New Sierra 2 Up Grade

[Hlam]

I decided to give my impressions of my new sierra 2 speakers. I ordered two pair plus a center so I could have a system with five identical channels. Always thought this would be the ideal set up.

The speakers arrived in good condition on the January 24. I hooked two of them up the next day to give them a quick listen. I must say they sounded pretty good right out of the box. So good in fact that three hours later I was still listening to music.
DSCN0572 (640x480).jpg

Saturday morning and time for: out with the old and in with the new. I removed my rocket system. Now with the towers gone I have room to put my subs in the front, something I always wanted to try but did not have the room.

I have the front sierras sitting on my subs and the center in the vertical position. I did not take the time to run audyssey or even plug in the subs. I set all five channels to large and put on the Eagles Hotel California SACD. I listened to it in its entirety.
The sierra 2’s sounded incredible. They have enough bass to make a sub almost unnecessary for music. The midrange and treble is so smooth and detailed that all I could say was HOLY S**T. Five more SACDs later, listening at a level of about 75 dBs, there was not the slightest hint of listening fatigue. I thought that this was enough brake in, so let us see if they can rock.
I put in Dire Straits “Brothers in Arms” SACD and turned the volume up to -10 dB and let her rip. OMG the bass was powerful, clean, and accurate and the subs are still not plugged in. The sierra 2 can handle the bass in most music with no problem. The midrange and treble, even at 90+dB, remained smooth and detailed.
Congratulations Dave. You have produced one HELL!!! of a speaker.

[ematthews]

Nice. What color did you get?

[TheHolyCannoli]

Looks like the Satin Espresso, am I right? I can't choose between dark cherry and espresso...otherwise I would have already placed my order.

On a side note, I always assumed that you shouldn't put a speaker directly on top of another speaker, and especially a subwoofer. Is anyone else doing this without encountering issues? For my room setup, it would save me a lot of headaches if I could put my center channel on my sub.

[Hlam]

Looks like the Satin Espresso, am I right? I can't choose between dark cherry and espresso...otherwise I would have already placed my order.

On a side note, I always assumed that you shouldn't put a speaker directly on top of another speaker, and especially a subwoofer. Is anyone else doing this without encountering issues? For my room setup, it would save me a lot of headaches if I could put my center channel on my sub.

You are right they are Satin Espresso.
I have not noticed any difference in their sound with them setting on the subs. What kind of problems do you think that the subs will cause?
I am sure that I will have bigger problems to deal with if I try to put the subs back on the other side of the room where I had them before. My setup is in the living room. My wife was very happy when I told her I was planning to buy bookshelf speakers and move the subs over by the TV. Her reaction was not what most guy's would expect. She said, "Henry I that's a great idea and I can get end tables". You see it was more than 20 years ago that I gave away her end tables to make room for a couple of subs. I don't think that it will go over to well if I try to get rid of her new end tables because I want to put the subs back on that side of the room again.

[TheHolyCannoli]

You are right they are Satin Espresso.
I have not noticed any difference in their sound with them setting on the subs. What kind of problems do you think that the subs will cause?
I am sure that I will have bigger problems to deal with if I try to put the subs back on the other side of the room where I had them before. My setup is in the living room. My wife was very happy when I told her I was planning to buy bookshelf speakers and move the subs over by the TV. Her reaction was not what most guy's would expect. She said, "Henry I that's a great idea and I can get end tables". You see it was more than 20 years ago that I gave away her end tables to make room for a couple of subs. I don't think that it will go over to well if I try to get rid of her new end tables because I want to put the subs back on that side of the room again.

I was thinking along the lines of introducing vibrations between the sub and center channel.

[FirstReflect]

I was thinking along the lines of introducing vibrations between the sub and center channel.

Yup, many subwoofers most definitely vibrate enough when they play that they would either create a rattle simply from the cabinets of the speaker and subwoofer knocking together, or, at the very least, they would cause the speaker cabinet to vibrate in sympathy.

Thankfully, it's as easy as putting some sort of cushion in between the bottom of the speaker and the top of the subwoofer I do make use of the Auralex MoPads for exactly this sort of thing, and I know there are some other forum members here who also use the MoPads. But they honestly are rather overpriced for what they are, and they are not necessary. In the past, I've used simple, cheap mouse pads to great effect. All you're really after is any sort of effective damping device, though: something squishy enough to absorb the vibrations, but firm and thick enough that it won't compress under the weight of the speaker. So plenty of objects can fulfill those needs. I like mouse pads, though. They're, like, a dollar a piece, so they're not exactly a big expenditure -- haha.

[Hlam]

I don't think that the sub is having any ill effect on the sound of the sierra 2's.
I played a 16 Hz sine wave, at a level of 112dB near the sub, with the sierra 2's unplugged to see if there would be any noticeable movement in the 2's woofer. There was no visible movement in the woofer. I could feel a very slight vibration by lightly putting my finger on the woofer cone. I could feel the same vibration in the center channel sitting on the TV stand three and one half feet away.
After this test I feel very comfortable having the front two sierra 2's sitting on the subs.

[eliwankenobi]

Question,

Aren't the Sierra-2s on top of your subwoofers too low in height relative to you ear height when you are sitting in your listening position? Do you have them tilted backwards with some form of pad or something to point the tweeters at your head?

[curtis]

Question,

Aren't the Sierra-2s on top of your subwoofers too low in height relative to you ear height when you are sitting in your listening position? Do you have them tilted backwards with some form of pad or something to point the tweeters at your head?

Depending on how far back you are sitting, the vertical listening window can be pretty wide without an audible difference.

[Hlam]

Question,

Aren't the Sierra-2s on top of your subwoofers too low in height relative to you ear height when you are sitting in your listening position? Do you have them tilted backwards with some form of pad or something to point the tweeters at your head?

I made risers for the subs when I got them. I had to make them high enough to be used as end tables.
The top of the sub is 25" high and that puts the center of the tweeter at 36". I sit at a distance of 8.25'. This puts my ears off axis in the vertical plane by 1.15 degrees. I do not think that this difference will be noticeable. The center is about 4" lower that the mains and I did not notice an audible difference with the speaker level or tipped back slightly.
Here is a pic that shows my front setup:
DSCN0580 (640x480).jpg