**Official Ascend Acoustics Tower Thread** - Page 41

Just placed an order for a pair of matte black Sierra Towers and Horizon center, both with the RAAL Ribbon Tweeter. They will be replacing my Def Tech 7002's and C/L/R 2500. Can't wait!!

Congrats!

Please keep us posted

Djoel

I was listening to Yo Yo-Ma plays Ennio Morricone sacd and I was one big goose bump, simply magical what we get out of these speakers. So if you're a HT guy which I'm as well these speakers can do HT in it's sleep:cool: And guess what I've sold my JL F113 sub, which were a beautiful match, the Towers can hang without a sub too. But I need a sub in my life, so late Feb I should have a Rythmik 12 sub, or a pair


Djoel

I really need the Denon 4520 to get here so these bad boys can be properly calibrated with Audyssey XT-32. The Audyssey on my current Onkyo isn't working for some reason so I can't even do an interim calibration with Multi-XT.

Congrats, they sound so clear compared to my older Polks.

Do a manual level and distance setup, and don't worry about EQ for now.

Thanks and really looking forward to them. Are they just as good for home theater as they are for music?

I remember when I was looking at the Def Tech's and listening to the 7004s then to the 7002s. There was this HUGE difference in clarity. Then I went and listened to the B&W 802 Diamonds a few weeks ago and was floored at the difference from the Def Tech and the B&W. This made me realize there are better speakers and I am hoping the Sierra Towers will give the same effect.

Alright, I hate you guys - I'm pretty sure I'm going to pick up a set of towers myself. My plan was to only swap out my current polk towers for the Sierra's but it sounds like that's a bad plan. Though the horizon does seem awfully large. I have Polk FXI A4 dispersion speakers in the rear, don't know if they should be replaced or not too? It also sounds like everyone on here is using something different for the rear channels; I'm pretty sure I've seen every single ascent speaker mentioned (I think someone even mentioned using towers all around??). It seems like the sierra 1 would be a waste but is it recommended? I was going to do the RAAL upgrade too until I realized I had to change out other speakers. I could swing it but it's a big jump in cost for something I've never heard. Are the Sierra 1 center;s not a good timber match to the towers? This will obviously be my biggest audio purchase yet. for music I'm primarily using a OPPO 105 directly connected to an EMO XPA power amp.

I have a small space, actually it's a small area of a larger great room but I'd rather get a setup that will still work once I get a bigger space. I use my system mostly for HT but I am most interested in quality of sound for music which is mostly 2-channel. I have been very happy with my fairly new Polk RTI surround system for HT though I never liked it for music. I'm thinking the Sierra's may get me to stop using my headphones (LCD-2's) for all my music listening. I like rock but my headphone system has gotten me interested in a wide diversity of music that I would have never listened to before but just enjoy the quality recording so much. Though this has actually made it much harder for me to find something I enjoy and it's upsetting it's so hard to listen my poorly recorded rock CD's.

I'm hoping to ignore all forums after getting new speakers...

The Sierra Center is perfect for the center channel and works equally well with either the Sierra Tower or the Sierra-1. So how does going with the RAAL mean that you would have to change the other speakers? The Ascends will pounce on those crappy Polks for both music and theater!

Kind of the other way around. When it was my intent to only replace my mains, the RAAL upgrade was kind of a no brainer. Now that it looks like I have to replace my center too and esp now that I keep seeing messages saying they all should have the same drivers...it gets harder to do the upgrade. Still not sure the the rears have the be changed. And if I move to a 7.1 system do both sets of rears have to be the same?

For home theater use is it really worth the extra money for better speakers? Is there really that big of an improvement from CMT-340 to the Sierra towers and centre, or going from paradigm monitor to studios, aperion Intimus to the Verse Grand and so on for a home theater, I understand its a big improvement for music.

Well, worth it is a relative statement, but I can tell you my experience...I was an 80/20 movies to music listener before getting the towers. Now I find every excuse I can to turn off the movies and tv to listen to music. I have absolutely no regrets.

I understand that but do jumping up in price give you a better movie experience like do you hear more, does it seem more real, like the action is happening in your living room vs coming from your speakers. For movies is there a reason to jump up in price for better speakers or is that mostly a better idea for music? $2000 and a $1000 for the tower and centre is a lot of money and I'm just trying to figure out if its worth it for my needs a great movie theater experience. Where I live I can't really test out speakers I have a paradigm dealer about 2 hours away and in my town they mostly just sell energy speakers and I live way too far to go hear Ascend speakers to compare the 340 to the tower and centre to see if its worth it.

I'm afraid I can't answer that specifically. I went from a 2 channel setup to Ascend towers, a couple of months later added a sub, then center a little while after that, then surrounds. This is my first 5.1 setup. However, I love watching movies in this setup. Just the other day we were watching something that had a good soundtrack and it struck me again, well over a year after buying them, how good they all sound.

I'm just trying to convince myself to buy the towers and centre... I can buy the towers in about a month then the centre 2 months after then use my tax return for a new avr or a better sub... It's just a lot of money to justify, cause them id want an amp after that but in a year from now ill have a kill setup, if I end up spending this kinda money. My thinking right now is I have a bout $1500 to spend right now but if a wait a month I can buy the Sierra towers and knock out the biggest expense at the start then it'll be all down hill, well kinda I guess the centre and a really good sub will make quiet the hit on the wallet too but easier than the $2000 towers.

Did you do the raal upgrade?

