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View Full Version : New Sierra-1 owner..



jonstahura
05-29-2012, 04:44 PM
I spent DAYS looking for the perfect speakers... for the right price of course.. and the memorial day weekend sale was the PERFECT opportunity to jump. I am so excited to get these speakers... I got a left and right and center sierra-1s.. I went from starting at the 170s... straight to the sierra-1s. I was going to skip the sub, but then the klipsch rw-12d was on sale for 299... I wish i could have gone with the direct servo... but i didn't have the funds...

I did not get any rear speakers... so maybe next year...

Anything you guys recommend i hear on these things first? I got a denon 2312 for a receiver.. sony 590 bluray player.. and a small pc for HULU and movie playback..

brocken
05-29-2012, 08:44 PM
I would say listen to your favorite and most-familiar music - you will likely hear things you've never heard before. What speakers are you coming from?

jonstahura
05-29-2012, 08:45 PM
i am coming from a yamaha sound bar.... this is quite a HUGE step.. i have never had high quality speakers.

brocken
05-29-2012, 09:19 PM
Well, great minds DO think alike! I'd be coming from a Yamaha HTIB.

Reading through these forums, a lot of people come to Sierra-1's from pretty well-respected speaker systems, such as Energy RC's - and some have even comparatively listened to Sierra-1's vs. $1800/pr speakers.

The Audyssey MultEQ XT is very nice on the Denon 2312, and the receiver should give you many years of enjoyment.

I'm thinking of putting together beginner's snapshot of modern sound system options, and would be very interested in your impressions of going from a sound bar to a quality bookshelf system. Would you like to share them with us when you have time?

jonstahura
05-29-2012, 09:24 PM
i would love too. I will also give my wife's opinion also.. she is still skeptical...

the reviews on the sierra-1's are amazing.. once i read them, i was sold..

jonstahura
05-30-2012, 11:14 AM
today was bitter sweet....

i got the L and R channel but not the center.... UPS forgot to deliver it because i had a bluray sent at the same time. They thought it was 3 packages, and it should have been 4.

so NOW i have to setup a 2.1 setup tonight and install my center channel tomorrow night... life is rough...

:)

brocken
05-30-2012, 01:41 PM
i would love too. I will also give my wife's opinion also.. she is still skeptical...

the reviews on the sierra-1's are amazing.. once i read them, i was sold..

Even better - that would give a more comprehensive perspective b/c in reality, it's not just us enthusiasts who will be using our sound systems.

Sorry that the shipping got borked today, but the bitterness of today just reserves a measure of sweetness for tomorrow.

In the interim, the Sierra-1's good imaging should be able to provide a very convincing phantom center. After you get the 3.1 setup dialed in, would it be possible to re-use the soundbar for a rear/surround experiment?

jonstahura
05-31-2012, 07:06 AM
so i hooked everything up... i didn't have the center channel up.. that should be here today..

I really enjoyed it.. the craziness of the receiver is still a little overwhelming.. the fear of not having it setup right and all the options is pretty crazy... i wish there was a ... oh you have this model and these speakers u should do "this" ...

I played some tv / bluray(transformers) / internet music / itunes from HTPC...

i really loved that it tickled my ears.. it wasn't destructive to listen too.. my cousin has some ceiling speakers and they end up hurting to listen too..

My wife is skeptical... is it really all worth 2k? ... lol she was also not happy i didn't get the dark finish on the speakers :( ...


over all at this time.. i am so excited still.. i can't wait to put the center channel in and run through the setup again... woooooo!

hearing specialist
05-31-2012, 07:55 AM
Did you run your receivers MultEQ XT? I'm curious in your room how it set things up and your listening distance, crossover chosen, ect. Your receiver has an 8 point measurement capacity and the XT has awesome resolution. With any new speaker it may be necessary to continue re-running the room correction as you break your Sierra 1's in. If it were me I would set them to "Small" but with a lower crossover first and work my way upwards to find your rooms boundary effect then lower to blend for smoothness. I would rent on blue ray the newest Transformers which uses Dolby TrueHD and to me (the home theater fanatic) is what I use to demo the systems ability. For music buy Chesky's Ultimate Demo Disc and enjoy the fine engineering put into these great loudspeakers. Just my opinion and i'm super excited for you! The wife factor is and will always be an issue for us that are married but give her some time and you will eventually walk in the living room and see her sitting in the sweet spot watching her desperate houswives :D


Brian in Bakersfield...

brocken
05-31-2012, 12:12 PM
1. the craziness of the receiver is still a little overwhelming.. the fear of not having it setup right and all the options is pretty crazy... i wish there was a ... oh you have this model and these speakers u should do "this" ...

2. i really loved that it tickled my ears.. it wasn't destructive to listen too.. my cousin has some ceiling speakers and they end up hurting to listen too..

3. lol she was also not happy i didn't get the dark finish on the speakers :( ...

4. over all at this time.. i am so excited still... woooooo!

1. Setting up a modern receiver is like entering a forest for the 1st time: it takes a few days to get your bearings, weeks to build a detailed enough map in your head so you can get to where you want efficiently - and even months later, you're still discovering new little wonders you never noticed before.

