Ascend SE Owner's Thread - Page 114

It's not that it won't work.

IMO, it would be better outside of the cabinet.

If you put it in the cabinet...in that section of the cabinet, leave the back open.

Leaving the back open makes sense.

I thought about just sitting the TV ON the center channel.....not sure if the TV base would fit it tho and the wife doesn't like the idea as much.
I've seen folks hang them from the top with a bracket, but I would think that would stress the TV frame pretty good and the Vizion has an extremely small bezel.

ps. Thanks for all the input....it's much appreciated and better to find out things now than after a purchase is made!

My Vizio is wall-mounted. Is that an option for you?

I thought about it but there are no studs where I need them.

There's a wall there, but no studs?

Just received one of my 5 HTM-200SE's via UPS today. Other 4 are due tomorrow. Great looking little speaker that feels hefty and solid, especially compared to the smaller take classic 5.1 3lb cubes. Look forward to hooking them up with my new SVS PB-1000 soon. I'm wall mounting them in a 14' x 23' x 9' den that opens to a 12' x 15' x 9' kitchen and also a large foyer with 18' ceilings. Open concept

The above I posted 4 days ago in the wrong thread so posted it here just now.

Now tonight I want to say WoW about my new htm200se's! I upgraded from htib take classics and it's a massive upgrade. I have well over 4000 cf and 3 fill the room/s and then some. Still have 2 more htm200se's to hook up and mount for surrounds. Sub is a pb1000. Thanks Ascend, SVS and AVS. Amazing little speaker that sounds BIG

I've set the x-over to 90Hz does that jive with y'all? Sounds good to me at -5dB
Edited by jbdan - 2/18/13 at 7:23pm

Thanks for sharing! Yep, those 200's offer remarkable performance for their size and price. Same custom SEAS tweeter that we use in the 170's, combined with dual fully custom 4" cast frame woofers. For their size, the dynamic capabilities of the 200's is unmatched.

A 90-100 Hz crossover would make sense for the HTM-200SEs.

Thx ascend and postro. Really happy with the speakers. They sound even better now (placebo maybe...). They also get really loud but remain composed, hard to believe being so small. I tried 80Hz crossover and it really sounds good but feel like they're being pushed a tad hard at or near reference levels. I've settled on 90Hz and hear 0 localization of the svs pb1000.

http://www.ascendacoustics.com/

Is this the only place where you can buy Ascend speakers? Thanks!

Yes, they are an internet direct only company.

Anyone listen to both of these types of setups, or have any feeling about which would sound better?

Two Polk 75T's and a center 25C. I can get a pair of the Polk towers and the center for $579.85 delivered to my door.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882290272
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882290274

Or Ascend CMT-340 SE and a pair of CMB-170 SE. Cost: $568

http://www.ascendacoustics.com/pages/products/speakers/cbm170/cbm170.html
http://www.ascendacoustics.com/pages/products/speakers/cmt340c/cmt340c.html

Thanks!

If you have a store near you that carries the Polk's you are looking at, I would suggest that you go and have a listen to them yourself. Everyone's hearing is going to be different from yours, and since it is your money being spent, you want to be happy with what you buy and not have buyer's remorse. At the very least check to what the return policy is with newegg before pulling the trigger. Are you looking to get towers or bookshelf speakers? Towers can sound very good, but may require a lttile more in the power department to help open up the soundstage a little bit more. Owning the Ascend's you are looking at, the overall soundtage and imaging is great in my opinion. One thing to note is that they are VERY accurate sounding speakers. By that I mean that they will show a recording for everything it is, flaws and all. I went from an Athena front soundstage, and music I heard on them sounded very good. When I heard the same music on the Ascend's, I didn't realize just how poorly recorded some of the music really was. Movies were close to the same, but the dialog coming from the 340, had more depth and presence than my AS-C1 from Athena. Ascend had a 30-day in home trial, but if you don't like the overall sound, you will be paying for shipping to and from them. Take your time and do the research, having patience will pay off in the end. It's a PITA, I know it is, but you will want to be happy with what you bought, and not want to upgrade later on down the road. Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.

Thanks for the info! Basically newegg's return policy sucks... it says that if you don't like the speakers then good luck selling them on ebay or craiglist or AVS or wherever... "Limited replacement only return policy" if they are defective out of the box. No refunds.

Finally climbed off the fence and had the wife put in an order today.

