Sorry for the delay and lengthy post, but for those interested, the following is my report of my experience dealing with Ascend Acoustics and my visit to their place to pick up my five 340s. I took some notes to relay as much as I could to the Thread. No great REVELATIONS…..just my perspective on the company. Maybe it'll help someone decide on something........
Ascend is located in San Clemente, CA and they occupy two fairly large portions of a moderately sized Industrial Building. The owner and speaker designer/builder is David Fabrikant and it’s a true small family business with Dave’s wife Dina handling much of the office related tasks. The front office is very simple and it is clear that the bulk of Ascend’s sales are shipped worldwide and not sold from their location regularly. While their office may not be some polished floor fancy corporate joint, it’s not meant to be a schmoozy reception area. They have a nice dedicated demo room and clearly they concentrate on LOUDSPEAKERS not useless, showy office décor (this is not a knock—AT ALL---Ambiance is NOT what you’re paying for or rockin out to!! ). That said, Dave and Dina were super accommodating even though we showed up on the last day of their sale and they were really slammed getting shipments out.
I had been in phone contact with Dina in advance that day so they had all of my speakers tested and packed ready for me when I finally got there. Dina greeted us when we arrived and they seemed to be pretty busy. After a minute or two, Dave came into the office from the work area. He introduced himself and shook our hands and was intent on returning to the work area in the warehouse part of the building when I said, “I’ve been looking forward to meeting you. I’d like to pick your brain a little bit if I could. I’m not the most educated Audio guy.”
Dave, put what he was doing on hold, walked over to take a seat at his desk and said, “What do you want to know??” My personal impressions are that Dave is a very down to earth type. He’s the kind of no non sense guy who shoots straight on everything and doesn’t beat around the bush. He is all about the “more than one way to skin a cat” philosophy in that he doesn’t pooh-pooh anything or champion anything and he isn’t arrogant about his opinions. His attitude seems almost defiantly in support of the most simple and basic solid way to go about system design and set up --NO FRILLS. He doesn’t believe in the myths and wives’ tales and ghost stories about various voodoo magic wires, connectors, etc. and his line, “You don’t have to get all crazy and carried away with anything. These are VERY, VERY EFFICIENT Loudspeakers” made an impression on me.
The following are David Fabrikant’s nutshell statements on my specific semi-almost-techy questions:
SPEAKER WIRE GAUGE??
I first asked him about speaker wire. He told me that he generally recommends 14AWG and that he doesn’t see much use in increasing to 12 unless you are really doing long runs “approaching 80…100 feet”. I told him I had 16AWG on one speaker and he said, as far as the speakers go, having one with different AWG wouldn’t be that big of a deal if the run wasn’t that long. He said that he couldn’t speak to the affect this could have on the AVR but said it’d be hard to discern the difference. I told him I was needing to likely rewire everything.
He then said, “14 is easier to run than 12…….16 would even be fine if your runs weren’t too long….still good conductivity there but I wouldn’t run anything smaller than 16……too big a drop off…”
CONNECTORS vs RAW WIRE?
Dave prefers Banana Plugs over other connections. He says that he prefers them to raw wire for the solid uniform connection and the tendency for Raw wire to corrode at its contact points (especially in coastal areas). He says, raw wire is totally acceptable too though and to be sure to “TIN” the loose wire ends to keep them from corroding (i.e. solder the ends) especially if they will be mounted somewhere you cannot easily access the connections. Some Audiophiles claim Tinning causes a less than ideal connection due to the TIN intervening in the wiring connection between the actual wiring and the connectors. Dave indicated this was hair splitting at best and that Tinning is no problem.
AVR BRAND RECOMMENDATION??
