I am an "Ascendaholic". My wife agrees with me on this one. I got my 170s upgraded, and was going to return my old 340s for credit towards my new 340SEs, but decided to keep the old 340s which, with the 170s and possibly my subwoofer, will one-day become a basement home theatre.

My feeling, when comparing an older speaker to a newer, is always "trepidatious" (if I might coin a word). I'm always thinking "but what if I like the older one more?" Fortunately, Dave and Ascend do not do cosmetic upgrades, but rather substantial ones. Thus, my first 340 experience was definitely better sounding than the 170s, and my wife agreed on that.

I unpacked the 340s last week, noting the outer box was damaged. However the inner box was only dented. I had an electrician hook them up, since my sciatica is keeping me from doing much lifting on step stools lately.
Two days ago, I fired them up. My initial reaction was "huh? Anything different?" and that lasted about 8 seconds. Then I realized I was in the presence of greatness. (Thank you Dave and Ascend!)

I put some old, hard rock on first, noting much more bass, as well as more clarity. (My 340s are mounted horizontally, on the tops of the entertainment cases.) Then I put on Rajaton's newest album, "Out of Bounds." Rajaton is a Finnish acappella group, which does some amazing things with only their voices and a great sound engineer. The Ascends did something I have heard only one time before: they played vocal music, with absolute clarity and lack of distortion, louder than the human voice is capable of doing, unaided. Back in the 1970s, I heard a friend's JBL Paragon Ranger set-up, with 15" woofers, do just this. I know the older 340s can't quite achieve this feat (though I thought they almost attained it). Once again, I am re-discovering my music collection with new speakers. I tried some Bach organ music last night and was amazed at how low, and clear, the sound was. It might not need the subwoofer (my wife wants to move it downstairs).

Last night, we watched a DVD with the new speakers. No, I haven't gotten the Oppo yet, just using my old not-quite-as-sharp player, which never freezes. The DVD (Fifth Element) had things I'd never heard before, and this reflects some of the general terms used for speakers: soundstage, clarity, direction/location. The sound moved from speaker to speaker, seeming to move beyond the sides of the speakers, further away. A nice wide dispersal. The clarity, especially on faint sounds, was even better than before, although the older 340s also had me looking behind at times or wondering who was at the door. The soundstage was wider, and less like speakers--more like a wall of activity in front of us (with a 24” T--Sony Wega--this isn’t too easy).
The bass was much greater, I think. Our subwoofer is turned pretty low, to balance (I suspect) having the speakers near the ceiling and near the corners. But the sub-type effects seemed to come from those speakers (from the front, rather than the side, where the sub is located). Our couch vibrated. I mean the cushions vibrated.
Ok. I like the Ascends with (at least one) DVDs.

Back to music, I put on an oldie, which I just got in CD, Chuck Mangione’s “Land of Make Believe.” The title track, with Esther Satterfield, was remarkable, and here the soundstage appeared much larger than before (with the original 340s). But with more clarity and sense of location of the performers: “Oh, Chuck is over there, and now he’s moving cross-stage….”

I am a very happy camper, but with a new issue: can I keep my old 340s for a home theatre, or will I have to upgrade them as well? For now, I’ll wait. Perhaps in 8 years, there’ll be a 340TE (Tertiary ed.) to rave about.

Thank you, David (and Ascend), for all your work in giving me, and my wife, all this listening pleasure.

Pegleg