Just cannot get it sounding right

[Yes]

Hi DJ in Tx-I very much appreciate your advice. I know I have a problem with paragraphs-I guess I get excited or nervous posting sometimes. I will try to fix that because I understand how that can be hard to read. I also appreciate others opinions and criticisms even if they are harsh-I beleive honesty is the best policy. I don't quite understand why there is not an edit button next to my postings as is described in the faq section-I don't necessarilly want to delete my posts but just edit them a little to make them more readable-I think these forums are a great place to exchange ideas for the benefit of everyone but when my writing is not always so good it does kind of screw up the thread a bit.

(paragraph) see I do listen lol. I did want to comment about my pushing of cerwin vega speakers-as I've been listening to my ascend speakers I have to say I think they are at least much more listenable and maybe more realistic sounding than my cerwin vega bookshelf speakers-but sometimes I do crave the bold sound of the cerwins like when I want to hear some loud rock music-to my ears the cerwins are a little more open sounding and more responsive sounding or quicker-but they also can sometimes sound harsh.

I'm also not necessarilly recommending my ascends to people but they are very listenable and perhaps reasonably to very accurate would also describe them-they are sort of like studio monitors which is how they are described (although I've never used studio monitors) but as such they don't seem to sound "quite" as good at loud volumes in larger rooms (although I have not tested this thoroughly to be sure) but if you have a smaller room they could be literally the best bookshelf speakers you could buy (but of course since I've mostly heard lower priced bookshelf speakers you should take that with a grain of salt).However for comparison they have at least a slightly better soundstage than the monitor audio's I owned and the same for the wharfedale's I owned-but I do kind of wish i still had my monitor audios as they were just a tad more "exciting" and "open" sounding than these ascends(some people call that "bright" but they weren't harsh at all and in fact I think had less detail and were smoother up top than the ascends) but at the same time the word listenable comes to mind again because I've never listened to a speaker as much as I have these ascends-I think it's the fact that they are detailed and very accurate while at the same time very smooth sounding which seems to be a hard combination to find-and also they are 93db and an easy 8 ohm load to the amplifier. Please note that my ascends took about 40 hours to start sounding good-before that the soundstage was not very big and I really was on the fence about them-it was annoying and i know there are those who don't believe products change as you use them but I've experienced it with amps and speakers (not all but some) and it has been scientifically proven to occur-and it's only logical that they would change for better (and sometimes worse) because they are mechanical devices and all mechanical devices change slowly over time if they are used.

Ascend recommends you use 14ga speaker cable and I agree as I tried basic 16ga and I could tell the speaker was having trouble getting the power it needed-I settled on impact 14ga fully made speaker cables which are sold by audioholics (although I bought mine from impact) and are the best deal I've ever seen on finished speaker cables.I've listened to audioquest which are great but at least 2-3 times the price of these (although they are somewhat smoother and perhaps better imo) and I've tried a few other much more expensive cables that overall are probably not much better made or better sounding than the impact cables.But that's just my opinion,I'm definitely not a cable expert they just sound very decent/good to me and I have moved them around and they have not broken or anything so I would say they are good sounding and well made cables.

My next speakers are probably going to be single driver speakers because I've tried every other type of speaker it seems(except for electrostatics). For me I think I will like a single driver speaker because I think they will be a little more dynamic and realistic than a speaker with a crossover and a tweeter. However many people find single driver speakers to be somewhat innaccurate sounding (due to generally not having a flat frequency response) and as such they can also sound harsher than a well designed 2 way or 3 way speaker. Also a speaker without a tweeter may in some cases sound like it's missing some upper range because tweeters often produce a lot of upper range sounds. And most single driver speakers are not designed to handle more than 50-90 watts on average (and often less) so they are better suited to a lower powered high quality 2ch amp. But if you value "realism" sometimes above all else in a speaker (like accuracy or even listenability) and you match them with a nice amplifier of say $400 or more they might be great for you (they also do well with tube amps of course because some of those are very simply designed and the smoothness can help any uneven response). Yeah thinking about it I'm not sure I would like any speaker more than I do my ascends most of the time but you know sometime you want chocolate ice cream,sometimes vanilla,and sometimes you even want that weird bubblegum flavor so you never know.

 

[ozmedia]

Loooooong winded

I checked mine and the top is perfectly flat!

Seth, you read all that? I gave up after the first sentence.

Yeah, I completely drifted off too. Some people have a lot to say but no structure when saying it.

Ahh, well I see YES has fixed the keyboard issue, well done 'yes'. now I just have to figure out my own typing issues, too many edits.

As for EDIT it is available for a while after posting but, as your post ages, it will no longer e available; or so it has seemed to me, when fixing my own countless typos.

 

[ozmedia]

I'd bank on 3

I didn't even read one word of it.

I would say the issues are purely related to 1) speaker placement, 2) room acoustics, or 3) the speakers themselves.

I would also turn OFF any kind of EQs (Audyssey) to begin with.

Speakers don't match with receivers?

Well, maybe if the receiver were defective.

I didn't want to knock the guy's system, people own what they can afford. I know my tastes are well beyond my own budget too.

ut I did think right off the bat, Energy? Gee there's the problem. Perhaps they were okay in a smaller room.

The other issue is room materials. The walls could be more or less absorbent too.