Martin Logan Vantage vs. Summit / Summit X / Montis


We have a small house and the listening area is 12x20' (which includes a dining table at one end). Speakers on the short wall, 5' out from wall, 6' apart, 2' from sidewall, listening position at 8'. Due to the layout of the house (and WAF), this is not going to change more than a foot or so.

System is ML Vantage, (2) Velodyne DD-15s, Audio Research LS17/VT-100mkii. Recently acquired a Mark Levinson 331 in a trade, but plan to sell it. I started thinking about getting speakers with a better bottom end and sell one or both subs to make more room/less clutter.

I've been considering replacing the Vantages with Summit/Summit X/Montis.

1.) I know this will help with the bottom end, but will it allow for elimination of both subs? one? 

2.) Will these panels be a dramatic change in quality in mid-bass and higher? Or just another "step up"? I'm assuming the larger speakers have the same sound signature?

3.) Also had thoughts of trying Wilson Watt Puppys in the same price range ($5-6k). I've owned almost exclusively panel speakers (Apogee, Soundlab, Magnepan) over the past 30 years. I listen to a very wide variety of music and understand the different nature of these compared to traditional driver configurations. Owned Aerial 10T for six months and was not so impressed with Krell amps, but the VT-100mkii sounded awesome. Ultimately I moved on to the Vantage and have been content for four years. Classical Indian, acoustical blues, jazz vocal, are quite pleasing on this system, but I sometimes yearn for more slam when playing, oh for instance, Led Zeppelin. Maybe the larger ML will help lessen this craving?!


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Forgot all about MLO site. Thanks, will post there. 

I live in a populated area, but most often buy equipment without listening. Fortunately, most audiophiles tend to be honest (in my experience over 40 years).

ML Summit owner here. This is my "big" system in a larger room than yours with high ceilings and it fills the space beautifully,including excellent bass.

Even with 200 watts of Class D amps per speaker to power the two 10"  bass drivers, they still like lots of power. The best bass I ever experienced with them was with a Bryston 14B-SST2 amp, yes 600 watts/ch. Interesting ML specs the Summits with a 20-600 watts/ch rating.

I found the SST2 series of Bryston amps were too analytical for my tastes,so I now happily use a Moscode 402Au at 200 watt/ch. Not the same bass slam as the Bryston but still plenty for my taste.

This is my somewhat long winded way of saying yes, a Summit/Summit X would give you excellent bass and obviate the need for subs. And, the best WAF. :)