Quote Originally Posted by Jasonindenver View Post
I would buy the best speaker I could afford with the RAAL right away. The RAAL is worth every penny for the type of music you listen to.

The new Sierra 2 is an exciting option because you would have a fantastic speaker right away. You could later add a sub as funds allow and reach the sound quality of the towers.

As far as stands, I have used everything from bookcases to plant stands before shelling out for a set of $400 stands for some B&W 602s. Honestly, I could not tell the difference from the plant stands (cut down to the correct level and weighted of course) from a set of dedicated speaker stands.

I have the towers with the RAALs and love them.
Dave has stated that the new Sierra-2s are the best 2-way speakers he's heard, but he has also stated that the mids perform somewhere between the Sierra-1s and the Towers. It's important to remember that the dedicated, sealed mid, and dedicated bass drivers (2 per Tower) still outperform the two way designs, both in detail, and dynamics.

The Sierra-2 is undoubtedly an exciting new design for Ascend, but realistically, as a 2-way design, it's still not going to be able to match the Tower/Horizon for sound quality. Since a sub is usually crossed over at about 60 to 80 Hz, the bass region of the Towers will also exceed the bookshelves down to the point where the sub is crossed.

If one were to compare the standard Tower with the new Sierra-2, the only area it would be equal to (or in all likelihood better) would be above the crossover point of the tweeter (somewhere close to 3kHz). I dare not even try to speculate which would better appeal to a listener, it could well be a matter of individual taste. Since the Sierra-2 is currently not available to the public, performance deltas are purely speculation.

The Tower would still be my choice, particularly if a sub was not to be implemented in the system. Add in the RAALs, it's a no brainer IMHO (budget, and placement considerations allowing of course).

Jay