PDA

View Full Version : Sierra-1 Review



markenki
06-18-2011, 02:04 PM
Hello folks, I'm a new Sierra-1 owner and wanted to introduce myself. In the late 90's I put together a system consisting of a pair of B&W DM302 speakers powered by a Yamaha RX-V595 amplifier, supplemented by a DIY subwoofer a friend of mine designed for me. The down-firing subwoofer has a 12" NHT 1259 woofer housed in an internally-braced sealed cabinet built from 3/4" mdf filled with fiberglass stuffing. This served as both my HT and music setup. After my kids were born, I stopped listening to music on this system, and listened mostly on my laptop. Recently, I bought a Yamaha HTIB, freeing up my old system, which I set up in our basement for dedicated music listening. The old Yamaha receiver was really noisy, so I bought a new NAD amplifier to replace it. At the same time, I also bought a NAD CD player. The B&W's were pretty good but I wanted to find something better in the $500-$1000 range. By chance, I read a post by someone on an online forum who mentioned Ascend. After reading numerous reviews, I decided to take advantage of the current Ascend sale and ordered a pair of Sierra-1's.

I received the Sierras last week and have been thoroughly enjoying them. The first thing I noticed is that knocking on the cabinets is like knocking on a solid piece of wood! They're beautifully finished and solidly built. And the sound! They're revealing things about CDs I've had for years that I didn't know were there. Really amazing clarity and soundstaging.

One advantage for me of having a separate setup for music only is that I don't have to compete with the rest of the household (a wife and two boys). The setup is in the basement, so I can listen any time of day or night and not worry about waking anybody up. I listen mostly to jazz, and primarily trumpet players as I am also learning to play the horn. Chet Baker is my favorite. Listening right now to his "The Touch of Your Lips", I'm in acoustic heaven.

Thanks to Dave and Dina for answering my questions and being so helpful and accommodating. I believe they will be hearing from me again within a year.

Here's my current setup:
Ascend Sierra-1
NAD C 326BEE Stereo Integrated Amplifier
NAD C 515BEE CD player
DIY subwoofer with an NHT 1259 woofer
AudioSource AMP 100 Stereo Power Amplifier to power the subwoofer

Regards,

Mark

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h110/markenki/022ss.jpg

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h110/markenki/019ss.jpg

markie
06-18-2011, 03:23 PM
Wow, what a great setup. So clean. Thanks for the pics!

hearing specialist
06-18-2011, 05:07 PM
Very nice and thank you for sharing your photos. Sometimes something like this is all it takes to nudge someone else to make the decision to get those. Your room looks awesome and I know it sounds really nice! :D



Brian in Bakersfield...

markenki
06-19-2011, 05:13 PM
Thank you very much for the kind words.

While listening to "Chet Baker in Tokyo" earlier today, a CD I've listened to many times, and with which I am very familiar, I noticed there were some passages where I felt the bass was a bit strong. I made a mental note to turn down the sub a bit. After the CD was done, I turned off the CD player, the amplifier, and was about to turn off the sub amp when I saw that it was already off. It had been off the whole time! For kicks, I sometimes turn off the sub just to see what the unassisted speakers sound like. I'd forgotten I had turned off the sub before I started listening to the CD. Amazing! These Sierras do not need a sub!

To be clear the CD sounded great, and the strong bass is in no way a negative observation. It's just that my previous speakers didn't produce this level of bass and so I was unaccustomed to the sound I was hearing.

It seems the bass on the Sierras has gotten stronger over the past few days. Is that what breaking them in is expected to do?

While listening to "Seven Steps To Heaven" on the same CD, I heard a faint trumpet in the distance from about 04:55 to 05:55, as if Chet were playing away from the mic. That's a sound I had never heard before! Wow! I am now looking forward to listening to all my CD's again and hearing for the first time what they really should sound like!

Kudos to Dave and team for making such an amazing pair of speakers!

Regards,

Mark