Official Signature Edition owners thread

[davef]

Hi Bill,

I am very happy to hear that you are enjoying the new SEs and thank you so much for the nice comments

Thanks for sharing your experience!

[Quinn]

Returned from vacation today to find my 170SEs back from the upgrade sitting on front porch.

My initial thoughts are much like Bill's more detail, more open, even smoother than the classic 170s. I too am hearing things on very familiar recordings that I haven't heard before. The new tweeter and driver are SWEET!!!!!

Now, I have to budget upgrading the 340s for the HT!

[Mag_Neato]

Arrrgghhhhhhh.....you guys doing the 170 upgrade are killin' me!

Next year for sure dangit!!

[dpristin]

Hi everybody,

just wanted to offer my impressions. I received a pair of 340SE as an upgrade from my classics and had a chance to play with both of them a little bit. In short, it's all been said before – I agree with most of observations made by SE owners. It's still Ascend sound, so I don't think anybody will experience any problems blending SEs with classics. Full-range sound is great, just great. I have a really ugly room geometry, and the fact that lower frequencies are produced by two sources as opposite to a single sub makes huge difference for me; but the most impressive thing is the quality of the bass - I have HSU VTF2, but I prefer 340s full-range for music listening. And since most of my listening is classical music or jazz, the 340SE's range more than covers all my needs. The highs are very smooth, detailed and I think a tiny bit more pronounced than in classics. The mids are Ascend mids, everybody know what that means :-) . Overall – I’m very happy that I upgraded my classics, the new speakers are perfect for my listening habits. The classics were the best speakers I’ve ever had, but SEs are definitely better – again, taking into account my listening habits. I do have to add though that for many people upgrade will not be absolutely necessary, especially for those who don’t feel any need to run their speakers full-range (home theater as a main application) or are worried about speakers being on the “bright” side. I only hope that David won’t come up with something new too soon – my wife is a patient woman but there is a limit to her patience :-) . But even she looked puzzled yesterday when I told her that the music she was listening to was played without a sub (on which she reacted in a very logical fashion – “Why do we need the sub then?”). I’ve already told Dave that on more than one occasion during live performances (especially in some slow, quiet movements), after a chain reaction of sneezing, coughing and squeaking, I caught myself thinking – “and why is this better than listening to the music played by Ascends?” This time I’ll refrain from declaring my quest for ideal speaker being over (I made this mistake a year ago when I bought classics), but I will say that I can’t imagine anything sounding better within the price range by far exceeding the one of 340SEs. Thanks a lot, David!

[Eddie]

I do have to add though that for many people upgrade will not be absolutely necessary, especially for those who [...] are worried about speakers being on the “bright” side.

Do you mean that compared to the classics, the SEs are brighter? That's funny, I thought if anything the SEs were supposed to be "warmer."

[dpristin]

They are not brighter, I'm just saying that they are a little bit more detailed. It's really not a matter of "quantity" of highs, but rather quality.

[Quinn]

Do you mean that compared to the classics, the SEs are brighter? That's funny, I thought if anything the SEs were supposed to be "warmer."

The SE is cleaner and smoother allowing more details to come thru.

Dave F has addressed the warmer idea before.... http://forum.ascendacoustics.com/sho...7&postcount=57

[andyw]

My SEs arrived yesterday, 340 SE Mains, 340 SE Center, and 4 170 SEs for the surround. These were all upgrades from originals. I haven't had a lot of time to listen yet, but here's some quick impressions.

First off, Ascend's packaging is top-notch. In some weird coincidence, the UPS guy accidentally knocked the 340 mains box off the back of the truck and into the street--a different UPS guy did the exact same thing with my original 340s when delivering them...In both cases, the outer box got mildly dented, but the inside boxes were unmarred, as were the speakers, and the speakers worked just fine.

I started my CD "tests" with Dixie Chicks, "Top of the World"--as a bit of advice, when fighting the Wife Acceptance Factor issue, starting any playing around with new equipment with music/movies she likes is a really good thing. Anyway, I immediately noticed that the SEs go lower than the originals. Wonderfully lower...Late in the song, a cello kicks in, and with the original 340s, I always felt like I was missing something if the subwoofer wasn't on, but that is not the case with the 340 SE models.

Moving on to my tastes, I put in Dream Theater, "The Dance of Eternity". Again, the deeper bass extension jumped out, as the song starts with a low bass thrum. Overall, the sound was excellent, and a bit more "clear" than with the originals. I always felt that harder rock sounded a little thin and/or muddy (yes, it can be both, somehow...) with the original 340s and that isn't the case with the SEs.

I then shifted to DVD-A to try out the 170 SEs. I listened to a couple of tracks of Porcupine Tree "In Absentia". Overall I was pleased, but it was hard to figure out if the surrounds sounded any better, really. This DVD-A already sounded really good with the original 170s...

Moving to movies, I went with Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring. I'd initially planned to just watch the scenes in Moria, but I ended up getting sucked in and watching the rest of the movie. Setting the 340s to full definitely added more impact to the cave troll and the Balrog. I also set the crossover point for the 170 SEs to 60, and that probably contributed to some of the rear effects seeming more "thick" or "well-rounded". It was all very pleasing to the ear.

Lastly, I watched Game 6 of the NBA Finals. This ended up being a workout for the center speaker, as Comcast was broadcasting the game in mono, for some odd reason. Nothing really jumped out as special, other than the (classless) booing of the Dallas crowd during the trophy presentation was nice and deep.

On the whole, I'm very pleased so far, and I'm wishing I wasn't stuck at work when I have new speakers I could be using. Upgrading to the 340 SEs is a bit of a no-brainer--the improvement was instantly noticeable. I'll have to watch more movies to evaluate the 170SEs though.

[Eddie]

andy,

just curious, what receiver are you using?

[andyw]

andy,

just curious, what receiver are you using?

Sherwood Newcastle P-965 with an Outlaw 770 amp.


After more listening last night, I'd agree that the SEs are cleaner and smoother than the originals. I listened to a couple of CDs with pretty marginal sound quality last night, and I thought they sounded better--of course, that could be new-buyer-glow affecting my perception...