Ascends 340SE impressions

[ahblaza]

Hello to all,
I am ready to pull the trigger on three indentical 340SE's for my front stage, they will be used for HT and stereo listening, the center will be orientated in a vertical configuration. I have frequented the Ascends forum and got much if not all positive feedback from 340 users. I thought I would throw this out to you guys here who have or heard these speakers and give me an unbiased opinion. My room is 13' X 26' X 8' which opens into a small dining room and computer station. They will be driven by an external amp preout from my receiver and crossed over to an Epik Legend sub. I have room to place them in whatever position will yield optimum results.
They will be replacing large floorstanding mains with no matching center, the mains are old and boxy speakers. My room is carpeted with heavy curtains on side walls, comfortable furniture and corner shelves with CD's and albums. Listening position is approx. 10-12'. Thank you for the time, I look forward to all replies.
Jeff

 

[STRONGBADF1]

Hello to all,
I am ready to pull the trigger on three indentical 340SE's for my front stage, they will be used for HT and stereo listening, the center will be orientated in a vertical configuration. I have frequented the Ascends forum and got much if not all positive feedback from 340 users. I thought I would throw this out to you guys here who have or heard these speakers and give me an unbiased opinion. My room is 13' X 26' X 8' which opens into a small dining room and computer station. They will be driven by an external amp preout from my receiver and crossed over to an Epik Legend sub. I have room to place them in whatever position will yield optimum results.
They will be replacing large floorstanding mains with no matching center, the mains are old and boxy speakers. My room is carpeted with heavy curtains on side walls, comfortable furniture and corner shelves with CD's and albums. Listening position is approx. 10-12'. Thank you for the time, I look forward to all replies.
Jeff

Nice speakers and nice sub. Very big bang for the buck IMO. I own 340's & 170's and for the price are very nice speakers. I've heard the Legend and it seems like a great value also.


Edit: I heard the Empire not the Legend...I would imagine they are very similar other than max output.

 

[jostenmeat]

Hello to all,
I am ready to pull the trigger on three indentical 340SE's for my front stage, they will be used for HT and stereo listening, the center will be orientated in a vertical configuration. I have frequented the Ascends forum and got much if not all positive feedback from 340 users. I thought I would throw this out to you guys here who have or heard these speakers and give me an unbiased opinion. My room is 13' X 26' X 8' which opens into a small dining room and computer station. They will be driven by an external amp preout from my receiver and crossed over to an Epik Legend sub. I have room to place them in whatever position will yield optimum results.
They will be replacing large floorstanding mains with no matching center, the mains are old and boxy speakers. My room is carpeted with heavy curtains on side walls, comfortable furniture and corner shelves with CD's and albums. Listening position is approx. 10-12'. Thank you for the time, I look forward to all replies.
Jeff

I haven't heard them, but if and when you get them, please experiment thoroughly with placement. If I had to guess on a particular concept, it would be that many do not experiment enough with placement from front wall. Sometimes that extra foot makes it sound like a completely different speaker.

My personal preference is wider spread, with greater toe in. You can find a compromise by playing with both mch and stereo (if you listen to much stereo). Greater spread for a more massive/wider soundstage, but not too wide where you created a "hole" in the middle with stereo. However, since Ascends are supposed to have good offaxis response, I bet you can go wide indeed.

Where exactly do you intend to put the center, below or above display? Angled at all if the display is centered at eye level?

 

[MinusTheBear]

The Ascends are an extremely well engineered speaker. From the 3rd party measurements and quality of the external and internal components used IMO Ascend offers some of the best bang for buck and performance regardless of price point.

 

[GranteedEV]

Just FYI, a vertical MTM won't work if you're placing it too high or too low. It needs to be ear level (IE behind a transparent screen). Otherwise you're gonna have to tilt it up significantly to put your ear on tweeter axis.

 

[mziegler]

Back in 2006 I was looking to spend about $800 a pair for speakers and I did an extensive search with a bunch of comparative listening. At $568/pair the Ascends were better than anything I heard, including NHT Classic Threes, Paradigm Studio 20, B&W 601, Era D5, Totem Rainmaker, and a bunch of others. Great speakers and a great value.

