Introducing the Sierra !!!

[Quinn]

was a release date posted? Or are these still in the concept stage?

One month prior to shipping is the earliest anything has been announced by Ascend. Prior to that one I don't think anything was announced until ready to ship. So, expect it to ship within a month and possibly w/i this month.

[curtis]

Actually, didn't Dave announce the SE's around the Thankgiving timeframe with a product ship date of late January/early February?

[Quinn]

Actually, didn't Dave announce the SE's around the Thankgiving timeframe with a product ship date of late January/early February?

I thought it was just a month. But, the announcement happened while I was on vacation. So, chances I'm wrong are good.

[davef]

Thanks Guys!!!

Wow -- this is generating more of a response than I initially anticipated, especially the insanity on AVS forum (as usual, unfortunately) I think some of what I wrote was taken out of context a bit but I am very proud and excited about the Sierra and I will stand by my statement that I believe what we have done is quite innovative. We have done a few things with this loudspeaker that are unique in the industry and never before accomplished at the price point we intend to sell them for.

Every critical component of the loudspeaker, from the port tube to the crossover, from the cabinet to the drivers, from the design goals to the various implementations has been optimized to the very best of our capabilities. There is a reason it took so darn long.

I also thought it is important to note that I am holding off on posting every bit of information, not to generate "hype" but because I feel it will be easier for all of you to digest and much easier for me. We have written over 15 pages of text (over 7000 words) with many measurements and I feel it is just too much at one time.

I promise, you will learn more later this evening with my next post.

Is it simpler to post in this thread or start a new one?

For some initial answers to various questions:

Any guesstimates on driver size/origin? What size is that woofer? Why is there no phase plug? Are there 1 or 2 sets of binding posts for bi-wire/amping?

1" soft dome tweeter -- 5 1/4" woofer (much more coming regarding these). Woofer is custom built, tweeter is a new design that we have customized and improved specifically for the Sierra.

Phase plug was problematic for this design for a few reasons:

1. Woofer cone area is smaller which means that the cone itself is less directional than a larger cone and I was not able to measure or confirm the dispersion advantage using a phase plug (initial woofer design had one).

2. Woofer motor system has an optimized "cooling" system so this benefit of the phase plug was also not a factor.

3. We want to move a lot of air with this woofer, a phase plug will actually decrease the piston area of the driver so for this application, the phase plug was a disadvantage.

4. The weight of the cone is very specific to the design so the dust cap we used is an integral part of the design (needed to get the exact weight)

Overall, with this particular design our best results were achieved without the use of phase plug.

One of the pictures I posted has the grille on the speaker...

1 set of very high quality binding posts.

Is there any b-stock available?

I am quite sure there will be The piano black finish is breathtaking... It became problematic to take pictures because the finish reflects everything. If you look carefully in pic # 2, the speaker to the right -- you can clearly see the camera tripod and an orange extension cord in the reflections (even the orange color of the cord!). I have had to dispose of half the pictures already because of reflections. Because this finish is so reflective, it is very revealing of flaws so B-stock is, unfortunately, inevidable. We are doing our best to accommodate assembling these, including wearing cotton gloves and lining our assembly line pallets but b-stock happens

Dave have you thought about going with a different badge for this pretty speaker? I just don't think that rubbery plastic badge does justice to this new offering. (It's not even so hot on the older stuff. Just my opinion...)

We can leave the logos off if you wish. One of the nice things about assembling these here is that you can truly "have it your way".. ( sorry for the old BK reference, I am hungry). What do you think? Should we include the logos in a poly bag so that you can install them, if you so choose?

I love the name, by the way--the mountain theme in general is perfect for something that reaches the peak of audio purity, and the word "Sierra" for some reason sounds particularly airy and expansive.

Thank Chris Quinn for the name! As you will learn later this evening, it is VERY appropriate.

I’m most intrigued by the dimensions of the Sierra cabinet.

Exact same footprint as the 340 SE, but at 14.25" tall. 14.25" h x 7.5" w x 10.5" deep. Fits perfectly on the TP-24 stand. I feel the footprint of the speaker is perfect -- it actually appears to be smaller than a CBM-170 (but sounds even larger than a 340 SE)

BTW, I am the new guy here, I have a custom painted set of 340 SE's and a custom set of htm 200's on the way.

Hi Lawrence... Your pearlized "brown" 340 SE's went out yesterday. At first we thought the color was strange (it perfectly matches the swatch) but after spending a bit more time with them I realized that they were very cool. James simply loved 'em. Enjoy! Custom finishing will also be available for the Sierra.

More later --- take care!

[curtis]

Is it simpler to post in this thread or start a new one?

I say make this thread a "sticky" for now, and start a new sticky for the next post of information...and so on.

[boludaso]

Doesnt anyone in socal have an indoor basketball court we could use to "persuade" DF to bring down a pair or 10 to have a powwow?

Please? Someone? Come on!!

[Mike^S]

Hey everybody, this is xcjago from avsforum for those who know me over there. I can't wait to read more about this speaker. Dave, you are posting more tonight right?

[Mike^S]

Doesnt anyone in socal have an indoor basketball court we could use to "persuade" DF to bring down a pair or 10 to have a powwow?

Please? Someone? Come on!!

A basketball court?? Horrible acoustics. I think we should all go to Curtis's house.

[Johnal]

Whoa dude! talk about a blast from the past. Everyone is coming out of the woodwork for this one. Still running the 7200(?)?

haha...indeed i am! It's funny you should ask though, as I've been eyeballing the specs on Onkyo's upcoming TX-NR905... I'm a big HK fan, but the specs and price are hard to ignore.

Then again, now that the Sierra has been announced i might have to reconsider what I decide to upgrade next... :P

[Quinn]

Is it simpler to post in this thread or start a new one?

How about posting it all twice? Put one in announcements and turn off responses there so there is one central easy to read compilation in one thread or one post. Then post each release again here, with a separate thread for each facet of the design, for all our questions and comments. Then sticky the ones here until 2-3 months after shipping starts.