YG Acoustics SUMMIT
It has been a few weeks since we received YG’s “SUMMIT” - the flagship model of the company’s new Peak Series of loudspeakers. We had to wait quite some time because the demand for the SUMMIT has, so far, exceeded the company’s ability to meet said demand. Was it worth the wait? I’d be lying if I said “no” because this is truly a speaker for the ages!
As some of you know, I have a long history with loudspeakers - both as a manufacturer, as well as a reseller. Thus, I tend to be quite critical of most of the market’s highly praised offerings, both the expensive as well as the popular priced. In fact, I have become ever so critical regarding the direction of our industry’s “flagship” brands towards hyper-expensive models. I tend to favor products that are obvious values - such as those from Minnesota-based Magnepan. Speaker systems that “image” in three dimensions - a result of their ability to reproduce a time-coherent reproduction of the recording - tend to be my faves. It makes sense that anyone familiar with live, acoustic music would favor hearing the fundamentals at the same time as the harmonics, lacking the “time smearing” affect that is the norm. I know I’ve discussed this subject before, but I keep coming back to it because this quality is so rare in the world of loudspeakers. Besides Magnepan, Quad ESLs, Vandersteen, and a few others, the world of high fidelity loudspeakers is populated by products that can’t begin to reproduce a square wave. Just a fact of life………. See my earlier “Musing” on YG for further explanation regarding time and phase coherence.
As I stated at the beginning, the Summit is the largest, most expensive ($25,000/pair) model in the “Peak” series. As such, it was our expectation that they would play louder and extend deeper into the bass region than the other Peak models we have. They don’t disappoint. Despite having great bottom end, the Summit doesn’t sacrifice the beautiful mids and highs of the smaller YG Peak models. They do go low, though….. The Summit employs a 10.25” BilletCore woofer driver that accomplishes astonishingly quick, deep (24 Hz) bass response. Yet, the shape and cabinet quality are a beautiful blend of style and function, suggesting the ability to be able to look and sound great in almost any size room. They are currently set up in our “reference” room with Playback Designs digital and Balanced Audio Technology “REX” gear - which I consider the true state of the art in their respective function categories. The only problem is that I find myself spending too much time just listening - while making comments like “this is too real for words.”
Sounds silly, but I am simply blown away by what I am hearing from every YG Peak model in the store. Come in for a listen, and hear the YG Peaks for yourself. I promise that you, too, will be as impressed as I am!
Geoff
