New Fully NFS Optimized Sierra LX From Ascend Acoustics!

[Pogre]

*Edit:
"I am pleased to announce a very limited pre-order pricing of $1398 pair ($50 more for piano black) + $50 flat rate UPS ground shipping."

Use this link to place a pre-order: Sierra-LX pair

Dave over at Ascend Acoustics recently announced a new speaker in his lineup and he's pretty excited about it. This may be the first ever Klippel optimized speaker on the market. He found a dome tweeter that behaves very much like a ribbon tweeter in some aspects, but combines some of the advantages of a hard dome in one design.

Introducing the Sierra-LX!!!

I am most pleased to announce the completion of an exciting new project!! *Note: Please use this link to place a pre-order: Sierra-LX pair Things here at Ascend might have appeared to be quiet, but the truth is we have been fully focused on intense R&D for quite a long while now. This...

forum.ascendacoustics.com

If you follow that link he has some measurements comparing it to a RAAL and a very expensive diamond dome tweeter and it does indeed look very impressive! He has a new bass driver lined up too, and looks like it will use the same cabinet as the Sierra 1-2. He's shooting for a price point in between the Sierra 1 and Sierra 2

*Edit: Oh, and he did buy a Klippel last year. Ascend Acoustics now proudly have one of the most advanced R&D departments for speaker design in the world right now and this speaker will be first one to utilize it!

 

[j_garcia]

 

[Hetfield]

Dave over at Ascend Acoustics recently announced a new speaker in his lineup and he's pretty excited about it. This may be the first ever Klippel optimized speaker on the market. He found a dome tweeter that behaves very much like a ribbon tweeter in some aspects, but combines some of the advantages of a hard dome in one design.

Introducing the Sierra-LX!!!

I am most pleased to announce the completion of an exciting new project!! *Note: Please use this link to place a pre-order: Sierra-LX pair Things here at Ascend might have appeared to be quiet, but the truth is we have been fully focused on intense R&D for quite a long while now. This...

forum.ascendacoustics.com

If you follow that link he has some measurements comparing it to a RAAL and a very expensive diamond dome tweeter and it does indeed look very impressive! He has a new bass driver lined up too, and looks like it will use the same cabinet as the Sierra 1-2. He's shooting for a price point in between the Sierra 1 and Sierra 2

*Edit: Oh, and he did buy a Klippel last year. Ascend Acoustics now proudly have one of the most advanced R&D departments for speaker design in the world right now and this speaker will be first one to utilize it!

Wow this is gonna be something. Always wanted to go to Ascend. These are gonna be fantastic no doubt. Dave is a great speaker designer.

 

[Pogre]

Wow this is gonna be something. Always wanted to go to Ascend. These are gonna be fantastic no doubt. Dave is a great speaker designer.

You know one of those are gonna end up on ASR's bench. I'm really curious to see how it does. There are a few Klippels out there, but I haven't heard of a speaker being designed using one yet. That's a pretty neat selling point right now too. They just need to hold up to 3rd party testing, and he's got the tools now to make it happen.

 

[Hetfield]

You know one of those are gonna end up on ASR's bench. I'm really curious to see how it does. There are a few Klippels out there, but I haven't heard of a speaker being designed using one yet. That's a pretty neat selling point right now too. They just need to hold up to 3rd party testing, and he's got the tools now to make it happen.

Yes, this is a very cool selling point and just good science on building or designing a great speaker. Dave doesn't design anything crappy so this is an awesome development in his design evolution.

 

[Pogre]

SIERRA LX SPECIFICATIONS


Typical In-Room Frequency Response: 28Hz - 23kHz

Typical In-Room Sensitivity: 87dB @ 2.83v / 1 meter

Nominal Impedance: 8 ohms

Max Continuous Power*: 350 watts

Max Short Term Peak Power*: 500 watts

Cabinet Detail: Exclusive V-LAM™ construction featuring 20mm thick vertically laminated bamboo, internally braced. Bass reflex via flared rear port

Tweeter: Customized version of SEAS "Titan" dome tweeter, model H1825 with titanium former, aluminum alloy 1" dome, large, tuned damping chamber and copper cap for reduced distortion and inductance

Woofer: (1) Proprietary 6” high excursion, high power, aluminum cone woofer, non-resonant cast magnesium basket frame, vented pole-piece, dual layer pure copper voice coil, copper shorting rings, vented spider and titanium former. Custom manufactured for us by SEAS of Norway and exclusive to Ascend Acoustics

