I love this system!

Well, my ear infection is healed and my system is where I want it so I thought I'd post yet another rave review of the Sierra-1s. I know - I know! To own them is to love them and I do love them! I bought the three across the front in the cherry finish and to say they are beautiful is an understatement. They're stunning!

Here's a couple shots of my setup (just because I'm proud of it) The colors are lousy! The room is really a light beige and dark brown:

Attachment 299

Attachment 300

Placement of the left and right Sierras, like most speakers, took some time, moving them in very small increments, but it was worth the effort. They now stand with the drivers about 40" from the front wall, toed in slightly, and about 7'6" apart with my seating at around 10'. In this setup imaging is rock solid and the soundstage is wide and deep. I started with 24" stands but quickly moved to 28." The center sit's on a 19" stand and is tilted up about6 degrees toward my sitting position. I was worried about the center Sierra sitting nearly a foot from the TV but voices lock onto the screen images with no problem.

By the way, I setup the L/R Sierras for stereo only but their positioning is great when I play a movie or Directv in surround.

The Epik Vanquish sub, one of their sealed models, is marvelous although it too took a lot of setup to get it integrated where I wanted it. Nearly all subwoofers I hear in friends homes are setup poorly - too loud and lousy integration. I ended up with Dave's recommendation to set the Sierra's cutoffs at 50hz after trying 100hz on down. I moved it about a dozen times and, when finally placed where I wanted it, I spent hours playing with the volume, turning it down time and time again until it blended perfectly.

For surround rear speakers are my old vintage ARs, big 93s on the sides and smaller 18s in the rear, all set with 80hz cutoffs. They timbre-matched surprisingly well although still I plan to go with four 200s for surround, just to keep everything in the Ascend family (I really like this outfit!)

My Onkyo 805 AVR drives everything easily and never approaches signs of strain. The sound produced is clean and effortless.

Ah, and the sound.......

Before buying the Sierras I tried Maggie MMGs, Maggie 1.6s, Aperion's big towers and, of course, my vintage AR9s ( wonderful speaker in it's day.) All the Maggies sounded great, although I didn't have the Epik at the time. Placement issues forced me to return them. The Aperion's sound was very seductive but I ultimately returned them after hearing the Sierras.

A common characteristic of them all was a broad soundstage and good imaging. I could live happily with any of them if I had complete placement freedom and hadn't heard the Sierras. The Sierras are relatively tiny, compared with any of the others so why go with big towers I reasoned.

The audible difference with the Sierras was obvious and just got better during the weeks of comparisons. The midrange is wonderful and the highs are there without every annoying my ears with extended listening (listener fatigue.) Most of all, here's what set them apart from the others (including my vintage AR9s): The sound of strings, bowed, plucked or strummed, piano hammers hitting their strings, a tenor sax player's throaty breath on the instrument's mouthpiece/reed. The Sierras brought all those sounds to life in an amazing way. Nothing was missing! It's become an old clich'e but these little beauties brought the music into my room! Whether it's Clapton, Segovia, Battle or Nora Jones, they were there in the room with me. Like I said; Amazing!

The Sierras have changed my listening habits quite a bit. I now listen to far more string ensembles and operatic music. In the past I prefered large orchestral pieces and the Sierras shine there too but they're nothing short of magnificent in the mid-range. That's where I spend much of my listening time - enjoying once again my CDs and vinyl records of string instruments, whether it be classical, jazz or country.

The bottom-line is; I now own my last pair of speakers (Hell, I'm 72!) and I'm listening to far more music then I have in many years. All I can say now is "Thanks Dave!"

arkiedan

Nice set-up you got there!

Great looking room arkiedan!

Thanks Guys! I love to slide into the center "sweet spot" of that sofa and listen to good music (through great speakers) for hours, completely alone. My wife doesn't like to sit listening to music so, when she realizes I'm not going to turn on the TV, she goes off to her office to play. And I like that. :D:D

arkiedan

Thanks for the wonderful review, Arkiedan, and I am so very pleased that you are enjoying the speakers.

I agree with the others, your setup looks fantastic!

Enjoy!!!!!