If there are new Sierra's or new name speakers.

[King]

I would like to see a monitor closer to the Cremona Auditors sound built with sub use in mind for the bottom end.

I have compared my speakers and there is an sq gap along with a huge price difference.

[DougMac]

I would like to see a monitor closer to the Cremona Auditors sound built with sub use in mind for the bottom end.

I have compared my speakers and there is an sq gap along with a huge price difference.

I think it's a compliment to Dave and the rest of the Ascend team when Sierras are mentioned with high end audiophile speaker offerings. This post had me Googling "Cremona Auditors". I'll have to take other's word for sq difference, but the price difference is truly astounding!

What would make these speakers cost 5x+ the cost of Sierras? I'm sure there was some R&D costs, but Sierra's represent a tremendous amount of work and experience. The drivers and crossover are top notch, but the drivers and crossover used in Sierra's aren't slouches either.

The most obvious difference to me was the materials and handcrafting of the cabinets, which are admittedly beautiful. From the description, it seems they are more sonically inert than standard braced MDF. Whether they offer a huge advantage over the laminated bamboo of the Sierra's is hard to tell.

Sometimes I'm not sure of the intentions of posts like this. Does the poster want Dave to produce a product that sounds as good as a $5k speaker but sells for less than $1k, or do they want Dave to design and offer a $5k speaker? Do they want him to produce a speaker with a Sonus Faber sound?

If it's to produce a less expensive speaker to rival that of way more expensive speakers, there are those who feel the Sierra already does that. Professional reviewers have favorably compared them to speakers costing many times more. If it's to offer another line of speakers with stratospheric prices, I'm not sure how that fits into Dave's philosophy. I sure hope it doesn't. If it's to produce a speaker with a different signature sound, why not just buy the speaker with the sound signature you prefer?

[Mag_Neato]

To keep within Ascends' philosophy, producing a no-holds barred, cost-be-dammed speaker, would not fit in. Giving the average audio joe a taste of the hi-end for a mid-fi price is more inline. Sure, if Dave want to produce a speaker like the Sonus Fabers I'm sure he could, but for who? If he can approach the qualities of such a speaker at a fraction of the cost to us customers, then that's what Dave is all about.

Now, as I have mentioned already, an "SE" path for the Sierra-1 would be my preference. Taking the Sierra ever so closer to the level of the megabuck speakers. Much like the original Datsun 240Z back in the day, taking on the big dollar sports cars!

So let's go, Dave, Show us what you have cooking!

[curtis]

IMO...the Sierras, already give us Average Joes a taste of the high end for our Average Joe budgets.

[Mag_Neato]

True dat, Curtis! To simplify my statement let me put it this way:

I love my Sierra-1's! If Dave never does anything to upgrade them, they are still an excellent speaker and value. Should Dave decide to offer an upgrade that would bump up the performance, and make people say that they compete with models costing $5000 and more, rather than saying they are the speaker to beat at 1K or less, then I'm all for that. Dave knows the speaker game better than any of us commoners, and will no doubt keep the Sierras up to date, so to speak, performance-wise. I am extremely satisfied with my Sierras, but if an upgrade appears then why not!

[curtis]

Agreed.

Dave/Ascend is about selling an honest product at an honest price.

6 or 7 years ago, I heard a speaker that retailed for approx. $1000 in stores. At the time I felt the old classic CBM-170 was able to compete with it in terms of sound...or course the cabinet on the more expensive speaker was a nicer wood veneer.

About two years ago, that same speaker was retailing for $1100/pr, and a local A/V shop was no longer going to sell the brand, so he was having a blow out sale on them....at $600. The shop owner told me his "cost" was $400. So comparing them to the CBM-170 made a lot of sense to me and reinforced my thoughts on Ascend's business model.

[davef]

About two years ago, that same speaker was retailing for $1100/pr, and a local A/V shop was no longer going to sell the brand, so he was having a blow out sale on them....at $600. The shop owner told me his "cost" was $400.

So, with a wholesale cost of $400, we can assume that this pair of speakers probably cost $160 to build -- and they retailed for $1100?

It costs us more than $160 to build a pair of HTM-200SE these days

Sadly, I am starting to think I am in the wrong business

I found some really cool looking rocks outside and I swear that by placing them in my room, not only did my speakers sound better, but my video looked better too. I can't post measurements confirming this but my eyes and ears can be trusted -- trust me

$500 for a matched set of two sounds reasonable. I will post a link so you can order them soon. Note, quantity is very limited --- these "wave bend stones" are extremely rare...

I will even offer you a 30-day satisfaction guarantee, less 15% re-stock fee and shipping and handling...

[mziegler]

I have the rocks with moon dust which affect gravity fields to create perfect off-axis sound.

We should talk.

[King]

Sometimes I'm not sure of the intentions of posts like this. Does the poster want Dave to produce a product that sounds as good as a $5k speaker but sells for less than $1k, or do they want Dave to design and offer a $5k speaker? Do they want him to produce a speaker with a Sonus Faber sound?
?

Yes, Dave should sell a 5k sound for less then 1k, or give them away, even better.
Or
Step up the next speaker to fill the void between say a Sonus Faber and the current Sierra monitor, and yes of course charge more. I mistakenly thought it was implied in my first post.

SF is a top sound signature choice. I did draw it out of a hat of reviews and ownership.
Sierras are great (I own 4) but they are in a different league then the Expensive SF speakers, as they should be.
If Dave can step up the monitors to get closer, at a less then SF current cost, I would be a buyer.
He would then cover higher price points for buyers and give us upgrade possibilities with our current subs. Maybe make a few $$ for himself too.

[curtis]

I doubt Dave would aim for the Sonus Faber....it employs different approach to speaker design...first order crossover to name one(some would actually call that a negative), it also doesn't have as deep as bass extension according to its specs. As far as the crossover is concerned, it can be argued that the Sierra's OPPIX crossover is more advanced.