Aperion or Ascends?

How big is the room and is $1,200 your overall budget for now or are you stopping after this $1,200 for awhile?

The Aperions will probably offer more output for movies. But the Sierra's will probably sound alittle better, but that doesn't mean much if a speaker might not be able to keep up output wise.

Some other options to consider would be the Arx A5 tower, 3 way. http://www.theaudioinsider.com/product_info.php?p=arx-a5-floorstanding-loudspeaker&products_id=227&
I'm using a pair right now and they sound great.

I'd also look at HTD level 3 http://www.htd.com/Products/level-three-speakers

I've had those same exact Aperion speakers in an 1800cu ft room. They have a very good, easy to listen to sound. Well balanced,
and smooth sounding (somewhat warm sound signature). And the piano black I had were beautiful.

But I know the it's tough deciding because the Sierra's have had very good reviews. And both companies are great,
and have wonderful customer service.

Even though the Aperion's are rated at 6 ohm, they are still easy to drive. Maybe give them a try. The
Towers will surprise you, they look very small (but deeper than average). I believe they have a 30 day
trial period, and you can ship them back at their cost.

I think the Sierra's have a more neutral sound signature, with somewhat of an excellent mid range.

It's a tough decision to make, but if you do decide on the Sierra's, then by all means, do not
cheap out on the stands, and buy some wooden crap. Save up and buy some sturdy, well
built, metal stands....maybe something like these......http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=240-750&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=pla&utm_term=%7Bkeyword%7D

Maybe someone with experience with the Sierra's can chime in with their opinion.

Good luck,

vardo

Ryder just to clear things up alittle are you talking about the Sierra towers or bookshelfs compared to the Aperions?

You could take a look at EMP and HTD if you want to build a little quicker. Both are VERY solid from what I actually hear (emp) & what I read (htd). Both offer towers that match center so you could move the bookshelves to the rear if you move.

Wow. That is 6K cu sq ft. From 18ft away, I would probably open up my options to more sensitive higher SPL speakers. There is a whole thread dedicated to high SPL speakers, you may want to read through it and get some ideas.

Or multiple, larger drivers

I'd go with the aperion towers. The sierras with their single 5" driver definitely don't sound good for movies in a large room. I haven't heard either speakers though, just basing it off reading reviews. But I've read a lot, at least! hehe

The 5t only has dual 5.25" drivers.....for $950. I'd be looking elsewhere as you're going to want to upgrade again if you're moving into a larger space.

HTD Lvl 3: dual 7" drivers, 2.5" midrange and horn loaded ribbon == $800/pr

EMP e55ti: triple 6.5" drivers, dual 5.25" midranges and 1" silk dome == $800/pr

Again I haven't heard the HTD, but most that have them seem to really like them. Same with the EMP. I love mine so far and I've heard my fair share of drivers, setups, etc. The e55ti's were measured +/- 2db, good off-axis response, easy to drive, nice aesthetics, ability to get extremely loud with low distortion (very nice for larger rooms!), etc etc. Not knocking on the Aperion stuff because I hear the V.G. stuff is great, but I'd think the 2 above will best the Intimus line fairly easily

+1
I would also add the Arx A5 tower to the list of $800 towers. Triple 5.5" XBL2 woofers, 5.25" midrange and neo planar tweeter.

If the OP looks at high sensitivity designs due to his large room, I feel I should mention the Tekton Lore with sens of 98dB. I have not heard them, but they have gotten some great reviews.

http://www.tektondesign.com/lore.html

$999 per pair.

I second for the Tektons. I have spoke to Eric a few different times and for what I am looking for. Both outstanding movie and music playback, he suggested the M-Lore. At only $649.

http://tektondesign.com/lore-m.html

Ryder125,

If your gonna move into a 6,000 cu ft room, the 5T's are not going to be sufficient. I would recommend the 6T's, but they have discontinued
them, at least I don't find them on the web site. That's to bad, because they would work in a 6,000 cu ft room. The Sierra's won't work
either. Driver(s) are too small.

I've been doing audio for many years. I could recommend other speakers I've had, but I would need to know exactly what you are
looking for in a sound signature......warm, neutral, etc. And do you want the speakers to be used mainly for home theater?
Home Theater/music ratio?

I've had everything from Klipsch LaScallas to Axiom to Sonus Faber. Do you want a "dynamic" sound like a movie theater,
(by dynamic, I mean in you face, efficient speakers, maybe horn loaded, like Klipsch, or Chase Home theater speakers
(although they are going out of business, Craig Chase will still honer any warranties if a problem arises). Usually IMO
most, not all, dynamic speakers are not that great with music. But you can try to find the best of both worlds.

