Ascend Acoustics

[Soundman]

Compared to the Sierra1s on stands the footprint isn't all that different, a bit deeper and taller for the 590s (and heavier and harder to move around ). In a larger room I just found the Sierra1s a bit weak, but they're awesome in my smallish bedroom (use the 170SEs for surrounds). The 580s are a smaller footprint and $740 the pair and with a sub would work very nicely I'd think....I use them as surrounds in my main room (530s for rear surrounds). @KEW for some comments on his 580s.

The Sierras are 7.5” wide. These are over a foot, unless I’m looking at something incorrectly. That makes a difference. It’s also not just being able to make it fit, but aesthetically, does it take over the room? If so, wife will not go for it. Book shelves or “ mini towers” tend to not do that as much. I’m totally open to other ideas, but have to be able to sell it so WAF is a must.

 

[lovinthehd]

The Sierras are 7.5” wide. These are over a foot, unless I’m looking at something incorrectly. That makes a difference. It’s also not just being able to make it fit, but aesthetically, does it take over the room? If so, wife will not go for it. Book shelves or “ mini towers” tend to not do that as much. I’m totally open to other ideas, but have to be able to sell it so WAF is a must.

I measured the base of my stands as well as just the speakers....narrower not sure I'd want for stability reasons....

ps I could see that the 590s may not appeal aesthetically WAF wise, tho. I have a big room so they don't dominate....

 

[mazersteven]

 

[Soundman]

View attachment 42710

Sounds about right

 

[lovinthehd]

You said footprint, so the bottom measurements count!

ps the Ascend stand base width is 10"

 

[mazersteven]

 

[mazersteven]

base width is 10"

 

[shadyJ]

Not sure about the Outlaw. What about the center channel? This is for home theatre so that center channel is most important, imo. Some of the others you mentioned may put me outside of my budget. A higher sensitivity speaker appeals to me for HT. That’s what I like about the 340’s, and smaller than a tower

Outlaw measurements here. Sierra measurements here. Neither measure perfectly but the Sierra's are more aggressive with that treble boost. The BLSv2 will have a warmer sound by comparison. As for centers for the BLSv2, you would use the LCRv2. It's more expensive than the CMT-340, but it is a better speaker. Right now its on sale for $450, pretty good discount on its regular price of $600.

If you want a higher sensitivity speaker, I would be looking at the Hsu CCB-8. It has the same sensitivity as the CMT-340s, but isn't as large, and also makes for a better center channel speaker.

 

[Soundman]

You said footprint, so the bottom measurements count!

ps the Ascend stand base width is 10"

...It’s also not just being able to make it fit, but aesthetically, does it take over the room? If so, wife will not go for it. Book shelves or “ mini towers” tend to not do that as much. I’m totally open to other ideas, but have to be able to sell it so WAF is a must.

 

[Soundman]

Outlaw measurements here. Sierra measurements here. Neither measure perfectly but the Sierra's are more aggressive with that treble boost. The BLSv2 will have a warmer sound by comparison. As for centers for the BLSv2, you would use the LCRv2. It's more expensive than the CMT-340, but it is a better speaker. Right now its on sale for $450, pretty good discount on its regular price of $600.

If you want a higher sensitivity speaker, I would be looking at the Hsu CCB-8. It has the same sensitivity as the CMT-340s, but isn't as large, and also makes for a better center channel speaker.

What is it that makes the Hsu a better center channel?

 

[shadyJ]

Ascend doesn't make a bad speaker.

Ahem...

 

[mazersteven]

What did he use this as a center for the Sierras instead of the 340

SIERRA-1 CENTER

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

 

[mazersteven]

Ahem...

I know you've listened to a lot of speakers but sometimes I think you've listened to too many

 

[shadyJ]

What is it that makes the Hsu a better center channel?

The CMT-340 is a horizontal MTM. The problem with that is the woofers cancel each other out at angles outside of a beam right in front of it. This means that you are going to get a poor response if you are sitting too far from a path dead ahead in front of the speaker. Here is a polar map of the CMT-340's horizontal dispersion:

I would say you need to sit within a +/-15 degree angle or else the sound is ruined. What is more is that the peculiar spectral composition will also come back at you as reflections, so it can still affect the sound even if you are listening at the 'sweet spot.'

