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cestlavie
05-21-2005, 03:03 PM
I've been listening to them for some time now, they are very good, very even sound, and I've heard complaints about bass, it's good enough for me. It's midbass beats out my CDT's though CDT's aren't known for a midbass, but probably wouldn't beat out some other full tower speakers that are meant as standalones with no subs.

I do find the bass ample enough, for music, a sub would definitely help with it, as it's obvious the bass cuts off at the top end of the bass spectrum, but as Dave has stated, it was meant to go with a subwoofer, and one look at the chart would tell you that.

Awesome speaker, as said for most flat freq speakers, it sounds like nothing. None of that audiophille garbage like dark/light sounds, veils, refined, 3 dimensional (someone explain that to me?), holographic (what you collect comic books or something?), just plain flat sound. I'll admit it isn't for anyone, but it should be.

Here's who I would recommend it for:
1.) People who like to hear all parts of their music. You might say that's everyone, well that's not true, they probably just don't know what I'm talking about. Some people like more bass, some people like more highs, with this speaker I can hear the singer as clearly as the bass, and the highs that's a pretty huge range of the spectrum to be represented evenly. If you like bass or highs, it has them, but I would audition them first.

2.) People who like listening for extended periods of time. These speakers are not fatiguing, and won't burn you out, I feel that's how speakers should be, but there are people who disagree.

3.) People who love imaging. The imaging on these speakers are amazing, even though all 3 of my speakers is playing, I can easily pick out where the singer is.

4.) People on a budget, I have only used the 340s, but the 170s are the predecessors and supposed based on the same technology, I would find it hard to turn down a smaller version of this speaker at the price of the 170s.

That's just my 2,
C'est

cestlavie
05-21-2005, 03:05 PM
Oh one more thing....
My connections for reference

Phillips Divx Player -> Pioneer Elite VSX-56txi -> monster cables (they were free, what better price is there than free?) -> speakers

No digital pass through used yet, no high end DACS, this goes through 2 analog stages, one with very high end DACs (56 uses delta sigmas), and one with less good DACS (I can't imagine the Phillips uses amazing dacs, it's already insanely cheap for what it does.

bikeman
05-21-2005, 07:00 PM
Very nice write-up. I've just begun to listen to the 340C to go with my existing 340M's. I'll post my impressions after I've had some time to listen but your review will be the better of the two.

David

cestlavie
05-23-2005, 02:14 AM
Thanks,

Look forward to your own thoughts.

bikeman
05-24-2005, 08:18 AM
Having sliced my thumb open to the bone last Wednesday, I've had way too much idle time on my "hands" this week. The only benefit to this was my new 340C arrived on Thursday. Lots of time to audition.
My main reason for going from the CSW CC Plus to the 340C was to improve the quality of movie dialogue. My hearing is fine from 20hz to just shy of 16khz with one big exception. I have a sizeable dip centered around 1kz which just happens to coincide with the human voice.
I had bought the CSW CC because of it's size. My wife loves music as much as I do and she's more of a movie buff than I am. The drawback is she hates the looks of most speakers. They detract from her decorating scheme. The CSW CC could be hidden. It was only 4 1/2" high and there was 5" of room between the top of the TV and top of our entertainment center.
I didn't tell her I had ordered the 340C. I have always subscribed to the axiom, "it's easier to ask forgiveness than to ask permission." Since the CC could no longer go in the entertainment center, it now had to go on top. This was a tough sell. Once again we reached a compromise. I'll only bring the 340C out when we're actually using it. When not in use, it gets put away. I can live with that.
For testing, I used the most difficult movie I know of for understanding dialogue, "LOTR ROTK." I have seen this movie in a few home theatres and it has frustrated me no end. I rarely go to movie theatres. I have little chance of clearly hearing dialogue for any movie in a theatre. The difference with the 340C was astounding. I heard most of what was said. It was like a different movie altogether. And I am not running the 340C "hot." It is 2db louder than my 340M's as measured by my RS SPL meter.
Last night, my wife and I sat down to watch "Crazy People." It's an older flick with Dudley Moore and Daryl Hannah. Decent chick flick. It might have been the first time in decades that I watched a movie without asking the person next to me, "What'd they say?" My wife was quite happy with the difference in clarity. I still have to move the 340C when not in use but she's on board for keeping it. that was my only real concern.
For music, it's a mixed bag. I don't really hear a positive difference for RB CD's as opposed to using my 340m's as stand alones. I attribute this to two things. I'm a fan of 2.1 AND the 340m's image so well all by themselves that putting an additional speaker between them dosen't add to the experience.
I'm not into multi-channel music. I might be if it were more affordable but for now it's not an option. I would be curious to hear multi-channel using 340's.
I did do comparisons using 5.1 DD and DTS music soundtracks. Most notably Diana Krall's "Live in Paris" and the Eagles, "Hell Freezes Over." With the 340C engaged, it's different. I'll continue to listen to these in both formats, 5.1 and 2.1 depending on my mood. I also plan to experiment with 3.1.
One last thing. When panning the front three speakers using AVIA's pink noise, it is seamless. I dropped the 340C by 2db for this test so that all the speakers would be outputing the same. Impressive.
Next up will be a new sub later in the year after all the new one's have been introduced and feedback generated. Then 200's for the surround's and then Ascend will probably introduce something else I can't live without. What a great time to be in this hobby.

David

dakulis
06-27-2005, 11:30 AM
David,

Great review! As you pointed out in response to my review, the 340C will help with my music and HT hearing. That's great to know. Now, if I can just get Dave F, James or someone to answer my question on using the 340s as rears vs. just going with 170s all around, I'm ready to buy the additional speakers. I just can't believe the improvement in my system with adding the 170s as fronts. WOW!!!