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gwlamonte
08-21-2014, 05:31 AM
I received my Sierra Towers with RAAL (STR) a few weeks ago and wanted to extend a thank you to Dave for getting them to me before the company holiday as I will be leaving for Europe in under a month. I plan on getting all RAAL in the future but can’t do anything more until I get settled overseas. So my current set up is not ideal with Sonus Faber (SF) bookshelf surrounds and center with a single Rythmik E15HP. I had to sell off my Outlaw 7700/Integra pre and with very limited options chose the UMC-200 and XPS 5 for their dual voltage capabilities, fingers crossed that they make the long journey over the pond and survive 220. I am also using sound city loudspeaker outrigger (Spike Bar) for the base of my STR’s as this gives me more flexibility for leveling the speakers. The one down side to this is that the addition of the STR’s into my system has caused me to no longer enjoy my favorite Blu-ray Dave Matthews live at Radio City, more on that later.

I am not going to do an in-depth review of the STR’s as I am not a “trained listener” or reviewer, I am just going to give you a little bit of what I experienced and it is just my own personal experience. First the set up, I just plopped them down in the same place my former SF towers were, added just a slight bit of toe in and then played Norah Jones Come away with me SACD and “BAM” (an old Batman TV show reference) there it was the sound that I had been waiting for (I actually started to smile). I was shocked at what I heard, no joke these speakers are amazing with detail and sound stage that I had never heard before and I have owned a few (Polk, NHT, Bowers & Wilkins, Aperion and more). Very real is the best way that I can describe them, and alas this is my new problem because STR’s sound so much better than my SF or any of the other speakers that I have owned ever did. And this takes me back to my previous point of adding the STR’s into my system and that is the STR’s make my other speakers sound very different now, not necessarily bad but not good. It is a real difference in sound (non timbre matched for sure) and it is very noticeable to me.

The Rythmik sub is also very helpful for the tight punch in music and movies. Oh yea movies, they sound great as well and the timbre issue is less notable but I am sure it will get even better once I complete my Ascend setup.

Over the last few weeks I have re explored a large portion of music and movie collection and continue so smile at this new experience of amazingly real sound. Overall I am very happy with my purchase and will be adding more Ascend speakers to my system in the near future. I also would like to say that the personal attention that Dave gives is just simply stunning in this day and age of awful corporate customer service and service in general. This attention made my decision to try Ascend very easy.

Cheers,
GW

davef
08-27-2014, 03:50 PM
I received my Sierra Towers with RAAL (STR) a few weeks ago and wanted to extend a thank you to Dave for getting them to me before the company holiday as I will be leaving for Europe in under a month. I plan on getting all RAAL in the future but can’t do anything more until I get settled overseas. So my current set up is not ideal with Sonus Faber (SF) bookshelf surrounds and center with a single Rythmik E15HP. I had to sell off my Outlaw 7700/Integra pre and with very limited options chose the UMC-200 and XPS 5 for their dual voltage capabilities, fingers crossed that they make the long journey over the pond and survive 220. I am also using sound city loudspeaker outrigger (Spike Bar) for the base of my STR’s as this gives me more flexibility for leveling the speakers. The one down side to this is that the addition of the STR’s into my system has caused me to no longer enjoy my favorite Blu-ray Dave Matthews live at Radio City, more on that later.

I am not going to do an in-depth review of the STR’s as I am not a “trained listener” or reviewer, I am just going to give you a little bit of what I experienced and it is just my own personal experience. First the set up, I just plopped them down in the same place my former SF towers were, added just a slight bit of toe in and then played Norah Jones Come away with me SACD and “BAM” (an old Batman TV show reference) there it was the sound that I had been waiting for (I actually started to smile). I was shocked at what I heard, no joke these speakers are amazing with detail and sound stage that I had never heard before and I have owned a few (Polk, NHT, Bowers & Wilkins, Aperion and more). Very real is the best way that I can describe them, and alas this is my new problem because STR’s sound so much better than my SF or any of the other speakers that I have owned ever did. And this takes me back to my previous point of adding the STR’s into my system and that is the STR’s make my other speakers sound very different now, not necessarily bad but not good. It is a real difference in sound (non timbre matched for sure) and it is very noticeable to me.

The Rythmik sub is also very helpful for the tight punch in music and movies. Oh yea movies, they sound great as well and the timbre issue is less notable but I am sure it will get even better once I complete my Ascend setup.

Over the last few weeks I have re explored a large portion of music and movie collection and continue so smile at this new experience of amazingly real sound. Overall I am very happy with my purchase and will be adding more Ascend speakers to my system in the near future. I also would like to say that the personal attention that Dave gives is just simply stunning in this day and age of awful corporate customer service and service in general. This attention made my decision to try Ascend very easy.

Cheers,
GW

Thank you for leaving the wonderful review! We are very happy that you are enjoying the speakers and thanks for putting your confidence in us.

Enjoy!!!!