1st Post Hello to Everyone

[jwill242004]

Hello all you HT junkies

Short Story:

It's time to upgrade my Onkyo HTIB I purchased a while back and I am going with Ascend. After reading numerous reviews I am positive I have made the right choice. Right now I have a Onkyo S790 system minus the sub which I just HAPPILY replaced with the all new HSU VTF3 MK3. This sub is unreal and it is really outshining my other speakers. It is definately time to upgrade them.

Im not 100% sure which setup I will go with yet but Im thinking about CMT-340 Mains and Center along with 2 pairs of CBM170's for surrounds to complete my 7.1 setup.

Question is this : Will my current reciever provide enough power to keep these speakers satisfied. My Onkyo reciever is rated @ 110 watts to 7 channels (even though Im sure it doesnt actually produce this rating) or am I wrong??? I love the features on this reciever and I would love to be able to keep it.

[bikeman]

What are the dimensions of your listening area and how far away from the speakers in the main listening position? The Onkyo can handle the Ascends in most environments so you should be good to go. That should be one sweet set-up.

David

[jwill242004]

Its no dedicated HT room for sure. The reason I went with the MK3 is that my room is very large and open. 22' x 25' with 11ft ceilings w/ an open dinette and kitchen. There is a lot of air to fill and the MK3 is more than capable of doing that. My mains are approx 7 feet from the listening position so that shouldnt be an issue. I feel my reciever should be more than capable of pushing them, but I dont know if the Ascends would benefit from more power than its capable of giving.

I find my current setup to be very insufficient. I prefer my music very loud and when I crank up the volume on the Onkyo's distortion is very audible, with horrible bass response. I have my sub handling 80hz and lower, with the rest to the onkyo's. Even at a 100hz x-over point the bass is still terrible from the onkyo's. These are no little satellite speakers either, the mains and center both sport dual 5 1/4" woofers and a tweeter and are rear ported w/a large enclosure. I expect much more from this upgrade.

With movies they are just ok. The tweeters definately lack and I prefer my highs to be razor sharp and crisp. Even with the treble on the reciever set to +10 they just dont get loud enough for me.

Anyway thought I'd tune you into exactly why im upgrading these speakers.

Does ascend offer a Bstock page on the website???

[curtis]

Does ascend offer a Bstock page on the website???

You just missed the b-stock sale on CBM-170SE's. B-stock is not usually listed on the site, you need to call Ascend directly.

[jwill242004]

what was the price break??

[curtis]

what was the price break??

It was a special sale on b-stock 170SE's....not the usual price break.
http://forum.ascendacoustics.com/sho...9253#post19253

[jwill242004]

Grrrr

[muzz]

Congrats on the new Sub Jwill !!

That Onkyo HTIB AVR may be rated to 110W, but the HTIBS usually are not that great.
I don't know about the one you have, but it may be creating some of that distortion(at high levels) you are hearing as well.

My brother in Law got an Onkyo HTIB (he already had a Pioneer htib), and TBO neither of them have great amps, but I think the Pioneer sounds better.

BOTH sets have decent sized mains(5 or 6" drivers), and reasonable sized surrounds(for an htib).
The remote on the Onkyo rig blows, and it has limitations on what ya can do PER INPUT, which I didn't like.

It sounds OK, but I have a very modest/OLD yamaha HTR-5550 @ 75x5(which most enthusiasts would say is a bright piece of crap from what I read), and there is no comparison, his Onkyo HTIB is left way behind, even with my old Boston CR75 mains(which the 170's SMOKE btw).

Is that Onkyo AVR also available seperately? I'd like to see some feedback on that unit.

m