I am replacing 30+ year ESS HD1000 speakers; the woofers are literally disintegrating. (I still have the original receipt from Pacific Stereo from 12/3/1982; I paid $299.90 but if I remember correctly I got a refund check for $100 when the speakers went on sale within a month of my purchase. I definitely got my money out of those speakers!)

Several years ago I did a lot of online research about replacement speakers and came up with the usual suspects in the sub-$1000 price-range. I auditioned the CMT-340SE speakers. When I did the A/B thing with the two sets of speakers I found them to be virtually identical sound-wise. The Ascends were a touch "brighter" than the ESS. Since I have always enjoyed the ESS I see no reason to look any further. And the Ascend customer service was so fabulous I resolved to do business with the company in the future.

I am not an audiophile and next week I turn 59, so my hearing has lost a bit over the years... I did an online hearing test a few years ago and a high tone that is commonly missing in elders' hearing was totally kaput. (I blame it on an over-amped CSNY concert in Portland around six years ago; even the acoustic set was way too loud. It was the loudest concert I've ever been to and I've attended a lot of rock concerts over the years...)

I have around 750 CDs and a couple of hundred LPs. But I do most of my listening via iTunes streaming AAC files encoded at 320kbps/44.100 and a fair amount of streamed music via MOG at 320kbps.

When I finally tossed the Outlaw 1050 into the trash after the right channel went out for the third time, I went with a Harmon Kardon HK3390 because I couldn't settle on a higher-cost 2-channel receiver with a built-in phono preamp. The HK was downright cheap at Amazon and while I don't like the sound quite as much as the 1050 and the ergonomics are terrible, it suffices for the time being. (I have to boost the bass to get it closer to the 1050's "warmth.")

The HK has 80 watts/channel 20Hz-20kHz at 8 ohms and 100 watts at 4 ohms. I'll probably be upgrading in the future but I'll be sticking with two-channels; I got the Outlaw AV receiver thinking that I would get into multi-channel music but that went nowhere since the music selection was so limited. We don't give a hoot about movie soundtracks; except for PBS most of our video comes via Netflix streaming. (DVDs are rare around here.) We tend to listen at low to moderate volume levels so I want a speaker that doesn't sound good only at higher volume levels.

My dilemma: I already know that the CMT-340s meet my expectations. But I do like the bamboo Sierra 1 cabinets and from what I have read they sound like great speakers. My wife tells me to go with what I want since after our experience with the ESS speakers, whichever Ascend speakers I choose will probably outlive us. She considers them a lifetime investment.

So are the Sierras overkill for us?