I have the RAAL only in the center. This was in part by design and in part done to sample the RAAL without paying for 2 or 3 of them. I am not at all disappointed with the choice, but I will likely leave the towers with the NrT tweeter. This has more to do with my musical taste than anything else. I do listen to the occasional symphony and smaller string ensembles (and some solo piano rarely), but mostly my tastes are modern and classic rock, electronic, some modern folky stuff, etc.

I know there is at least one other Ascend owner with the same configuration. Maybe he will chime in, too.

Can these towers fill a big room, about 6000cu ft, 20 by 20 with 15 ft ceilings

Hi you lucky tower owners!

Man oh man I love the look of those towers. I can't wait to pull the trigger on a full-blown Sierra 5.1 set-up.

A few posts above, I read that the Sierra-1 Center speaker is a good match to the towers. My budget would limit me from getting the Horizon, so I'm looking into getting the towers for L/R paired with the Sierra-1 Center, and a pair of Sierra-1s for the surround.

My question is, how much am I losing out by substituting the Horizon with the Sierra-1 Center when matching with the towers? Are my towers going to totally overpower the Sierra-1 Center? Is it worth it to pay the extra $500 for the Horizon?

The Sierra Horizon is equal to the Sierra Tower. They both have the same components and enclosure volume(this is very different than other companies that sell a "matching" center with their towers). So comparing the Horizon to the Sierra-1 is like comparing the Sierra Tower to the Sierra-1...there is a significant difference.
Edited by cschang - 1/2/13 at 10:43am

My room is about 17X20 with 10' ceilings and it opens to the right of the listening position to about double the volume. I have not found anything lacking at any dB. I know some others have vaulted ceilings/lofts, though, and have the towers. I have not heard any complaints from them.

I wouldn't think height, though, would have a negative effect unless you had reflection problems and then it's not a matter of volume, but treating the room. That's more of a subwoofer/bass question.

Edit: Removed double-negative
Edited by JustaSheep - 1/2/13 at 7:51pm

Have you considered stepping down to the CBM-170s as your surrounds and using the extra coin for the Horizon center? Not that Sierra-1s as surrounds wouldn't be awesome! I believe other folks here are using that set-up for 5.1.

Ex-actly what I would have done if I was OP situation, the center is such an important speaker for me at least, for the time being I would pour my budget on the fronts until I had the cash for the rears.

Djoel

Yeah with the center being such an important part of the system you'd almost be better to go with the STC and just the sierra's for your left and right. And with a good sub you could just cross everything over at 80hz at your receiver.

Do the Sierra towers ever go in the b stock?

In most cases, no -- simply because the majority of the cabinets are built locally and we have any cosmetic flaws fixed by the cabinet maker. That said, due to rather large production volumes from the holidays, we do have some B-stock towers available right now.

Give us a call or send us an email to let us know which finish you are interested in.

Thanks!

^^^^sometimes they do. Call Dina and give her your contact info
Doesn't happy very often,they've never had a pair returned:eek:,
Only appearece blemishes. They offered them at 10% or 15%
Off of list. I had a chance on a pair in Nov, but my checkbook talked
Me out of them.

Edit.... The boss beat me to it:)

so lets say I buy some Sierra towers can they match the performence of these bad boys I currently got going on

I keep hearing about how important the center is and it makes sense but doesn't the center mostly just cover the voice tracks and other items that are of limited dynamics and frequency response - leaving the a smaller but harder to reproduce parts for the mains? So even though the center used the most it's stuff any speaker should be able to cover?


Have you caught up on the emails yet? I sent in an email Sat morning and haven't heard anything. No big deal and I understand it was the holidays but just wanted to check since I've emailed several companies of the last few weeks and haven't heard back from any of them - so it's been strange. I've checked the spam folder but I get an email from '365 day loans' about once a minute in there so even if Keira Knightley' was trying to get in touch (and went into the spam folder) I could miss it. I've also been trying to use the ascend forum to find pics good enough to pick the colors I want but I still don't have permissions to do anything in it.

Can the buyer know the condition of b stock stock items? Is it just minor blemishes or could some of them look they used as a cat's scratching posts?

When I deiced I wanted to get some Sierra's I was only planning on getting the towers. After spending way too much of my holidays reading forums I realized I have to replace the center too if I do. My rears are Polk FXI A4's, would they need to be replaced too? If I went to a 7.1 system, should both sets of rears be the same?

I was on a mission to find the best speakers I could find for about $2k. It took a while but I finally zeroed in on the Sierra Towers. Still haven't heard them though. Reading up on the RAAL upgrade really made it a no-braine to extend the budget. Of course now I'm looking at a new center that with the upgrade is 6 times ore expensive than my current center. But I do want to do this correctly and I hope to find a system I'll have for a long time. I was pretty happy with my relatively new Polk RTI's esp with HT but I wanted to do a noticeable improvement on music listening. I'm sure my oppo 105 and emotiva XPA amps will be amazing with the Sierra's and I'm more excited than I thought I'd be to hear them.

Anyone in the DC area want to show there's off?

I'm still having a hard time determining exactly what the Dark cherry an Expresso look like. I've seen some customer photo's that look different than I expected (but much better than any pic on the Ascend site). Do people normally get the high gloss?

What is the current back order time line to get towers and horizon?

. Now this takes me back...sweet ...had one in my late twenty,s ...and I loved it....

lalala still cant decide between stock and RAAL tower/center