I have since moved to Sierras, and I am about to upgrade to the NrT tweeter. Great company.

 

[sholling]

I bought a pair of b-stock 340SEs to use as surrounds until I can save up for a pair of Salk Surround IIs. Well they've been doing that job so well that just for grins I decided to set them up as mains for a day and was impressed. To me the sound is very similar to the non-NrT Sierra-1 but with just a bit less bass extension. In exchange you get much higher sensitivity which I think that's a more than fair trade off when you're using a subwoofer. If I had an $800 budget I could happily live with three 340SEs up front.

The Ascends are an extremely well engineered speaker. From the 3rd party measurements and quality of the external and internal components used IMO Ascend offers some of the best bang for buck and performance regardless of price point.

I agree completely with this statement. The 170SEs and the 340SEs are both very impressive at their respective price points or even a bit beyond. I just upgraded my Sierra-1s to NrTs and I'm very impressed. It's rare to spend that little for that much improvement.

 

[ahblaza]

Nice speakers and nice sub. Very big bang for the buck IMO. I own 340's & 170's and for the price are very nice speakers. I've heard the Legend and it seems like a great value also.


Edit: I heard the Empire not the Legend...I would imagine they are very similar other than max output.

Strong, thanks for the positive reply of the 340's I wanted to hear from someone on AH who has heard or owns these speakers. yes the Legend seems like a smaller version of the Epik, it fills my room well with enough low level bass output and it is very articulate and after a few placement moves I ended up with a very solid sweet spot for lack of a better term, having dual 12" side firing drivers makes placement fairly easy, I did not think at $500 I could get this type of performance. That goes for the 340's also, three identical speakers for around $800 with a discount from Dave, I planned on spending more but then I said why, I think I will be very happy with them, I have thirty days to decide. I used my SPL meter (that's all I have) to dial the sub in and integrates well with the mains, it kind of makes my mains sound better, I'm getting off subject here, I think the 340's will make a marked improvement in overall SQ. Thanks, sorry for the long reply.
Jeff

 

[ahblaza]

I haven't heard them, but if and when you get them, please experiment thoroughly with placement. If I had to guess on a particular concept, it would be that many do not experiment enough with placement from front wall. Sometimes that extra foot makes it sound like a completely different speaker.

My personal preference is wider spread, with greater toe in. You can find a compromise by playing with both mch and stereo (if you listen to much stereo). Greater spread for a more massive/wider soundstage, but not too wide where you created a "hole" in the middle with stereo. However, since Ascends are supposed to have good offaxis response, I bet you can go wide indeed.

Where exactly do you intend to put the center, below or above display? Angled at all if the display is centered at eye level?

Thanks Jost, I also believe in experimenting with placement, I did that with my current setup and was surprised with what even a few inches could mean. I have a lot of room options in which to experiment and also like a wider placement with toe in, but not to the point of a center hole being created. I've also heard that they image well and have good off axis response. I have built a mount that can be used above the TV and also one for below it as well. I have read from someone whom I respect, that mounting vertically above or below TV would be acceptable as long as center tweeter is within 12-18" of mains tweeter, I have tried this with a TM center speaker in both above and below TV with very good results. Dave can configure the center for either vert. or horiz. placement, I'm just not a fan of MTM horiz placement centers., although Dave has a circuit in the xover that compensates for the -6dB loss in low freq. across the front baffle, but I really don't think that can be compensated for just my opinion with horiz. MTM's. Thanks again for the reply.
Jeff

 

[Gov]

I have 3 340SE's across the front with an Epik Phoenix. I LOVE them! You will be very happy with your choices

 

[ahblaza]

The Ascends are an extremely well engineered speaker. From the 3rd party measurements and quality of the external and internal components used IMO Ascend offers some of the best bang for buck and performance regardless of price point.

