Sierra - Summary, Pricing and Shipping!

[curtis]

Nope, in fact, I just dropped my 340SEc off at UPS to send to Ascend as a trade-in, so I imagine someone else will get it as b-stock.

Cool!

What will you be doing with your veneered 170's?

[BradJudy]

Cool!

What will you be doing with your veneered 170's?

For now, they'll move to my computer and the X-LS's there will move to where the AC's were before. After I move the 170's, I'll decide if I want the X-sub on the computer still and if I don't, I'll probably sell it.

I've been considering selling the X-LS's too and putting X-SLS or X-MTM where those will go since it would be nice to have floorstanders instead of stands in that room.

[curtis]

I'm envious of you guys that have more than one place to use speakers.

[BradJudy]

Tracking says they should be here on Monday. I didn't catch this weekend, but I'll likely spend some time on the 4th listening to music.

I also ordered new speaker stands (since I sold the ones with my AC's), which should arrive tomorrow.

[---k---]

Hi all. Long time, no see. Sorry I've dropped off the face of the earth, but the world was calling me.

Anyway, I wanted to pop in here quickly and let you all know that I got to listen to the Sierra's for about an hour today and I thought I would pop over here and post my big thumbs up. (I have no idea if this thread is the best place. Gosh, there are like 10 threads will a bazillion posts! Curtis feel free to move if somewhere else is more appropriate.)

Anyway, a gentleman, here in Naperville who came over an listened to my 340SEs a while back invited me over to hear his Sierra's. We listened for about an hour. I brought over some of my more recent favorites:

Jack Johnson - Brushfire Fairytales
Damion Rice - 9
Ben Harper - Both Sides of the Gun

His setup was an older Yahmaha receiver and a SVS PC Sub that we flirted with on and off. CD player was a Toshiba HD DVD player. Placement wasn't ideal, being close to the rear wall and adjacent to a large projection TV. Seating up against the rear wall. No AvB was done.

First impression was that the detail and clarity was impressive. They sounded very natural and open. I love the first song from 9, 9 Crimes. The woman's voice is truly haunting, just as it is intended. It sounded very lifelike. Definitely an improvement over the 340SEs.

The next thing, the bass! It was very surprising for such a small speaker. We had the sub off, and I forget the song, but there was some bass and Mitch's dog freaked out. It was kind of funny. Now the bass wasn't enough for ME to get rid of my sub. It wasn't room shaking or anything like that. And we may have been getting a some help from the room. But, it was good. I think people with small rooms and don't do movies would be happy. But, with action movies, I would be disappointed without a sub.

The sound presentation had more depth than my 340SEs. They did well filling the room, but I was gentle with the volume knob since they weren't mine. But, I could tell that they were a small bookshelf and not a large floorstander.

Easily some of the best retail speakers I've ever heard. I think they keep up with many speakers several times their price. I know when I AvB the 340SEs against the Paradigm Studio 40s and DynAudio 42s, it wasn't even close. I'm confident these would bury those speakers even more.

I was really impress - not enough to give up the big speakers I'm building - but they were good compared to what is out there.

Good job Dave.

[curtis]

Oh wow....Ryan!! Thanks for dropping by!

[BradJudy]

I happened to be ripping a free CD that a local radio station sent me (KBCO) and it has Damien Rice - 9 Crimes on it and I gave it a listen. Very cool stuff - haunting as you said.

[Mitch G]

Ryan: you should have felt free to turn them up.

It was a fun audition - Ryan brought over music I don't normally listen to and I think I'll be picking up a copy of the Damien Rice album.
[Since I use a squeezebox to stream my music, this was the first time I had used my HD-D2 HD-DVD player for playing CDs. It skipped every so often. So, if you are planning on getting an HD-D2/A2 and plan on using it for playing CDs, I wouldn't. For the record, I've had no problems playing HD-DVDs or SD-DVDs.]

Even with the occasional CD skips, the speakers continued to please me with imaging and clarity continuing to be their hallmark.
I did feel that the speakers had some trouble keeping up with the bass in the Ben Harper album. But, in all fairness, there are alot of variables in that statement. The speakers are near the wall. And, I've never really calibrated the speakers set to large for 2-channel listening using my DVD player as the CD player. When I changed things for 2.1 listening, it sounded better. That said, the other CDs sounded very good and as Ryan mentioned, at one point Bijou (my dog - www.jesslex.com/bijou.html) was a bit surprised by some bassy bits.


Mitch

[BradJudy]

I'm enjoying the Sierra's so far. I've listened to a decent amount of music and a couple of movies in the few days I've had them. I'm still fiddling with cross-overs and toe-in to see what I like the best. They are definitely impressive for their size/type without a sub.

At the moment I'm using a 60Hz cross-over for the Sierra's, but I'm sure I'll fiddle around more before picking one. I'm also waiting to spend much time on sub integration until my Titan XL arrives.

[curtis]

That should be a sweet combo Brad!

I might have missed it, but what finish did you get on the Titan? Will you post some system pictures when you get it dialed in?