For a few years, MartinLogan’s Summit was their flagship speaker, and it received worldwide praise. At the beginning of 2009, MartinLogan combined what they’d learned building the new flagship CLX full-range electrostatic speaker system and the Spire hybrid to arrive at the Summit X. Just like the Summit, it features a pair of powered 10-inch woofers, one facing toward you and the other firing toward the floor.

Though it looks similar to the original, the Summit X is an entirely different product. MartinLogan’s Devin Zell tells me, “We scrapped the CAD drawings for Summit X. The panel is new, the woofers are new, and the crossover is new.” ML also adds cool light-blue lights that fire from underneath, giving the speakers a glowy feeling in your room.  “We just did that for fun,” Zell laughed on the phone as we discussed the added bling.

This may not be your bag if you prefer listening in complete darkness. But put me on the list of people who like it. I’d like it even more if they could only make them glow lime green to match the LEDs on my Naim and Burmester gear. One handy addition to the lighting is the added LED that lights up the 25 and 50hz settings on the woofer modules and works quite nicely. This makes fine adjustment on the speaker easier than it was with the standard Summit. And yes, you can shut it all off, which should keep all the mole men in the audience happy.

The Subtle and Not-So-Subtle Differences

For those of you not familiar with the MartinLogan product line, the Summit X has a rated frequency response of 24-23,000 Hz (+/- 3 db) comprised of an electrostatic panel mated to a pair of powered 10-inch aluminum coned woofers at a crossover frequency of 270hz. It also features a pair of bass level controls at 25 and 50Hz, making the Summit X easy to adapt to your room. The specs are identical to the original Summit it replaces on paper.

MartinLogan finished the production run of the Summit in 2008, and the Summit X became available in the spring of 2009. The Summit X carried a price increase of $3,000 over the Summit. Despite rumors that the Summit would be upgradeable to X status, this was not the case by the final release of the new speaker. Quite a few people at MartinLogan anguished over this, but by the time the design on the Summit X was finalized, there were too many physical changes in the new speaker to make the upgrade possible and cost effective for the customer as well as ML.

Where the last version of the Summit started at $10,995, the Summit X’s base price is $13,995.  As in the past, a wide range of custom finishes is available through the MartinLogan custom shop.

Straightforward setup with care

The enclosed manual with the Summit X helps you set them up in short order. Legacy MartinLogan owners probably don’t need much input from me, and many of you have your own theory on how you like your Logans set up. Personally, I like ’em as far away from the side walls as possible.

While this is not convenient for everyone, the further you can get these babies from the side wall, the greater reward in soundstage width. The Summit X worked much better on the short wall (16 feet) of my studio than my reference CLX’s, when on the long wall (24 feet).  With each speaker about seven feet from the side walls, they really opened up. If you can’t achieve this in your listening room, some modest room treatment just behind the panel and about two feet in front of the panel on the side wall helps tremendously.

Again, this is optional but well worth it if possible: get everything out from between your speakers. Because they radiate from the front and back, the stereo image really suffers with a big rack of gear and giant flat-screen TV between the Summit X—or any other panel speaker, for that matter.

The final listening position had the speakers just over nine feet apart, with the front surface of the panel 42 inches from the rear wall, slightly toed-in. This puts ear-to-speaker distance just shy of 10 feet. Consider purchasing at least a Radio Shack sound-level meter and a test tone disc to fully adjust the 25hz and 50hz controls on the back. Careful positioning will help smooth out the bass response of the Summit X giving you their maximum drive.

Identical to the last three MartinLogan Hybrid speakers I’ve used, the Summit X requires about 200-300 hours before sounding its best and achieving the maximum amount of integration between the dynamic woofers and the electrostatic panel. When you first fire them up out of the shipping cartons, the bass will sound somewhat slow and bloated, no matter where you have the woofer controls set. The biggest improvement will be in the first 100 hours, with incremental smoothness happening thereafter.