Great Denon receiver guide with set-up & speaker info at AVS: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1334369

2. That's in line with user reports of Sierra-1's being detailed, yet not fatiguing even during 8-hour listening sessions.

3. "Does this mean I can get the Dark Cherry/Espresso for $100 more? Oh, honey, I knew you'd understand!"

4. Music is inherently a wonderful thing, so what's $1000-$2000 to bring some happiness to your life? Listen and be happy.

jonstahura
06-01-2012, 04:05 AM
center channel is in.

so now i'm trying to understand here... I was using the setup guide forum from avs...

when i do the audyssey setup according to the forum, they ask me to lower the sub until the -+ is about 10 or less. WHen i do this, my sub ends up being NON existant.. i can stand on it with my hand there and almost NEVER feel it even working.. there is no "punch" my wife says..

i walked through the setup a MILLION times and changed the speakers to small and the sub setup to crossover ...

i guess my problem is.. is this what it is supposed to be? am i just THAT out of touch with what "real" sound is?

The other thing i am struggling with is i got 3 sierras for the front and a sub.. what decoding do i use.... dolby or multi channel stereo..

grr! i am still playing with them.. I sat for 5 hours playing with the settings..

I am a video guy.. that is what i do for a job.. i can look at video and be like.. no that is blown out .. the blacks are crushed.. the signal is distorted.. the stupid 240hz is screwing up thevideo..

BUT I CANT DO THIS WITH AUDIO! ... lol ... grrr

hearing specialist
06-01-2012, 06:53 AM
This is what I would do, start completely over and let Audyssey do its thing. But first do this, set your subs gain control to half and let Audyssey set the crossover, you will go back and reset after its done. Don't worry about anything yet until Audyssey is complete with everything installed.

After all is done and if Audyssey says your subs output is too loud fast forward Audyssey so it will still calibrate at half gain on your sub amplifier. Now go back and start with setting mains to 80hz and sub at 80hz manually. Do listening tests at that crossover setting then manually adjust for your liking. If anything you may lower so your mains are running down to 60hz and sub set to 60hz. If you like that setting based on your room, i.e. not boomy, then re-run Audyssey but keep all settings/crossover points/sub gain control at half.

Decoding should be Dolby, my directTV default is Dolby Digital. With that being said you can always explore post processing with the various modes like Dolby PLII Movie which I do like while watching tv. It really makes regular tv fun. Straight Dolby Digital is awesome but more surround effects happen with the other Dolby modes post processing. There is Neo 6 Cinema but I find it looses high freqs and rolls off too much for my liking. This is the stuff I love next to room correction craziness!

The "half gain rule" is used in prescribing output in Audiology and is a simple starting point and more times than none the sub is usually left here. If this doesn't work, order a pizza, I'll bring the wifey, let our girls go shopping to let us mess with your receiver and enjoy awesome sound :D

jonstahura
06-01-2012, 07:01 AM
... SO FRUSTRATING! :) ...

I will have to mess with it again tonight. I was reading the setup guides for the Audyssey.. it seems the real sound of bass shouldn't be what we "know" ... reference i guess is to be played REALLY loud.. soo i will play with the half and stuff.. i think at this point i am going to do a factory reset on the reciever and start fresh..

If you lived closer I wouldn't hesitate... I will have to get pictures of the setup..

jonstahura
06-04-2012, 12:36 PM
i believe I have hit a nice blend of perfection... everything sounds so good right now... These speakers are amazing...

i am putting in a little picture of my system. It is a horrible picture taken by my wife at night... i will get some better ones..

http://stahura.cc/hometh.jpg

hearing specialist
06-04-2012, 01:11 PM
I especially like the picture of your pup too! Looks great and i'm glad everything is sounding good.


Brian in Bakersfield...

brocken
06-04-2012, 09:52 PM
i believe I have hit a nice blend of perfection... everything sounds so good right now... These speakers are amazing...


Glad you got the setup issues sorted out and are now enjoying your new Sierra-1's. Did you get the Q-Plug kits to experiment with modifying the rear ports?

The bamboo looks good with your wood panel floors. Is that the new Klipsch sub between your AV console and the right speaker?

jonstahura
06-05-2012, 07:00 AM
i did not get the q plugs.. i'm still trying to figure out what they do... maybe soon i will.. it is like the NrT upgrade.. i'm not sure if at my level i will notice a difference.. i want this to settle in and be like.. ok i get it.. now what.. and maybe before my year is up.. i will upgrade to the towers.. lol

That is the klipsch.. i was not sure to put it on the outside or inside.. ... and so to make it more "uniform" i put it in the inside.. lol...

brocken
06-05-2012, 08:15 PM
The whole ensemble looks good: TP-24 speaker stands, AV cabinet, & Klipsch sub - even with the sub being a little shorter than the AV cabinet, it looks like a matched set.

I got Q-Plugs b/c my center will be enclosed in a center speaker shelf in my TV stand, and my surrounds will be almost against the side walls. Depending on the room, there can be boominess if the rear port of a Sierra-1 is closer than 18" to a wall. But the jump up from a standard soundbar is so big that your sound quality is still much better, and you can always fine-tune later.

I'm trying to figure out what to do with my HTIB once I get the new system set up - sell it, gift it to someone I like, or...?