Ascend setup in dedicated room?

[merrymaid520]

Hey everyone,

I have been enjoying my Ascends in my family room for a while now. I have the 340SE Mains & center with the classic 170's for surrounds. I am in the process of designing a dedicated theater room in my basement. I will obviously be using Ascends again

My logical choices, trying to keep the budget near $1k are the following:

Opt #1 Opt #2 opt #3
Center 340se 340se 340se
Fronts 170se 340se 170se
surrounds(x4) 200's 200's 170se

Option #2 would be stretching the budget I think?

The room will be for 75% movies and some M/C music listening.

Tough choice above, any thoughts or experience on it?

Thanks everyone,

Brandon

[curtis]

How big is the theater?

If wall mounting is not an issue, I would be inclined to try seven CBM-170's.

[Jonnyozero3]

Something you may want to consider is purchasing some 170SE's, but using the 340SEs you already have in whichever room is bigger and more demanding on the setup. I'd guess it'd be the dedicated HT, but I dunno. That way you could swap out the 340s in your family room for 170s, and still be well off there and have the 340s in your HT as your main system. Just a thought to save you some bucks.

[BGHD]

2 or 3 > 1.

[merrymaid520]

The room will be approx. 18'8" x 16'. The current room upstairs which occupies my current setup has much higher ceilings and is much larger. So I might be better off using the smaller new setup in the theater and leave the current 340's upstairs?

I can also accomodate the 170's for surrounds, or wall mount the 200's. You only need about 3" of clearance behind the 170's correct?

For a majority of movie watching, and some M/C music, are the 170se's that much better than the 200's?

Thanks guys,

Brandon

[ebh]

depending on how loud you need it to go, i think you'd be fine with 170SEs up front. i'm very happy with the output on mine.

I haven't heard the 200s or 170s as surrounds, so that's hard for me to say. given that there isn't a huge price difference between the 200s and 170s, i'd say 6 170SEs plus the 340SE center would make for a hell of a setup and may be better for multichannel than the 200s in the surround positions. that comes out to about $1150 plus shipping.

you could mix things up even more and go with 170s for LR and surround sides, 340 for the center, and 200s for surround rears. that knocks it down to $1080 without shipping. but if space isnt an issue, the extra $100 for the 170s seems like a good idea.

i agree with what Jonnyozero3 said also--you could swap your 340s that you have in and out and see where they make the most difference, and then "settle" on using the 170s in your alternate area.

[merrymaid520]

EBH,

The 6 170Se's with the 340c sounds like the best combo for price/performance. For the little extra $, one is better off moving up to the 170's over the 200's.

I will be hopefully ordering soon.
-this will be the 3rd whole house setup I have bought through Ascend

The room will be built rather quickly.

Thanks & have a great weekend,
Brandon

[curtis]

What kind of screen are you going to use? Check with Ascend to see if you will need/benefit from the EXBAC circuit in the center channel.

[ebh]

i played with the system advisor and found that 340s across the front with 200s in the rear is $1230 plus shipping. stepping up to the 170s for surrounds comes to $1368. if this were pure theater the 340s+200s might be the way to go, but doing multichannel still makes me think the 170s all around will be better. really, i'm sure it'll sound good however you do it!

curtis: when is the exbac not suggested/required? i have a 340SE center (i assume with the exbac), but never really thought about whether i should or shouldn't have it.

[curtis]

curtis: when is the exbac not suggested/required? i have a 340SE center (i assume with the exbac), but never really thought about whether i should or shouldn't have it.

Here is a thread where DaveF explains it a bit:
http://forum.ascendacoustics.com/sho...ighlight=EXBAC

if you have it on a TV, like most of us do, then EXBAC is for you!