Finally got my Ascends

[Jorge59]

I finally got a pair of CBM-170 + CMT 340c + Hsu STF-2 sub. And a Marantz SR 8400 to run them.

They were double packed and survived well the trip from NJ to Brazil in the plane luggage.

First of all I must thank David F for all his support. Secondly, I must retreat my initial statement (based on the website photos) that the speakers looked like black coffins. I actually found them to be quite nice looking.

Then some initial impressions, as I still don't have my whole new set up in place. The Marantz/Ascends will replace my current system: Yamaha RXV-520 and Polk RM 600 speakers (5.1 HT package). These are small stellites 100Wpc with a 50W 8" active sub.

I started plugging the speakers and sub to the Yammi (like A/Bing the old speaker front set with the new Ascend/Hsu (the 2 surrounds remained).

I did not find a big improvement, if any. Although the 340c immediately showed his power and the 170 mains emphasized the highs and proved to be much more analytical, the overall imaging was worse. Of course, there must be something wrong with calibration and room placement, because $1.000 3.1 speakers can't sound worse than a 5.1 $380 speaker set.

I'm not an audiophile, but I felt like there was a big hole between the low end and the high frequencies. Where did the midrange hide? Upper bass almost disappeared, voice was laid back. No soundstage, bad imaging.

Then, I thought the Ascends did not match well with the Yammi and started connecting the Marantz. This was hard. It is no plug and play thing like the Yammi. The manual is not that good, the remote is too complex (and I have no patience for that). Finally, I connected and old CD player and played the Santana "Shaman" disk. Then I played a Sade CD through a DVD player (with digital input). Same feeling: where are the middles?

The STF-2 is respectable for the lower frequencies, like bass drums (it rocks the room), the 170 tweeters well reveal the cymbals. But where is the rest of the band? Something seems to steal the bass guitar, which I love (and play). Voice continued laid back though I had to increase the volume of the 170 mains because the 340c was overrunning them in the flat set up.

I will have to call some expert to help me set up the new system. Hope to return with better news soon. Any help in between will be appreciated.

[bikeman]

Wow. Something is definitely way off and I'd recommend getting Ascend involved for sure. Do you have a set-up disk like AVIA? Sorry to hear after all the wait.

David

[curtis]

remember to set the speakers to small, crossover on the Marantz to 80hz, crossover on the STF-2 set to "out".

[Eddie]

Holy cow!

Recently I have for the first time heard the Ascends being accused of various things, but lack of midrange is definitely not one of them.

There is something very wrong going on.

Did you check to make sure that the speakers are in phase?

[davef]

Hi Jorge59,

I am glad to hear that the speakers arrived safe and sound... Sorry that you are having some problems though..

Lack of midrange is definitely not a trait of the CBM-170... Try running only the pair of CBM-170 (no center, no subwoofer) with some good quality 2-channel music (no DSP processing). Just the CBM-170s....

Let me know what you hear and we can proceed from there... Also, are the speakers on stands?

Thanks!

[Nicholas Mosher]

Yeah, the best thing about the 170s is the midrange. Something is up with 'yer setup.