Ascend SE Owner's Thread - Page 3

The 340 stands will work with the new 340SE's, since the cabinet it the exact same dimensions.

I ordered a 7.1 SE setup earlier this week. Can't wait to get these!!!! I'll have 340's across the front and 2 pair of 170's for the surrounds. I also ordered a Hsu VTF3-HO with turbo, so I've got the low end covered too.

The shortage of reviews is making me a little uneasy.

Why, if they are slightly better versions of the Classics, you will be VERY happy!

I don't know where you live, but you are welcome to come over and hear my 340 SE's for yourself anytime!

Chuck

The SEs just started shipping last week. It will likely take a few months for a professional review to be done.

Order just a pair to decide for yourself on the 30 day trial. If you don't like them you've kept your shipping to a minimum. If you want the rest you can still get the package price with the extender plan.

Besides, oftentimes the reviews are done by people who have a pair lent to them by an owner...I don't think any SE owners are planning to lend their speakers any time soon lol.

Since it seems like there are some people who are interested in more feedback from people who've heard these speakers, i'll babble on a little more about my experience with them so far.

After getting a chance to watch a couple movies, I can say that these speakers are really great with sounds tracks as well as music. I'm only using the three 340se across the front ( just placed an order for 2 pairs of the 170 classics for surrounds), but the soundstage is lush enough that the speakers throw a pleasingly holographic image, depending on whats going on in the scene.

I was watching Miike's "The Bird People in China", and there is this stunning flood scene taking place in the mountainous rural regions. I was running the 340se mains at full, with the volume set a few notches higher then usual, and the respectable if unspectacular DD5.1 soundtrack really came to life. It sounded as if the flood was literally flowing over me. I could hear the waves splashing against the banks behind me, the roar of the river downing out the vocals in such an impactful way. It was pretty damn spectacular.

There are numerous village scenes, where the villagers are going about their lifes off screen. Heretofore I had never noticed any of this. But with the 340SE's, people were laughing behind me, a mother was talking to her child to my right, children were playing to my left. I've never experienced anything like it with just three speakers before.

The awesomest thing I noticed while watching that movie though was in the scene when the main characters first get to the village. They see a group of children running down a slope, flapping canvas wings they're wearing. Attached to the wings are these little metal bells. I've never heard a speaker reproduce anything as life like as those bells chiming through the 340SE's. Top left, center left, bottom, slightly right of center, 5' from the speakers, 2'. All over the place. Each bell chime was completely defined and seperate from all other sounds. The patter of the children's feet. The whispers of the main characters, staring in awe and befudlement. I never in my wildest dreams could have imagined $818 worth of speakers could throwing such a holographic image. Couple that with the fact that the soft dome tweaters of the 340SE's were able to reproduce the chiming of the small metal bells as faithfully as I could possibly imagine goes to show that you don't have to have a metal tweeter to acurately reproduce those kinds of instruments. The volume was up very loud, the bells were chiming quite loud, but the sound wasn't fatiguing, and there certainly wasn't anything missing. The bells were just...there. Almost magical.

The sound stage is seamless. Pans are perfect. The three little speakers really are amazing. I could go on and on, but my computer and speakers are in different rooms, and I'm already experiencing some withdrawl, so I gotta go.

Ascend is like aural crack!

Great stuff!

LOL!! That might be the best review quote I've ever heard! hehe.

I ordered only a pair of the 340SE's. For those who got these, do they come 1 or 2 in a box, and do you think they would fit inside a Nissan Altima (backseat or trunk)? I want to go to the UPS warehouse tomorrow to pick them up rather than have them try to deliver w/ nobody home.

They come in one box, with two boxes inside. They fit no problem in the trunk of my Honda Accord. You shouldn't have a problem. If you do, you can easily pull the two boxes inside out.

They should easily fit in your car. If you are worried give Ascend a call and they should be able to give you the box dimensions. The box isn't tiny but it should easily fit in the back seat of a 4-door car.

