Sierra-2EX Experiences / SVS Comparison / Anthem ARC

Hi Folks,

By way of a quick introduction, I’m a new Sierra-2EX owner and first-time poster – really just to say thanks to all of y’all for the info on this forum which helped me make my decision to move to Ascend Acoustic products and to provide some background & experiences in case it helps others.

I recently sold my SVS Ultra Bookshelf and Ultra Center set-up in order to try Ascend Acoustics products. At the time I was researching my first major speaker upgrade (about a year ago) I did consider Sierra 2s, but felt that they were just too far outside of my price range. Of course, the 2-stage upgrade to AA has cost me more in the long run, so… lesson learned.

My eqpt profile currently looks like this:

• Fronts: Sierra-2EX (Domestic / Black matte. Stand-mount. 10ft equilateral triangle to MLP. No toe-in.)
• Center: Duo (Domestic / Black matte. Wall-mount, directly under TV)
• Surrounds: SVS Prime Satellite (Wall-mount)
• Zone 2 (Outside deck): Polk Atrium 6
• Sub: Rythmik L12
• Amplifier: Outlaw Audio 5000 (120w x 5-channel)
• Receiver: Anthem MRX520 (LCR and Zone 2 to Outlaw via pre-outs, Surrounds driven directly)
• 2-Channel Music Source: Bluesound Node 2i / Amazon Music HD & FLAC (Digital Coax)
• Multi-channel AV Source: Amazon Prime, Netflix, Plex, Cable (HDMI)
• TV: Samsung 55in 4K panel
• Decent interconnects

My listening profile is approx. 50% HT and 50% 2-channel music, though sound quality for music has always been much more important to me than HT. (But I have also been chasing improved dialog clarity through the CC.)

I found the SVS Ultra Bookshelf setup to be extremely detailed and coming from an old pair of Polk Monitor 40s, the SVS speakers were obviously a huge upgrade. But as crystal clear and accurate as I felt they were, I also always felt there was something missing in my music reproduction over the past year or so. It just wasn’t magical or even remarkable. This is what drove me to look again at AA speakers recently.

I used Anthem ARC room correction software to compare the response of the SVS and AA front speakers in my room. Even though the measurement curves look very similar, they do sound completely different. The Sierra-2EX adds back the warmth I was missing from the Ultra Bookshelf. I have no idea how or why I could be hearing such a difference when the FR curves are so similar in the 80Hz to 1KHz range, but I do. And I much prefer the sound of the Sierra-2EX, which I can only describe as warmer, fuller, more musical, more real and spacious. They’ve also made a colossal difference in my TV and movie experience, making even the most mundane content sound amazing – even jingles on commercials!
My measurement curves also validated the respective sensitivity ratings of 2EXs (86db) and Ultra Bookshelf (87db), as the 2EXs are indeed slightly quieter from about 200Hz upwards. The ratings suggest a 1db difference but my in-room measurements look more like a 2-3db difference, so the 2EXs do need slightly more power to drive and resulted in Anthem ARC proposing a greater EQ boost to reach reference level. (A boost I don’t apply, as I don’t listen to anything at anywhere near reference levels.)

I wasn’t able to fault the SVS Ultra Bookshelf speakers for the breadth of soundstage they created. It was my first experience owning speakers which could create a wide soundstage and allow me to start picking out the location of individual instruments. But the Sierra-2EXs expanded on that by bringing a vertical soundstage into my room. The first time I heard instruments at different heights I was blown away and giggling. Justification for what I spent on the Sierra-2EXs, there alone. (Ribbon versus dome tweeter?)
I also now know what people mean when they say the speakers “just disappear.” The 2EXs are the first speakers I’ve owned which do that... Even without a bake on. :cool:

Aside from my old Polks and the SVS Ultras, the only other speakers I’ve heard to which I’ve been able to compare the Sierra-2EXs are a pair of old B&W 600-series which my brother owns. When I first heard them several years ago I fell in love and they immediately became my personal benchmark for sound quality. But it’s clear now that I had set the bar way too low. The Sierra’s are in a completely different league and make me embarrassed that I thought the B&Ws sounded so good.

For the 2EX fronts, the Anthem ARC software enabled me to flatten a room peak I was seeing between 5Khz and 10Khz, which addressed some harshness in highs to which I'm sensitive. Conversely, for the Duo Center, ARC let me retain that same peak and also most of a peak between 130Hz and 300Hz, both of which served to completely address my dialog clarity issues. In other words, the factory tuning of the Duo center has made dialog more clear and intelligible than it was coming through the much larger SVS Ultra Center.
(I would have liked to switch-off room correction entirely on the Duo CC, but ARC doesn’t let you do that selectively for individual speakers. So I reduced ARC’s Maximum Correction Frequency on the Duo to the minimum setting of 200Hz and that left most of the natural curve alone.)

For anyone wondering how the Duo center might perform with a couple of 2EXs… Nothing to worry about - Absolutely seamless transition of sound & tone between all three. I had considered the Horizon and another 2EX, but mostly because of placement/mounting constraints I ended-up choosing the Duo. No regrets at all. They’re extremely well matched.

I have found one downside to the Sierra-2EX speakers: They are able to highlight a host of imperfections in the source material! Bad production, low resolution, silly choices by the artist, etc. I’ve had several panicked moments thinking my brand new speakers have developed a buzz or a rattle or can’t handle the highs, only to find it’s in the source, but previously inaudible. So of course I’ve now become a production quality snob in my music listening.

I’ll take this opportunity to thank Dave & Dina for their inputs during my decision-making. I’ve ended-up with a spectacular-sounding system, greatly improving upon my previous setup. The management team at AA are infinitely more accessible and responsive than any other home electronics manufacturer I’ve dealt with and that went a huge way towards inspiring confidence in choosing AA.

I’ll also take this opportunity to thank the folks who post to the What are you listening to? forum here. It’s been fun and educational checking-out everybody’s listening habits. Stuff I would never have thought to try otherwise, but which sounds incredible through the right speakers. The 2EXs have made me genre-agnostic!

TL/DR: To my ears and with my equipment, the Sierra-2EX is a consequential and impressive upgrade on the SVS Ultra Bookshelf and I am pretty sure they’ll be my lifetime speakers. They make me happy every time I sit between them!

Rob

You are most welcome and we are very happy that you are enjoying the speakers. Thanks so much for putting your confidence in us!!!

Great feedback! Goes to show there's more to speaker sound quality than just a simple frequency response.

I couldn't agree more with the comment about great speakers exposing flaws in the source materials. On the other hand, it is also so very rewarding when listening to material that was recorded, and mastered with TLC! My Ascend systems have assisted me in being fairly particular when choosing music.

I remember some years ago attending a speaker "shootout" that was conducted using some source material that was compressed/distorted to the point it was hard to understand how it should have been used in a comparison setting. I think the folks hosting the gathering wanted to present a look at how the speakers would handle material of varying quality, as might well be how the average person listens to their system. Maybe I'm not the norm, but poor quality source material just annoys me, and I find I'm too picky to bother with it. The good news is that my favorite genres such as jazz, and blues are often produced to a high standard.

Some of my favorite stuff is on Blu-ray, SACD, and DVD-A, and although I am not convinced those formats are inherently superior to CD quality, besides offering multi-channel programs, they are, generally speaking, recorded and mastered to a higher standard than some of the more pedestrian offerings.

Jay