**Official Ascend Acoustics Tower Thread** - Page 14

Dave's comments in the impedance & electrical phase section pretty much sum things up..."easy load for even basic receivers". Fwiw...I'm using a yamaha AS700 rated only at 90 watts rms @ 8ohms and it easily drives my 1's into insane levels.

Since these speakers haven't been formally released, I'm not surprised they are not on the website. As soon as Dave is ready for a general public release, all the information will be shared. In the mean time, if you are really interested, there is plenty of information available in the Ascend forums - including specifications and pricing.

That's one way to say it.

The way I would have said it would have been a little raw, you know ( Andrew Dice ), me being from NYC and all. It would have gone down with a nursery rhyme, and OOOOOhoooo.

Anyway glad to folks excited about the Towers, and love that center.

DJoel

I currently have a pair of the towers, and matching center on order. I really wasn't thrilled to have to wade through pages of irrelevant tripe in order to try and find pertinent information.

There are pictures of a run of cabinets from December of last year in this very thread. I think it's time for a page for the towers on the website. Not everyone in the market for these speakers has the time, or desire to search through hundreds of audio forum posts. Towers have been available for purchase for almost a year now, at this point formal public release doesn't mean too much.

Jay

Edit: Went back to the early posts, and now realize those first cabinets were the ones for Merrymaid's pre-production units which were shipped mid March of this year. Still looking for when the first production run was shipped.

Thanks for the laugh, I did some serious editing, and deleting to try and be as tactful as possible . I own a dog boarding kennel, got a pretty good idea of what the rhyme you had in mind might have been!

Jay

Also my sentiments as well to the point that I couldn't have said it better myself.

Hi guys,

My sincerest apologies! The lack of info on our site regarding the new Sierra Towers is completely my own fault and at this point, unacceptable. We started a major website overhaul about 6 months ago and I completely miscalculated how much of my own time this would demand. My priorities then shifted from the new website to getting the Sierra Towers into production and then getting the matching STC finished and into production. Combine that with greater demand for the towers then we initially anticipated and the unfortunate rejection of an entire batch of bamboo (thus forcing us to find a qualified new supplier) - all during the busiest time of the year for us - and, well

I have now placed our website overhaul on hiatus due to a lack of my own time and with the next batch of Sierra Tower cabinets now well into production; we will get the info published on the current website over the weekend.

I feel it is important to stress that the Sierra Towers and STC are not mass produced products. The bamboo cabinets are incredibly expensive to manufacture here in the US and the only way we can afford to keep the pricing reasonable is to have them manufactured in controlled batches, and each batch must consist of only a few different finish options. So far, the production batches have been almost entirely sold out prior to us actually receiving the cabinets and we are already about 50% sold on the forthcoming production batch, and that is without the info on our website. I have been concerned that if we formally advertise the product on our site, we will fall further behind in keeping up with demand.

I know, it seems like a ridiculous problem to have but larger scale production presents us with quite a few challenges at this time.

To be completely transparent:

Acquiring the bamboo in such large quantities here in the US is difficult. In smaller supplies, the quality is fantastic - but it seems that the larger the quantities ordered, the greater the reject rate so ordering in smaller batches is the best option so far. We do not receive volume discounts on the bamboo so we pay the same price if we order (100) 4' x 8' panels or 500 panels and these panels are so expensive that we really can't afford to reject any of them.

Unlike cabinet production in Asia, our local cabinet maker does not have the manpower or the resources to build a typical 300 pair production run. These guys spend a lot of time on each individual cabinet, no production line manufacturing there, which is great as far as build quality goes.

Another option is to take the approach that Salk does, and that is to build each individual pair to order. However, if we were to build in this manner, we would have to increase the retail price of each pair by roughly $400 - $600, or build the cabinets out of MDF to compensate.

I want to try and avoid moving cabinet production overseas as I enjoy my twice monthly visits to our cabinet maker and this also allows us to keep production quality tightly under our control, thus catching issues prior to cabinet finishing and shipping. Plus, supporting the local economy isn't a bad thing these days.

All that said, I absolutely see the importance of getting all the info on our site and the process will begin this weekend.

In the meantime, please do not hesitate to send us an email or call with questions. We are slightly behind on emails (as usual) but our phone line is manned at least 10 hours per day this time of the year and Dina simply loves chatting on the phone with you guys.

Thanks so much for your patience and understanding!!!

We shipped the very last pair from the first production run about 3-4 weeks ago, I believe it was black matte. The first production run started shipping in late August, with the bulk of shipments completed in September.

As requested, here are some choice pictures of the various blacks. Piano black, high gloss black, satin black and black matte.

The current production run of finishes consists of black matte, satin espresso and satin dark cherry as these were, by far, the most popular finish choices. We can also offer limited customization options such as high gloss as opposed to satin.

Attached are some pictures of the current production run finishes.

And a few more...

I hope this helps and again, please feel free to call

No I own you an apology David.

I have been know on occasion to say(or write) the wrong thing at the worst time, but this here unfortunate moment is by far the most egregious.* It was a silly attempt of humor, and I realized it was awful and tasteless, I honestly didn't mean any disrespect, ill feeling toward you nor your company I find it quite honorable that you put the company and it's product first over superficial website nonsense It sure appears you have more than enough on your plate, and we commend you, and your team for it.

I personally never heard any of the Ascend speakers, but neither have I heard a bad thing about them, which as in turn piqued my interest in the Towers. With all the generated excitement here is where my initial frustration about the website took shape, but now I see who hard you are working so who needs a website when the speakers speak for them selves.