Not as sensitive to placement as the CLX, the Summit still benefits from careful adjustment. Once you have the speakers where you feel is the proper place, use your measuring devices of choice to get them identically placed from the rear wall in terms of toe-in and rake. If you can get each speaker within  one-quarter to one-half inch of the other, this will help the image size and focus. Thanks to longer spikes than the Summit, the Summit X offers a wider range of adjustment on the speaker rake, making them easier to adapt to your listening position. If you like your seating position further back, angle the speakers backwards more.  If you like to sit closer, you can now angle these speakers from 11 degrees to -1 degree.

The sound

All of the top-range MartinLogan electrostatic speakers share a similar sound; big, open, airy and very dynamic. As mentioned in the original Summit review, this is an electrostat on which you can play Metallica if you have enough clean amplifier power. They are not as dynamic as a pair of Wilson Maxx 3s or large horns, but the slice of musical heaven these speakers offer cannot be had by cone speakers.

The Summit X continues this tradition and improves on all of the Summit’s strengths with no downside (other than the increased price). Even though the frequency response specs are the same, this is a much improved speaker, primarily in the quality of the bass response and the integration of the cone drivers.

MartinLogan calls it “Controlled Dispersion PoweredForceTM Bass” (Say that ten times as fast as you can). You can read the full technical details on their website at:

http://www.us.martinlogan.com/speaker_details/summit_x.html

The bottom line: it works very well. While the Summit X comes up a bit short in comparison to the flagship CLX in terms of upper bass speed and articulation, it takes hybrid speaker design to a new plateau.

Regardless of music you like to listen to, the Summit X will deliver the goods. The main strength of the Summit X is that it throws a huge soundfield in all directions, giving the listener a very immersive experience.  This is the MartinLogan magic at its best. You will love them, or they will not be your cup of tea.

Thanks to that low 270Hz crossover point, the panel reproduces most of the music, and this coherency is what gives the Summit X its appeal. Male and female vocals are both reproduced exquisitely, and the speaker does an amazing job of disappearing in the room for its size.

When the low-frequency controls are properly adjusted, the Summit X has a substantial amount of deep, controlled bass that should satisfy 98 percent of its owners.  If you listen to a lot of pipe-organ music or club music with a lot of deep bass and the 24Hz cutoff of the Summit X is not enough, you can add one or two Descent i subwoofers. When adding the Descent i to the system and, letting the Summit Xs run full range and crossing over the Descent at 35Hz, I was getting solid, wall-shaking output when playing the 20Hz test tone on the Stereophile Test Disc.

The Burning questions

Analysis paralysis is setting in but people want answers. I’m going to put my head on the chopping block. The Summit X is definitely an improvement over the original Summit and definitely worth $3,000 more than the earlier model. Listening to them side by side in the same system, the X model does a better job at bass integration with the panel. Thanks to the dual woofers, it should not need a subwoofer except for all but the most demanding applications, or for heavy-duty home-theater systems.

Just like the Spire, the midrange in the Summit X is slightly less colored than that in the original Summit, though you don’t notice it until you hear both side by side. The Summit X also edges out the Summit in terms of low-level detail retrieval and microdynamics. Cymbals and percussion instruments fade out with longer gradations than they did before, and very dense musical pieces are unraveled more easily. Both versions can play equally loud without fatigue, so this is an evolutionary upgrade.

This builds on the strength of the original Summit – the Summit X is a highly resolving speaker that can be used to judge source components costing considerably more. While $13,995 is not a budget loudspeaker, the Summit X holds its own in a six-figure system.

Tubes or transistors?

The other big question with the Summit X is what to drive them with, and there is a fairly wide range of discussion on this topic.  Many people swear by “tubes and stats,” and I used to use my CLS’s with the legendary Audio Research D-79. But the current MartinLogan speakers dip to .7 ohms at 20khz, so if you have a tube power amplifier, audition with your amplifier before buying the Summit X, even if it means lugging your amp to your MartinLogan dealer.

The tube amplifiers with which I’ve achieved the best results with current MartinLogan speakers have been the BAT VK-55SE and PrimaLuna Dialog Monoblocks. Even though these are medium-powered amplifiers in the 50-60 watt per channel range, they offer low-output impedance taps, which improve the power transfer to these speakers. The Manley 250 monoblocks are another, albeit higher-powered amplifier that mates well with the MLs.

