Figured I would share some more thoughts as I've done a lot more listening since my original review.
Im thinking of asking Ascend if they would be willing to extend my auditioning period to give me the opportunity to try out some other speakers.
Currently my chief complaints are that the bass in the CBM-170's is quite anemic and they sound a bit thin in the lower midrange. When listening to classical music drums have a lack of impact and bass in EDM is notably lacking. I don't think im asking too much out of stand-mount speaker. The CBM-170s have a fair bit of high frequency energy, maybe a little more than I would like personally. The tweeters definitely seem a bit brighter than the tweeters on my SVS Ultras. The fact that the Ultras have so much more low frequency potential and a lusher lower midrange could be shifting the tonal balance to make them sound smoother and more balanced.
Something I find odd is that after running MCACC on the Ultras there isn't a significant increase in SQ over the unaltered pure direct mode, it sounds different but not always better. For example sometimes pure direct sounds better on classical music but having MCACC on makes EDM and movies sound better. However, MCACC totally changes the CBM-170s. Its a very drastic difference. Sound quality is hugely improved after running the auto cal. The Ultras and the 170's are in two very different rooms and its very likely that the room is the culprit so I'm going to go ahead and relocate the CBM-170s to the same room as the Ultras to see whats what.
The ARX AB1's have caught my eye. Reading first hand experiences it looks like they pack quite a bit more bass than the 170's. I saw this video that someone else made, these towers use the same driver that the AB1's use. That excursion is hugely impressive.
Excursion 1 on Vimeo I turned up the volume quite loud and couldnt even get 1/6 of that excursion. The AB1's use a folded ribbon tweeter though and that makes me a bit nervous since ive never owned a speaker with one. Its suppose to be fairly laid back though(i've heard a few ribbon tweeters before and they were always bright). If anyone has heard these please let me know what you thought of them.