Hello

[Richard.Elwell]

Greetings;
I have had the privilege of owning a set of Sierra-1's (L-R-C) for about 2 months now. I was a bit hesitant to post my impressions of them right away because I wanted to make sure that I was not suffering from some kind of auditory hallucinations or experiencing that "man I just spent $XXXX and it was worth it" temporary rush you get when you get a new toy.

Before I tell you what I think of them, some background.

From around 1975 into the 80’s I was one of those guys that had little or no furniture (or other peoples discards) a crappy car and old clothes, but hey I had the “Wall o’ Stereo Gear”. I was NOT one of those audiophiles (never really considered myself an “audiophile” anyway) that talks in vague hyperbole about hyper-magnetic pure nitrogen-free unobtainium cross-connects and the air that they bring to a system. But I did, and do, know what I like to hear from an audio system. I owned and listened to a LOT of mid to mid-high end gear during those heady days. It was a lot different when there were 6 or 7 “Stereo Shops” in town where you could go and truly audition gear and pick up lightly used stuff from the continuous upgrade crowd.

Things changed: Job, Kids, Dental bills, House’s that needed re-models etc … and bit by bit all that stuff went away. An NAD receiver and CD player, a pair of PhaseTech bookshelf’s and some old Swedish Sub (B1-B?) that got played maybe once or twice a month was all that was left.

I started to list all the gear I owned in the past but gave up because I was keeping a running total of the money I spent and began to feel ill.

So I got back into Audio when I began playing with Slim Devices (now Logitech) streaming players. Very cool pieces of kit. Ended up with a large song library, all FLAC, all ripped from CD source, properly tagged and checked with AccurateRip, 5 squeezeboxen (Classic, Touch, Boom) spread around the house driving mostly powered speakers, Audioengine A5’s, Acoustic Energy Aego’s, an old set of DCM Macrophones in the garage, etc….. Nice for party music and background sound while working but not something to sit down and listen to.

Then I did the same thing with Video, HTPC’s running XBMC, Built a new media server, 59” Plasma and so on and so forth. So now I have to get the audio part of the HT right and still have good 2 channel sound.

I tried to go out and listen to speakers ($1000 to $1500 /pair range) and was quite disappointed at the selection available and the environment to audition them. The Magnolia room at BB had some nice speakers and reasonable listening rooms, but I was not impressed until we got to the stuff that was WAY over my budget. So I took advantage of any store that offered 30 day returns and I set up a temporary listening area in the garage and bought speakers to listen to in my environment for extended periods. It was actually kind of fun (but time consuming) to bring home stuff and carefully un-pack it set it up and run it through its paces. A few actually made it into the house for a bit. They all went back eventually.

As an example the last set was Polk RTi A9’s and a matching center. While decent speakers, a bit forward for my taste and quite fatiguing to listen to. Not to mention large.

I ran across reviews and recommendations for the Ascend products on a few forums and went to the website to check them out. I liked Mr. Fabrikants’ philosophy and a little research revealed that he had indeed earned his chops in the speaker biz. I thought well, I will give them a shot, worst case I can drive them back up to San Clemente. I initially ordered 2 Sierra’s (and stands) and a 340 Center, but received a call the next day from both Dina and David that using the 340 center with the Sierra’s would not be a good idea. Upgraded to all Sierra’s across the front.

When they arrived, I un-boxed them and put them on the test set-up, just a 2 channel listen at first, no fiddly placement just ear level, equidistant and square, queued up my favorite test tracks on the squeezebox, closed my eyes and sat back.

The following scene unfolds about 30 seconds into the first track.

Jaw drops to floor, eyes snap open. “Did I leave the Sub on?” Nope. “Center channel on?” Nope. “Receiver in direct mode” Yep. “EQ flat” Yep. Back to the chair. The next 20 minutes are me totally lost in the music, the speakers just disappear. I have not had that experience in a quite a number of years.

Into the house they went, search over.

I suppose I could go on about the soundstage, transparency, accuracy, “air”, musicality, etc … but to me the test is, does the music evoke emotion? With the Sierra’s un-equivocally.

I know that the performance of the speakers goes back to a cold hard set of measurements, changes, engineering innovations, fabrication techniques, careful parts selection and iterative testing, but I like to think that a bit of the folks at Ascend soul’s are mixed in there too. A stunning piece of work.

I am still dialing in my HT setup and will post pics when it is done.

I t would be my honor to come to your facility some day to audition the Towers and ply the Ascend crew with frosty beverages and tasty snacks.

Awesome product, awesome service and an un-believable value.

Thank you so very much for re-awakening me to the joy of music.

Now to find the right Pre/Pro and amp to compliment these works of audio art ……

Cheers.

Richard.

[curtis]

Excellent!

Welcome to the forum!

[markie]

What a riveting and informative post, thank you very much Richard! I am keenly looking forward to more of your adventures as you further set up your HT and chose a preamp/processor and amplifier. I want to learn things like what (reasonably priced) equipment makes the most magic with the Sierras.

Thanks again!
Mark

[davef]

Richard,

Thank you so much for the wonderful review -- it was really a great read!

I have copied your review into a new thread in our "reviews section" where it will certainly get the attention it deserves.

Thanks again and enjoy!!!

[tdercole]

WOW, when you read posts like that you take out your credit card. Well done

[TomK]

Rich,
Welcome aboard. Your statement "The next 20 minutes are me totally lost in the music. The speakers just disappear" nailed it! If you hear "speakers" they are not cutting it. If you are drawn into the music as you were, you've found a treasure!
TomK

[Richard.Elwell]

Thank you all for your kind words and remarks. I have been away from this forum (and a bunch of other things) for a bit taking care of my Significant Other as she underwent treatment for base of tongue cancer. She is fine, cancer free and well recovered now.

In any case, still lovin the Sierra's. Got the 59" plasma on the wall with a decent cabinet for the equipment. Using a custom built HTPC running XBMC for movies and such. I have a 4.7 TB storage server in the garage to stream all my media files.

I will post a picture up tommorow.

So now my quest if for a "real" processor / Amp combo to drive the Sierra's for both 2 channel and HT audio. Just a simple 5.1 set up (rear surrounds are a pair of in-ceiling PhaseTech 3 ways that were left over from an install I did for a friend).

Looking for sugestions, I am curious about the Emotiva products, anyone care to comment?

Would love to find a 5 channel tube amp that cost less than my first house ....

Cheers.

Richard.