Mating tubes with the Summit X is a case-by-case situation. You’ll know when it’s wrong immediately. If your favorite tube amp doesn’t have the juice, the speakers that sounded great at the dealer will sound like they have blankets over them in your listening room. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Though these speakers have a fairly high sensitivity rating of 91db/1-watt, the more clean power you can throw at them, the better. The bigger amps offer more dynamic contrast.

A worthy successor

The Summit X is the Charles Barkley of loudspeakers. It plays better than it will probably ever get credit for and it would have been a superstar if Michael Jordan (the CLX) hadn’t come along at about the same time. But it’s still able to mop up everyone else on the court. Well, I can’t compare speakers to cars all the time, can I?

The good news is that the Summit X is about $10,000 less than the CLX, it has a lot more flexibility and it doesn’t require a pair of subwoofers to really give its all. It is a better value for all but the most demanding listener. The Summit was one of my favorite speakers of all time, and the new Summit X is even better. Properly setup with electronics to match, these speakers will paint a huge musical canvas for you to enjoy.

If you currently have the Summit, I’m guessing you will probably pass on the upgrade unless you can easily absorb the price difference. For those new to MartinLogan or trading up from further down the range, it is truly a fantastic speaker and a very worthy competitor in its price range.

About a decade ago, Audeze hit the scene with their original LCD-2 headphones that used planar magnetic technology. It was an instant success.

Up till then, the highest performance you could attain in the world of headphones was with electrostatic designs. These were bigger, bulkier, and above all much more costly, because they had to come with a power supply to keep those tiny ESL membranes charged. Just like a pair of Quads or MartinLogans.

While the Audeze phones are somewhat on the large side, they do manage to keep the weight down, and are always a comfy fit – even for long term listening sessions. The LCD-X here at TMR is a great buy at $899, with all the accessories and carrying case.

I still use a pair of Audeze LCD-2s and the LCD-X is a bit more resolving, yet still has that unmistakable clarity that comes with this brand. Also – they are extremely easy to drive, so whether you have an older iPad, a dCS LINA, or anything inbetween the LCD-X is a winner.

They provide a massive soundstage, delicate, defined highs, and extremely detailed bass. It’s almost like wearing a pair of Magnepans on your head! Well, that’s kinda what you are doing. This is an easy sound to get hooked on, whether you are a panel speaker fan or not.

Just click here to purchase.

Digging right in with the Caldera 12 and driving it down the rough road with a long playlist of Stanley Clark, Jaco Pastorius, and Tool tracks (but not “Chocolate Chip Trip,” because that is becoming the metal version of “Keith Don’t Go”) reveals it has what it takes to get the job done. 

Veri-Fi principal Mark Schifter has been in this industry for a long time, and he’s always had a handle on what’s really important. The casework on the Caldera 12 is nice but not elaborate (i.e., overly expensive). Functionality is simple, functional, and practical. There are no microprocessor controls, apps, or DSP. Packaging is simple but effective, and it only comes in one color, a tasteful rosewood veneer with black edgework.

The Caldera 12 demands that you take a little time to fiddle with the level controls and the crossover setting manually. The extra effort rewards you with much better audio performance than is usually possible at this price. The fact that all Vera-fi products are manufacturer-direct strips another level of margin from the MSRP.

This isn’t mind-blowing, game-changing, destroying of other things costing ten times as much. It’s math. Fewer people in the chain and on the payroll means savings to the consumer. It’s kind of like a golf handicap. So, to level the playing field, you’d have to compare the Caldera 12 to something from KEF, B & W, or the like in the $1,000 (or a bit more) range to make it fair. In that context, based on sonics, the Caldera more than delivers the goods.

Setup

At 20 x 20 x 20 inches and weighing in at 44 pounds, you may or may not need help moving your Caldera 12 around. The 12-inch driver utilizes a treated paper cone with a rubber surround, and VF claims a -3dB point of 22 Hz. The Caldera 12 is a slotted design, so you have a few more placement options than a ported sub. A 500-watt class-D amplifier keeps the bass rumbling, and in my listening tests, I could not bottom out the driver. Even with the opening heartbeat in Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of The Moon.” Running a series of test tones with the Caldera in my living room (in corner placement) confirms that 20 Hz tones are reproduced with authority.

