Happy new owner of RAAL towers

[jackofalltrades]

I've finally joined the forum to put in my two cents about my new RAAL towers. As a longtime headphone listener, I finally decided to take the plunge and start shopping for some real speakers. I started my search by looking through audiophile magazines, but quickly became disillusioned when I'd read rave reviews of a company's products only to find a full page ad for that same company on the next page. Visiting local audio shops typically only resulted in high pressure sales pitches for those same companies. So I began the much more arduous task of looking for trustworthy internet direct companies. Thankfully, during the course of my research I came across Ascend Acoustics, and, being unable to find one single negative review of their products or service, I put my full faith in the satin cherry RAAL towers.

Without a doubt, these speakers are one of the best purchases I have ever made, period. After about a week's wait they made their way across the country and onto my doorstep. They were packaged extremely well and were completely unharmed during the trip. The included gloves are a nice touch, and they assembled quickly and easily. Also, there's something that I love about having consecutive serial numbers (95300464 & 95300465). The satin cherry finish is absolutely gorgeous - prettier than I thought it would be. It's a deep, dark finish with hints of red and almost purple tones in it.

I'm using the towers exclusively for 2 channel music listening. I've got an Emotiva ERC-2 CD player and a Jolida 1501BRC integrated hybrid amp (both of these components are also in keeping with my goal of avoiding mass-marketed audiophile gear).

All I can really say is WOW. Everything I've listened to so far has been like the first listen again. The towers reveal so much detail, clarity, and musicality that I've found myself glued to them almost constantly since they arrived. The soundstage is impossibly wide - on certain recordings it somehow even extends far beyond the walls of my room. (The depth and height of the soundstage are also very good, but not as impressive as the width - this may have more to do with the acoustics of my room than with the speakers) On the best recordings, the imaging is so good you might even begin to hallucinate and think the musicians are in your room. On average recordings, the imaging is still pretty damn good.

I can't stress enough how detailed these speakers are, and yet they manage to be completely nonfatiguing. I've been listening for hours on end and rediscovering album after album without any desire or need to stop. Bass response is excellent - I wouldn't dare add a subwoofer for stereo music listening because the towers sound so good as they are. If there is one downside to owning the towers, it's that there is not enough time in the day to listen to them. They're THAT good. I have yet to play them for someone and not have to pick their jaw up off the floor.

A few highlights from the past two weeks of listening:
The Bad Plus - These are the Vistas (clarity, imaging is exactly the way they play live)
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion (detail, imaging, unbelievably large soundstage)
Miles Davis - pretty much any album (imaging, soundstage)
Beethoven Symphonies, John Eliot Gardner (never truly heard the period instrument difference until now)
Brahms 4, Karajan/Berlin Phil (the recording that convinced me a subwoofer was unnecessary)
Shostakovich String Quartets, Emerson (imaging, clarity)
Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca (imaging, clarity, details)
Michael Jackson - Thriller (did you know he's singing along with the intro to Wanna be Startin' Somethin?)
Herbert - Scale (detail, clarity, imaging, soundstage)

And that's only a fraction of all the albums that have been a totally new experience. I've thrown every genre I have at these speakers, I've had friends throw every genre they have at them, and I have yet to be disappointed in any way.

Thanks to everyone at Ascend for excellent customer service and a great product. I'll be back when I have enough space and money for a proper home theater!

[hearing specialist]

Awesome! Isn't the sound hard to describe sometimes? The RAAL units are so amazing as well as everything else. Glad your enjoying them and I look forward to hearing your thoughts as you re-listen to your music all over again.

[jackofalltrades]

Awesome! Isn't the sound hard to describe sometimes? The RAAL units are so amazing as well as everything else. Glad your enjoying them and I look forward to hearing your thoughts as you re-listen to your music all over again.

They really are hard to describe - in a word, I might just leave it at "real." It's not just that they present the music in 3D and are detailed and clear, but more importantly, they convey the musicality in recordings. I could go on and on about how the recordings I've listened to sound great, how the timbres and colors are so present and realistic (I'm an orchestral musician myself), you can hear page turns, breaths, etc, but there's really no way to explain the way these speakers get the music across.

And it doesn't only apply to classical music - across all genres, I hear so much more nuance and feeling in instruments, voices, and electronic sounds that many of my old albums that I thought were second rate have become new favorites, and all my old favorites reveal something new with every listen. Truly remarkable speakers.

[davef]

Thanks so much for posting your review!!!! So happy you are enjoying the ribbon towers

[loonytunes]

I really have to quit reading these reviews. Im drooling all over myself.

[cranster]

I've had 3 sierra 2's for the last month, and a half or so, and am blown away. Up until then I watched alot of tv, and movies but am drawn to listen to more music now because of these speakers. I had no intention of doing this... It just happened. They sound so good that I'm thinking of moving them to surround duty, and getting the towers with raal. I am running all my speakers through a upa 500, and a Marantz sr7008. Having never heard the towers let alone through an integrated amp I may change my mind once hearing it. I was planning on adding an emotiva xpa 200 to power the towers, but the integrated amp has piqued my curiosity. Can I ask why you chose the Jolida? I wonder if it's possible to use a low wattage integrated amp in conjunction with a higher wattage amp like the emotiva in a surround setup? I was thinking rather than a cd player of using my macbook pro to play dsd's through the new Resonessence herus dac straight into something like the Jolida.

[sbrownnw]

All I can really say is WOW. Everything I've listened to so far has been like the first listen again. The towers reveal so much detail, clarity, and musicality that I've found myself glued to them almost constantly since they arrived. The soundstage is impossibly wide - on certain recordings it somehow even extends far beyond the walls of my room. (The depth and height of the soundstage are also very good, but not as impressive as the width - this may have more to do with the acoustics of my room than with the speakers) On the best recordings, the imaging is so good you might even begin to hallucinate and think the musicians are in your room. On average recordings, the imaging is still pretty damn good.

Hello,

What are your room dimensions / characteristics and how are your Sierra Towers positioned (distance from wall and distance apart from each other)?

Thanks,

Scott