Hey guys,
Here is that review Dave mentioned a while back in his holiday sale announcement.
http://positive-feedback.com/reviews...2-loudspeaker/
Enjoy
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Hey guys,
Here is that review Dave mentioned a while back in his holiday sale announcement.
http://positive-feedback.com/reviews...2-loudspeaker/
Enjoy
Great Review!
With the industry changing so much, hopefully more reviews of Ascend products will begin to appear.
Thank you to the reviewer for doing this review and for dtsequoia in posting this.
Great review, I missed that one. Interesting set up he has, sitting so close to the speakers. And those speaker cables! They look like they cost more than the speakers.
thanks for posting this. I was just made aware that the review went "live". Interesting tidbit about this review - the reviewer actually purchased a pair for himself completely incognito, we had no idea he was a reviewer for Positive Feedback. It was only after emailing me some feedback on the speakers that he revealed who he was. Thanks John - terrific review and much appreciated!Quote:
Originally Posted by dtsequoia
Great review, but I'm confused as to why he doesn't have his speakers 5-6 feet apart if he's listening from 5 feet, the 8 feet separation with insane toe-in just didn't make sense to me. Great equipment and treatments, though.
Great review!! Make more anxious about getting my speakers in two weeks still. Sucks being speakerless :(
Agree about that big separation between speakers. My guess is that it's what the room is dictating but it looks very weird to me.
Hi, all. Thanks for the feedback on my review for Positive Feedback. The Sierra-2s really are excellent speakers, and not just for the price. In my past, I've owned or evaluated numerous speakers significantly more expensive, and while some may have exceeded the Sierra-2s in a specific performance area or two, none have bettered the Ascend Acoustics monitors with respect to sheer musical enjoyment.
And, yes - they are probably the least expensive component in my system, cables included. But, I feel like they would scale even further, and I have no doubt that their performance envelope would not be exhausted even partnered with stratospherically-priced components and ancillaries.
A word about placement. I admit that the arrangement I've settled upon is a bit unorthodox, and when sitting in my listening chair, it's as if I'm listening to giant headphones, what with the speakers barely being visible in my peripheral vision. The placement is not a result of any special requirements dictated by the room or the Sierra-2s themselves, and I did have success placing the speakers in more common farfield arrangements.
The set-up I ultimately gravitated to is one I've come to prefer over the years and is actually a well-documented one, representing a modified nearfield arrangement, the most famous proponents of which are probably Joachim Gerhard (founder of Audio Physic speakers) and Allen Perkins of Immedia Sound. I'm pasting below links to a few articles espousing the virtues of this loudspeaker-placement philosophy, but in a nutshell, the goal is to eliminate reflected sound and emphasize direct sound from the speakers, so that you hear less of the room's effects. To facilitate this, you place the speakers far from all boundaries (preferably in the middle of the room and along the long wall). The other main feature is to maximize soundstage width (depth is already maximized by virtue of the speakers being placed several feet from the wall behind them) by spreading the speakers far apart and toeing them in to the primary listening position. In order for everything to work, placement must be optimized down to mere fractions of an inch. And, the downsides are that you must have a dedicated listening room, as speakers placed in the middle of the room make it difficult to use the space for anything else. Also, there is a narrow sweet-spot, and listening is sub-optimal for anyone not sitting in the primary listening chair. But once experienced, it's difficult to return to a more traditional placement arrangement. In essence, the speakers disappear, leaving a huge soundstage that spans the entire front wall, with tremendous depth and height. Imaging is pinpoint, with outstanding instrument separation, and there is an immediacy to the overall presentation that becomes addictive once heard. Of course, only speakers whose drive-units cohere at close listening distances work well placed this way (i.e. two-way speakers are safe bets).
Sorry to ramble on, but I hope this helps to provide some additional detail regarding what is admittedly a fairly unusual-looking loudspeaker placement philosophy.
http://www.stereophile.com/floorloud...kQ2PLA2EeV6.97
http://www.soundstagexperience.com/i...ield-listening
http://www.audiophysic.com/aufstellung/index_e.html
That is fantastic! Thanks for all of the info! Crazy that you can get a well centered image with them like that, I would imagine the wide dispersion of the Sierra-2 can only help that effect and really produce that holographic soundstage that the Sierra series is known for. I have seen setupis (one from the Kvart-Bolge blog) where they put the speakers right on either side of the MLP like headphones and people have had some really cool results with that.
Your setup most reminded me of how I see some people set up their mixing/mastering desks as well. I would imagine that they benefit from the placement as well since they are sitting in front of those big desks.
Fantastic review and system. Very cool stuff!
I can definitely see/hear the advantage of sitting close to the speakers. One of my best audio experiences was actually from a pair of M&K K5s satellites sitting on my desk. If I lowered my seat, so that my ears were level with the speakers and leaned forward from my seat such that my ears were around 18” from the speakers, the result was really spectacular. I had figured that this incredible sound was a result of hearing more of the speakers and less of the room.
Sierra-2 are an awesome speaker! I love them so much that I'm rarely on audio forums anymore as I'm fully content. From time to time I get an itch for the towers but I'm really happy with the S2 and the itch goes away. Dave really is one of the best out there, his customer support and what he's done for his customers like letting us S1 owners upgrade to the S2, for him to go to the trouble of making that 6" woofer fit in the current design shows a lot. Thanks for all the hard work and the great service you provide to us Dave! I got the S2 conversation kit on day one and these speakers still to this day impress me!
Agree 100%! My feelings exactly. I do, however, still torment myself by visiting the audio forums regularly, but seriously, I have been so happy with the Sierra-2's that my speaker upgraditis has been satisified.Quote:
Originally Posted by JustABrah
Wow -- did you know that the M&K K5 (and K7) were my babies? I spec'd the tweeters, designed the crossovers, and did the majority of the CAD work for the cabinets...Quote:
Originally Posted by mikesiskav
Doesn't surprise me one bit!Quote:
Originally Posted by davef
Don't know how I missed this. That is so cool! No wonder I love these M&K K5s. They make for some killer desktop speakers. My Mom also has a pair for surround speakers along with 3 of the M&K S-125 up front.Quote:
Originally Posted by davef
http://i1064.photobucket.com/albums/...pstoyzdkns.jpg
I also worked on the S-125, I believe I might even still have one in my personal speaker museum somewhere. I sold off most of my M&K stuff many years ago.Quote:
Originally Posted by mikesiskav