340 SE System Review

[davef]

A review from a true expert in sound reproduction. Not as detailed or technical as I like but still a decent quick review with some heavy competition.

http://www.editorsguild.com/v2/magaz..._article06.htm

[bikeman]

Dad, nice to see you've caught up on your sleep and are back to working "normal" hours.

David

[Quinn]

Does this mean he bought the Ascend set-up for himself against all these other speakers?

"...I went with the CMT-340se (Com-pact Mini-Tower) model across the front. These are brand new and all three are identical except the center is horizontally aligned. They are somewhere between bookshelf-sized and floorstanding, but not quite either. You can get stands for the left and right that make them look like floorstanding speakers. For surrounds, I went with the CBM-170se...."

Here is the guy's IMBd link... http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002905/

[BradJudy]

That's a crapload of dialogue editing - I bet he's tough to please when it comes to center channel speakers.

[dpristin]

Shouldn't this be added to the "Reviews" page?

[Eddie]

Does this mean he bought the Ascend set-up for himself against all these other speakers?

Doesn't sound like it. There's no conclusion where he chooses one over the others---very neutral review in that respect. Not much description of each speaker's sonic characteristics.

[GirgleMirt]

Yeah that was pretty weird he didn't say which ones he kept

It also could have been a little more specific about each speaker, he talks a lot about speaker price, looks, finishing, etc, but he really doesn't seem to say mch about each sound/performance... from what I've gathered:

340SE:

The soundstage was seamless and made it feel more like a continuous wall of sound rather than three separate speakers. Panning from front to rear with the 170s was great too. For home theater and some 5.1 channel music, the Ascends were just flat-out great speakers.
[...]
Both speakers play much larger than they look. [...]At $568 a pair for the 340s, you’ll be amazed at how good and big they sound.

Axiom:

The VP-150 [...] is a good center speaker and probably matches really well with Axiom’s smaller speakers. With the m60s, it matched well for TV and dialogue-driven movies, but for big-sound movies and multi-channel music, I was aware that it wasn’t as big as the floorstanders.
[...]
The m60s, and all the Axiom speakers, are very revealing and rather unforgiving when it comes to music. Some people may like this and some may not. These speakers will give you exactly what was recorded, which may be refreshing or scary, through no fault of the speakers. Some of the more vocal opponents of Axiom’s speakers like to call them fatiguing or bright. I can see what they may be getting at, especially at loud volumes, but these speakers in most listening situations are very good. I did feel that they were the most adversely affected in my room without acoustic treatments.

Sooo.... does that mean that they're bright nor not....? "these speakers will give you exactly what was recorded, which may be refreshing or scary, through no fault of the speakers." Isn't that what Ascends do too? Ascends doesn't have recessed highs, yet they're never described as bright...

Are ascends supposed to be more forgiving? Less revealing? He didn't really answer that question, though it seems like he's somewhat saying so...

ACI:

As with the Ascends, I was impressed at how seamless three of the same speakers across the front can be. Voices sound big and meaty.
[...]
As with the Ascends, I was impressed at how seamless three of the same speakers across the front can be. Voices sound big and meaty. If I were building a dedicated theatre, or had a room that was more isolated from the rest of my house, I would seriously consider building a system around these.
All three Essence speakers have a more laid-back sound than the others. They are more forgiving of poorly recorded music and beg to be played loudly. What they don’t have is the airiness at the top end that the others have, but that mid-range is just rock solid. When watching movies loudly, I found these speakers sounded great and weren’t at all fatiguing. What I found tough with these speakers was listening to TV or movies at lower volumes, like at conversational levels. I wanted a little more vocal clarity.

3500$ Onix Refs3, sounds like he probably kept those if money wasn't an issue.

So in the end, for such a long read, the part about performance can be summed up rather quickly, somwhat wish there was more specific info...

[davef]

Hi Guys,

Mike purchased the complete Ascend system.

[GirgleMirt]

oooooooh!

[Eddie]

Hi Guys,

Mike purchased the complete Ascend system.

Smart man!