The Hsu CCB-8 is a coaxial speaker, so there are no conflicts between the drivers at all since the drivers have the same acoustic center. Here is the CCB-8s polar map:

Here you get a pretty solid response out to maybe 30 degrees and no weirdness beyond that. So you get a wider area that the speaker sounds good and no bad acoustic reflections from off-axis angles that have an odd response.

Audioholics have a bunch of articles that cover the merits of various center speaker designs that get rather technical. Here is one such article that has links to others.

 

[shadyJ]

What did he use this as a center for the Sierras instead of the 340

SIERRA-1 CENTER

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

To be honest, simply tipping a regular bookshelf over on its side like that may be a better solution than the compromises that come with regular MTMs. You still get a cancellation lobe at the driver's crossover frequency, but at least the woofers aren't creating huge nulls in the off-axis.

I know you've listened to a lot of speakers but sometimes I think you've listened to too many
View attachment 42713

Maybe, but I would hope for better performance from an $800 speaker. A Kali LP-8 embarrasses that speaker at 1/4 the cost...

 

[CajunLB]

Hard to beat the of the Infinity Reference Series when they go on sale A few times a year. I believe the towers are smaller than the JBL five series . But the three way Infinity center is pretty large.

 

[Russdawg1]

To be honest, simply tipping a regular bookshelf over on its side like that may be a better solution than the compromises that come with regular MTMs. You still get a cancellation lobe at the driver's crossover frequency, but at least the woofers aren't creating huge nulls in the off-axis.

Maybe, but I would hope for better performance from an $800 speaker. A Kali LP-8 embarrasses that speaker at 1/4 the cost...

Lol.

3x bigger than the duo.

Find a better speaker in the form factor of the Duo.

The Luna is nearly 1/6th the size. Same statement applies.

I don’t see any shape or form of embarrassment here.

 

[shadyJ]

Lol.

3x bigger than the duo.

Find a better speaker in the form factor of the Duo.

The Luna is nearly 1/6th the size. Same statement applies.

I don’t see any shape or form of embarrassment here.

Small speakers do not have to be that bad. I don't know the landscape of tiny MTMs so I can't name examples that I am certain would be better than the Luna Duos, but that design is a problem, especially if you tried to use it as a center. One speaker that I would wager has much better performance in a similar form factor is the NHT Supercenter 2.1, and that is 1/4 the price. The slot ports on the Luna Duo didn't work, period. It probably wasn't a good idea to use a ribbon tweeter in a speaker that small to start with. Some other small speakers that could possibly compete well against the Lunas are the Deftech Demand D7s or the KEF LSXs.

 

[Soundman]

The CMT-340 is a horizontal MTM. The problem with that is the woofers cancel each other out at angles outside of a beam right in front of it. This means that you are going to get a poor response if you are sitting too far from a path dead ahead in front of the speaker. Here is a polar map of the CMT-340's horizontal dispersion:

I would say you need to sit within a +/-15 degree angle or else the sound is ruined. What is more is that the peculiar spectral composition will also come back at you as reflections, so it can still affect the sound even if you are listening at the 'sweet spot.'

The Hsu CCB-8 is a coaxial speaker, so there are no conflicts between the drivers at all since the drivers have the same acoustic center. Here is the CCB-8s polar map:

Here you get a pretty solid response out to maybe 30 degrees and no weirdness beyond that. So you get a wider area that the speaker sounds good and no bad acoustic reflections from off-axis angles that have an odd response.

Audioholics have a bunch of articles that cover the merits of various center speaker designs that get rather technical. Here is one such article that has links to others.

I get what you are saying. Some compromises are made because of the center channel placement. I have seen many set ups with 3 identical speakers across the front soundstage. This can work fine in a dedicated HT room, but not in a typical living room environment. I do like the design of the Hsu CCB-8, but I’ve never heard it either.

 

[mazersteven]

I do like the design of the Hsu CCB-8, but I’ve never heard it either.

Hope they sound better than the HB-1 because they Suck