Seriously though, if they don't fit in you car you need to get a bigger car.

UPS deliverd 5 boxes (7 channel SE - 340 L-C-R and 4 170s and the TP-24 stands) this morning as promised. I am at work so I haven't done anything except load everything into my car - all 5 fit nicely into my VW.

Most importantly there is no indication of any damage to any of the boxes. Now to kill the remaining hours before I can go home and hook'em up....


Rajiv

Is this the "shipping thread"?

Oh yeah, they sound great so far!

with the problems some people have had with damages during shipping I felt it would assure some others to know that my shipment arrived without incident...and I think "receiiving" is connect to ownership .... unless ofcourse jackie c wishes to edit this thread to read "post only after speaker hook up"?

Rajiv

Sorry. Wrong Ascend thread.

Finally hooked up my 7.2 system and I almost didn't want to come to work this morning. I had never heard Ascends before and my previous setup was Energy Encore driven by a budget Yamaha (HTR-5280) and that was awesome by my tastes but now that I have a Pioneer Elite 74 receiver driving the ascends in a bigger room with dual HSU VTF3-MK2s, boy, it is a different world!! So far I have only tested some CD's out 'coz I don't have a TV yet (thanks to JVC Pro's being on backorder) but today I will connect an old 25" sanyo tube to just experience the movie effect.

One concern I have is the weight of the 170 SE's. I have wall mounted them using the omni mount supports and they all sag down from the weight but thankfully towards the listening area. Should I worry about this falling on someone's head? They are by the way tightened real hard. I was just wondering if the modified design of the SE caused them to exceed the omni-mount spec. although they didn't feel like 20lbs each. Please comment if I should take any precautionary measures.

Rajiv

did you use the provided alan wrench to tighten the ball and socket joint all the way? If tightened enough, it should hold them no problem.

IMHO, the Omnimount 20.0 SUCKS! I had problems with them sagging as well. That was after I tightened up so much, I thought I was going to break the wrench!! I wound up getting the B-Tech BT-77's and never looked back!!

Agree 100%

Thanks Gov.

I just placed an order for two pairs of B-Tech BT77s. Better safe than sorry, I guess.

Rajiv

I have a pair of Priemer wall mounts that I got from my Paradigm dealer for $26 to hang some Atoms. I expect them to work with the 170s also. They work fine for me. I just need a big adjustable wrench to tighten them, but they work well. I haven't seen the Omni mounts, so I can't say. But if you aren't happy with the Omni's, you might stop in a Paradigm dealer and ask to see a pair.

You really have to crank down on the Omnimounts, which is hard with the supplied hex wrench. It wasn't until I used pliers w/ the hex wrench for more leverage, did I get them to stay put. Been at least 6 months and they haven't budged. I had to lay some serious elbow grease on them though. BTW, I have the 170 classics.

The weight difference shouldn't be a factor... 14 lbs. for the CBM-170 SEs vs. 13 lbs. for the classics.

Has anyone tried the Omnimounts with HTM-200's? If so, have you had any problems with "sagging"? Just curious because omnimount 10.0's are exactly what I had planned to use with my 4 surrounds. Also, where are you all buying your mounts from? Ascends prices are waaay too high for the pair IMO, the best place I found is here, any other suggestions?

~1st cav

Yes, but the Omnimount 20s (was "stuck" with an extra pair of 20s), so obviously they're not sagging. Stick out a little more than I'd like though. The ones from Ascend (BT5?) would provide a more flush mount.

Thanks for the reply Gohd, I guess you have to call Ascend to order the (BT5's?) because I don't see them on their website (accessories page).

The reason they are not there is because B-TECH replaced them with the BT-33. David F. says the BT-33s are a superior design (compared with the BT5s) and work very well with the HTM-200s. I don't know why he doesn't have them on his website, I guess he just hasn't got around to it.

Anyway, here is a link to the company that makes them, they sell direct: http://www.pinpoint-mktg.com/bt33.html#Please%20note