CMT-340 5.2 w/LV12R

After an enduring journey with headphones, I ended up with equipment from Schiit (Gungnir Dac/Mjolnir amp) to power a HiFi-Man HE-6 Headphone. This is my reference for sound. However, I always felt the need for upgrades, headphones could never fully create a complete auditory experience. After much discovery and research, nearly caving into laziness and settling for a Brick/Mortar store solution or popular brand offerings I chose to go with my gut and purchased Ascend's 5.2 system.

Wow, what a choice! Coming from a planar magnetic headphone, these speakers are a breath of fresh air. The HE-6 was no slouch itself; measured flat till upper treble with slight glare and etch along with strong bass, fast decay and very stable imaging and good transparency. I didn't think I could find that sound in a pair of speakers under $1000, much less $500. I was wrong.

A fabulous sound in a less than ideal room situation; the CMT-340 fronts played to a 10x12 bedroom with a queen mattress taking up 2/5ths of the space but the result was more expected. The speakers are burning in as I write, the treble is a smidge forward but I expect that to calm down If there are any peaks or valleys in the sound response, I'm not noticing it. Nothing is missing. There's no midbass bloat, no midrange suckout, no sibilance even with poor recordings and this is the sound right out of the box.

The subwoofer? Just as impressive. A ported sub that can hit me in the chest and not sound one note with music for under $1000? That's what I hoped for and that's why I bought two.

Not sure if surround sound was more gimmick than value, I was eerily surprised by the ambiance provided by the addition of the CMT-170's as surrounds. Watching a good action movies, when you get sucked in you forget you're only watching a screen. The Ascend setup made a it just awesome.

Tyty Ascend, Dave and Dina for making the purchasing process so easy.

Also to add, if you're considering the Pioneer or Sony Core series from Best Buy, save your money and go for the Ascend's. The jump in quality is worth it.