Ascend Acoustic Ribbon Towers

[John Parks]

that port belongs to an axiom audio speaker not an ascend.

You are absolutely correct! I got my ‘A’ brand names mixed up. Funny, as I’ve had both Axiom and Ascend...

 

[Beave]

Re: The Ascend Sierra Towers, the two woofers are in a ported enclosure (edit for clarity: they share the same enclosure with a single port). The midrange driver is in its own sealed enclosure.

And I *think* I saw somewhere that the midrange driver has no electrical lowpass filter, meaning it relies on its sealed box tuning for it highpass rolloff.

To me that makes the speaker somewhere in between a 2 1/2 way and a true 3 way. Maybe call it a 2 3/4 way?

 

[Pogre]

Re: The Ascend Sierra Towers, the two woofers are in a ported enclosure (edit for clarity: they share the same enclosure with a single port). The midrange driver is in its own sealed enclosure.

And I *think* I saw somewhere that the midrange driver has no electrical lowpass filter, meaning it relies on its sealed box tuning for it highpass rolloff.

To me that makes the speaker somewhere in between a 2 1/2 way and a true 3 way. Maybe call it a 2 3/4 way?

I remember reading the same thing, that they used the box's natural tuned rolloff instead of an active filter.

 

[Pogre]

Just snapped a quick pic for @lovinthehd...

They're not upside down this time!

 

[little wing]

You should see how @Danzilla31 loosens up the ports on his speakers...

I took them up to reference today for 1 song, Chocolate Chip Trip. It's a drum solo and the kick drum ain't no joke. It's a pretty good stress test. I was on the edge of my seat waiting for something to pop the whole time, but they seemed to handle it well. I'll tell ya tho, it was a little alarming being able to see all 3 drivers bounce back and forth from my seat 15' away. They were jumping very hard.

I don't listen at reference levels very often, but every once in a while I'll crank it up. It made me kinda nervous with the Sierras tho... am I fussing over nothing or are these just not the type of speakers to play at high spl? For the record, my normal listening range is -20 to -15 for music and less for tv. It's Audyssey calibrated so I'm assuming reference is at least close to 85 dB.

Hey man, hope you are enjoying your new speakers. Just wanted to share with you my experience with these at volume. When I first received my towers, I had some questions for Dave at Ascend. He was nice enough to call me one evening for a chat. I don't remember the entire conversation as it was a few years back, but two things he said stuck out. One - Give the towers room to breath. Two - Don't be afraid to crank them. Of course I took that, don't be afraid to crank them within reason. Now your reason and my reason might be a little different. I know you more power than I do . But you get the idea. I can tell you that the Ascends survived two fairly loud parties. I am talking volumes at or around -15db for 4 or 5 straight hours. I am pretty sure I was using Dolby surround instead of the all channel party mode. I noticed at one point that somebody had hit -10db but I got nervous and turned it down a bit. Like I said..they survived. They are definitely not high output party speakers, but they did the job. Have fun with them.

 

[Pogre]

Hey man, hope you are enjoying your new speakers. Just wanted to share with you my experience with these at volume. When I first received my towers, I had some questions for Dave at Ascend. He was nice enough to call me one evening for a chat. I don't remember the entire conversation as it was a few years back, but two things he said stuck out. One - Give the towers room to breath. Two - Don't be afraid to crank them. Of course I took that, don't be afraid to crank them within reason. Now your reason and my reason might be a little different. I know you more power than I do . But you get the idea. I can tell you that the Ascends survived two fairly loud parties. I am talking volumes at or around -15db for 4 or 5 straight hours. I am pretty sure I was using Dolby surround instead of the all channel party mode. I noticed at one point that somebody had hit -10db but I got nervous and turned it down a bit. Like I said..they survived. They are definitely not high output party speakers, but they did the job. Have fun with them.

Thank you for sharing, I do appreciate it. You know, they seem pretty stable even up to -5 on my system. It's when I hit 0 that I started getting really nervous.

-15 for 4 or 5 straight hours straight is just another day at my house, and that's with bumping them up to -10 for the good stuff! At those levels, crossed over to my subs they barely break a sweat. Things are moving pretty good, but not strained at all. Yes, I am really enjoying them. These are very, very nice sounding speakers.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Just snapped a quick pic for @lovinthehd...

View attachment 36907



They're not upside down this time!

Lmao!!! I thought that was figure skating when I first saw the picture!!!!

 

[John Parks]

Lmao!!! I thought that was figure skating when I first saw the picture!!!!

MMAS (Mixed Martial Arts Skating) I heard it's big in Walla Walla...

 

[NINaudio]

Oh man, now we can't see your mug in your speaker shots @Pogre!

