Ascend Acoustics

mazersteven · Dec 7, 2020

Soundman said:
RBH has a $500 bookshelf, I’m guess they are not competing in the same space as the 340’s

$599 EACH

ryanosaur · Dec 7, 2020

Philharmonic is looking to bring back the Dayton BR-1 Mod he sold as the Affordable Accuracy+. Uncertain about cost, dates, or how he is going to be doing this in terms of the finished XO... But this was a killer speaker in his old catalog. Keep your eyes open if looking for a very high quality sounding standmount under (most likely) $500 (and possibly under $400) if sold as a completed Speaker.
I think it was discussed to perhaps be sometime between March and May.

lovinthehd · Dec 7, 2020

Soundman said:
Ascend stands

Traditional center horizontally or on a stand?

Soundman · Dec 7, 2020

lovinthehd said:
That's what I was thinking, they had some good values with that line that is no more....

Bummer. Guess I have been out of the loop for while since I haven’t really been in the market until now. Those speakers were so good for the money

Soundman · Dec 7, 2020

lovinthehd said:
Traditional center horizontally or on a stand?

I would probably use the 340 center channel. It fits this tv stand. There is not a lot of space in this setup so will problem go on the shelf:

BoredSysAdmin · Dec 7, 2020

Soundman said:
RBH has a $500 bookshelf, I’m guess they are not competing in the same space as the 340’s

Read the fine print. A) these bookshelves are closer to $600 and B) these are priced as EACH, not as under $600 shipped for PAIR of CMT-340SE

Soundman · Dec 7, 2020

ryanosaur said:
Philharmonic is looking to bring back the Dayton BR-1 Mod he sold as the Affordable Accuracy+. Uncertain about cost, dates, or how he is going to be doing this in terms of the finished XO... But this was a killer speaker in his old catalog. Keep your eyes open if looking for a very high quality sounding standmount under (most likely) $500 (and possibly under $400) if sold as a completed Speaker.
I think it was discussed to perhaps be sometime between March and May.

That is possibly around the same price point. I don’t know much about it though. Size is a big factor for me

Soundman · Dec 7, 2020

BoredSysAdmin said:
Read the fine print. A) these bookshelves are closer to $600 and B) these are priced as EACH, not as under $600 shipped for PAIR of CMT-340SE

So basically it’s more than double the price of the 340’s! 340’s are looking better and better by the minute

Russdawg1 · Dec 7, 2020

340 owner here.

I prefer them to almost anything under $2000 that is a retail speaker.

Ascend’s Sierra2Ex would be one of the few that I would upgrade to.

mazersteven · Dec 7, 2020

Russdawg1 said:
340 owner here.

I prefer them to almost anything under $2000 that is a retail speaker.

Ascend’s Sierra2Ex would be one of the few that I would upgrade to.

Sierra-1's sound great too

SIERRA-1 PAIR

Our World-Renowned Reference Monitor Featuring our Exclusive Low Resonance Layered Bamboo Cabinet! "Innovation, performance, intensive quality controls and environmental-friendliness all precisely balanced in a truly unique loudspeaker." Over 4 ½ years in development, the Sierra-1 is the...

www.ascendacoustics.com

Soundman · Dec 7, 2020

Russdawg1 said:
340 owner here.

I prefer them to almost anything under $2000 that is a retail speaker.

Ascend’s Sierra2Ex would be one of the few that I would upgrade to.

Sounds like a winner!!

Soundman · Dec 7, 2020

QUOTE="Russdawg1, post: 1440978, member: 86768"]
340 owner here.

I prefer them to almost anything under $2000 that is a retail speaker.

Ascend’s Sierra2Ex would be one of the few that I would upgrade to.
[/QUOTE]

mazersteven said:
Sierra-1's sound great too

SIERRA-1 PAIR

Our World-Renowned Reference Monitor Featuring our Exclusive Low Resonance Layered Bamboo Cabinet! "Innovation, performance, intensive quality controls and environmental-friendliness all precisely balanced in a truly unique loudspeaker." Over 4 ½ years in development, the Sierra-1 is the...

www.ascendacoustics.com

Maybe he means the Sierra 1’s, although better, aren’t worth the upgrade from 340’s

KEW · Dec 7, 2020

ryanosaur said:
Philharmonic is looking to bring back the Dayton BR-1 Mod he sold as the Affordable Accuracy+. Uncertain about cost, dates, or how he is going to be doing this in terms of the finished XO... But this was a killer speaker in his old catalog. Keep your eyes open if looking for a very high quality sounding standmount under (most likely) $500 (and possibly under $400) if sold as a completed Speaker.
I think it was discussed to perhaps be sometime between March and May.

I believe you are referring to the Philharmonic Audio (Dayton based) Affordable Accuracy?
If so I A-B'ed these two speakers and preferred the AA's to the 340's. Not by a lot, but given that the AA's cost a good bit less, that made them a real bargain.
Here is my post from around the same time I compared them:

Anyone have experience with Ascend ?

I'm looking at the 340 SE's vs the JBL 230 and Elac Debut 6 and B&W 685 S2

forums.audioholics.com

I would also consider the JBL Studio 530 if @Soundman can wait for them to go back on sale for $350!

Last, while the 340 offers greater efficiency, ability to play louder, and deeper bass, The 170 actually has a better frequency response per Ascend's measurements. If you plan to use a subwoofer (or two) and do not need to crank the piss out of them, you might consider the 170's.
The 340's dip at 2500Hz looks to be the most notable issue since it is in the range where our hearing is most sensitive:
340:

170:

Hetfield · Dec 7, 2020

Ascend has the new Sierra Duo speakers which looks like an insane value. I don't know a whole lot about them but they look great. I wanted the CMT 340s bad for a very long time but ended up going to RSL speakers which I'm extremely happy with.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

mazersteven · Dec 7, 2020

Hetfield said:
Ascend has the new Sierra Duo speakers which looks like an insane value.

Those are $1,600 a pair. He's looking at speakers for $500 a pair what are we doing

Hetfield · Dec 7, 2020

mazersteven said:
Those are $1,600 a pair. He's looking at speakers for $500 a pair what are we doing
View attachment 42442

Yeah I know that but everyone started talking about Sierras and there are 12 million posts here so I thought maybe he upped his budget or something.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

Russdawg1 · Dec 7, 2020

KEW said:
I believe you are referring to the Philharmonic Audio (Dayton based) Affordable Accuracy?
If so I A-B'ed these two speakers and preferred the AA's to the 340's. Not by a lot, but given that the AA's cost a good bit less, that made them a real bargain.
Here is my post from around the same time I compared them:

Anyone have experience with Ascend ?

I'm looking at the 340 SE's vs the JBL 230 and Elac Debut 6 and B&W 685 S2

forums.audioholics.com

I would also consider the JBL Studio 530 if @Soundman can wait for them to go back on sale for $350!

Last, while the 340 offers greater efficiency, ability to play louder, and deeper bass, The 170 actually has a better frequency response per Ascend's measurements. If you plan to use a subwoofer (or two) and do not need to crank the piss out of them, you might consider the 170's.
The 340's dip at 2500Hz looks to be the most notable issue since it is in the range where our hearing is most sensitive:
340:
View attachment 42439
170:
View attachment 42440

Aren’t those on axis response graphs? That’s not a proper representation of what would be heard, IE that 2500hz dip.

The 170’s do measure better however, I’ll admit.

The 340’s also have stands available. 170’s do not.

mazersteven · Dec 7, 2020

Russdawg1 said:
The 340’s also have stands available. 170’s do not.