First Impressions CBM 170's

[farmhousephotos]

My new 170's arrived this morning and I just finished wall mounting them on either side of my tv. My first test was a Rod Stewart live cd I happened to have in my player. I am old school so I wanted to try music that I have always enjoyed hearing through the years. I listened to this and a few others with my old re-foamed Advent Heritage towers before I retired them earlier in the morning awaiting my new compact mains. I have always like these speakers for music but when I auditioned the 170's I was blown away at the detail. I now know what pure sounding non fatiguing speakers sound like. I am not a sound guru or highly educated on all the nuances of which speakers have this sound or that, but I am a past musician and I know what I like in music and what it should sound like. These bring me back to the late 60's when high end amps and KLH speakers were all the norm with the vets bringing them back from Vietnam. Now I use an older Yamaha RX-863 and these 350.00 little gems and I am blown away with the sound. My next selection would of course be something from the era so I cued up Retrospective by Leon Russell. His unique voice which tends to be harsh was reproduced with amazing ease and his keyboard genius defined why he is one of the most underrated musician on the planet. Since I am only two hours into these speakers and already in awe I need to spend the rest of the night trying some more of my old favorites and allow my self to be taken back to a time gone by. I will report back in due time with some more thoughts as I wrap my head around the tonality of the music and a few movie tests.
Thank you Dave for creating such a fine speaker at a very affordable price.
Kudos to all your staff at Ascend Acoustics.

[sonicboom]

Hi farmhouse,

I have 170s as well and I second what you have said about them. My speakers are 3 years old, therefore well-broken in, and I must say that they have sounded even better over time.

[SGCSG1]

CMB 170's with a nicer cabinet... maybe $500-600.

Ever been considered?

I think there are a lot of people with a little more than $348 to spend who would like an Ascend speaker.

[davef]

My new 170's arrived this morning and I just finished wall mounting them on either side of my tv. My first test was a Rod Stewart live cd I happened to have in my player. I am old school so I wanted to try music that I have always enjoyed hearing through the years. I listened to this and a few others with my old re-foamed Advent Heritage towers before I retired them earlier in the morning awaiting my new compact mains. I have always like these speakers for music but when I auditioned the 170's I was blown away at the detail. I now know what pure sounding non fatiguing speakers sound like. I am not a sound guru or highly educated on all the nuances of which speakers have this sound or that, but I am a past musician and I know what I like in music and what it should sound like. These bring me back to the late 60's when high end amps and KLH speakers were all the norm with the vets bringing them back from Vietnam. Now I use an older Yamaha RX-863 and these 350.00 little gems and I am blown away with the sound. My next selection would of course be something from the era so I cued up Retrospective by Leon Russell. His unique voice which tends to be harsh was reproduced with amazing ease and his keyboard genius defined why he is one of the most underrated musician on the planet. Since I am only two hours into these speakers and already in awe I need to spend the rest of the night trying some more of my old favorites and allow my self to be taken back to a time gone by. I will report back in due time with some more thoughts as I wrap my head around the tonality of the music and a few movie tests.
Thank you Dave for creating such a fine speaker at a very affordable price.
Kudos to all your staff at Ascend Acoustics.

Hi Farmhouse -- it is great to hear such wonderful comments about our 170's. These speakers have been selling for nearly 15 years now with only one change and I LOVE the fact that they still get such rave reviews -- these speakers are close to my heart

CMB 170's with a nicer cabinet... maybe $500-600.

Ever been considered?

I think there are a lot of people with a little more than $348 to spend who would like an Ascend speaker.

I can look into this -- hadn't really thought about it over the years as so much attention has been focused on our Sierra series.