I heard Martin Logan Ascents and I didn't care for them all too much. They were warm, but muddy. Bass was horrible, sloppy and didn't go far enough. The best feature of these was the imaging, which was great. You really felt like you were in a concert hall. Alas, I didn't think that was enough to compensate for its shortcomings.

+1

I heard them with Krell amplification. I wanted to like them but, alas, could not.

my ML story is that about 2 years ago, i renewed my interest in hi-fi after a long absence. i went to a local hi-end store and was basically given a lesson in hi-fi by the knowledgable owner. he had a pair of ML Aeons hooked up to a humble arcam 80 integrated with the arcam cd player. he played the eric clapton live album recording of layla. i just about passed out, that guitar was simply there in the room, the blackness around it was spectacular. now, as the demonstration went on i learned that he had matched the speaker wire to those speakers. the room was very well acoustically dampened. the listening position was just so. all of the components had special power cords, the electrical outlets were dedicated hospital grade. bass was also nice and tight. at that time, though i went to buy speakers, i ended up buying the arcam equipment and on my old home advent speakers heard them like never before and i could not afford the MLs or would have taken them with me. a year later, i was again interested in upgrading speakers and went to the other location of this store. they had a set of the successors to the Aeons set up in a large room that may not have been too well damped. i listened to the same recording and did not go crazy for them as i had remembered, in fact, i was disappointed.
moral of story, it is very hard in my opinion to judge a speaker even the same model from one setting and group of supporting equipment to the next. i would try to get a return policy or if they have demos borrow them to see how it sounds with your equipment and in your room.
i eventually bought a pair of Aerial 6s that the dealer had traded. these are exceptionally smooth speakers. but i have been working on my room since the day i brought them home as it is a loud room with high ceilings and plaster walls. part of the fun i guess.
i hope my experience is helpful to the group.

tom collins

Just in case it slipped under your radar...Dick Olsher of TAS reviewed the ML Vista HERE

Enjoy your ML's. I certainly do mine.

RG