 

[little wing]

Thank you for sharing, I do appreciate it. You know, they seem pretty stable even up to -5 on my system. It's when I hit 0 that I started getting really nervous.

-15 for 4 or 5 straight hours straight is just another day at my house, and that's with bumping them up to -10 for the good stuff!

LMAO. I heard that, no pun intended...

 

[Pogre]

Lmao!!! I thought that was figure skating when I first saw the picture!!!!

Nooooo.....


That's Aljamain Sterling celebrating a submission win! Great night of fights this past Saturday.

 

[Pogre]

Okay, this I wasn't expecting. My amp runs cooler with the Sierras, even tho they're 4 ohm speakers. It's never gotten HOT no matter what speakers I've had hooked up, but it would get warm with the Ultras. It's almost cool to touch now with the Sierras. They are more sensitive so I guess not a huge shocker. You guys think bi amping the Ultras contributed to the heat as well?

 

[Verdinut]

Okay, this I wasn't expecting. My amp runs cooler with the Sierras, even tho they're 4 ohm speakers. It's never gotten HOT no matter what speakers I've had hooked up, but it would get warm with the Ultras. It's almost cool to touch now with the Sierras. They are more sensitive so I guess not a huge shocker. You guys think bi amping the Ultras contributed to the heat as well?

Bi-amping shouldn't have contributed to the heat since each amp wasn't working as hard for the same SPL.

 

[John Galt]

Okay, this I wasn't expecting. My amp runs cooler with the Sierras, even tho they're 4 ohm speakers. It's never gotten HOT no matter what speakers I've had hooked up, but it would get warm with the Ultras. It's almost cool to touch now with the Sierras. They are more sensitive so I guess not a huge shocker. You guys think bi amping the Ultras contributed to the heat as well?

I’m curious to see what you’re latest Audyssey custom EQ curve looks like if you wouldn’t mind sharing...not that that’s related to the cooler running amp.

 

[Pogre]

I’m curious to see what you’re latest Audyssey custom EQ curve looks like if you wouldn’t mind sharing...not that that’s related to the cooler running amp.

I don't have any full sweeps yet and Jon scared me in the ratbuddy thread, lol. This is currently where I'm at with my bass curve tho.

EQ 1&2 sub settings in the 2nd chart and DEQ, RLO 0 in the bottom.

 

[John Galt]

I don't have any full sweeps yet and Jon scared me in the ratbuddy thread, lol. This is currently where I'm at with my bass curve tho.

View attachment 36953View attachment 36954View attachment 36955

EQ 1&2 sub settings in the 2nd chart and DEQ, RLO 0 in the bottom.

Are you running Audyssey EQ? A custom Audyssey curve? Flat? Default Reference?

 

[Pogre]

Are you running Audyssey EQ? A custom Audyssey curve? Flat? Default Reference?

Yes, running Audyssey EQ, Reference, no custom curve. I dial it in flat and use DEQ as my curve, RLO -10 and it works really well. I haven't been brave enough to to much with the app yet.

Here's an example of the effects from a previous calibration of the different RLO settings in DEQ

 

[CajunLB]

Yes, running Audyssey EQ, Reference, no custom curve. I dial it in flat and use DEQ as my curve, RLO -10 and it works really well. I haven't been brave enough to to much with the app yet.

Here's an example of the effects from a previous calibration of the different RLO settings in DEQ
View attachment 36956

Hey @Pogre. Can you try and explain RLO offset if you don’t mind? I have mine set to 0 . What would changing it to -10 do?

 

[VMPS-TIII]

Okay, this I wasn't expecting. My amp runs cooler with the Sierras, even tho they're 4 ohm speakers. It's never gotten HOT no matter what speakers I've had hooked up, but it would get warm with the Ultras. It's almost cool to touch now with the Sierras. They are more sensitive so I guess not a huge shocker. You guys think bi amping the Ultras contributed to the heat as well?

If you were using four channels with the Ultra's (bi-amp) and now only two with the Sierra's that would create less work for the amp. It would be reasonable that less demand = less heat.

 

[KEW]

I hope someone like @PENG can correct me if I am wrong, but ultimately, whether you bi-amp or not, you are asking the amps to drive the speakers the same way (assuming the system is properly balanced and the SPL is the same). So the amount of energy required would be the same. There may be a little more energy attributed to having the extra two amps energized during quiet spots (it take more energy for four amps to "do nothing" than two); however, I would expect the fact that you are distributing that same load over four sets of heat sinks to result in an overall lower temperature. If you are anywhere near working the amps, I would rather have the load (and heat) spread out more than concentrated.