MTB, thank you for the encouraging words, I have read just what you said on their site, "best bang for the buck and performance regardless of price point". Most owners on the Ascends site seem to mirror your exact comment! I think the single most important asset of Ascends speakers besides their build quality and choice of components used is Dave the owner, it seems R&D is a priority with him and not misleading specs or snake oil claims, and he has answered all my queries with straightforward responses, he operates his business in my opinion with integrity and honesty, a quality which I find admirable. I'm really glad I started this thread, folks from AH like yourself just reinforce my belief in these principles. Thank you.
Jeff

 

[ahblaza]

Just FYI, a vertical MTM won't work if you're placing it too high or too low. It needs to be ear level (IE behind a transparent screen). Otherwise you're gonna have to tilt it up significantly to put your ear on tweeter axis.

Grant, I don't have a transparent screen, just a 50' Panny Plasma. I may eventually wall mount the plasma so I can have the vertical center at ear level, but for now I will have to use it with a significant tilt up to fire at ear level. Most people that have the center from the Ascends forum say with the horizontal placement they achieve excellent results even off axis because of the EXBAC circuitry built into the xover network, it's supposed to compensate for the -6dB drop with lower frq. across the front baffle. I don't put much credence in this but I could be wrong. Thanks.
Jeff

 

[ahblaza]

Back in 2006 I was looking to spend about $800 a pair for speakers and I did an extensive search with a bunch of comparative listening. At $568/pair the Ascends were better than anything I heard, including NHT Classic Threes, Paradigm Studio 20, B&W 601, Era D5, Totem Rainmaker, and a bunch of others. Great speakers and a great value.

I have since moved to Sierras, and I am about to upgrade to the NrT tweeter. Great company.

mziegler: I almost passed over the 340's because of the price, shows my ignorance. Dave is giving me a special price for the three 340's until December 31, so I need to pull the trigger soon. Since these are built as ordered he said he will configure the center which ever way I decide, vert. or horiz., I'm really undecided at this point and need a push either way, although I'm pretty set on vert. placement. About the Sierra's tweeter upgrade... there seems to be a lot of excitement on the site about this with the NrT and especially the Sierra NrT towers in the near future. Congrats on your Sierra purchase and upgrade, thanks for the reply.
Jeff

 

[SopRage]

I've got CMT-340SEs up front and CBM-170SEs in the rear.

I'm no audio expert by any means, but when I was looking for my first entry into home theater a few years ago Ascend came up everywhere I looked for a product that placed a premium on performance.

Just like everyone else here I'm always upgrading and changing things out, but the only speaker upgrades I've ever considered were Sierras. However, since my speakers are about 99% gaming and home theater, I couldn't justify the price (especially with the hit in sensitivity since I like to go loud). I'm thrilled with them.

 

[ahblaza]

I bought a pair of b-stock 340SEs to use as surrounds until I can save up for a pair of Salk Surround IIs. Well they've been doing that job so well that just for grins I decided to set them up as mains for a day and was impressed. To me the sound is very similar to the non-NrT Sierra-1 but with just a bit less bass extension. In exchange you get much higher sensitivity which I think that's a more than fair trade off when you're using a subwoofer. If I had an $800 budget I could happily live with three 340SEs up front.


I agree completely with this statement. The 170SEs and the 340SEs are both very impressive at their respective price points or even a bit beyond. I just upgraded my Sierra-1s to NrTs and I'm very impressed. It's rare to spend that little for that much improvement.

sholling, my sentiments exactly, I can more than be happy with 340's up front, I was hoping you would respond since you have these speakers and I really respect your opinions as well of all whom responded, I am truly grateful to have you guys to share my thoughts with and ask so many questions which I am famous for, you all have convinced me that their are no dumb questions, I really don't make a decision on any purchase without consulting the people of this forum, I must say I have not been dissappointed with any and all suggestions and recommendations from all here. I want to extend my thanks to you and all who have been a part of this. Happy and Blessed Holidays to all.
Jeff

 

[ahblaza]

I have 3 340SE's across the front with an Epik Phoenix. I LOVE them! You will be very happy with your choices

Gov, that is exactly the response I was looking for, that's an emphatic yes!!! The Phoenix must be a real beast. I love my Legend and Chad is a great person at Epik, I asked about a second Legend and he said when ever I was ready just call him and he would give me the discounted price as if I bought dual Legends. Another great company. At this point there is nothing stopping me from getting the 340's, I have all the positive reponses from you guys, I was not expecting so many positive replies and I thank you all for taking the time to get involved in this quest. Many thanks.
Best regards, Jeff

 

[ahblaza]

I've got CMT-340SEs up front and CBM-170SEs in the rear.

