Martin Logan Summit X

[chiphoust]

The energy storage of the DS450M's is 1368 joules, which is pretty serious and should be able to handle some pretty wild impedance.

??? Is Roger Sanders related to Gayle Martin Sanders, the co-founder of Martin Logan ???

With my big ARC tube amps, the speakers only get harsh at very high volumes.  Otherwise they are smooth as silk and present a walk through image.  The grip is not are good as solid state, but that the trade off eh?  My guess is that the amps are clipping at those levels.  I have tried the various vertical positions and landed at the minus one (1) degree setting as best.  The toe-in was set using the flashlight technique, now iPhone flashlight technique.  I am listening to the inner 1/3 of the panel at most.  i am familiar with the "wall-slap" created by an improper toe-in.

Back to the point...  I am thinking of auditioning the Audio Research DM450 monoblocks.  ARC claims they also have a linear power supply and can deliver what ESL's need.  The only concern is that these are D Class amplifiers.  I tend to gravitate to Audio Research amplifiers because I love Audio Research tube pre-amps and there definitely is synergy with the combination.

Thanks for your thoughts.
   

You're obviously familiar with the foibles of ML panels! 

I haven't tried Class D amps with MLs. I'll be interested to hear your views on the AR monoblocs. 

Because of their wild impedance swings, MLs are possibly the most difficult speakers to drive. But when you get it right, there's very little that comes close ...

Matt