Thank you

Daniel J

A smarter man than me


DJoel

Oh my, pictures of the satin espresso Sierra Towers with the RAAL tweeters!!!!! Melting into pool of primordial ooze! Pics of the naked Towers with that lovely ribbon tweet, mid, and woofs, are pure audio porn!

I commend you on the effort to both maintain rigorous quality standards, and your efforts to employ folks in the US! We need more business owners, as well as consumers with a social conscience to get this country back on it's feet! I've been making an effort to support companies who manufacture here at home.

Thank you for taking the time to listen to your customers!

Jay

I swore to myself that I would never ask a "How does 'Speaker X' sound vs. 'Speaker Y' " question, but I am going to break my own rule and ask this type of question here. I know there is no substitute for using my own ears, but it may not be possible for me to use my own ears to hear the Sierra Towers.

I currently have a set of Rocket RS850s for my mains. I bought them approximately 4.5 years ago. It's not that I am disappointed with them, but I would like to move on to a different set of speakers before too long. Part of this is just the "upgrade bug", but it also sounds to me like the upper mids are a little recessed on the 850s and that there is a boost in the mid-bass. I don't have measurements to backup that claim BTW, so perhaps it is just my imagination. I'd like to find a set of speakers with more presence in the mids, and ones that can present pinpoint imaging. I have a well treated room where my current stereo/HT setup resides. I am most definitely a "music first" person.

I also have to admit that I don't feel any sense of "pride of ownership" with the Rockets after what happened with AV123.

So, obviously my question is has anyone compared the Rocket 850s to the Ascend Sierra Towers? What do you feel are the primary differences between the two? I realize that there are tweeter options with the Sierras. Being that I primarily listen to rock music, I am not sure the RAAL ribbon tweeter is a worthwhile upgrade. It seems like eveyrone who raves about the RAAL is into classical or jazz music. While I do listen to some other genres, my listenting habits are firmly rooted in rock music (...although it is a broad range of rock music, much of it well recorded and well mastered...).

If there is anybody in the Washington DC area who has a set of the Sierra Towers that he/she would be willing to demo, I'd be most appreciative. I'll supply pizza and your beverage of choice in exchange for a listening session.

Hey Brandon: Did you guys meet up yesterday?

Thanks Brandon. I'm hoping others will post their impressions of Ascend Towers with RAAL as well.

Without repeating much of what Brandon said, the Ascend Sierra Tower is the first Ascend speaker I really really like. Since I last heard the production model, everything is simply better; no more midrange glare or hot tweeter. The RAAL is exceptional and the midrange is really good. Dave hit one out of the park with the RAAL Ascend Tower.



I can't offer you a speaker audition, but I can honestly tell you without any bias the the Ascend Tower is in a completely different class than the Rocket 850 Sig's (I used to own a pair of the Sig's). Everything is better with the Ascend Tower, especially the midrange presence (which is what you were looking for). I wouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger, but as I always say, audition if you can before you make a purchase.

Agreed - "Hit one Out of the Park" were the words we both used about the Ascend Towers..

I really liked them, although in a direct comparison to the Salks the Midrange wasn't as refined as the Accuton IMO... (Brandon used the term Warm) The Accuton is a ceramic cone- and it is extremely delicate but rigid, much like an egg shell. I'm not sure how that driver adds to the characteristic, but difference is apparent to me. Other then that they were great - I wouldn't say it was a huge difference and not something that would deter me from them, much improved since the other times I heard them... the refinements in the crossover and addition of the RAAL tweeter brought them greatness...

Nice work Dave....

Here are the measurements of these 2 speakers - they both look impressive.


Salk SS M7's


Ascend Tower with RAAL tweeter

Thanks guys - merrymaid520, Nuance, Warpdrv, TJHUB - for your time, efforts, dedication and the contributions to this and other forums. The efforts you guys put in - hauling your speakers, dedicating pretty much a whole day, and of course hosting a GTG, are really appreciated. And "Hauling your speakers" is a very loose term, it is actually disconnecting, packing, loading (usually 50-55+ lbs each), driving, unloading, unpacking, reconnecting and then redoing all these steps AGAIN and making sure not to damage or scratch the speakers!!!

I would also like to voice my appreciation for the hard work. To have unbiased opinions from real enthusiasts whom have had the opportunity to listen to many very good speakers, I regard your observations highly.

I await the delivery of my own with much anticipation .

Jay

Unfortunately Terry couldn't make the event, it would have been nice, but he has children and events which have him booked through next year on the weekends....

It was a great time to hang out with the guys and discuss a great many topics as well as audio over some good food and boozes. I'm glad you could all make it...

Thanks all for the very nice review/writeups. It helps all of us, who are still on the fence per say.

Was there a Scorecard produced (1, 2, etc.) by all listeners?

Sure wish the Klipsch RF-7II towers were in the mix as they are around the same price as the Ascend Towers w/ RAAL.

Great Job to All for your Contributions!

You almost sound sincere or humble...I like that.

We're not the type to like the Klipsch horn sound, so that would've never happened.

1) SoundScape M7
2) Sierra Tower
3) Paradigm Sigs

The real battle would be a RAAL Sierra Tower and RAAL Salk SongTower, though both aren't available locally...yet. I suspect they would sound more similar than not.

It always is, and is really all that matters bro.

At the price level of the Sound Scape monitors, it's reasonable to think that they are very refined, being a member of Salk's flagship line. That the Ascend can compete at a similar level tells me that they represent a terrific value. Just for comparative purposes, it's of note that I paid less for my front three Ascends than the pair of Salk monitors cost.

I too am extremely interested in hearing some comparative thoughts regarding the Philharmonics. Like the Ascend, I feel that it's quite likely they perform well above what their price point would suggest. I'm very intrigued by the planar mid range driver Dennis picked for the Phils.

Jay