As my living room is 13 x 18 feet, but it “sees” the adjoining kitchen, dining room, and hallway to the back of the house, it’s easy to integrate this sub with a number of the main speakers that I tried it with. Much fun as it was with a handful of mini-monitors from Vera-Fi, SVS, Dynaudio, and YG – it was more than fun (what is that?) with a pair of vintage Acoustat 1+1 ESL speakers. I wish I had this sub in the 80s when I had these speakers the first time.

Placement and fine-tuning

The Caldera 12 has the standard controls for level, crossover frequency, and normal/reverse phase. A pair of RCA jacks is available for line-level connection. If you are using this in a theater system, the left channel can be used for LFE. When doing so, the crossover frequency control must also be set to the LFE position.

There is also a control for bass boost, which might be too much for most of you. However, if you have to place your sub in the middle of the room or a huge room and you just aren’t feeling it, this offers a gentle nudge in the lowest frequencies. As I did not use the Caldera 12 in a theater arrangement, this also may deliver a bit of that exaggerated bass response that movie people seem to love.

Using the Caldera 12 in the corner of the room, allowing the sub to see the longest amount of floor, proved best. With the mini-monitors, the crossover tended to land in the 50-70 Hz range, and with the panels, all the way down to 50. The only complaint about the Caldera 12 is it would be handy and easier to mate this sub with a broader range of speakers if that crossover control went down to 35 or 40 Hz. With a pair of these, you could easily mate them up with something larger.

Should you have to do a center placement with a single Caldera 12, try to situate it somewhat off-center, or you may get a bass bump somewhere between 40 and 70 Hz. Again, break out those test tones and check for integration.

Nearly all the complaints I’ve heard over the years with subwoofers not mating properly with the main speakers is a result of crossing them over too high. Start with the crossover frequency all the way down at 50, and work your way up slowly. Experience has shown a lower crossover frequency setting, and a bit higher output goes a long way in seamlessly mating the sub to the mains. Find a way to get some test tones, and check this out for yourself. Running tones at 20 to about 100 Hz in 10 Hz increments, you can fine-tune the smoothness between sub and mains so there are no anomalies. More often than not, it’s the setup, not the sub.

More listening

Out in the main listening room, which is 24 x 36 feet, a pair of Caldera 12s would make a fantastic addition to my JBL Classic 100s, the Wharfedale Super Lintons, and the Wharfedale Dovedales. Room corner placement is the rule again, but in the larger room, with a pair, I was able to move them out a few more inches than the tight quarters in my living room allow.

A wide range of music, from heavy rock to hip hop, reveals that the Caldera 12 has no problems “keeping up with the mains,” and low-frequency notes have great speed and definition. These are definitely not one-note bass subwoofers.

When everything is correctly set up, you will notice more depth and definition in your system’s presentation. Shutting the sub off should shrink the size of your soundstage, even when playing material that is not bass-heavy – that’s the ultimate test of your setup skills.

An excellent value

Thanks to the reasons mentioned at the beginning of this review, the Caldera 12 is a solidly designed, well-performing sub. It’s an honest product, delivering financial and sonic value well above the asking price. #toneaudioapproved, and a worthy Exceptional Value Award winner.

If you are a music lover seeking to reproduce that lower register in a way that your main speakers just can’t, the Caldera 12 subs will make a fantastic addition to your system and musical enjoyment. Once you have them (and I suggest a pair, if you can), you’ll never go back to not having a great subwoofer in your system.

$399 ea (for now, because…)

www.verafiaudiollc.com

Cover Story:

Awards!

Old School: The Focal XS Desktop system
Audiophile Apartment: The SVS Ultra Evolution Tower
Review: The Finale 300B EVO Integrated Amplifier
Review: The Voodoo Labs Witchcraft™ cables
Review: The Luxman D-07x DAC

Cover Review:

The Clarisys Auditorium Plus SpeakersMusic

MINE – It Should Be Yours:

Assorted fun things we think you’d like

Music

Playlists:  We share our readers choices from around the world

Future Tense

Gear in our immediate future

New Zealand high-end audio manufacturer, JAVA Hi-Fi, is introducing six new models to its award-winning amplifier range in the coming months. Additionally, from May it will be updating its Single Shot and Double Shot LDR GaN FET integrated amplifiers with a new high-performance R2R ladder DAC.

