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lucase
10-20-2016, 10:45 PM
I just started enjoying a new pair of Sierra 2 (dark cherry satin). This is the third pair of Ascend Acoustics speakers I bought. I bought a pair of HTM 200 and another of CBM 170 and I was very happy with them. The Sierra 2 are above the rest of the speakers by far. Two things that stand out are the detail in the sound and the surprising bass they deliver for their size.
In the TV room we have a pair of Sonus Faber Concertinos that sound good, but I disconnected them to try these and we all said "wow". Now I realize that I need to re-listen to a lot of my music, because I am hearing lots of details that I couldn't hear with the Concertinos.
Hearing the Sierra 2 was like being used to the old standard TV and seen for the first time a 4K OLED TV.

davef
10-25-2016, 12:46 AM
I just started enjoying a new pair of Sierra 2 (dark cherry satin). This is the third pair of Ascend Acoustics speakers I bought. I bought a pair of HTM 200 and another of CBM 170 and I was very happy with them. The Sierra 2 are above the rest speakers by far. Two things that stand out are the detail in the sound and the surprising bass they deliver for their size.
In the TV room we have a pair of Sonus Faber Concertinos that sound good, but I disconnected them to try these and we all said "wow". Now I realize that I need to re-listen to a lot of my music, because I am hearing lots of details that I couldn't hear with the Concertinos.
Hearing the Sierra 2 was like being used to the old standard TV and seen for the first time a 4K OLED TV.

Thank you for the nice review Lucase, I am happy that you are enjoying the Sierra-2 and all of the other speakers you have purchased from us. Sonus Faber Concertinos are very nice speakers in their own right.

Wadia171i
02-05-2017, 06:33 AM
This is part of my review on my introduction when I joined the community.
M'y thoughts on the S2's--a lot of people rave about the Raal tweeter and I agree. It is awesome--incredible horizontal dispersion makes for easy setup and having no toe-in sounds best to me. But I think sometimes we forget how nice the Seas curved driver is, and that, in my opinion, is why this speaker is stunning. When I asked Paul and Larry what is the hardest part of speaker design, they always said the bass, especially on the T-8 where there's two woofers seeing different space and they had to get them to work together. But even on all the Hales speakers they said the bass was most difficult. That's why Paul and Larry designed all woofers for both the Revelation and Transcendence series. The Sierra nails the bass which is why the Raal is not something that stands out to me. Yes, it's special, but the S2's are so well voiced, it speaks as one. I really don't hear a weakness at all. To me, in the 805 diamond, I always heard the tweeter and could not listen past it. The Sierra checks all the hifi buttons to me--tonal balance superb, coherence superb, image size superb, dynamics micro and macro superb. And let me just say, the accurate and tuneful bass is some of the best mid to low end I've ever heard on a monitor. The width of stage is superb also. People talk about a lack of vertical height, but not for me. When I hear a cymbal rise out of the cabinets--well, just wow! I think Dave is one of the top speaker designers in the world. I'm very impressed by this speaker. He has done his homework and is giving people a speaker that competes at any level, in my opinion. No, I have not heard the Magico two-way-- don't need to.

As you can tell I have a special place in my heart for Hales speakers, because I was even asked to listen and give my opinion during development and I was around for all of Paul and Larry designs. But the Sierra 2 has a place in my heart too. It is a fabulous speaker. We are very lucky to be able to own a world class monitor at this price. This speaker could sell for A LOT MORE. It has a beautiful build quality in my opinion. The Seas curved driver is special and so is the Raal. They are definitely exotic drivers in a beautiful cabinet with one voice. I'm giddy over this special little dude. It's a stunning design that makes me happy and tap my feet. After all, it's about the music and the speaker getting out of the way. Well done, Mr David, well done. Oh trial period over you can keep my money!