340 LCR's(with the stands) and 2 170 surrounds. Left and Right 340's are b-stock.
Now the waiting game begins.

These will be paired up with a Klipsch RW-12D and Yamaha RX-673. Room is roughly 22x14. Could have easily gotten away with the 170's all around but I am planning ahead and really wanted the 340's. To tell the truth I love the way they look on the stands and so did the wife!

That is awesome what a killer setup! Post your experience with them. Congrats :-)

I upgraded from Polk M60s and CS2 to CMT-340s up front, and the Ascends blow away my old Polks in every aspect except aesthetics. Dialogue is much more crisp and clear even at low volumes, tighter and more articulate bass, clean mids, and very pleasant highs. Bigger/wider sound stage and imaging to boot. Only cost $900 shipped for B-stock. The Monitor cabinets are poorly built and braced, so expect some some unwanted sounds in the low & mid range. CMT-340 cabinet is rock solid and well braced and all-around better speaker for not much more.

If you want Polks, go with the RTI bookshelves over Monitor series.

Thanks! How do you get the B-Stock? I don't see any 340se on the b-stock page... How much of a discount do you usually get for the b's when they are available?

Just give them a call. They are very pleasant to deal with and can answer all of your questions.

+1

B-Stock are 12% off regular price. They don't list all B-Stock that's available so give them a call to find out.

Thanks and will do!


Exactly what we did!

It takes a few days to get them but it's definetly worth it. I have a Yamaha RX-A700, and the CBM-170's and CMT-340C I have sound great through it.(I'm paitently waiting to get the funds to get a pair of HTM-200's for surround use so I can retire my 9 year old Athena AS-B1's). I thought about using a pair of 170's as surrounds but having an apartment wouldn't permit that to happen, due to space issues. Plus the HTM-200's are sealed which gives more flexibilty for placement. I just need to decide on a pair of speaker stands, and get some new speaker wire from Monoprice(mainly for some extra slack). Enjoy that new set-up, I'm sure you'll be very happy with it.

What kind of speaker wire do people use with the CMT-340 SE mains?
What is so good about the Ultralink MX-2 High Performance 12 Gauge Cable for $80?
Thanks!

I used monoprice 14g wire. Got a 200 ft roll it was super cheap.

Any basic 12, 14, or 16 gauge cable should work depending on the length needed. I use monoprice.com in-wall 12 gauge with Techflex, cable pants & banana plugs courtesy of the DIY speaker cable thread. Normally I would stick with bare wire, but I wanted to clean up the living room a bit and got tired of orange-ish wire.

If you are unsure as to what kind of wire you need, a rule of thumb to remember is that a single run of over 50 feet it's recommended to go with 14AWG. If it's shorter than that 16AWG is fine. If you would like some fancier cables www.partsexpress.com has cable sleeves and and rubber ends to make your own custom cables. All you need to do really is just cut the sleeve to the length of the wire and use a heat gun to seal the rubber onto the ends. You can always use banana plugs, which will make it easier to set up. I use banana plugs, not because they help the sound quality, which they don't, it makes it easier to hook up the wires on the back of the AVR as well as the speaker. Another option is to use www.monoprice.com, they have a nice selection and great prices.

Just use 12 AWG speaker cable or lamp cord (make sure the insulation is in good shape), and call it done. Blue Jeans Cable and Monoprice are great sources. You could get away with smaller if you happen to have some handy, according to this chart:

http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm#wiretable (refer to the 4 ohm column)

It's very well made and measures extremely well electrically--if that's what you want and don't mind paying for it, then it's probably the best that you can buy at any price. That said, I seriously, seriously doubt that you could tell the difference by listening--in practical terms, any cable of sufficiently low resistance over typical distances will do. For connections, bare wire (neatly trimmed and twisted) works fine with these binding posts; I've never had any oxidation issues with this type of connection. Banana plugs on the other end will help with connecting to most AVRs, or you could cut off some of the strands until the wires fit the smaller binding post holes (won't affect performance).

Thanks!

I am now thinking about a set up with three CMT-340 SE's in the front and keeping my current rear speakers and sub.

Does anyone have experience using these fronts with a PS3 for gaming?

Hi all:

Looking for a set of surrounds and had my eye on the 170 SE...anyone hear these and any of the Aperion offerings? Any input would be great!

Having three identical speakers up front is perfect. The CMT-340SEs are stellar for both HT and music so they are sure to shine with gaming as well.