Am I the only one who doesn't like Ascend Acoustic's Sierra-1's??? - Page 2

I like Ben and Jerry's Coconut Almond Fudge.

Well.....for each person and room it is different.

I have mine slightly toed-in........can't give you the actual degrees. I have gone between no toe-in at all, to toed directly at the listening position, and now they are only slightly toed in.

If I remember correctly, mine are about 8' apart, and I sit just about 10' away. I can measure when I get home.

From your desciption though, you have yours toed toward your head more than I do.

I messed around with the positioning to more so for the effects on imaging and soundstage than anythingelse.

Someone else once told me they thought the cymbals were forward....just goes to show you the differences in taste. On his setup, I thought the highs were rolled off.....imagine what you would think.

Have you checked your tone controls?

Interesting thread.


Eww. I don't think that's a very good idea, unless your goal is for him to throw the Sierras through his window I would pay a fortune to have the of chance to be able to hold her head in my hands, and then bang it repeatedly on her damn annoying piano. At least then she'd have good reason to sing, well more like wail or whine... so painfully slow and minimalistically like she always does...


For Sierras, I'm sure that if you spent the month with the Sierras and went back to the BWs, you'd have a hard time going back to BWs... But it is interesting how often someone's perception of how it should sound is actually so closely related to their current audio system. Also, "how a sound should sound", is all too often something which has been recorded in a studio, then mixed, phased, chorused, reverb'd, compressed, EQ'd, distorted, and then it sounds real through these speakers. lol I'm somewhat guilty of this, have a panoply of headphones (Grados, Sennheisers, Sonys V6s, etc) and speakers, it can be sometimes confusing as to which playback of those artificial sounds more realistic! And really, who the hell can know?



Hmmm... Didn't you just buy and love the new SVS speakers? I remember you raving about them really not so long ago... Ah, here it is.


So not flabbergasted anymore I take it? :\\ Pretty crazy how perceptions can change!


Anyhow, to get back to OP, placement and room are really critical. Definitely spend some time to play with placement, it'll make a really significant difference. IMHO, there's really not much the 602s should do better than the Sierras, but to be honest I've never really liked the 60x line and always preferred the (older) CMs, even though they didn't have the bass of the 60x, to my ears they sounded significantly better, but still some would say the contrary and prefer 60x... So yeah... YMMV

But give them some time I'm sure they'll grow on you, just takes a while for that B&W brainwashing to wear off To 'unlearn' the B&W 602 signature sound. I'm sure you'd have felt similar to the B&W CMs (well older model, haven't heard the latest gen CM1 yet) as you did with the Sierras, even though the CMs were pretty much a step up 602's in pretty much everything except bass, Sierra is like that, except that it's also a step up in bass

Hah, I actually downloaded, err I mean "purchased" a bunch of her music and didn't like any of it except that one song.

Lol, i would never admit that on a public forum.

and yeah, that ultimateav 602 S3 review does show a smiley face frequency response on their measurements.

Are you referring to downloading music or liking a Tori Amos song? I hope the feds aren't watching this thread.

I was just wondering.

I would say keep those setting at "0" (bass and treble), especially if your B&W's sound okay.

BTW, who are the "Audi" guys?

Agreed.

Join the club!


Could be....but I have no experience with those particular pieces of Emotiva gear, or Sony for that matter.

Well - at the risk of jumping into a thread where I don't belong --- may I humbly suggest moving them closer together...

13 feet is awfully far apart for most speakers couple closely to you...

In fact - I might ask you to experiment a bit more... Try sitting very nearfield to the Sierras and then the B+W's... (I think I know what will happen next)...

Room interaction and placement in general IS key... I have gotten to know the Sierra pretty intimately and I simply love this speaker... It's very special - and you can quote me on that...

OK - I'm really fond of it... but more, this speaker is so dang musical - and these results has been lovingly "found out" after listening to countless speakers...

