Phipp, I do not find my 340's to sound niether bright or harsh, they have a well braced and damped cabinet. These speakers grow on you and you acquire a taste of the Ascend sound which to my ears is in a different class of other speakers at this price point. At $560 a pair you won't find a better speaker in my opinion. They continue to this day to amaze me with good source material and used in a HT setup with decent sub you can not go wrong. The only negative I have with the 340's is the disease to move up to the ST's which I hope to do soon. The 340's LCR and 170's surrounds=no regrets.
Jeff