Sierra-2 Development Thread

[davef]

Thanks for the great feedback!!! And here I thought that the front slot port option would be universally praised. Glad that the large flared rear port is well liked as this absolutely gives the best overall performance.

I like the duel slot idea if you can make the cabinet a little bigger. Only if it wouldn't hurt performance. It seems to me like that would give much better performance if you were to place the center in a entertainment center or tv stand shelf.

The larger ported version also would be good if it improves on the sierra-1 port but I would prefer the duel slot design just for placement flexibility.

Also, I don't know anything about speaker design but could you do the front slot with a rear slot or port also? Not sure if that would help but just an idea.

Feasibility of dual front slots is not going to work (evaluated this last night). We would lose too much internal cabinet volume and the overall cabinet size would have to increase. Porting in front and back will cause cancellation at lower frequencies and ultimately result in less bass.

I've listened to bookshelf speakers that had the front ports (I believe) tuned improperly and it muddied up the midrange/upper midbass. Two of these speakers were the Polk RT5s (from the mid 90s), the other was the Polk LSi7. When I plugged the ports on these 2 speakers with socks, they sounded amazing, but open them up and the midrange was muddy and congested.

For a loudspeaker that will produce a decent amount of bass, for a single slot port the slot height must be considerable. This increases the port area and thus requires a very long channel (tube length) and in the case of the Sierra-1, far greater length than the depth of the cabinet. Many bookshelf speakers use slot ports improperly as it can be hard to measure port resonance and they don't model all that well in various software programs. With the Horizon, we solve the issue by using (2) slot ports. We are lucky as it is rather simple for us to build up various sample cabinets to test these things.

I see no problem with the rear flared port, actually kinda like it a little.. Is that the same finish as the current rear port? It looks a little glossy but it might just be the picture. Also is there any way to avoid those 4 screws? Or get them to be flush?.. Personally I wouldn't prefer them to be visible from the side

The finish on these ports is slightly more glossy on the flare. It is the same internal and external flares we use on the tower. We should be able to do away with the mounting screws on the port tube for the bookshelf cabinet. I agree that it would improve the look without the screws.

Really great feedback so far!!!

[aenthusiast]

Is this just a normal natural finish? It looks great!

csample1.jpeg

[eliwankenobi]

Hello Dave,

I like the flared port on the back, if you can get rid of the screws, even better. It gives it a distinct look against other similar sized speakers. Even though I would prefer a front ported solution for easier placement closer to walls, if you find the best performance is from the flared back port, who am I to decide what's best? The Q plugs will still work with it since the tuning is the same right?

Also, based on the gains you get at certain frequencies with the new port, does this mean the speaker is more sensitive now?

Still, I must commend you for sharing this with your customers and welcome the feedback from the community here. I must say, I've been hunting for good speakers for a while and I am now between the Sonus Faber Venere 1.5 (maybe 2.0) and the Revel Performa3 M105 (maybe M106), each with the matching center. I heard both and they sound very good, especially the Revels... but all I've been reading about this new Sierra-2, coming from all the good things I've read about the Sierra-1 and towers with the ribbon Raal tweeters, I am actually waiting for this thing to be released with all the measurements you do and a price tag to see if I could afford it. This could be my first Ascend purchase

[eliwankenobi]

This is a good question... As I mentioned previously, the port tune is identical and performance from about 80Hz on up between factory built Sierra-2 and customer upgraded Sierra-1 --> Sierra-2 will be the exact same. The only difference is that factory built Sierra-2 (with the larger flared port) will have slightly more output on the low end, from about 0.2 dB (inaudible) at 80Hz, increasing to about 1.1 dB at 32 Hz. Of course, since we have no plans to change anything on the Sierra-1 at this time, one can always order a factory built Sierra-2 with the Sierra-1 port tube etc

Does this mean the Sierra-2 will have useful bass down to the 30hz range? I thought the Sierra-1 had good bass down to the 40s

[JustABrah]

This is a good question... As I mentioned previously, the port tune is identical and performance from about 80Hz on up between factory built Sierra-2 and customer upgraded Sierra-1 --> Sierra-2 will be the exact same. The only difference is that factory built Sierra-2 (with the larger flared port) will have slightly more output on the low end, from about 0.2 dB (inaudible) at 80Hz, increasing to about 1.1 dB at 32 Hz. Of course, since we have no plans to change anything on the Sierra-1 at this time, one can always order a factory built Sierra-2 with the Sierra-1 port tube etc

Thanks Dave, that's what I'll do to keep it all the same, can't wait to hear all the goods on the Sierra-2

[Mag_Neato]

Dave,
I like the rear port better as well.

Question: I noticed in the pics you posted that the bamboo grain changes direction from the front baffle to the top of the cabinet. My Sierra-1 cabinet does not look this way. The vertical grain & lamination lines continue in the same direction across the top on them. Is this how the current cabinets are constructed? If so, is there an advantage to this?

[davef]

Does this mean the Sierra-2 will have useful bass down to the 30hz range? I thought the Sierra-1 had good bass down to the 40s

Sorry for any confusion. The Sierra-1 are -3dB at 39Hz in our demo room. They still have plenty of audible output at 30Hz. 39Hz (in-room) is the point at which the bass starts its roll off. The testing I am conducting is just comparing different port options as a way to make further (but subtle) performance improvements. The Sierra-2 will likely have slightly less bass extension compared to the Sierra-1.

Dave,
I like the rear port better as well.

Question: I noticed in the pics you posted that the bamboo grain changes direction from the front baffle to the top of the cabinet. My Sierra-1 cabinet does not look this way. The vertical grain & lamination lines continue in the same direction across the top on them. Is this how the current cabinets are constructed? If so, is there an advantage to this?

Just sample cabinets assembled from leftover bamboo from our current tower build. Grain orientation on the Sierra-1 / Sierra-2 will not change.

[davef]

Is this just a normal natural finish? It looks great!

csample1.jpeg

Sorry - this is a completely unfinished cabinet, not really appropriate to offer as a finish option. (looks better in pictures then it does in person )

[Mag_Neato]

Sorry for any confusion. The Sierra-1 are -3dB at 39Hz in our demo room. They still have plenty of audible output at 30Hz. 39Hz (in-room) is the point at which the bass starts its roll off. The testing I am conducting is just comparing different port options as a way to make further (but subtle) performance improvements. The Sierra-2 will likely have slightly less bass extension compared to the Sierra-1.



Just sample cabinets assembled from leftover bamboo from our current tower build. Grain orientation on the Sierra-1 / Sierra-2 will not change.

Thanks for the info, Dave. I kind of thought that but wanted to be certain.

So, based on your port comments it seems like you are attempting to bolster the bass performance of the Sierra-2 to bring it closer to the Sierra-1, compensating for the Sierra-2's new woofer/mid driver which are geared more for better midrange performance.

[aenthusiast]

On the RAAL... Found this last night surfing around. I don't know if any of you have heard of the Lampizator (if not just google..) he is a guy out of Poland, does some crazy modifications to cd players.. Anyway apparently he built speakers using RAAL tweeters and here are a few things he had to say:

"I must admit I did not expect them to be that good."

"These drivers do not 'make the system sound good,' they make a good system sound true. But on my system this is the best I can imagine. They make music, they reveal detail, they do the 3D, the goosebumps, etc. The whole package."

"The amount of detail information available from my Lampizator CD players is scary on the RAALs."

"The RAAL tweeter is great one, I have it for 3 years now and I wouldnt exchange it for anything else."

Impressive words (especially if you read up on this guy!)