With a sub, 340's over the 170's for music?

[rifmon]

I spent an hour listening to my 170 classics along with my HSU V2 mk2 and they were incredible. Casual listening does not reveal their potential, but when you sit to really listen the experience is awsome.

Unfortunately, I cannot compair them to the 340's.

For music, I go to the trouble of disconnecting the speakers from my ONKYO 701 and use a ROTEL integrated and ROTEL cd player. Lots of trouble but I actually enjoy doing it!

I have my 170's out for the upgrade and am looking forward to getting them back.

[S_rangeBrew]

What about the difference between spectral decays?

If that is important to you, the HTM-200s have a spectral decay plot that makes the 170s and 340s look pretty sloppy.

[Eddie]

For music, I go to the trouble of disconnecting the speakers from my ONKYO 701 and use a ROTEL integrated and ROTEL cd player. Lots of trouble but I actually enjoy doing it!

Doesn't the 703 have pre-outs? I'd just have the Rotel power your mains during HT, I used to do that with NAD separates and a Marantz AVR, great results. The only thing I had to connect and disconnect was the subwoofer cable.

[Mag_Neato]

I spent an hour listening to my 170 classics along with my HSU V2 mk2 and they were incredible. Casual listening does not reveal their potential, but when you sit to really listen the experience is awsome.

Unfortunately, I cannot compair them to the 340's.

For music, I go to the trouble of disconnecting the speakers from my ONKYO 701 and use a ROTEL integrated and ROTEL cd player. Lots of trouble but I actually enjoy doing it!

I have my 170's out for the upgrade and am looking forward to getting them back.

I'm on the waiting list for the 170 upgrade so I'd love to hear your comments on the differences once you have them back.

Someone needs to A/B the 170SE's with that "other" company's new $199 speakers!

[Quinn]

If that is important to you, the HTM-200s have a spectral decay plot that makes the 170s and 340s look pretty sloppy.

Those were for the classic. There aren't any yet for the new drivers and tweeters used in the SEs.

[GaryB]

And frankly, while it could be argued that the HTM-200 had, in some respects, a cleaner decay plot than the CBM-170 "classic", the same could not be said about its performance vs. the CMT-340 "classic", if memory serves.

In any case, such decay plots only tell part of the story, obviously.

[Eddie]

Someone needs to A/B the 170SE's with that "other" company's new $199 speakers!

If you're referring to the SVS speakers, it's already been done on AVS Forums. Not surprisingly the 170s came out well on top.

[Mag_Neato]

Ummm.....no, not those! Think XL-S!!

[boludaso]

I'm not sure if any of you have the time, resources or contacts, but a head to head competition with these speakers would be nice.

Ascend 170's
Athena AS-B1
av123 xl-s
Axiom M2 or M3
Paradigm Atom
Focal JMlab Chorus 706 S
Fluance SV-6

these are all 2 way speakers that retail for less than $350.

I've also had the same questions regarding the 170 vs 340s as Ivory. I've decided on the 170's due to room size. I am also going to try and install them in the pillars on both sides of my setup to keep things looking clean. i'll then extend the port thru the other side of the pillar and cover the hole with screen or something.

thanks everyone for you comments

[Eddie]

Ascend 170's
Athena AS-B1
av123 xl-s
Axiom M2 or M3
Paradigm Atom
Focal JMlab Chorus 706 S
Fluance SV-6

these are all 2 way speakers that retail for less than $350.

My guess is that it'd come down to the JM Lab and the Ascend, and I'd love to hear that comparison. At Tweeter the JM Lab bookshelves reminded me the most of the Ascends, though the ones I heard were closer to $900/pair.