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Thread: Sierra-1 NrT in home demo

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Posts
    82

    Default Sierra-1 NrT in home demo

    Hello all. I received an email from Dave today stating that the Spring Cleaning sale would end within the next 24 hours.

    You've seen me post here off and on about not being happy with what I perceive as brightness/harshness from my Axiom M60s on some music and definately on female voices.

    I sent a response to Dave and was hoping for a reply so I could possibly order the NrTs before the sale ends later today or tomorrow but I know he's busy and he may not see it until too late so I thought I would post here as some of you may be able to answer.

    My listening position is small, about 7 feet from speaker to my ears so I was thinking of going to bookshelf style speakers and getting rid of my Axiom towers and that may work better.

    If I do order the Sierra-1 NrTs they would need to sound quite a bit better than my Axioms or I wouldn't be able to justify the purchase with my wife

    If you order the speakers for an in home demo and end up having to send them back would I just be out the shipping from and to?

    I'm a serious buyer and wouldn't order if I didn't have good intentions but part of me would feel bad if I had to send them back.

    Also if I ordered today with the NrT upgrade what would eta be?

    I know some of these things no one can answer but Dave but maybe he will see this post before he sees these questions in email.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    SouthWest of Cleveland
    Posts
    1,924

    Default Re: Sierra-1 NrT in home demo

    Have you tried calling Ascend? They usually answer, and if Dave is there he will usually talk to you.
    Ed

    * Sierra-2EX's W/V2 crossover upgrade
    * (2) Rythmik F12's
    * Parasound Halo P6
    * Audio by Van Alstine DVA-M225 Monoblock Amps
    * MiniDSP 2x4HD For Sub calibration
    *World's Best Cables Canare 4S11 speaker cables

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Posts
    82

    Default Re: Sierra-1 NrT in home demo

    You know, I tried to call earlier and got no answer but looking just now at the telephone number again I notice they don't open until 10:30 PDT and I called around 11:30 CDT so they weren't open yet. I'll call again if I don't get an email shortly.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Stouffville,Ont..
    Posts
    538

    Default Re: Sierra-1 NrT in home demo

    Quote Originally Posted by edmondwolfman View Post
    Hello all. I received an email from Dave today stating that the Spring Cleaning sale would end within the next 24 hours.

    You've seen me post here off and on about not being happy with what I perceive as brightness/harshness from my Axiom M60s on some music and definately on female voices.

    I sent a response to Dave and was hoping for a reply so I could possibly order the NrTs before the sale ends later today or tomorrow but I know he's busy and he may not see it until too late so I thought I would post here as some of you may be able to answer.

    My listening position is small, about 7 feet from speaker to my ears so I was thinking of going to bookshelf style speakers and getting rid of my Axiom towers and that may work better.

    If I do order the Sierra-1 NrTs they would need to sound quite a bit better than my Axioms or I wouldn't be able to justify the purchase with my wife

    If you order the speakers for an in home demo and end up having to send them back would I just be out the shipping from and to?

    I'm a serious buyer and wouldn't order if I didn't have good intentions but part of me would feel bad if I had to send them back.

    Also if I ordered today with the NrT upgrade what would eta be?

    I know some of these things no one can answer but Dave but maybe he will see this post before he sees these questions in email.
    Trust me you won't be sorry..... I recently sold my Energy RC and decided to go with an inwall solution for H/T so I purchased some Axiom speakers. I'm currently using w22's up front and I have A/B them against my Sierra's using the exact same source material...let just say it wasn't difficult telling them apart....the Axioms sounded as if they had a cold...lol. Don't get me wrong I enjoy my Axiom HT setup, but when I swiched from my RC's to the Axiom's it wasn't night and day there were sultle differences ...with the Sierra's it was instantly WOW.

    Just my 2 cents...
    Last edited by billy p; 07-08-2011 at 11:55 AM.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    5,538

    Default Re: Sierra-1 NrT in home demo

    Hi Guys,

    Sorry -- we had a complete power outage this side of town and our phone lines and computers were down for many hours. I am not sure what caused this, it is a beautiful day today--- but as of now, (12:20pm PST), everything is restored
    .
    .
    .
    Good Sound To You!

    David Fabrikant
    www.ascendacoustics.com

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Posts
    82

    Default Re: Sierra-1 NrT in home demo

    Ok, I ordered the Sierra-1 NrTs today and may have by the end of next week.

    I'm going to compare them to my current speakers, Axiom M60v2s and another as yet mentioned stand mount.

    I plan an listening to them as full size just to hear what they sound like without a sub but the bottom line is that I run my HSU ULS-15 with the Axioms always, crossed over around 70Hz, so I will eventually setup the NrTs to run the same way so I can get an apples to apples comparison.

