TomK
09-18-2011, 02:08 PM
The day my Ascend Towers arrived was a really good day. They came packed in super strong cartons surrounded by very sturdy foam. Mounting the base plate and spiked feet was a breeze. The first music I tried was Gershwin’s “An American In Paris” Eric Kunzel on Telarc. What I heard was an orchestra. But I also could hear individual instruments. With lesser speakers things go fine until the big crescendos. Then the music gets blurry. One big mass of sound. During the crescendos the Towers held their ground and allowed each instrument to come through. They have great transient response. In other words they are able to track the attack of each instrument with great accuracy. On lesser speakers violins can sound like their strings are barbed wire. I listened to “The Lark Ascending” by Vaughan Williams. Magnificent violin timbre was heard. The Towers didn’t add or subtract anything. They just let the beautiful sound come through as recorded. While trying out other recordings I thought I would read a book and kill two birds with one stone as the saying goes. My plan failed. Time and again I got so drawn into the music that the book was closed. That’s what speakers are supposed to do; reproduce the music as recorded. If you are hearing just speakers then something is wrong. The Towers in my opinion let you hear what was recorded. Not everything I listened to sounded good. If the recording is bad it will sound bad. Which is good. You will hear what was recorded.
Equipment used was a tube integrated Rogue Cronus Magnum amplifier @ 95 wpc and a Marantz SA8004 Super Audio CD player, and a Hsu 10” subwoofer set at 45 Hertz crossover. (I am still tinkering with these settings)Music included the following:
1. Stravinsky “Rite Of Spring” / Seiji Ozawa
2. Gershwin “An American In Paris”, “Rhapsody In Blue”, “Cuban Overture” / Eric Kunzel
3. Ralph Vaughan Williams “The Lark Ascending”, “Serenade To Music” / Sir Adrian Boult
4. Cherish The Ladies “Inisheer”
5. 12 Girls Band “Flow Of The River”
6. Gustav Holst “The Planets” / John Elliot Gardiner
7. Santana “The Best Instrumentals”
8. Mark Knopfler “Get Lucky”
9. Rascal Flatts “Unstoppable”
10. The Moody Blues
11. The Allman Brothers Band “Eat A Peach”
12. Govi “Saffron & Silk”
13. Willie Nelson & Asleep At The Wheel
14. Beethoven “The 6th Symphony (The Pastoral) / Osmo Vanska
15. John Mayer
16. Bob Marley
17. UB40
18. Lee Ritenour’s 6 String Theory
19. Saint Saens “The Carnival Of The Animals”
20. Alison Krauss & Union Station “Paper Airplane”
The Ascend Towers are beautiful. The Natural bamboo finish was my choice and I’m extremely happy with it. The workmanship is first rate and solid as a rock.
Thank you Dave for all your hard work! Now excuse me I’ve got music to listen to.
TomK
Equipment used was a tube integrated Rogue Cronus Magnum amplifier @ 95 wpc and a Marantz SA8004 Super Audio CD player, and a Hsu 10” subwoofer set at 45 Hertz crossover. (I am still tinkering with these settings)Music included the following:
1. Stravinsky “Rite Of Spring” / Seiji Ozawa
2. Gershwin “An American In Paris”, “Rhapsody In Blue”, “Cuban Overture” / Eric Kunzel
3. Ralph Vaughan Williams “The Lark Ascending”, “Serenade To Music” / Sir Adrian Boult
4. Cherish The Ladies “Inisheer”
5. 12 Girls Band “Flow Of The River”
6. Gustav Holst “The Planets” / John Elliot Gardiner
7. Santana “The Best Instrumentals”
8. Mark Knopfler “Get Lucky”
9. Rascal Flatts “Unstoppable”
10. The Moody Blues
11. The Allman Brothers Band “Eat A Peach”
12. Govi “Saffron & Silk”
13. Willie Nelson & Asleep At The Wheel
14. Beethoven “The 6th Symphony (The Pastoral) / Osmo Vanska
15. John Mayer
16. Bob Marley
17. UB40
18. Lee Ritenour’s 6 String Theory
19. Saint Saens “The Carnival Of The Animals”
20. Alison Krauss & Union Station “Paper Airplane”
The Ascend Towers are beautiful. The Natural bamboo finish was my choice and I’m extremely happy with it. The workmanship is first rate and solid as a rock.
Thank you Dave for all your hard work! Now excuse me I’ve got music to listen to.
TomK