JMP... Actually yes, I finally do have an update! The Summits have been "cooking" for over a week via a tuner signal. I've listened to the Summit/X350.5 combination every night during this time for about an hour. I have not experimented with placement only because the area Martin-Logan rep volunteered to come by and help me with setup (how's THAT for service? - and that's not the only time that the ML people have provided great customer service).
I have precious little (make that NO) experience in penning audio critique so don't expect much from this article. Also, bare in mind the following: my previous setup were Prodigys with the JC-1s. The current setup is Summits with the X350.5. So the JC-1s were never available to use with the Summits, nor was the X350.5 available to use with the Prodigys.
All that having been said, I am really happy with the combination. I am a big fan of Martin Logans (having owned ESL's, ribbons, planars all my audio life) and I think that my ear is just used to their "sound." The Summits take the Prodigy sound and make it ... well, more "refined." It's a quality that I can't quite put my finger on (yet) but for me the Summits do disappear and the music sounds quite natural. I'm not saying that that wasn't the case with the Prodigys but on certain things the Prodigys produced fireworks and had more of a "look at what I can do" characteristic than just reproducing music. One impressive thing is how incredibly efficient the Summits appear to be: with minimal gain the speakers can fill my cavernous loft.
How much of this, though, is due to the amp? It's hard to say because living with the X350.5 really makes me appreciate the JC-1s: I think that they two amps are quite even in many respects. Or perhaps its that the X350.5 is called upon to power just the stator panels of the Summits whereas the JC-1s had to do alot of work with the Prodigys. My untrained ear can detect no solid state "grain" or harshness with the X350.5 (or with the JC-1s).
The amp exhibits no effort in powering the speakers but my PS Audio P500 gives me notice when the ICE amps start working inside the Summits. The X350.5 was purchased used and is broken-in so I think what I don't expect the sound to change.
I think that too many critical variables were changed from one setup to another to make a comparison worthwhile. In isolation, though, I think that the Summit/X350.5 combination is exceptional. Not to take food out of Mr. Pass's mouth but I would suspect that the Summits could easily be powered by the X250.5.
One thing, though, that I can confirm about the Summits is that it will take three people a few hours of patient listening and medium-lifting to get these speakers to sound their absolute best. It's not rocket science, nor do you have to lease time on a supercomputer to model your room's acoustics. Rather, it takes a bit longer than the Prodigys and it is a good idea to have more than two people to perform the task.
I hope this helped.
