Ascend Owners Photo Gallery

[jollo]

Jollo, gorgeous setup indeed. Do you have 6.1 setup? I see a center surround on the bookshelf?

Thanks for the nice compliment. Yeah, it's a 6.1 setup. I stuck that speaker in back just because I could. It sounds pretty good with some of the newer movies that have 7.1 mixes though.

[Veda]

Blue-cyannish metallic CBM-170. I was trying to mimic the McLaren azure blue. Result isn't the same, probably closer to the Wilson Alexandria blue but great for the room nonetheless. Makes it a lot less plain. Except pic 2 all are taken with flash just to show the metallic grain. What do you think?

[chas]

Looks great...fun to see them in something other than black. I like the offset grill logo too!

[Veda]

Looks great...fun to see them in something other than black. I like the offset grill logo too!

Other than black or white actually. I've been painting most of my speakers white but I did a metallic wine on a PSB Image once. Next time I'll try a Lamborghini lime green or something printed like this Urban Fidelity:

[chas]

You do the painting yourself? I thought maybe it was an Ascend custom finish...

[Veda]

You do the painting yourself? I thought maybe it was an Ascend custom finish...

I had it done by the guys at my workshop using automotive paint. Actually I used a direct blue template from Akzo Nobel but I'm sure Dave can do any custom finish you desire at a premium. The beauty is the speakers themselves are so cheap unfinished (or finished for that matter) from Ascend yet better than some $2500 bookshelves I've owned. So with the custom finish they become true high end performing monitors without the mega bucks.

[Mag_Neato]

OK, finally got around to snapping some low-res pics of the basement system. Leave it to flash photography to emphasize all of the dust and fingerprints!

[Sam1000]

Sierra + Rythmik is a great combo. That's a good set up Ed. I have heard good things about Marantz. How do you like it? DO you bypass Audyssey on it for 2 ch?

[Mag_Neato]

Sam,
Thanks for the compliment!

The Marantz is very nice sounding compared to other receivers I've owned(Denon, Onkyo). The last Marantz AVR I owned was from the mid 1990's when they were under the Phillips umbrella. I was very disappointed in that one even though it retailed for around $1,200 back then, which I got for a fraction of that as a closeout. Sound quality of that older unit was, to me, low fi. I sold it and bought an Outlaw 1050. That was a beast. Super stout amp section with plenty of punch. It started to have glitches and I sold it, replacing it with a refurbed Denon. That was replaced with a refurbed THX Select rated Onkyo. While the system sat in storage for a couple of years at my Fiancee's old house I sold off the Onkyo and bought the Marantz SR6003 in the pics as a refurb in order to get the new lossless formats. Unfortunately it is not being utilized in a home theater setup, but the audio performance in the current setup is about as good as I've had in my system. I have considered adding a dedicated amp, but I don't feel it is a necessity.

I ran Audyssey to do the initial setup for distance and levels. I tried listening with it engaged, toggling between all of the EQ modes, but ultimately I decided to leave it switched off. The extended response of the NrT tweeter was being rolled off with it on, and it just did not sound "right" to me.

Yeah, the Rythmik is very nice combined with the Sierra's. It plays deep and tight. I purchased the 12" Direct Servo kit from Rythmik directly and had a sealed enclosure built. That was prior to Ascend selling them on their site. I use the Q-plugs in the Sierra's which seems to help blend everything seemlessly. I use the open plugs which I think are the "B" plugs.

The iPod dock is a Cambridge Audio id100 which extracts the pure digital bitstream from the iPod and sends it to a digital Toslink input on the Marantz. I have been toying with the idea of adding a separate DAC.

The Toshiba HD-DVD player was my primary playback for CD's and did a fine job, but the fan is audible. I now use the iPod almost exclusively as I can upload my CD's to iTunes in Apple Lossless and then load them on the iPod. I cannot detect any sonic difference. Actually, the iPod has two big advantages. It is dead quiet, and I can play 100's of songs without changing a disc! Also, I stream Pandora through it and some of the songs have excellent sound quality.

Phew! Longer post than I had intended.

[Veda]

My experience was the same. In 2009 I bought one receiver from Denon, Yamaha, Marantz, and Onkyo. I had expected the Onkyo to be the best sounding but the Marantz came on top. Way lower noise and much more open sound. I'm actually looking for a class.d receiver right now. Hard to find one...