Connections: (2) gold plated all metal 5 way binding posts

Inserts: (1) 1/4-20 threaded insert

Anechoic Bass Extension (-3dB): 36Hz (modeled)

Anechoic Frequency Response: 43Hz - 23kHz +/- 3dB (based on Klippel NFS measurements)

Anechoic Sensitivity: 83dB @ 2.83v / 1 meter

Dimensions H x W x D**: 14.25" x 7.5" x 10.5"

Speaker Weight (each): 22 pounds

Shipping Weight (pair): 45 pounds

Minimum Recommended Power at Listening Position for Specific Speaker Distances

3 Feet or Less: 3 watts minimum

9 Feet or Less: 33 watts minimum

15 Feet or Less: 90 watts minimum

21 Feet or More: 180 watts minimum


*Unclipped peaks **Grille On

 

[Pogre]

"Besides all the unique characteristics and features we gave this new speaker, perhaps of most importance is the fact that we fully optimized every component and designed a computer optimized crossover to produce class leading NFS measurements. I know these measurements will be heavily scrutinized and analyzed by hundreds, perhaps thousands of people – but I want to stress something very important, these speakers simply sound incredible and there is really nothing quite like them.

This industry is starting to rely more on measurements than actual listening (where is the fun in that?) and it is critically important to understand that we all hear things differently. These are the best "measuring" speakers I have ever developed, but please just let your ears do the judging, not your eyes.

Sensitivity is a bit lower than normal for this class of loudspeaker (by about 2dB), but I have stated all along that these speakers want and deserve power. If you have the power, you are in for something special. However, while the lower than typical anechoic sensitivity will likely be criticized quite a bit, with having such wide horizontal and vertical dispersion, measured in-room sensitivity in a typical room ends up being 87dB @ 2.83v / 1 meter, which is quite manageable.

For those who do not understand these measurements, please send me an email. I am literally exhausted and there is enough info out there (Google) to get a very good understanding.

Enjoy!"

 

[Pogre]

"Accurately calculating the above measurements without the use of the NFS would require 4,800 different measurements, and likely take several weeks, provided someone had the patience and time to even attempt it.

Note: I have had to change the scale of the graph (rather dramatically) in order to visualize the differences, please take this into account when examining.

This measurement clearly shows the remarkable horizontal off-axis response of the LX. There is less than 1/2dB of deviation between the different off-axis positions and this is based on accepted science determining what the listener will hear from this speaker in a typical listening environment.

Note, I don't believe in the value of Harman's "preference rating" and I personally wish it did not even exist, but the preference rating of this speaker based on these measurements is 6.92 with no sub, and 8.62 with sub. Based on these numbers and the science behind it, objectively the LX would be preferred over the vast majority of speakers out there - but please, let your own ears decide rather than evaluating a speaker by a simple number."

Ol' Dave took a few lumps from an ASR review and instead of getting butthurt he took it as a challenge! This speaker is fully optimized to produce world class NSF measurements and it looks like he's succeeded! I'm so very curious to hear these new speakers!

 

[Mikado463]

I'm so very curious to hear these new speakers!

X2 ! what's the msrp ?

 

[Pogre]

X2 ! what's the msrp ?

"I am pleased to announce a very limited pre-order pricing of $1398 pair ($50 more for piano black) + $50 flat rate UPS ground shipping.

Use this link to place a pre-order: Sierra-LX pair"

 

[Pogre]

Some are asking about Sierra 1 to LX upgrade kits like the EX kits he sells and said it's doable. Even one or two Sierra 2 and EX owners voiced some interest. I have Sierra 2s and am not considering a kit. The S2/S2EX are already pretty fantastic and I just can't see me sticking my RAAL ribbons in storage and never use them again. I'd just outright by new speakers before I did that.

I am super curious to check these out tho. There's a bit of a story behind them that I think influenced his decision to buy that analyzer and produce a speaker using it to fully optimize every parameter. It's not JUST measurement based, but that does have a big impact on the final product. I'll bet they sound fantastic, especially for the current price. They use the same cabinet as my S2s and I can vouch for how inert they are. Bamboo is stiffer and lighter than MDF and they more than pass the knuckle test. They sound like tapping on a solid block.