JAVA Hi-Fi Founder and CEO Martin Bell says its CARBON edition integrated amplifiers have become the best-selling products in its line-up, even though they only launched in January 2024. The global interest from customers prompted JAVA to look at how it could apply this material to other products.

“A number of customers have asked whether we were planning to produce a CARBON version of our pre-amplifiers and power amplifiers. They spoke and we listened!”, says Bell.

Like the CARBON editions of the integrated amplifiers, the JAVA CARBON pre-amplifiers and power amplifiers feature several notable innovations that elevate the JAVA listening experience to new heights. These include:

• Carbon fibre outer casework (9mm thick) for superior vibration damping and to mitigate the influence of RFI and EMI on circuitry
• ETI Research Silver RCA connectors
• ETI Research Kryo speaker binding posts (both models of GaN FET Power Amplifier)
• Revised and upgraded circuit design on both models of the LDR Pre-Amplifier
• IsoAcoustics Gaia IV feet for improved vibration isolation of circuit boards and other internal components

The new models are an extension of JAVA’s current amplifier range and will include:

• JAVA CARBON Single Shot LDR Pre-Amplifier (MSRP US$8,495)
• JAVA CARBON Double Shot LDR Pre-Amplifier (MSRP US$8,995)
• JAVA CARBON Single Shot GaN FET Power Amplifier (MSRP US$9,995)
• JAVA CARBON Double Shot GaN FET Power Amplifier (MSRP US$11,995)

The CARBON editions of the pre-amplifier and power amplifier will begin shipping in June this year.

Range Expansion

Also new from JAVA Hi-Fi are several additions to its integrated amplifier range.

The JAVA Single Shot 400 doubles the power of the current Single Shot integrated amplifier from 200W/8ohms to 400W/8ohms. Meanwhile the Double Shot 200 keeps the fully-balanced configuration of the Double Shot integrated, but delivers 200W/8ohms (compared to 400W/8ohms for the existing Double Shot) at a lower price point.

Pricing for the expanded 8-strong integrated amplifier starts at US$8,995 for the JAVA Single Shot 200 and is rounded out by the flagship JAVA CARBON Double Shot 400 at US$16,995.

“These new models plug an important gap in our amplifier range and provide customers with the ultimate flexibility in terms of input options, power and price”, says Bell.

The other notable feature of the refreshed integrated amplifier range is a new high-performance R2R ladder DAC driven by its own dedicated linear power regulator.

Replacing the current Burr-Brown-based DAC, the new USB DAC features dual AD1865 chips from Analog Devices. These 18-bit non-oversampling chips can play files up to 768kHz and are renowned for their natural, organic and non-fatiguing sound. Digital glare, begone!

MSB adjustment is handled natively on the AD1865 DAC, fine-tuning the most significant bit (MSB) to improve the DAC’s linearity, particularly around the zero-crossing point. This ensures smooth transitions and allows any residual distortion error to be eliminated.The Double Shot models feature a dedicated DAC board for each channel in a fully balanced configuration to eliminate cross-talk and further improve measured performance.

The complete integrated amplifier line-up comprises:

• JAVA Single Shot 200 (MSRP from US$8,995 in standard finishes)
• JAVA Double Shot 200 (MSRP from US$9,995 in standard finishes)
• JAVA Single Shot 400 (MSRP from US$11,995 in standard finishes)
• JAVA Double Shot 400 (MSRP from US$12,995 in standard finishes)
• JAVA CARBON Single Shot 200 (MSRP US$12,995)
• JAVA CARBON Double Shot 200  (MSRP US$13,995)
• JAVA CARBON Single Shot 400 (MSRP US$15,995)
• JAVA CARBON Double Shot 400 (MSRP US$16,995)

The new and updated models began shipping in May.