Sierra-1 first (and second) impressions
I’ve been really happy with my 340SEs. But my wife is facing some back surgery next year, and our subwoofer blocks her easy access to our couch in the living room. So I suggested we move it to the basement, or sell it, and go with Sierras for their better sound/additional bass (vs. the 340s).
She wished me a happy birthday and said “go for it!”
They arrived Wednesday evening, about 8 pm, and I promptly set them up. First impressions: tiny little things but solid and heavy, for the size. They look small after the 340s! The bamboo is lovely and matches our hardwood floors (although they sit on top of our entertainment units).
My system consists of an Oppo DVD/CD player and an HK 3480 stereo receiver (120 w/ch).
First musical impressions: we put on Rajaton’s Boundless, since we’ve heard that album over 100 times (they are a Finnish acappella group). My wife noticed a second voice backing up on one piece (I couldn’t really hear it) and said she’d never heard that before. The clarity was better than the 340s. The bass was also amazing. These little boxes pack quite a punch! We played some with the volume, going from very soft to very loud, and my wife even said, “I like it better loud, and I bet you never thought you’d hear me say that”. Walking back through the house, down the hall, the sound was just as clear, and only in the back bedroom did it get a bit softer. Better than the 340s on that score as well.
The impression with the 340s was always that we were in the very back of a large club, listening to Rajaton. The Sierras make it sound like we’re either in the first row, or watching them in our house. There is a presence and forwardness there, an “oomph”.
Then I tried a Bach organ piece (Toccata & Fugue in D Minor, of course), and didn’t really feel I was losing any bass without a subwoofer. Amazing really. I love the heavy organness of the Toccata.
We realize we’ll lose some thump in videos (the T Rex in Jurassic Park, for instance), but are willing to forego that for a better music listening experience. (After watching a video on Day 2, we can say we really did not notice any difference in sound—except it was clearer.)
Day 2: After getting home from work, I started up with The Real Group. Another acappella group, this time Swedish. Once more we heard voices that we hadn’t heard before, even with the 340SEs. There was a clarity and separation of voices that was amazing. My wife used the words “clarity” and “nuance” to describe the sound. Finally, though, the “big test” had to arrive. I had to see what the Sierras could do for piano. I grew up listening to live piano: my mother owned a Steinway baby grand, a “model A”. The 340s + subwoofer always sounded like the piano was on a recording, coming out of the speakers. A good sound, mind you, but “compacted” into these speaker boxes. So I put on Cziffra’s Paraphrases & Transcriptions, starting with Mendelssohn’s Wedding March (in a ‘paraphrasing’ unlike you’ve ever heard it played). Amazing. I have never heard a speaker sound so realistic, as if the piano were in the same room with me (in a large room, to be sure, and at the other end of it). I never expected to hear piano sound “live” but it did. There was no sense that the sound was coming from speakers, just that it was coming from the front of the room, as if we had a piano there. We had the volume high (once more, my wife said “it has to be this loud”), and it sounded like piano, not like speakers with piano. Dave, you have worked a miracle—to do this at an affordable price!
The one problem, however, occurred with my next selection, piano with Simon Barere, a recording from 1934-36 period. There was a great deal of static, and so this CD sounded like a speaker, not like a live piano, since live pianos do not have static. This was more pronounced, and disturbing, than the 340s were, because the contrast was so much more. I guess I’ll just have to live with it.
So, anyone want to buy a Hsu subwoofer and/or a pair of 340SEs?
Pegleg
