Ascend = Audax Drivers

[curtis]

Even though the pictures and specs match, my understanding is the drivers are actually custom to Ascend....so there are probably some small differences. You may want to give them a call and chat about it.

-curtis

[Dreamaster]

If that is indeed the case then the Ascends really are an exceptional value, $200 a pair for drivers alone, and guessing from the picture they have of the crossover it's at least $30 per speaker. Figure $20 for the boxes and you're up to $250 in parts alone.

Makes ya wonder what kind of car the Ascend company president drives. I doubt it's a Lamborghini if they are barely pushing $50 profit per pair of speakers.


Dreamaster

[Dreamaster]

sc300t I just reread your message a bit more carefully.

Again, assuming you are %100 spot on, they chose the 3/4" tweeter because it has a higher sensativity which probably better matches the combined sensativity of the two woofers.

Curtis, if I had to guess you have to nudge up the volume on the CBM-170's to get them to match with the 340's?

sc300t, don't stress out too much over the differences in their crossovers or tweeter quality either. I've never read a bad review of either speaker... most of the negative comments come strictly based on the way they look, but the 340 on it's special stand looks wicked cool.

If you want to really learn about building speakers, then try it out... that's the route I chose to take but I STILL don't have a good solid finished pair... it takes many many hours to learn the in's and out's of crossover design only to realize you need to spend several hundred dollars on modeling software or pay someone $70 bucks to design it for you.

If I had it to over again I would have bought the CBM-170's first and then tried to build some later. Good lord at the very least I would have had a decent reference speaker that way. But for me money was a real issue and I was dying to play.

[curtis]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Arial, Verdana, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Dreamaster

Curtis, if I had to guess you have to nudge up the volume on the CBM-170's to get them to match with the 340's?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Yup...about 2 clicks.

Dreamaster....reading your posts....you have learned a lot! Very cool!

-curtis

[curtis]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Arial, Verdana, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Dreamaster

If that is indeed the case then the Ascends really are an exceptional value, $200 a pair for drivers alone, and guessing from the picture they have of the crossover it's at least $30 per speaker. Figure $20 for the boxes and you're up to $250 in parts alone.

Makes ya wonder what kind of car the Ascend company president drives. I doubt it's a Lamborghini if they are barely pushing $50 profit per pair of speakers.


Dreamaster

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Then there is assembly and packing.

-curtis

[sc300t]

Thanks for the info guys.

I posted my question in the "Questions for Ascend" category, and Dave explained everything. You are right about the drivers being custom made specially for ascend.

[davef]

Certainly none of us here drive Lamborghinis , not even close. It is true that our speakers (when compared to our competitors) cost quite a bit more to manufacture due to the quality of the components used. I think many of you would be surprised at just how small the profit margin actually is.




Good Sound To You!

David Fabrikant
www.ascendacoustics.com