Good demo music/DVDs?

[curtis]

Hey Cliff,

Did you get a sub too?

What kind of music and movies does your wife like?

-curtis

[SomeDood]

Play something shes heard a thousand times, that way shes familiar with how the recording sounds, then shell hear how its really suspose to sound. Preferebly something newer and better recorded.

[Ben_Wood]

I have to agree with SomeDood, play something your wife is very familiar with. This way she has a baseline to compare with. Anyway Cliff, you and the wife are in for a treat! Keep us posted and give us your opinions!

[Cliff_L]

Curtis - I already have a sub (a Sony SA-WM40) so that wasn't part of the plan. I would love a HSU sub, but that will have to wait for a long while. I'm actually quite pleased with my Sony.

The next upgrade will probably be my receiver (I just have a Pioneer VSX-409 - basic DTS/DD receiver) - I hope it can drive the speakers adequately. I'll definitely think about what to play for her then.

What do y'all think about hooking my Ascends up as my "A speakers" - my old speakers up as my "B" speakers and then switching between the two so we can hear the difference? Granted that way we can only compare them in stereo mode, but it should make for a good comparison?

[curtis]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Arial, Verdana, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Cliff_L

What do y'all think about hooking my Ascends up as my "A speakers" - my old speakers up as my "B" speakers and then switching between the two so we can hear the difference? Granted that way we can only compare them in stereo mode, but it should make for a good comparison?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

That should work fine. If you are using the sub while doing this, you may need to adjust it when switching speakers.

Have fun!!

-curtis

[Ben_Wood]

Cliff, the Sony sub that you have is supposed to be very good at it's price range. Have you tried the polyfill "upgrade"?

[mattepntr]

"Terminator 2: Judgment Day".
This movie has an absolutely stunning
sound mix, and has been transfered VERY
well to Dolby Digital. For a showy home
theater demo, I prefer this to the usual
choices (SW1 podrace, for example). Not
bad for a 12-year old film.

The opening five minutes of T-2 are especially
astounding.

Rick

[mattepntr]

In the beginning of "T-2", a terminator skeleton
steps on a skull. If that doesn't shatter glass,
you're not playing it loud enough![:D]

[Cliff_L]

After having my Ascends for a week now, I can't say I'm at all disappointed. In fact, instead of watching TV like I usually do, I've been popping in CDs (even some I haven't listened to in a while) every night and listening to them while laying on my couch. I borrowed a sound meter from a friend of mine & calibrated all my speakers. For some reason, the left rear needed to be turned up quite a bit louder than the other 4 speakers (I thought it was the speaker and even tried a different speaker.) Must be the acoustics in the room or something.

Anyway, like everyone else has said - the biggest noticeable distinction between these and the crappy KLHs I used to have is clarity and fullness. At the same volume setting, the Ascends played louder and clearer and crisper. After listening to a variety of music & instruments, I think that the Ascends showcase acoustic guitars and vocals the best. And there are highs I'm hearing that I've never heard before. There were a couple of times I thought something was broken in the speaker when I realized it was the high sound of a percussion instrument. Truly amazing.

The CBM-170 I'm using as a center speaker also sounds great - the vocal tracks in movies again are also very full sounding. The best way I can describe it is instead of hearing the sound sound like it's originating from the speaker, it sounds like the sound is originating somewhere in the middle of the room.

My wife has also seemed to warm up to the speakers as I've listened to them more and more. :)

Ben - yes I did the polyfil mod to the Sony - I actually wrote up a photolog on my website that has been referred to on some of the HT forums. :D

I have T2 at home on DVD - I'll definitely have to pop that in and check it out. I almost forgot that I need to do the same with the beginning of Toy Story 2. That is supposed to be one of the best surround sound demos out there as well.

[mattepntr]

I'm not really into "crash and boom" soundtracks
for their own sake. But James Cameron loves new
technology. And just as the images are designed
to showcase computer graphics, the soundscape
is designed from the ground up to be a showcase
for digital movie sound (Cinema Digital Sound, now
defunct).
"T-2" creates an ENORMOUS soundtage, and takes full
advantage of the dynamic range available with digital
sound. Crisp, high frequencies played simultaneously
with wall-shaking lows, everything distinct, clear
and distortion-free even at loud volume levels.
It's a workout for even the most robust system!

my $0.02
Rick

[andyw]

Movies:
I happened to have "The Patriot" from Netflix when I first received my Ascends. Mel Gibson's voice was quite remarkable in that film--between the 170 fronts, 340 center, and Hsu subwoofer, everytime he spoke, my couch was vibrating quite noticeably.

"The Bourne Identity" has some very cool moments in its soundtrack that show off the imaging of the Ascends nicely.

Music:
For you George Bush fans out there, the last song on the Dixie Chicks latest album, "Top of the World", sounds quite remarkable, with a good variety of instruments (guitar, electric bass, cello, violins), and Natalie Maines' voice is very clean and clear. In my case, it was a very wife-friendly track to use to win her over to the Ascends.