    The comparison will not involve the bottom range as I use a sub for that but instead will concentrate on everything from 60 or 70Hz up. The Axioms seem to be harsh in the upper registers and female voices, I guess because of the metal dome tweeter and that is what I'm looking to replace.

    With that said, the Sierra-1 NrTs need to be substantially better sounding so I can justify spending money on another pair of speakers (wife involved here )

    Does that crossover point sound fair or should it be tweaked up or down? Placement is pretty much set in stone as far as left and right and only have a little leeway from front to back so they will have to sit in exactly the same place as the Axioms and hopefully that will be good placement.

    Maybe a little help here. I use an Emotiva RPA-2 amp and a USP-1 preamp with bass management. The pre has low pass and high pass pots so I can tell the pre to send up to (for example) 70Hz to the sub and down to 60 or 65 to the main speakers. Is that too much of an overlap? Should the numbers be the same as in...60 and below to sub and 60 and above to mains?

    Any thoughts appreciated.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Location
    Manhattan Beach, California
    Posts
    7,032

    Default Re: Sierra-1 NrT in home demo

    I think the crossover is fair....should be a very interesting listen.
    -curtis

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Posts
    82

    Default Re: Sierra-1 NrT in home demo

    I'm looking forward to it. I know the room and placement has a lot to do with how speakers sound and I hope the space I have puts the NrTs in their sweet spot because I can't move them around. They either sound good there or they don't.

    I'm hoping that since my listening area is so small (around 7' from speaker to ear) that a 2 way design will integrate there better than the 3 way towers do.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Posts
    82

    Default Re: Sierra-1 NrT vs. Swan D2.1se+Custom in home demo

    Ok here is the deal. I was wanting to demo some stand mount speakers in place of my Axiom M60v2 towers and do it while on vacation in August. I had my mind made up to audition the Salk Songtowers but after my wife found out they would be close to 10" taller than my Axioms she freaked out...WAF anyone The Sierra-1 NrTs were what I had narrowed it down to. I emailed Dave on July 3rd and asked if I could get the Sierra-1 NrTs now and what would be the eta. I didn't hear from him for a few days so I erroneously thought that they didn't have any Sierra NrTs available for the near future and since I wanted to devote a good amount of time during my upcoming vacation evaluating some standmounts I went ahead and ordered the Swan D2.1se+Customs. I then received a reply from Dave on July 8th answering all my questions and thought "crap" I've already ordered something else. I realize Dave is very busy and has a lot going on and I'm a little impatient sometimes!

    After much thought and everyone always saying "get the speakers you are interested in to your home, preferably at the same time and compare them in your environment, with your own electronics and choose the one that sounds best there" I decided to go ahead and order the Sierra-1 NrTs also. Hopefully I will have both and can compare side by side and pick what is best for me. Naturally one or the other will have to be returned and I was agonizing over how I would feel about ordering new speakers and then returning them but after conversing with Joe at AudioInsider and Dina at Ascend I understand that's just part of the business and that's why they allow 30 day in home demos. They truly do want the customer to be happy with the purchase. In each case I was told I would only be out the shipping costs from and to.

    I've seen reviews exclaiming the Swans best the Sierra's and others stating that the Sierras are better than the Swans but I don't believe I've seen a comparison between the Swan Customs and the Ascend NrTs. Whichever one sounds best in my setup will get to stay. I don't have any leeway at all (see picture below). Each set will have to sit exactly where my Axioms currently are standing. They will be between 5 1/2' and 6' apart with a cabinet and plasma between them and about 22" from the back of the speaker to the wall so whichever works best will be the winner for me. I do have the speakers pulled all the way forward so that there is no cabinet between the drivers. The sub on the right is next to a fireplace hearth and the speaker on the left is approaching a hallway. The speakers are only about 7' from speaker to ear so I can't pull them out into the room anymore either. It might be that one will sound best in my situation where if I had room to move them out, left and right etc. the other one might turn out to be better. Bottom line is that the one I pick may not actually be able to beat the other in a shootout under perfect conditions and many may argue that I "chose the wrong speakers" but the ones I choose will be best for me.

    I hope they show up around the end of next week.

    Any recommendations on music that will put each of the speakers through their paces?


    Last edited by edmondwolfman; 07-09-2011 at 11:20 AM.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Posts
    83

    Default Re: Sierra-1 NrT in home demo

    I use non NrT Sierras LCR in a small room. They are only separated about 7.5 feet due to room limitations and my listening distance varies from as close as 5 ft. to about 8 ft. (once again due to room limitations) and they sound great. After you get done with your A/B comparison you may want to move them to where you would think the optimum position is and tweak a little here and there and just keep listening. After getting mine, I listened to more music in the first few days than I had in a long time, and I usually listen almost everyday anyways..........Enjoy.

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