I myself like a warm sound signature, thus the present Sonus Faber's. They sound great for music, and still good IMO
for home theater. I have tons of concert DVD's, SACD's. But that line of speakers are out of your price range.

That 6,000 cu ft room is huge. You are gonna need a hell of a sub or dual subs, to fill up that area. I can recommend
that also. But so can others. You have been given a few good alternatives to the Aperion's and Sierra's, but I'm
not familiar with those suggestions. And if I come across as a know it all, I certainly don't. . Just trying
to help.

vardo

Cross them at 80hrz and you shouldn't run into any issues. They are 2 ways and not 2.5ways which is typical of small dual driver towers. Which means both drivers will be producing midrange and bass instead of a fullrange top driver and just bass driver in a 2.5way. Total surface area of the dual 5.25" woofers is close to and 8" so I don't think you will have much issues.

The Sierra1 is an astounding speaker (you have read the reviews obviously). Get the Sierra1 now. Enjoy it, and when you move to a bigger room, you can place your old Sierra1 fronts as surrounds while putting Sierra 1 towers at the front :-). For imaging and the purity of their beautiful "sound" the Sierra1 is extremely hard to beat (I know of some who place them close to a number of Sonus Faber offerings--- which is more than you want to spend ).

You obviously know your choices are winners either way, but Dave F. at Ascend has designed some shockingly good stuff and then made it affordable for many. Congratulations on whatever you choose from your list!

By the way, you do not want to wall mount a Sierra 1. They should be placed on a quality stand a fair distance (≥18") out from the wall. You can wall mount, but it would defeat the point to having a speaker like the Sierra1.

My Sierras (surrounds) are wall mounted.

That is one of the reasons (rear close to wall placement).

The two different plugs are for changing the port response.

I am debating on speakers now myself and the three front runners are HTD LvL 3, EMP and HSU (For sub almost positive I will go with HSU but speakers are a little more ify...just like HTD and EMP makes subs but don't think I will be coming near those with 10 ft pole)....

From the simple stats you put out here...for a Home Theater system it seems EMP should beat the ever living heck out of HTD. 2.5 vs dual 5.25 for Mid!!! I know the silk dome sure cheaps out in allot of ways vs the horn loaded ribbon though... Any thoughts?

If I could not listen to both side by side to judge, and I had to choose solely on design principles, I would choose Ascend for 1 reason and 1 reason only: their cabinets are uglier. I figure at least some of the price on the Aperions is for that glossy finish, and I'm not really into that. I'd rather have every single dime go to performance and wouldn't even care if they painted the damn things or not when they left the factory.

I can't say that the e55ti is more dynamic than the HTD lvl 3 without getting much further into what makes one speaker more dynamic than another. I know a little about it, but not enough to say one or the other. Cone area, efficiency, compression (at a certain point), power, etc etc all play part in "dynamics". I will say that these e55ti's mated with the e56ci are extremely dynamic front 3 to me. I would love to put an amp to the front 3..maybe some day. The nice thing about EMP is that they offer a free 30-day IN-HOME trial. If you don't like them...send em back at no cost to you! It's that easy. For a speaker of this price, that (to me at least) is very nice looking and also is +/- 2db with solid off-axis response, I don't understand why it's not recommend/purchased more. With a sister company like RBH they must be doing something right. I researched for a few months and it seemed like every review, both professional and non-professional was positive. People that have heard or own speaker 3x+ the price say they can hold their own easily and that is something to be proud of. They've been taken to multiple Audioholics events where Salk and other companies demo and people have stated they were shocked at the EMP booth and how well the e55ti's performed. Seriously...they're pretty good and VERY good for the Black Friday price.

Anyways, either of your choices will most likely make you happy. Not being biased here and this is totally up to you....but why not try the EMP setup and if you're not feeling it after 30 days then send it back and pick up the HTD stuff. It's definitely a pain to wonder if another speaker would best what you have, but at the end of the day if you're happy and you fell within your budget (if you're budget minded), that's all that matters. Like I said though, either one will likely make you very happy. I wish there was someone close with the HTD's so I could hear them

That is Arx's design philosophy. High tech components in a brown paper bag. So cast alloy woofers with licensed XBL2 and splitgap technology, neo magnet planar ribbon tweeters with cast alloy face plate, braced cabinets. They just use plain black vinyl across the line, nothing fancy or shiny. They even ship in plain brown boxes nothing fancy with graphics or anything.

I'll go out on a limb and say that the Arx A1b compares favorably with the Sierra 1 with the dome tweeter. I don't think it would be quite as good as the Sierra, but it is definitely in the ballpark. I've heard both, just not in the same room or system.

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