Give it a whirl... you can never really know a speaker until you are at least 50 hours in...

Good luck with this...

Humbly...

mls

Thanks Mark. Always so humble, even on your own forums i see you complimenting other products while letting your products sell themselves. No BS marketing or outrageous boasts, just an offer to try it out at your home and see if they like them.

While technically this model is no different from other ID companies, it's the fact that you have very personable and friendly presence on public/enthusiast forums that really separates your brand from others.

(Going off topic) The only thing I might mention is that you guys sell some pretty expensive electronics on your website, which seem a bit out of reach for many enthusiasts (given the price of your speakers the price of accessories really stands out!). Of course, I know this is supply and demand issue, you guys aren't mass producing these things. I know some guys were spamming the AV123 forums with sentiments like "you guys are selling snake oil" pertaining to the costlier electronics. I might recommend (I dunno if it's economically feasible or not) if you guys provide some more lower-cost electronics in your product lineup.

I guess from my point of view (which is probably a minority here) I'm a college student so my computer is a fairly central source of my media playback...from what i can see my PC can do alot of the upsampling, encoding, or decoding just as effective as HT electronics that cost thousands of $ and often just as effective for nothing more than a download of free codecs, audio applications, or updated firmware for your hardware. Maybe I just don't understand the price that adults pay for convenience in a box? I guess I'm still too young and too poor to understand these things :-)

That is a great set and there is no reason to replace it. Just get a rack for the components and get rid of that monstrosity around the RPTV. If you do it now you may still be able to find a buyer. Wait a while longer and it will be an obsolete piece for sure.

What you are experiencing with the speakers is why I like to mix in unfamiliar music when auditioning speakers. Unfamiliar music allows me to listen to how each speaker presents a piece instead listening for which one sounds like I'm used to hearing.

I too have wondered why many components are still so expensive. A processor in a pre/pro is after all just a computer for one task. We know how cheap powerful computers are these days.

Yeah, once that 'newness' wears off......................

Hi TJHUB,

Thanks for your kind words!

I think you are doing everything right at this point. Spend some time, listen -- take some time off and then listen some more. Again, don't feel rushed or pressured -- 30-days is a long time. If at the end of the day you still prefer your B&W's -- absolutely understandable. As I recall, it took you quite some time to get used to the B&W's as well.

Mark is right on with his suggestion... (always so gracious, Mark, thanks!) You do indeed have a monstrosity in between your speakers. You might try, at least temporarily, to move the speakers forward a few feet and closer together so that they are in front of the entertainment center. While not practical at this point for regular listening, you might notice considerable improvement and it might also provide better performance for your B&W's.. Could provide you with more of an incentive to sell the beast

Either way, we are (in general) a good group of professionals and enthusiasts and you should never feel uncomfortable posting a criticism. Just today, I received a phone call inquiry from someone who stated that he was thrilled to read that you are initially disappointed with the Sierra-1. His reasoning was that everything he read was so positive that it seemed too good to be true and he was beginning to wonder whether we were actually paying people to leave comments. I had a good laugh and told him that in today's economy I can barely afford to pay myself (our prices are skyrocketing, especially since our tweeters (SEAS, Norway) are tied to the Euro.)

No worries on your amplification source, your EMO gear is far beyond adequate

Have fun, these are only loudspeakers...

I just wanted to chime in with my .02 on this thread...

As one who rarely posts (obviously) but really enjoys taking in all the information that is shared here, I have to say that this is the single most pleasant, interesting and open-minded thread I've ever read here. It is very refreshing to see a person who, in a tasteful way, is able to make "negative" comments about a speaker which has been very well-received on this board and still get treated with thoughtful, positive, respectful replies. And, in addition to the many replies from "regular" members, to be able to receive feedback from the manufacturer as well as from a competitor (!) in very positive ways is, again, refreshing and encouraging and indicative of what a valuable and itneresting resource this place can be.