Dave said, “Any quality receiver will do as long as it’s not the lowest end model if you can help it…..Yamaha, Onkyo, Denon…..” I told him, “I really want the most complete room correction technology because my room is really open……I decided to get a Denon….” Dave intervened, “Ok……What model??? Do you know yet??” I said, “Yeah, I just ordered an X4000.” Dave just says, “GREAT MACHINE……that model is going to do great for you! Really good receiver…..A lot of our customers have been upgrading their receivers with X4000s lately because they’re going for a really good price right now….that price is a steal……In fact, I actually just got this delivered in here….(He pointed to an unopened Denon X2000) it’s just a 2000 but I just needed another capable receiver for around here at the shop….. ”
Dave seemed largely indifferent to the Audyessy or any other room EQ technology in general for that matter. He humbly assured me (Not at ALL tooting his own horn) that the 340s are “….designed for very wide dispersal…..You don’t have to go overboard tilting and pointing them at one spot in the center of the room. With your dimensions…..they cover large rooms very well. I think you’re going to be pleased. Don’t obsess about directional placement.“
HSU RESEARCH COMMENT
I told Dave that I had ordered and was waiting to grab a HSU VTF-15H MK2. He commented, “Hsu makes great products. I know Dr. Hsu well, I’ve known him for years. You can’t go wrong there.”
MOUNTING TIPS
Dave says the most common effective mount used for wall mounting is the B-Tech BT-77 wall mounts (TY WAYNE and I have purchased these).
He says that you can drill holes to mount and when I shuddered at the thought and asked about Blue-Tak, he surprisingly endorsed its use. He said it works and doesn’t ooze out if used sparingly. He said the clamp mounts do a really good job .
DRY-WALL ANCHORS??
Dave was the most emphatic on this topic of ANY we covered. He says “Go into a stud……these things are HEAVY… 26 pounds! One could yank those mounts right out of your drywall. Don’t try it. Don’t even risk it. Find a Stud. I DO NOT RECOMMEND THE USE OF DRYWALL ANCHORS…….. end of story.”
I understand where he is coming from and I myself have been fortunate to have some decent stud placement where I am mounting. But I have seen some pretty gnarly strong drywall anchors and have been assured by drywall guys, and other professional construction guys that these anchors, if installed properly, would hold the weight. Am I using them? No. Do I believe they could work? Yes.
No speaker maker heartily recommends using drywall anchors for mounting and seem to consider them a “USE AT YOUR OWN RISK” proposition. Dave is no different in this regard.
SOOOO, After about 20 minutes of tech Q & A with Dave, we talked about business and internet sales etc. and went ahead and paid for everything.
The speakers were all loaded on a heavy duty cart. I backed my car up to the office door to see about getting the 3 boxes (2 pairs in each box plus the Center in its box) into the trunk. As I am getting ready to pick up one of the boxes for loading, Dave in his still slightly detectable New Jersey accent says, “Whoa!!!! Be really careful!!” I froze half bent down and I looked up and he says, “Those boxes are 60 pounds each!!” and just as he says that, his small wife Dina just grabs the one I’m staring at, walks it outside, and places it snuggly in my trunk like it was full of freakin’ helium!!!!!! I just looked at Dave with this “Wait…..WHAT THEEEE HECK????” look on my face and he nodded as if he knew what I was thinking and said smoothly, “…….Yeah…….. it’s ok…..Let her do it. She knows what she’s doing….Trust me…” I stayed out of Dina's way AND felt like a weenie
......
Overall, just a cool experience with Ascend. Much like the HSU visit, just very interesting to be able to deal with ‘THE GUY’, in Dr. Hsu and Dave Fabrikant respectively, that actually DESIGNED THE PRODUCT I’m buying. Guys who seem to have a passion and intense focus on JUST MAKING THE BEST product THEIR WAY.
What one is getting with Ascend speakers are products made, tested, and built with the owner’s guiding hand and more particularly key, HIS EAR. That the owner is himself adamant about testing and packing orders making sure each speaker meets HIS HIGH STANDARDS is just killer!!!!! To me, it demonstrates a personal dedication to quality control bordering on insane perfectionism that while contrary to modern mass production, goes hand in hand with true craftsmanship. Dave will not sacrifice his hands-on approach for larger production or sales figures. What he cannot personally oversee, he will not put his name on and making the best “LOUDSPEAKERS” possible is truly his rightful calling.
