170's or 340's

My room is 20 x 14 with a 12' cathedral ceiling and is open to the dining room and kitchen. Would I regret not getting the 340's? The setup by Nicholas in another thread here is looking pretty sweet to me. I just don't want to have buyer's remorse for not getting the 340's. This is under the assumption that I would have a good sub (HSU or SVS) crossed over at about 80 Hz.

Thanks,

Darren

With a room that large and with that many openings, I'd want the 340 for sure. I have 340's in a room of similar size without the high ceiling and I don't have buyer's remorse. http://forum.ascendacoustics.com/ima...ilies/wink.gif

David

I set up 340's for my Parents and their room is very similar, 15x20x12.....and actually much bigger because there is no back wall....it is fully open to the entry way....so it is actually 25x20x12.....and the entry way leads to stairs going up and down. They also use a STF-2 sub that I bought used.

It sounds GREAT. My Father is extremely happy....he was into mid-fi in the 70's and his sister(my aunt) was a famous singer/actress in Hong Kong....so he has been around a lot of music. It is great seeing him smile when he listens to the system. It is even amazing what the STF-2 can do in that space.

I would go with CMT-340's in your space. Heck...try the 170's and then move them to surround duty.

For space filling sound...the 340's can hang with some larger speakers. I have heard them in the same room as Paradigm Studio 60's, B&W CDM 7NT's, Axiom M60's, and Rocket 550's/750's. They give up some bass extention to these, but add a sub to all of these, and the 340's don't give up a thing in the ability to fill the room. My favorite speaker in that bunch were the B&W's....which were close to $2K.....and the 340's hung right in there.

I too have a my 340's in a 16x24x12 room, vaulted ceiling, opens into the dining area at the front right side wall. No problem filling the room with those 340s.

There's not much I can add to this except to agree with everyone else. Unless you want insane volume, then the 170's would probably do just fine, but the 340's just seem to fill my room better without having to push them. You could always do what Curtis suggested and buy a set of 170's to see if you like the Ascends with the intent of moving them to surround duty if you decide to keep them and order a pair of 340's with the 340 center.

i initially planned on moving my first pair of 170's from the front to rear surround duty once i got some 340's...but i found that the 170's put out plenty of sound and were all i really needed.

I had 170s in similiar space. They will have no problem filling it. I moved upto the 340s due to the way they convey the engery of the music and the instruments themselves in addition to getting all the notes right like the 170s do.

Thanks for the responses. It sounds like I would always be wondering what could have been if I didn't get the 340's. :rolleyes:

Another budget plan bites the dust. ;) I don't know what I am worried about, the speakers I originally planned on getting were much more expensive than the 340's.

Thanks,

Darren