First Impressions of the Ascend Sierra Towers/Horizon with RAAL Ribbons

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Its been approximately 10 months since I purchased the Ascend Sierras and I'm very happy. However, I continue to read the forums and sometimes think back to my search, wondering what if I had gone with the Martin Logan Theos which I came close to pulling the trigger on. How would the Theos sound in my media room. That's what happens when you continue to read the forums after making a decision.

Is it because you think the ML may sound better? Or because it's a more prestigious brand name? Or aesthetics? Or just upgrade fever?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Hmm. As I said in the previous post, I worked with the volume knob on the sub everytime I ran audessey so that audessey comes back with -1 db or closer to 0db as much possible. with my sub volume at around 9' O clock position, I got audessey to come back with -1 db for the sub channel out put. It is the Front LCRs that came back with -8, -7 etc... I can follow your advise and turn the sub volume even less but I am afraid audessey will then come back with +6 or +8db for the sub channel but better numbers for the LCR. But let me try doing that first and report back

I say just do it manually. Set the front L/R to +0.0 and level match the Center, Surrounds, & Subs manually.

 

[PENG]

I say just do it manually. Set the front L/R to +0.0 and level match the Center, Surrounds, & Subs manually.

Agree, but he wants to follow the rule of thumb to get the sub close to 0. So best he can do manually is to go half way, set L,C,R to -4 and sub to +4. Again, I do prefer to have the sub volume cranked up so he can aim for sub to be at around -2 (to minimize chance of preamp distortion) and L,C,R could still be close to 0, may be +2 or +3.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Agree, but he wants to follow the rule of thumb to get the sub close to 0.

Oh. I see.

None of my subs are @ 0.0. My dual Funk are @ +2.5, dual RBH are + 5.0, and quad Velodyne are -8.0.

 

[PENG]

Oh. I see.

None of my subs are @ 0.0. My dual Funk are @ +2.5, dual RBH are + 5.0, and quad Velodyne are -8.0.

I did say in my ealier post that it was theoretical. Some AVR/prepro (including possibly your 3312) clips if ask to output near their top end, even then we are very tolerant to low freq distortions to the point we cannot tell unless it gets really bad. Regardlsee, +2.5 is not a problem anyway but +8 could be. I wouldn't worry about -8 but I prefer to keep mine at between -1 to -5.

 

[Rob from NJ]

Is it because you think the ML may sound better? Or because it's a more prestigious brand name? Or aesthetics? Or just upgrade fever?

Mostly upgrade fever supported by continuing to read the forums and some about sound ("what if" question). Don’t care about brand reputation and aesthetics was lower on the priority list, even though the electrostats look very cool.

During my search I spent a lot of time and effort listening to both the ML ESLs and Theos in every Magnolia, Elec. Expo and small audio shop distributor in my area. I had 2 demos in particular with the electrostats that blew me away. Best sounding speakers I listened to by far. I also had a few sporadic instances where the sound field collapsed once my ears went above and/or to the right/left of the panels. It’s as if the speakers were shut off. This was a deal breaker for me, as well as, I was concerned (falsely so) about placement issues – space off of the walls.

During my search I listened to many brands/products. In addition, since most of my use is HT, I gave serious consideration to a completely different path, going with JTR Speakers even though I did not seize an opportunity to listen to the Triple 8s.

At the end of the day, I’m very happy with my Ascend Sierra setup. Vocals are great, especially female vocals. Instruments are crisp and clear. The speakers are very true to the quality of the recording. The speakers are also dynamic enough for movie soundtracks at my listening level, which is not reference level. However, can’t help but occasionally think about different speakers and how they would sound in my room.

 

[rsmt2000]

After reading your original post again, I think it may be possible that you are sitting much closer to the sub than to the L,C,R or the sub is in a location that helps increase its output SPL

Hi PENG

Yes. You nailed it. I am sitting on the sub as I dont have a couch Just kidding.. I have my sub right behind the couch to prevent the bass from going to my neighbour's townhome which is right behind the front wall where I have my screen. But I am thinking of changing the position of the sub to have the driver of the sub to point the listening area as opposed to pointing *behind* me. But I am ok with it for some time.

 

[rsmt2000]

How do you like the Sierra towers? Did you also go with the Raal for the Horiozn? Are you using Ascend surrounds? Please give us your impressions of your speakers.

