Sierra 1 upgrade help needed.

I'm trying to figure out which way to go here and I am struggling to narrow it down. I have five original S1's. I have not heard Nrt or S2's. I know many of you started with S1's before moving up the chain so looking for some imput from those of you to get a feeling of which way to lean on the upgrade path. Money is unfortunately always an issue :mad:

Option 1: get S2 upgrade kits for LCR at about 1200. and add another sub, 6 to 800, to go along with HSU sub.

Option 2: get standard sierra towers, no extra sub and maybe push the budget up and add Horizon center. ( that reaches the $ cutoff point ).
I am looking to gain better mid bass and add some more punch there, which maybe the towers would provide better that S2 and another sub ??? Yes...No.....

These are earlier S1's, and from the measurements I don't think I'd have to mess with enlarging the woofer holes for the S2 woofer but these are B stocks, L&R look good ( all are natural finish ) but current center has a broken corner which is hidden by being shelved under TV.
Current room is about 14 x16 with sloping ceiling. Sounds good now but other concerns are in a year or so may be moving into larger listening room.

So if you were in this similar spot at some point....which way did you go.......S1 to S2 or S1 to S1 towers?
Hoping to make this the final speaker upgrade.

You also need to decide which tweeters you like more, the NrT or the RAAL.

IMO, with money being an issue, I would go the S2 route.

Thanks Curtis, I do use the system for both music and HT but music would take priority.
That's what makes it difficult...haven't heard either the Nrt or RAAL and it sounds like both are a definite improvement over stock S1. ( Not that those are substandard by any means. )
I guess this is what happens when you have multiple good options.
So you would go LCR S2 over S1 towers and S1 center. ( even if we took the $$ thing out of it for now. )

Well, I may be biased as I have the Sierra-2s as my LCR, with a Rythmik sub.

I really like like the RAAL, but there are many that like the NrT.

I think both routes will serve you well.

yeah, I know, that’s not much help.

The tower is either the NrT dome or RAAL Ribbon. The Sierra-1 is neither. I bought one of the 1st pairs of Sierra-1's when they were introduced back in 2007. I still have them, but they are now Sierra-2's. They lived as NrT's for a few years until the upgrade kits came out for the -2's. The move from the 1's to NrT's was a nice change for me, giving me airier highs with a bit more forward mids and about the same bass. The jump from NrT to RAAL with new woofer was more of a Holy Grail moment. You have to let your brain process the sound to appreciate what you are experiencing. It moves the sound away from a reproduction and closer to "real", if that makes sense.

Thanks Mag_Neato. Yeah it makes sense. All those things sound good. You said the jump to RAAL with new woofer was more of a jump ( obviously with different drivers ) so I take that to mean better mid bass and low end than the original S1's. Do the S'2 keep up with the towers in that respect at moderate volumes.

The S2 does not play as deep as the S1, but the S2’s bass is tighter and punchier.
”Moderate” subjective, but yes, the S2 can play quite loud.

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Originally Posted by bdfin

I'm trying to figure out which way to go here and I am struggling to narrow it down. I have five original S1's. I have not heard Nrt or S2's. I know many of you started with S1's before moving up the chain so looking for some imput from those of you to get a feeling of which way to lean on the upgrade path. Money is unfortunately always an issue :mad:

Option 1: get S2 upgrade kits for LCR at about 1200. and add another sub, 6 to 800, to go along with HSU sub.

Option 2: get standard sierra towers, no extra sub and maybe push the budget up and add Horizon center. ( that reaches the $ cutoff point ).
I am looking to gain better mid bass and add some more punch there, which maybe the towers would provide better that S2 and another sub ??? Yes...No.....

These are earlier S1's, and from the measurements I don't think I'd have to mess with enlarging the woofer holes for the S2 woofer but these are B stocks, L&R look good ( all are natural finish ) but current center has a broken corner which is hidden by being shelved under TV.
Current room is about 14 x16 with sloping ceiling. Sounds good now but other concerns are in a year or so may be moving into larger listening room.

So if you were in this similar spot at some point....which way did you go.......S1 to S2 or S1 to S1 towers?
Hoping to make this the final speaker upgrade.

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Since you mentioned you are looking for more midbass and punch, the Sierra-2 won't provide more than the Sierra-1. The Sierra-2 will provide a more natural sound with better imaging, greater detail and more accurate bass (not deeper).

For more midbass and overall more punch -- I would recommend going with the towers. The NrT towers will still provide more detail and accuracy over the Sierra-1 but if you want the best of both worlds, the ribbon towers can't be beat...