What type of music do Ascend aficionados listen to? Hoping to poll...

[Trench]

I've read that Ascend will reveal a bad recording for what it is. I don't listen to top-notch recordings of classical, jazz, or vocals. I like older stuff like Led Zep, Pink Floyd, Police, Eagles, Barry White...and just got new Rob Zombie, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Collective Soul, Eric Clapton, Lucinda Williams.

What are the hard-core Ascenders listening to? With a playlist like mine, am I setting up for disappointment or happiness?

[dpristin]

I’d say that every musical genre has its share of good and bad recordings. My preferences are mostly classical and jazz, plus some pop/rock (Peter Gabriel, Sting, Mark Knopfler etc. – can anyone classify them? By the way, Clapton's "Unplugged" is considered to be recorded very well, as well as, say, Knopfler's "Brothers in Arms"). If the recording is good – it’s a real treat. The downside is – when it stinks, you know that immediately. In fact, it can be quite frustrating when you love WHAT you hear, but hate HOW it’s recorded. My wife is not an audio aficionado in any way, but after a relatively short time since we’ve bought Ascends, she can tell when the recording stinks and when it’s great. I’d say – try them at home, all you risk is shipping. Get a pair of 170ES, take your time (a couple of days) to get used to the new sound, then decide if you going to keep them. So far I haven’t heard about too many people sending them back :-).

[curtis]

I would rather hear a crappy recording on my Ascends than a lesser speaker.

A lesser speaker will make a crappy recording even crappier.

[dpristin]

I think the bottom line is - once you hear a good recording played by a good pair of speakers (that you can actually afford) - there is no way back.

[shane55]

I agree.
Bad speakers (or a bad system altogether) will make any recording sound like crap. There is always a bit of GIGO to whatever you're listening to.

Lately I've gotten into some older classical recordings that have been beautifully restored onto SACD. I want to be able to appreciate them to the best of my ability, so shouldn't I play them through the best speakers/system I can afford?

Good speakers will make older, lousy recordings sound as good as they can, and they will make great recordings sound fantastic!

Bach, Clapton, Zep, Tull, Mozart, Miles, Trane, Rancid... whatever.

All better through my 340SE's.

shane

[drewface]

i listen to a lot of punk, ska, and general rock stuff. i can say without hesitation that rock sounds excellent on ascends. i don't know how "hardcore ascendian" i would be considered, but i, too, was worried that my rock (a lot of it underground, small-budget recordings) would sound bad, but nearly all of it sounds great regardless of recording quality.

i actually have a couple CDs that i've always thought were recorded really bad, but they sound 10x better on the ascends. likewise, i have some great cds that seem to lose something. the first time i listened to nirvana's "nevermind" album, it didn't sound too hot. last time i gave it a spin it wasn't bad, so i don't know what the deal was with it the first time.

anyways, don't worry about your music sounding bad on the ascends!

[cyberbri]

I listen to everything I used to. But now I am searching out more different genres and artists, and going back to a lot of stuff I haven't listened to in years, because it all sounds so good on these speakers.

[shane55]

I listen to everything I used to. But now I am searching out more different genres and artists, and going back to a lot of stuff I haven't listened to in years, because it all sounds so good on these speakers.

Good point.
It's like getting a new Plasma TV... you want to re-watch your collection.
With these speakers, you want to re-hear as well as make new discoveries.

shane

[BradJudy]

I've read that Ascend will reveal a bad recording for what it is. I don't listen to top-notch recordings of classical, jazz, or vocals. I like older stuff like Led Zep, Pink Floyd, Police, Eagles, Barry White...and just got new Rob Zombie, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Collective Soul, Eric Clapton, Lucinda Williams.

What are the hard-core Ascenders listening to? With a playlist like mine, am I setting up for disappointment or happiness?

I don't think you'll be disappointed. Just out of the bands you mentioned, Zep, Eagles, Rob Zombie (and White Zombie), Clapton and Lucinda are all in my collection and have been through the Ascends. Heck, some of those are reference tracks for listening.

I mainly listen to a combination of rock (Zombie, Audioslave, Evanescense, etc), female singer/songwriters (Aimee Mann, Fiona Apple, Natalie Merchant, etc) and male fronted not as rock stuff (Counting Crows, Sting, etc). I also listen to a lesser amount of a several other genres (jazz, country, classical, etc).

The times when CD quality has annoyed me have been somewhat unlikely CDs that happen to have high noise levels in recording.

[kinggimp82]

I've read that Ascend will reveal a bad recording for what it is. I don't listen to top-notch recordings of classical, jazz, or vocals. I like older stuff like Led Zep, Pink Floyd, Police, Eagles, Barry White...and just got new Rob Zombie, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Collective Soul, Eric Clapton, Lucinda Williams.

What are the hard-core Ascenders listening to? With a playlist like mine, am I setting up for disappointment or happiness?

i dont listen to many of those artists you listed. ive listened to collective soul and pink floyd on my 170 se's. collective soul's self titled album sounds incredible. pink floyd sounds good also. not as good as collective soul but good. and im powering them with a crappy $200 pioneer receiver. for now anyway.

and as for my experience with bad recordings ted nudgents great gonzo's cd is horrid. it is way too bright and is basically just really loud.

i highly doubt ud be dissapointed


and thanks for reminding me about rob zombie. havent listened to that yet.