I'm no audio expert by any means, but when I was looking for my first entry into home theater a few years ago Ascend came up everywhere I looked for a product that placed a premium on performance.

Just like everyone else here I'm always upgrading and changing things out, but the only speaker upgrades I've ever considered were Sierras. However, since my speakers are about 99% gaming and home theater, I couldn't justify the price (especially with the hit in sensitivity since I like to go loud). I'm thrilled with them.

Thanks Sop, I also am a gamer, HT and 2 channel enthusiast, I have not considered the Sierra's yet, I would like to get my feet wet with the 340's, they seem to be exactly what I am looking, I have not made a speaker purchase in six years and I'm due. I believe for now my quest is over, 340's for me. The money I'm saving with them will allow me to buy more media, games, BD and LP's. Thanks my friend for the reply.
Jeff

 

[speakerman39]

Thanks Sop, I also am a gamer, HT and 2 channel enthusiast, I have not considered the Sierra's yet, I would like to get my feet wet with the 340's, they seem to be exactly what I am looking, I have not made a speaker purchase in six years and I'm due. I believe for now my quest is over, 340's for me. The money I'm saving with them will allow me to buy more media, games, BD and LP's. Thanks my friend for the reply.
Jeff

Hey, I used to own the 340 SE's across the front and I was absolutely amazed at what I got out of them. They are the best speakers I have ever owned. Oh btw, it is true as the 340's really are better than the more expensive Paradigm Studio 20's. In fact, the 170 SE's would give the Studio 20's a run for their money at a fraction of the cost. Not to mention, doing business with Dave is great. He is a super guy and is passionate about this business. I would not hesitate to buty from him again. Highly recommended! Good luck in your decision. Personally, I think you are on the right track.



Cheers,

Phil

 

[j_garcia]

I've had Studio 40s in my setup and I felt they were honestly a better speaker than the 340SEs. However the 340SEs give you about 85% of what the studios give you for less than half the price, and that is quite significant. Soundwise, I actually do sort of prefer the Ascends as I felt they were more even handed than the Studios Meaning long term, I get some listening fatigue from the Studios and I doubt that I would from the 340s. I never tested the 340s in my setup; I have only heard them at other people's homes, but at one point I did take my surround pair over to a guys house and did a back to back with the 340SEs. My speakers are also about 2x the price of the 340s, but less than a pair of Studio40s. The Ascends have always been a serious bang for the buck.

 

[ahblaza]

Hey, I used to own the 340 SE's across the front and I was absolutely amazed at what I got out of them. They are the best speakers I have ever owned. Oh btw, it is true as the 340's really are better than the more expensive Paradigm Studio 20's. In fact, the 170 SE's would give the Studio 20's a run for their money at a fraction of the cost. Not to mention, doing business with Dave is great. He is a super guy and is passionate about this business. I would not hesitate to buty from him again. Highly recommended! Good luck in your decision. Personally, I think you are on the right track.



Cheers,

Phil

Thanks Phil, That is exactly why I started this thread, to get unbiased opinioins of the 340SE's from folks like yourself, I have not seen a negative owner's review yet, I rely heavely on reviews of actual owners, audio mag reviews I take with a grain of salt, the only credence with them are the measurements and frequency response graphs, but as Dave says these can be smoothed over. And yes Dave is a wonderful honest and down to earth fellow which makes buying the Ascends a no nbrainer, at least for me. Dave even is giving me a discount price on the three 340's which was not even adsvertized, good man, great product. Thanks again for your reply.
Jeff