Speaker Preferences?

J,

You're meaning to tell me that Tweeter knows how to setup the Summit better than a Summit owner who has spent the last year tweaking the system?

You're telling me that Magnolia is better at setting up MLs when all they do is pile them against the wall along with 5 other speaker pairs?

Come on now, MLs arent sold like your Wilsons where the dealer gets a huge amount of setup training. ML dealers do not go to the buyer's house to set up the speakers, unlike Wilson speakers so that's out of the question.

Bottomline, you can't reliably measure the performance of ML speakers from a dealer's demonstration... they are very finicky, right down to the last component. They can sound utterly dull.. or amazingly superb.

"Those seem like even greater reasons to stay away from that speaker line to me..."

Why? Because of the setup? Set it up right and they sound fantastic, to me atleast. Set them up wrong and they sound lackluster. You of all people should know that by now, imagine how much you spent in your room and the effort that goes into "voicing" your WP8s in your room by the dealer and by you. You didn't just plop them there did you?

Much like the Wilsons or any other hi-end brand. If you set it up wrong, there goes the stage, there goes the timbre, there goes the imaging....

If a speaker's finicky positioning scares you, then don't get it. There's a lot of other brands out there.

at the risk of being labelled an elitist, why is speaker selection so critical if recordings feature mainly amplified instruments ?

i can understand why someone would be concerned about speaker selection if most recordings contained acoustic instruments.

although i own recordings which feature electric keyboards, ppercussion and string instruments, i bass my evaluation of speakers using recordings in which i can evaluate timbre.

what is the reference for an electric guitar, unless you happen to own the electric guitar played on a recording ?

what is the reference for an electric guitar, unless you happen to own the electric guitar played on a recording

Weeell, just because you mentioned the guitar (presumably, as an example), there is some sonic signature re, different brands of guitar & players... In the same vein, what's the sonic signature of a drum sequence and synthi bass???

Hey. I just replaced ML Requests with Aerial 9's.

The MLs can have a really spectacular sound when they are firing on all cylinders. However, I spent 9 years fiddling with the placement and could never nail it, especially when I played a variety of styles of music (a placement that worked w/jazz did not work for Rock, etc) . My room is about the size of yours (15x 22) and I just think they need a much bigger room. I also don't think they are a good rock speaker and don't sound particularly good at high volumes (incredible, however, at low voloumes).

I was nervous about replacing the MLs, but I am glad I did. After listening to newer MLs, Dynaudio, Revel, B&W, Wilson, I got the Aerials. I could not be happier. They work perfectly in my medium size room. Huge soundstage, great imaging, very neutral. Most importantly for me, they sound good with all kinds of music and sound good at both low and high volumes.

The 9s are a little out of your stated price range, but can presently be had on Gon for $5800. Highly recommended and worth a listen along with the others you mentioned.