Originally Posted by
Clarke B.
I'm a very happy new owner of a pair of Sierra-1s, having received them almost exactly one month ago. Brian was an excellent advisor, and my entire experience researching, purchasing, and enjoying these speakers has been just outstanding. I'm powering them with a Marantz PM-8004 integrated amplifier (another somewhat recent purchase, and something else Brian so helpfully assisted me with as I anticipated a purchase of Sierras), and my sources are a Technics 1200-MKII turntable with an Audio-Technica AT-440MLA cartridge (80%+ of my listening is vinyl), and a Marantz CD-5001 CD player. These are my first really nice speakers, and the Marantz was my first nice amplifier, and the double-whammy of those two upgrades (I upgraded the amp first, and the difference was immediate and jaw-dropping) has made me never want to leave the sweet spot.
In any case--and this is undoubtedly a fairly newbie-ish realization--one thing that's been striking to me is that these speakers never seem to sound "crowded", no matter what I play. From browsing the boards here, I think my music tastes are perhaps a bit outside the forum norm; I listen to quite a bit of metal (old and newer), hard rock, post-punk, synth-pop, industrial, etc. (And also a fair amount of 20th Century classical music and ambient/drone.) It's absolutely amazing to me how the most crowded, loud passages of metal with, say, multiple overdriven guitars playing fast and loud and a drummer going ape****--these passages would often sound absolutely muddy and indistinguishable and train-wreck-y on my old setup, but with things as they are now there is clarity and space in the music, with each part distinguishable. And no matter how high I turn the volume, I never experience that "WHOA, OUCH" sensation that used to be somewhat of a frequent occurrence.
My question is, quite simply: why and how do these speakers accomplish this? Feel free to answer as broadly or as tech-specifically/geeky as you wish. The more I listen to these, the more fascinated I am with them.