My Journey to find the "perfect" speaker... - Page 21

Ye sir, I did. I believe I posed my experiences with them earlier in the thread.

Edit: Check out posts # 289 and 295.

Heck yeah, that would be fun! Some of my friends are into this stuff, but not as much as you and I. It'd be nice to have someone with the same passion that I have take the trip with me.

We'll chat more soon.

Terrific! I'm looking forward to reading about your listening impressions!



No doubt. It doesn't sound like the Aerials will make the trip, however. Nonetheless, this is going to be a fantastic event and will get me one step closer to finding my perfect speaker.

As an update to my "journey" I will be participating in a Wisconsin get together in 6 days (Sunday the 9th) at forum member Warddrv's house. I'll be bringing my 850 Sig's along but will have the opportunity to audition somewhere between 6-12 pairs of speakers, both bookshelf and floor standing. We've even got a gentleman from Next Level Audio attending the event and bringing some goodies – Nice!

Naturally, I’ll be writing up a little review here in this thread and in the Wisconsin GTG thread for each speaker I spend time with. Of course, it’ll just be my opinion’s as usual, so it’s obviously not written in stone. However, even though I’ve got a great pair of speakers the “itch” hasn’t gone away. I enjoy the thrill of the chase almost as much as listening to a great pair of speakers, I think. In leui of this, I will continue to audition speakers, present my thoughts and remain on my journey until I’ve found and purchased what I feel is the perfect speaker for me.

There’s plenty more to come in the next few weeks!

I sure hope I can do so, and soon. Warp and I are trying to convince one of the GTG's attendees to bring his Aerials. One can hope!

Even if I don't get an opportunity with a pair of Aerials, it's gonna be one fun day!

Looks nice, Warp. I have the Emotiva LPA-1 amp and think it's amazing for the price. I'll be trading in my LCM-1 for the LMC-2 when it's released as well.

My first update for the new year!

On Sunday February 10, Wardrv (Patrick) was kind enough to hold, as far as I know, the first Wisconsin A/V GTG. His house was comprised of three main rooms with the basement being prefect for the collage of speakers, amplifiers and other various electronics in attendance. I also had the pleasure to meet nearly a dozen members of AVS – very cool group of guys. But what equipment did they bring you ask?

The equipment list is as follows (to the best of my memory):

Front End:

Audio Refinement Pre2 preamp
Earthquake Cinenova Grand amplifier
Pioneer Elite DV47Ai source player
Denon 4308 receiver
Cary Audio Cinema 6 preamp
Emotiva LMC-1 premap and LPA-1 amplifier

Bookshelf Speakers:

Ascend Sierra's
Dana 630's
Dynaudio Contour 1.4's
SVS MBS-01's
Paradigm Studio 20's

Floor Standing Speakers:

Paradigm Studio 100 V4's
Onix Rocket RS850 Signature's
SVS MTS-01's

The follow are my impressions, recollections and opinions. They are not be be used as factual statements or marketing statements. I am just one guy. I will be making separate posts for each speaker review because it is too time consuming to create one large post comprised of all the reviews.

Although I remained quiet for the majority of the day, that certainly doesn't mean I wasn't paying attention. There was a lot to take in and a lot of opinions being tossed out, so I tried to bite my tongue and allow myself to be uninfluenced by others. Also, some of the auditions were difficult because volumes were frequently changed (no level matching), front end gear was frequently swapped out, tower speaker positions never changed so the possibility of too much room interaction was high, and the room was never lacking in conversing. In short, it was hard to focus at times, but getting to know the other AVS members was more important for me anyway.

Finally, all speakers were run full range.

Audition # 5

Ascend Acoustics Sierra-1 Bookshelf Speakers


These speakers can be summed up in one word: smooth. They are very pleasant to listen to no matter what the material. The tweeter did not sound laid back or lacking to my ears, nor was it bright or overbearing; just right on the money. The only gripe I had with the tweeter is that it didn't have that open airy feel to it. One could blame the lack of airiness on the room interactions...who knows? The Sierra's had surprising tight, musical and impactful bass depending on the source material. I remember checking to see if the subwoofer was on even though I had already been told it was not (it wasn't). They certainly should be paired with a capable subwoofer, but they can handle 2-channel just fine if one is not on hand.

The Sierra's may have that boxy look that some do not care for, but it didn't bother me one bit. The pair in attendance were smothered in the Piano Black Gloss finish and were simply gorgeous. They were my second favorite speaker in the aesthetics department.

When it was all said and done, I really enjoyed the Ascend Sierra's. They sell for $900 per pair and come highly recommend (by me) for anyone looking for a bookshelf speaker at that price point. Is it the best $900/pair speaker I've heard? No. But the minor issues I had with it are easily surpassed by its ability to simply disappear, image like a son of a gun and play all day long without fatigue. It'd be interesting to hear a tower version of this speaker, perhaps with slightly larger woofers and a dedicated midrange driver (the midrange on the sierra-1's were slightly recessed at times, and the thinness could probably be resolved if you cross over to a capable subwoofer).

The Ascend Sierra is highly recommended.

P.S. The Sierra's may not be the best "speakers" I've heard at this price point, but they are among the best bookshelf speakers. In fact, I'll go against the group and admit that I even preferred them over the Dynaudio C1.4's we heard (crossing over to a subwoofer may change my opinion, but they were run full range). More on that later.

Vandersteen 1C's for one. They aren't bookshelf speakers, but I never said I've heard better bookshelf speakers; just speakers. See my "P.S." that I added in the review above.

Of course, the Vandersteen's are ugly as sin compared to the Sierra's.

They thinned out some when the dB level was increased into the high 80's, low 90's (judging by ear here). It depended on the listening material, though.

The are to my wife, and I guess her opinion is the only one that matters. I think they are cool looking.

We did have them crossed over to a subwoofer for a little while, but it was in Patrick's bedroom so I couldn't sit in the sweet spot and truly evaluate what I was hearing. And you're correct; that is pretty loud.

I think you can tell that I really liked the Sierra's, even more than the Dyns, which were everyone else's favorites. I'll explain in my Dyn review.

HAHA!

BINGO! You pretty much just reviewed the Dyn's for me...or at least their cons anyway. I appreciate you putting your $0.02 in. I thought I was going to get ridiculed all day for preferring the Sierra's.

I also factored the price to performance ratio into my reviewing, and I just didn't feel the Dyn's were worth $3400/pair.

I'll get my review of them up later.