Sierra-1 Sale Exacerbates HTIB Upgrade Fever - Page 2

Originally Posted by mtbikerjc 

Wow, the Sierra-1s blew me away. I started with Miles Davis, and it was awesome. I liked listening to the trumpet blaring while the piano was mellow and smooth in the back. Also like Brocken said about listening to John Coltrane, the cymbals do sound crisp and shimmery with the Sierra-1s. I then put in Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" and my ears were crying with joy. I've been listening to this album since I was a kid, and I finally got to hear some detail I'd never heard before. Specially while listening to "Money." The guitar squealed beautifully, the drums were smooth, and the bass didn't sound boomy at all. I was really impressed to distinguish the directionality for the various drums. Excellent soundstage.
Next I put on Pearl Jam's "Ten" album just for kicks. I listened to "Even Flow" and "Alive," and I'm relieved that I didn't sense any fatigue from the NrTs. I also like how these speakers reproduce the electric guitar and distortion effects really well and sound neutral. These speakers do rock.
Now for HT, I watched TRON Legend. This movie has lots of electronic sound effects that these speakers reproduced very well. Tons of detail for watching movies, I'm very pleased. Now I need to find someone to buy my HTM61 so that I can get a Sierra-1 center channel speaker. As for my DefTechs, I thought the DefTech ProCinema 600 sub and satellites matched well with the Sierra-1s (for movies, not music). I wired the surround satellites through the sub and set the sub's crossover frequency at 100Hz, and this configuration made the surround channels sound fuller than before (I used to have the surround satellites wired directly to the receiver, and had the fronts wired through the sub). I think in this configuration, the satellites sound full enough to match them with the Sierra-1s. I think I'll keep them.

Originally Posted by Brocken_5110 

The cymbals should be especially shimmery with the NrT Sierra-1's. I just received my 1st batch of SACD's/DVD-A's: John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme", Dire Straits' "Brothers in Arms", Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon", Queens' "A Night at the Opera", and Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells Deluxe Edition".
"A Love Supreme": the shimmering-in cymbals which start of the album, the airy, meatily elastic bass intonations that lead "Part 3 > Pursuance" out into "Part 4 > Psalm"
"Brothers in Arms": great detail & dynamics, especially as guitar rocks in at the start of "Money for Nothing"
"Dark Side of the Moon": from the finely rendered small voicing that opens "Speak to Me", to the bold metronomic relief of the clock ticks kicking off "Time", to the cash register ringing like a bell in "Money", and finally the is-it-real-or-is-it-Memorex heart-beats that fade you from the album back to your own room, and in the remaining stillness you notice your breaths, slow, regular, even
Throughout these 2 weeks of setting up and initial listening, I'm constantly struck by how fast the Sierra-1's are; fast, intricate, and dynamic passages are facilitated by the speakers, instead of slurring or muffling them. Getting an NrT Sierra-1 Center to match should be nice for a 7.1 setup that covers both music and movies well.
Bicycling: Interesting, you bring back on-road memories of the Grizzly Peak Century and really great pasta salad, and a handful of off-road rides, all on a no-suspension steel frame Bridgestone MB4 in the Berkeley section of Tilden Park, and that one poorly chosen line that yielded a heli-lift to Juin Muir in Walnut Creek. Have you set up a rig to listen to on rides?

Originally Posted by mtbikerjc 

Wow, the Sierra-1s blew me away. I started with Miles Davis, and it was awesome. I liked listening to the trumpet blaring while the piano was mellow and smooth in the back. Also like Brocken said about listening to John Coltrane, the cymbals do sound crisp and shimmery with the Sierra-1s. I then put in Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" and my ears were crying with joy. I've been listening to this album since I was a kid, and I finally got to hear some detail I'd never heard before. Specially while listening to "Money." The guitar squealed beautifully, the drums were smooth, and the bass didn't sound boomy at all. I was really impressed to distinguish the directionality for the various drums. Excellent soundstage.
Next I put on Pearl Jam's "Ten" album just for kicks. I listened to "Even Flow" and "Alive," and I'm relieved that I didn't sense any fatigue from the NrTs. I also like how these speakers reproduce the electric guitar and distortion effects really well and sound neutral. These speakers do rock.
Now for HT, I watched TRON Legend. This movie has lots of electronic sound effects that these speakers reproduced very well. Tons of detail for watching movies, I'm very pleased. Now I need to find someone to buy my HTM61 so that I can get a Sierra-1 center channel speaker. As for my DefTechs, I thought the DefTech ProCinema 600 sub and satellites matched well with the Sierra-1s (for movies, not music). I wired the surround satellites through the sub and set the sub's crossover frequency at 100Hz, and this configuration made the surround channels sound fuller than before (I used to have the surround satellites wired directly to the receiver, and had the fronts wired through the sub). I think in this configuration, the satellites sound full enough to match them with the Sierra-1s. I think I'll keep them.