Mostly upgrade fever supported by continuing to read the forums and some about sound ("what if" question).

Hi Rob

First of all, Please accept my apologies as I have hi-jacked your thread with my problems.

I have a small confession, I do not have sierra towers in my HT basement where I am having issues with the Audessey. I have Bowers Wilkins CM9s with a Rythmik F15. After having them for about an year or so, I kept running into folks who trash them and say they are terrible and post frequecy graphs or what not to prove their point. When I bought them I auditioned quite a few speakers and liked their warm/velvetty sound. I listened to Def tech ( loud muddy bass ), paradigm studio 100 ( in your face signature sound) and was honestly tired to do more research. I later on bought an Emotiva XPA5 amp as some said the BWs are power hungry and an AMP will make them SING. Any way, since I liked Rythmik subwoofer and that they associate with ascend, I started researching them more and wanted to try them.

Now coming back to your first question, I only have two sierra towers with RAAL. I have this system mostly for 2 channel music in my living room.I am planning on adding a sub some time very soon and a center channel later on. I honestly think that the towers are very much better than the BW CM9s ( which I think you didnt like at all). The seperation of instruments, much tighter bass in them is phenomenal. I sometimes think that adding a sub to them is pretty much waste of money for my living area. As you say, vocals are amazing and so are any string instruments like guitar and sitar ( the one Ravi Shankar and now his daughter Anoushka are known for). They sound very natural. Finally I am driving them with a crappy pioneer that I used to run some satellite speakers and they still sound fantastic without being power hungry.

I would say is that this hobby is a downward spiral . once you are into it, you always keep wondering what if and keep adding more and more. I myself have some questions about acoustic panels from acoustimac and also planning on playing with REW some time. I will PM you some time.

Thanks for reading my sermon

 

[Rob from NJ]

Hi Rob

First of all, Please accept my apologies as I have hi-jacked your thread with my problems.

I have a small confession, I do not have sierra towers in my HT basement where I am having issues with the Audessey. I have Bowers Wilkins CM9s with a Rythmik F15. After having them for about an year or so, I kept running into folks who trash them and say they are terrible and post frequecy graphs or what not to prove their point. When I bought them I auditioned quite a few speakers and liked their warm/velvetty sound. I listened to Def tech ( loud muddy bass ), paradigm studio 100 ( in your face signature sound) and was honestly tired to do more research. I later on bought an Emotiva XPA5 amp as some said the BWs are power hungry and an AMP will make them SING. Any way, since I liked Rythmik subwoofer and that they associate with ascend, I started researching them more and wanted to try them.

Now coming back to your first question, I only have two sierra towers with RAAL. I have this system mostly for 2 channel music in my living room.I am planning on adding a sub some time very soon and a center channel later on. I honestly think that the towers are very much better than the BW CM9s ( which I think you didnt like at all). The seperation of instruments, much tighter bass in them is phenomenal. I sometimes think that adding a sub to them is pretty much waste of money for my living area. As you say, vocals are amazing and so are any string instruments like guitar and sitar ( the one Ravi Shankar and now his daughter Anoushka are known for). They sound very natural. Finally I am driving them with a crappy pioneer that I used to run some satellite speakers and they still sound fantastic without being power hungry.

I would say is that this hobby is a downward spiral . once you are into it, you always keep wondering what if and keep adding more and more. I myself have some questions about acoustic panels from acoustimac and also planning on playing with REW some time. I will PM you some time.

Thanks for reading my sermon

rsmt2000,

Thanks for reviving the thread. It got me thinking again which I admit, I've not done in some time. Also, I appreciate your impressions on the Sierra towers and am happy to hear you're enjoying the towers.

My use of the Ascend Sierras is very much limited to HT and usually on weekends. I try to get in 1-2 movies on the weekends when my kids are not using the system. I just don't have enough time in the days to listen to music and when I do my mind is already thinking of the next activity. I envision a future and a lifestyle when I have some moments every day to sit down and enjoy music. For me music is relaxing and puts me in a better frame of mind. I will definitely one day have 2 rooms, one for HT and the second for music listening, similar to your setup.

I've tried my best to avoid listening to other speakers because I know of this downward spiral of which you speak. However, I have a burning desire to figure out how to get a demo of the JTR Noesis solely for HT/movies objectives. I need to connect with someone locally with a killer dedicated HT setup so I can attempt to understand. One can only dream.