A wonderful afternoon with the Summit X and Q5

[ack]

I started narrowing down my choices for new speakers, and spent today listening to these two speakers side by side, with my own Spectral electronics, this time properly set up, and with no crowds in the room (as was the case with the Q5s in my initial exposure). This was my second exposure to either.

Overall impressions:

The [slightly modified/upgraded] Q5 I heard today is a fantastic speaker to these ears. The sense of space is uncanny, as is the level of transparency. There is nothing wrong with its bass from this vantage point - it's full, fast and very deep. But I still haven't heard kickdrum reproduced correctly - it's probably the very large room. I played symphonic music, and it performed stupendously. Piano through these speakers is something I would give a standing ovation to. I don't agree with Fremer that it's a speaker for acoustic music only. From the few speakers I have heard so far, THIS is the one I would rather own, and thankfully I can't spend that kinda money.

My first exposure to the Summit X was lukewarm, and the smallish room back then had probably something to do with it. Today, they were set up correctly, alongside the Q5's, and I was really impressed; although the Q5's clearly outperformed them in the sense of space and midrange clarity, the price differential speaks for itself. However, they are so good and so much more affordable that they are my front-runner at the moment. Believe it or not, I actually thought the bass from the X's was more controlled than the Q5's, with the typical Reference Recordings bass drum; or at least, I liked it better. Overall, a fun speaker, and I have a clear-aluminum/wenge version on my radar, which I think looks stunning. I also like the fact that one can tune and customize the tonal balance by playing with the tilt angle. Being able to A/B them with the Q5's was a blessing in assessing how close the X's come to the Q5's...

Overall, I thought both speakers were very musical, with obviously the Q5 more so... anyone selling theirs???

 

[MylesBAstor]

I started narrowing down my choices for new speakers, and spent today listening to these two speakers side by side, with my own Spectral electronics, this time properly set up, and with no crowds in the room (as was the case with the Q5s in my initial exposure). This was my second exposure to either.

Overall impressions:

The [slightly modified/upgraded] Q5 I heard today is a fantastic speaker to these ears. The sense of space is uncanny, as is the level of transparency. There is nothing wrong with its bass from this vantage point - it's full, fast and very deep. But I still haven't heard kickdrum reproduced correctly - it's probably the very large room. I played symphonic music, and it performed stupendously. Piano through these speakers is something I would give a standing ovation to. I don't agree with Fremer that it's a speaker for acoustic music only. From the few speakers I have heard so far, THIS is the one I would rather own, and thankfully I can't spend that kinda money.

My first exposure to the Summit X was lukewarm, and the smallish room back then had probably something to do with it. Today, they were set up correctly, alongside the Q5's, and I was really impressed; although the Q5's clearly outperformed them in the sense of space and midrange clarity, the price differential speaks for itself. However, they are so good and so much more affordable that they are my front-runner at the moment. Believe it or not, I actually thought the bass from the X's was more controlled than the Q5's, with the typical Reference Recordings bass drum; or at least, I liked it better. Overall, a fun speaker, and I have a clear-aluminum/wenge version on my radar, which I think looks stunning. I also like the fact that one can tune and customize the tonal balance by playing with the tilt angle. Being able to A/B them with the Q5's was a blessing in assessing how close the X's come to the Q5's...

Overall, I thought both speakers were very musical, with obviously the Q5 more so... anyone selling theirs???

I'd be careful about even drawing any conclusions about the Summits yet Even though they were set up alongside the Magicos, that doesn't mean that both speakers sound the best in the same position in the room. Part of this reaction is based on your statement about the midrange I think the midrange is better than you give them credit for and properly set up should be much better than you heard.That midrange just resolves more info than most other speakers. Once you've head it, despite the ML drawbacks, there's no going back.

Also, the ML are ruthlessly revealing of everything upstream; the better the components, the better they sound.

 

[Husk]

Ack ,It will be interesting to get opinions as to how close the new Q3 at 34K are to the Q5.

 

[Mobiusman]

Ack,

I do not own the Summit X's, but have had my eye on them since they came out. I have however, owned 4 different pairs of ML's and have intimate exposure with at least another 4 pairs that my friends have owned. I agree with Myles, in that one needs to be patient with these speakers, especially in their midrange. My experience is that they can easily take 2-4 weeks of daily workouts before they stabilize, and clearly 3 days of fairly regular play time before they will even sound good/acceptable.

I somewhat cringed when I read that you had them set up alongside the Magico's. My experience is that they need room to breath on all sides and would do much better not having a bunch of passive drivers to absorb different frequencies. I agree with Myles, that position is critical with ML's, perhaps more than any other speaker I have heard. It is likely that if you do go with the ML's you will spend many hours moving them around until you find the right position. However, a word of advice, if you go with ML's set them up being REALLY critical about distance to your ears and angle (vertically and horizontally) and then leave them and play them for at least 5 days with essentially constant signal going through them before you attempt a detailed setup. The sound will change so much during that time that any further initial effort setting them up is essentially a waste of time.

I think that you find them more or less a match for the Q5's at this point somewhat remarkable and more than likely a hint of what amazing sound is yet to come. I hope that you will continue to post your findings. I expect to read some "I am blown away comments

 

[ack]

I somewhat cringed when I read that you had them set up alongside the Magico's. My experience is that they need room to breath on all sides and would do much better not having a bunch of passive drivers to absorb different frequencies.

Hehe... trust me, I am more meticulous than that, and I just hate writing long messages; basically I did audition them physically next to each as well as completely alone, set up optimally for each (according to the dealer, at least). And yes, next to each other didn't really work overall, except that I was really comparing very specific things in those cases...

Since I continue to own ML for the last 15 years, I am also familiar with setup issues, etc... Thanks.

 

[ack]

Ack ,It will be interesting to get opinions as to how close the new Q3 at 34K are to the Q5.

Yes I intend to wait till the Q3 comes out.