Simply a great tone set by the OP from the start and continued throughout.

Thank you!

p.s. Pardon my run-onsssss and rambling...

While I think most of us, new Sierra owners, "fell hard" right out of the box,
some may need a little more time to absorb what they're hearing from these amazing little boxes. And of course for a few the Sierra's may not be their cup of tea (keeping with the British theme here)
But definately get some good stands for those Sierra's before jumping to any conclusions, before doing any critical listening for that matter.

I'm currently having a mini-shootout between the Sierra's and the Usher Tiny Dancers BE-718.
So far I prefer the sound of the Sierra's which is shocking to me!
I really wanted to prefer the Usher's as they are a beautiful looking speaker.
Their build quality is just spectacular!
But they sound too laid back when directly A/B'd against the Sierra's.
Vocals seem to be coming from a place far away. Switching to the Sierra's brings the vocals back up front (closer) where they should be.
Even the Sierra's bass response is better, deeper and more authoritive, than the Tiny Dancers.
I've since moved the Ushers to another system upstairs to get some break-in time to see if that makes a difference when I bring them back down for more comparsions.
Really shocking results as I thought the Beryllium tweeter and 7" driver, bigger/heavier cabinet and superior build quality of the Tiny Dancer would seal the deal.
Anyway I'll give the Ushers a second chance after considerable break-in time in ensure that's not a factor.

dc

Just to be a little more clear, that was posted within the first few days I got them. Its funny, as I first got them I thought they sounded pretty good to me, but as time went on, I just couldn't figure out what was missing on them, and kept on studying them more and more.... I'll be honest I was trying my best to keep any negative comments about them to myself and not be flagrant or rude about just up and blasting a product for all the world to read, without other people to step in an confirm what I had problems with... Maybe I'm just a little more courteous then some people I guess... but the more and more time I got with them, they just were missing the midbass that I really like, as well as being very intricate and fussy about material, some times they were on and sometimes they weren't. I drove miles and miles and spent a couple of months trying on different products to end up with a sound I liked. While I spent so much time, I visited many different speakers. I probably burned up alot of gas, maybe the same amount that it cost me to have the SVS's shipped to me and back. I that allowed me the opportunity to try them in my house, but It was at the expense of only 1 product, period.

So the perceptions that I was writing about were somewhat first introductions, and getting to know them, but in the end just couldn't get my brain or ears to accept them. Are they a bad speaker, NO, are they the speaker for me, I guess not. I think they are very well engineered, and built well, and a good looking speaker. But I also went out of my way to get other people involved by setting up a GTG to confirm my suspicions about them. I thought that was a fair way to go about it, instead of me just outright tearing up a product and then walking away.

Maybe that makes me an idiot. Hmmmm

Well said Warpdrv.... and I echo your thoughts on the MTS-01, accept I knew something was off the first time I listen to them, maybe you did to somewhere in the back of your head but wanted to wait it out, and like most new toys we get, wanted to give them every chance to succeed.
For me the MTS-01s were just TOO Neutral.
Nothing stood out to reach out and grab me.
I'm sure this will be right on for some, but not for me.
For one John at Secret's really liked them.
http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/speak...-speakers.html
And I really like the guys at SVS and of course their subwoofers (new Ultra 13 is amazing)

dc

dc....you have heard the MTS's as well?

Too neutral? Is that even possible?

Interesting comments! I find it interesting to look at the Soundstage measurements of some of the high end speakers. Some of them do not look to have very flat frequency response yet people rave about them. Some of them do (Revel comes to mind) yet some high enders think they are boring. Perhaps as that physics guy that made me quit the ultra high end forum said, we are not always measuring the right things. I am sure I don't know.

I certainly think it can be for some people. Have you looked at the measuremnts for example of the Wilson speakers at Soundstage. Many of them don't look that neutral to me, but they are claimed to present music as real as it gets. Is it neutral or are we measuring the wrong things-I sure don't know.