 

[ryanosaur]

Some are asking about Sierra 1 to LX upgrade kits like the EX kits he sells and said it's doable. Even one or two Sierra 2 and EX owners voiced some interest. I have Sierra 2s and am not considering a kit. The S2/S2EX are already pretty fantastic and I just can't see me sticking my RAAL ribbons in storage and never use them again. I'd just outright by new speakers before I did that.

I am super curious to check these out tho. There's a bit of a story behind them that I think influenced his decision to buy that analyzer and produce a speaker using it to fully optimize every parameter. It's not JUST measurement based, but that does have a big impact on the final product. I'll bet they sound fantastic, especially for the current price. They use the same cabinet as my S2s and I can vouch for how inert they are. Bamboo is stiffer and lighter than MDF and they more than pass the knuckle test. They sound like tapping on a solid block.

What are the cabinets actually made of? I know he uses bamboo... is it Bamboo Ply as the main substrate?
And then what is the distinction between those cabinets and his others?
(It's been a while sinse I really digged into his gear, but seem to recall mentions of him sourcing cabinets from two different places.)

 

[Pogre]

What are the cabinets actually made of? I know he uses bamboo... is it Bamboo Ply as the main substrate?
And then what is the distinction between those cabinets and his others?
(It's been a while sinse I really digged into his gear, but seem to recall mentions of him sourcing cabinets from two different places.)

They're solid straight slats of bamboo glued into panels. If you look close at my piano black S2s you can see the undividual slats in the right light. It's hard to capture with a camera, but you can kind of see it in the distortions of these reflections.

Kinda cool looking imo. You can really see it in the natural grain finish. They really are very impressively inert.

 

[Pogre]

And then what is the distinction between those cabinets and his others?

I'm not sure, tho I imagine mdf for his more budget oriented speakers. Some of his bamboo cabs are domestic and some are imported, I don't know the differences aside from that. These new LX cabinets are imported, he did mention that.

*Edit: From the site.

"In order to greatly reduce cabinet resonance and energy loss common with MDF enclosures, the Sierra-1 cabinet is made from vertically oriented laminated bamboo. There are over 200 individual sheets of ¼" thick bamboo, each laminated to another and arranged such that each panel is vertical forming a baffle that is 3/4" thick. This cabinet has extremely low resonance... Warning, perform knuckle-rap test at your own risk!

The inside walls are lined with top-grade damping material and each joint is well braced. We custom tooled a high-flow flared port tube which is flush mounted into the rear of the cabinet. All drivers are flush mounted to reduce baffle reflections and the front baffle vertical edges have a beautiful radius which aids in the reduction of diffraction."

 

[ryanosaur]

Cool. So it is a Bamboo Ply.
Thank you.

(edit: bamboo plywood is a little different than what we think of as plywood as it isn't the regular sandwiching of alternating layers... This is just from a quick google search:

I had seen some other descriptions that discussed rolling out and compressing the fibers in a manner that sounds more like traditional ply, but you can see with this product what looks like described above in your post. )

 

[Pogre]

Cool. So it is a Bamboo Ply.

Yup! Lol.

Thank you.

YVW.

 

[Pogre]

(edit: bamboo plywood is a little different than what we think of as plywood as it isn't the regular sandwiching of alternating layers... This is just from a quick google search:

I had seen some other descriptions that discussed rolling out and compressing the fibers in a manner that sounds more like traditional ply, but you can see with this product what looks like described above in your post. )

Ah, now that is different than I'd imagined, and actually does look like it'd be very stiff.

He sometimes has trouble sourcing enough cabs to keep up with demand so that's why he has multiple suppliers. I guess bamboo isn't very easy to work with.

 

[ryanosaur]

It strikes me that the facilities producing what we think of as plywood will be completely different from those producing bamboo ply. Likewise, from one article I read, they only harvest bamboo once it reaches 35-40' which may take anywhere from 1-3 years...
However, I didn't buy from Ascend for one reason: there was a Bamboo shortage and about a 6-mos wait for me to get my order! Because of a Bamboo Shortage!!!

No, don't ask. I don't understand. Perhaps if you called Dina and talked to her. (Assuming she is still Dave's sidekick. )

 

[Pogre]

Well I haven't seen anything about a bamboo shortage at the moment, but just about everything else is for everyone!

 

[ryanosaur]

Well I haven't seen anything about a bamboo shortage at the moment, but just about everything else is for everyone!

LOL
Google search on Bamboo Shortage just brings up a page or more of Canadian Zoo returning Pandas because they can't get Bamboo.

For me and Ascend, this was back in 2018. Not relevant today. *blushes