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View Full Version : Hi, from Ohio, land of the moderately content cow.



tbp71
01-20-2017, 05:16 AM
Hi all. I registered a few days ago and have read through quite a bit as Ascend's speakers have been of interest. I did get a chance to listen to a pair of Sierra-1s with the NRT tweeter recently. While I was generally impressed I thought the upper mids were a bit too forward for my liking, at least in that particular room with those components. In about everything else--especially depth, detail and soundstaging--I was quite impressed, but that liveliness gave the music I prefer a bit of a hard edge.

Anyway, as for my background, I'm a lifelong musician and once even majored in music before deciding to get slightly more practical degrees. I also partly put myself through school as an audio engineer, mostly in a mastering studio. I mainly play and listen to jazz, but have an interest in many genres, especially classical, blues and harder rock. So I generally look for components and speakers that are detailed, engaging and fairly neutral.

I may see if I can find Sierra-2s or Sierra 1s with the standard tweeter to audition. In any case, there's a lot of great information here, so I thought I'd say hi.

Mag_Neato
01-20-2017, 07:31 AM
Welcome to nuthouse!!

What part of Ohio are you located?

tbp71
01-20-2017, 08:51 AM
Thanks! I'm in the northeast corner, about the center of the snowbelt.

Mag_Neato
01-20-2017, 09:45 AM
Ah, one of those guys who drives around with 15" of snow on the roof of their car as badge of courage!

I'm in the bottom SW corner of Cuyahoga if you ever want to audition the Sierra-2's.

tbp71
01-20-2017, 10:28 AM
Ha. That's one of my pet peeves. Nothing like having to dodge a 60MPH three foot block of snow to make sure you're awake. So I take some time to clear it off.

Thanks. I might take you up on that offer.

davidwb
01-20-2017, 06:12 PM
Down here in Columbus we don't get too much of the snow...just the clouds.
Welcome...and if you want to listen to the towers with the RAAL tweeter let me know.

Wanger 714
01-22-2017, 05:38 AM
I'm a little farther east in Zanesville ,but your welcome to stop down here also .. Complete system, Raal Towers, matching Horizon, and Sierras '2 as surrounds ...

tbp71
01-22-2017, 11:43 AM
Thanks, I appreciate that. Except for driving through/around it I've only been in Columbus a few times, but I have pretty nice memories from them.

tbp71
01-22-2017, 11:44 AM
Thanks. I appreciate that. I've only been to Columbus a few times, but I have good memories of them.

Jaybeez
01-30-2017, 09:11 PM
Welcome from a dude from So Cal but born in raised in Chagrin Falls.

I listen to my S2's in a well-designed recording space, and find them very neutral and very pleasing.

At some point I plan to figure out how to wire them to my recording rig as I'm pretty sure they will beat the pants off the Mackie, Yamaha and Genelec monitors I've used.

tbp71
01-31-2017, 01:35 PM
Hey, from the same county. Thanks. In the old days (late 80s-mid 90s) before powered monitors became the norm you'd typically run output from the board into an amp and then to the monitors.

Speaking of which, I liked a Bryston I sometimes was able to use, so I recently bought a spotted a used Bryston 2B-LP amp and bought it for home use. It hasn't arrived yet, but I'm hopeful and am thinking it may work well with Ascends.

Jaybeez
01-31-2017, 08:42 PM
I need to do a bit more research on the whole signal path. Would love to be able to use my MBox Pro as simply another output device and give the S2's a whirl in some mixing work. Dave says there are a number of studios that use them.

tbp71
06-10-2017, 10:28 AM
Hi. Five months after my introduction, I thought I'd give an update. I was very tempted by the Sierra-2s, but given some life curveballs I've been quite careful with spending. With the Sierra-1 B-Stock sale, however, I decided to give them a try. They arrived yesterday, and I've been playing a lot of music through them for the last 24 hours or so. A few examples include:

Thelonious Monk, Monk's Music
Son House, Original Delta Blues
Herbie Hancock, The Piano
Brad Mehldau Trio, Blues and Ballads
Maria Schneider Orchestra, The Thompson Fields
Kenny Barron and Dave Holland, The Art of Conversation
Imelda May, Mayhem
Clutch, Psychic Warfare
They Might Be Giants, John Henry
Public Enemy, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
Pierre Boulez/Cleveland Orchestra, Stravinsky's Rite of Spring

After some experiments with placement and different sources, they've handled everything extremely well. I have also discovered that the sound degradation when streaming audio from my phone via Bluetooth is much more noticeable with the Sierra-1s (compared to PSBs and Paradigms I've had for about 15 and 20 years, respectively), and that many LPs really do have a special sound.

I'm very impressed with the Sierra-1s. The only downside thus far is feeling a need to upgrade some other components, and since I anticipate using my turntable more often, getting a more upscale cartridge (current is an AT110e).

Jaybeez
06-12-2017, 07:28 PM
That is one downside to such good speakers, and something I noticed when auditioning the full line when I bought. "First world" problem for sure.
Thought the S2's would be all I'd need to make me happy, but a new integrated amp, turntable / cartridge, DAC and Phono Stage later ...
I'm finding source material to be very important, and have been upgrading my digital library with HD Tracks.

Mag_Neato
06-13-2017, 04:33 AM
I stream Tidal HiFi from my iPhone via a digital dock through my Marantz AVR's dac and it sounds excellent. The iPhone is connected to the dock with the standard apple cord. The dock extracts the raw digital bitstream BEFORE it passes thru the iPhone's crappy internal dac sending it to whatever dac you would use to handle the conversion, in this case the Marantz dac. The dock has coaxial & optical Toslink connections. I use the Toslink.

tbp71
06-13-2017, 12:18 PM
Jaybeez- I had a response, but it seems to have vanished. In any case, I can relate. I haven't gotten any of the HD tracks outside of the samples. Most of my digital files are lossless or AACs from my CDs and LPs. I have bought some (usually higher resolution) files from services like Bandcamp and some artists and labels.

tbp71
06-13-2017, 12:20 PM
Mag_Neato - Thanks. I need to look more into streaming and file options. My preamp was made around 1981, but I do have an Outlaw bluetooth receiver connected. With the S1s, however, streaming from my iPhone 5 to it is showing its limitations.

DWG
06-28-2017, 07:50 AM
Hi Davidwb, I know it's been awhile since you posted this so I hope you have a chance to see this. i live in Powell and am considering the purchase of the RAAL Towers. I was hoping to hear a pair before buying. Any interest in hosting an audition? I would not be offended if you say no as some folks really value their privacy. I'd also be interested in the electronics you use and your general impressions with the performance of the Towers.

Wanger 714
06-28-2017, 08:03 AM
Hi Davidwb, I know it's been awhile since you posted this so I hope you have a chance to see this. i live in Powell and am considering the purchase of the RAAL Towers. I was hoping to hear a pair before buying. Any interest in hosting an audition? I would not be offended if you say no as some folks really value their privacy. I'd also be interested in the electronics you use and your general impressions with the performance of the Towers.

I live in Zanesville and your welcome to come on over and have a listen ... I have a pair of Raal Tower's, Raal Horizon and Sierra 2's in the rears ....

Power is a 7500 (200 w) 5 channel amp and Marantz 8801 with an 203 Oppo ... Also have an old B&O Beogram turntable and 2 PSA V1800 inch subs ... ...