pretty amazing and that sound they produce really carries. They have a lot of range, but they are completely dimensional, they only fire in front of you. And yes, all speakers are best pointed at you. These are just different in that way. You stand behind them and you don't hear anything. The closer you get to them off to the sides you lose all sound. When your spending gobs of money aesthetics is just as important to what you hear. The wow factor I get from them is the technology, but something I could or would ever consider purchasing. I look at my speakers in my home as a piece of great sounding furniture. I didn't get that good looking feel with the electrostatic. Everyone has an opinion, that's mine.
 
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chrysler82000

Full Audioholic
Klipsch has been doing this for quite some time and you're exactly right...they do have their own sound identity, they probably make their own drivers and we obviously know they are famous for their horn tweeters.

I've been a B&W 804m series owner for over 20 yrs...for the 1st 15 yrs or so it was strictly a 2 ch system. As I was thinking about transitioning to a new system, naturally I wanted to hear the new B&Ws and that was probably the 1st time I heard the term "warm" associated with B&W speakers. Truthfully, to me warm was the norm...I didn't really know what it meant. I just knew that I liked it.

Then I started demoing speakers noted to be neutral and in comparison with my speakers I started to pick up on the differences.

I still like B&W 800 series but I'm glad the D3 series was way out of my price range. I understand you don't have the option of demoing many speakers which makes this much more difficult, but I bought my Salks without hearing the exact model I ended up with, but I was so impressed with the 2 way Salk I had heard, the reputation, and feedback from Salk owners...I was sold.

I budgeted and saved for a year and a half before I bought anything and when I did start spending I was pretty much fully funded, it still took almost a year to complete the system.

Building new systems and upgrading can be addictive, but I think you know when you've finally hit the nail squarely on the head and your system more or less gets out of the way and let the music/movie content flow as the people that created it intended...that was my goal, and I feel like I've attained it...from this point forward I expect some tweaks here and there.

Jim Salk said with your subs, you could probably spend double the money and not really improve your SQ...To put that to the test, I've gone out and listened to some heavy weight speakers (B&W 803d3 - $15k, Paradigm Persona 3F - $10k, notably). To date, he's been correct 2.0 to 2.0 those speakers have more low end, higher SPL, but 2.0 to 2.1...I'm content. Music is my passion, I'm not a big enough movie guy to chase the "next" surround mode whatever it may be.

Said that to say...by all means don't rush it. Wish you the best with it.
"next" surround mode

It's Imax Enhanced....lol... :)
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
This is embarrassing. Yes the lights do come on occasionally. Never more than two lights.
I'd set the gain so that the clipping light only comes very briefly on in the loudest thing you play (or so that doesn't even happen). The first light that comes on is a signal sensor, followed by -20 dB, -10 dB, clipping then thermal compression (so adjust to the clipping light).

As to speakers in that price range I'd look at Salk. They're internet direct but if you contact Salk (and Jim Salk is well known for being very helpful in making suggestions for your goals, too), they do maintain a list of people who are willing to demo, hopefully one not too far from you. Or go here per suggestion of @everettT https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?board=82.0. Several folk here can attest to the speakers (I can't, but if I bought another pair they'd be my first thought).
 
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chrysler82000

Full Audioholic
I'd set the gain so that the clipping light only comes very briefly on in the loudest thing you play (or so that doesn't even happen). The first light that comes on is a signal sensor, followed by -20 dB, -10 dB, clipping then thermal compression (so adjust to the clipping light).

As to speakers in that price range I'd look at Salk. They're internet direct but if you contact Salk (and Jim Salk is well known for being very helpful in making suggestions for your goals, too), they do maintain a list of people who are willing to demo, hopefully one not too far from you. Or go here per suggestion of @everettT https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?board=82.0. Several folk here can attest to the speakers (I can't, but if I bought another pair they'd be my first thought).
thanks I'll look into salk. In the meantime tomorrow evening I have an opportunity to listen to a pre-owned pair of Revel Salon 2. They were traded in for the Paradigm 9H. I'm going to bring with me my humble 22 year old Rotel RB981 as my power source and listen to some Iron Maiden, Black sabbath, Queensrych. ;-)
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
thanks I'll look into salk. In the meantime tomorrow evening I have an opportunity to listen to a pre-owned pair of Revel Salon 2. They were traded in for the Paradigm 9H. I'm going to bring with me my humble 22 year old Rotel RB981 as my power source and listen to some Iron Maiden, Black sabbath, Queensrych. ;-)
Those are very nice speakers!
 
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