Sierra 2 Reviews

[llee]

Hi, I'm new here and this is, in fact, my first post in this community. I put in an order for the Horizon a couple of weeks ago and it won't be ready until the end of November!

During a frustrating search for reviews on the Sierra-2s (I couldn't find any), I somehow stumbled upon an excellent review on YouTube. It helped convince me to order the Sierra 2s, so I recommend anyone looking for a good Sierra 2 review to check it out.

This link leads to an in-depth review of the Sierra-2 and whether it’s worth the extra money over the Sierra-1. It's a 2-hour podcast, but you can fast-forward to the 1:42:04 mark that starts the 12-minute review:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1Uz9Z7O8vA


There is also a 5-minute discussion that justifies the expense of auditioning and buying the Sierra-2 at the 1:52:27 mark:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bCCTNFh2F0


Anyway, I thought I'd share these Sierra 2 reviews because I suspect others will have had a very hard time finding any as I did. I hope it helps in your decision of whether to purchase the Sierra 2.

Lawrence

[astr0b0y]

Thanks Lawrence. I've had my Sierra-2s for about 6 weeks now and they have slowly but surely become very enjoyable to listen to. Not claiming any run in period here, just my ears getting used to the sound they make.
Great to watch a review afterwards, always nice to confirm a high cost purchase, especially since returning them was not going to be a financially viable option for me in Australia.
I was pointed to Ascend by the AV Rant guys - if it wasn't for them I would have purchased something from a local dealer.

[llee]

Hi astr0b0y, I'm glad you're enjoying your Sierra-2s -- I'm surprised to learn there is a customer from Australia! I do not have the Sierra-2s yet, but I recently got the Sierra Towers with RAAL tweeters. My experience with them is very similar to yours in that it took a bit of time to appreciate them, and it's also likely getting my ears to adjust to its sound.

My expectation was that the Towers were going to trounce my existing Monitor Audio GR60s, but I preferred the GR60s at first because it had better bass. I even wondered if I would eventually sell the Towers and keep the GR60s. After a few weeks of listening and comparing, the Towers won out because of its realistic vocals. With some recordings (particularly SACD), it was as if there was an invisible singer in the room.

If my preference was toward heavy metal, I'd probably keep the GR60s for their slam. And although I enjoy some hard rock, my preference is really toward pop and ballads. That's where I felt the Towers really shined. There was a Paul McCartney song (borrowed CD from library, can't remember song's title) in which the synthesizer sound practically shimmered, and I realized how special the Towers were (likely due to the RAAL tweeters).

I agree the Sierra-2s are very expensive for bookshelf speakers, but if you're experiencing realistic vocals like I am (I'm using the Cary Cinema 12 pre-amp and 7.125 amp), then I think the experience is definitely worth the cost.

[essneff]

If you like the Towers w/Raal, you will like the 2's IMHO.
It is unbelievable how 2's as surrounds make a HUGE difference over the dome tweeters that I replaced.
The "voice-matched" 5 speaker Sierra's are a significant improvement for me. I do not feel it is overkill to have 2's as surrounds, They are that good! A very impressive speaker in its' own right.
I won't be replacing any of my new Ascend's soon!

[llee]

If you like the Towers w/Raal, you will like the 2's IMHO.
It is unbelievable how 2's as surrounds make HUGE difference over the dome tweeters that I replaced.
The "voice-matched" 5 speaker Sierra's are a significant improvement for me. I do not feel it is overkill to have 2's as surrounds, They are that good! A very impressive speaker in its' own right.
I won't be replacing any of my new Ascend's soon!

Hi essneff, I really appreciate your post. Every now and then I wonder if spending so much on the Sierra-2s is really worth it; after all, Dave uses the CBM-170s for surrounds in the demo room and I could have saved over $1200 going that route. Your post is very reassuring. Thanks for letting me know that I really haven't lost my mind on this purchase.

[FirstReflect]

Hey look! It's me in those videos!

haha.

I appreciate you posting those links, and I'm even happier that you found my opinions helpful! I've really been blown away and overjoyed at the response AV Rant Podcast has received ever since we changed the format of the show to being pretty much all Q&A. We never intended for it to become a 2 hour show on a regular basis. We thought we'd have maybe 2 or 3 questions a week and then we'd fill out the rest of an hour with some news or something. But there's no arguing with the results! So, hey, if this turns a few more folks on to our little show, I'd certainly love to welcome any and all new listeners!

As for the Sierra-2 and the Sierra Towers RAAL, it's funny that you bring up the topic of bass. When I first got my Sierra Horizon RAAL speakers (I use two of them that are in a vertical arrangement as my main speakers, and they essentially sound very similar to the Towers RAAL), as much as I personally tend to gravitate to treble in terms of what I listen for first, the very first thing that actually jumped out at me was their bass quality.

I come across this frequently; I really think that most people have become accustomed to substantially distorted and inaccurately prolonged bass without realizing it! There is no surprise or shame in that. It is very, very easy for bass to continue to "ring" for quite a while after the signal actually said to stop, and it is also very, very easy for distorted bass to be mistaken as louder or even "fuller" or "more impressive" bass.

I would highly encourage everyone to listen to some really good in-ear monitors with extended bass output. I use the Shure SE535 or SE846 as examples. Once you hear bass reproduced by in-ear monitors like those, it becomes extremely clear just how distorted and over-long almost all other bass reproduction really is!

Bass can be "tight"; it can have tone and texture and detail. While it's easy to be impressed by "slam", tactile "gut punches", and vibration, if you're not noticing individual, delineated notes with texture and timbre in the bass, then you're missing out on what's actually present in many recordings.

So the bass from the Horizon RAAL speakers (and that would apply to the Towers, too) really stood out to me right away because they preserved the same sort of detail, texture, and "quickness" in the bass as those excellent Shure in-ear monitors. That level of transient response accuracy is maintained to the highest degree all the way up through the midrange and into the treble with the Horizon RAAL speakers. So from top to bottom, they are an example of producing only what is actually in the recording!

And that can be an interesting - even off-putting - experience when you hear it for the first time. It really does sound as though something is "missing" if you've not heard recordings reproduced that cleanly before. And there is something missing: distortion and residual sound energy that isn't in the recording and isn't actually supposed to be there! We've all just become accustomed to it, though, because the vast majority of other speakers out there produce far more distortion and residual energy than we realize.

The real key, in my opinion, is to let yourself get used to hearing things through the Sierra RAAL speakers and then going back and listening to your old speakers again. That's when it hits you like a ton of bricks just how much detail is being masked, covered up, and lost by all of the distortion and residual energy from most other speakers.

- Rob H.

[essneff]

Great post!
You summed up the Sierra's very nicely.

[llee]

Holy Sierra, it really is the one and only Rob H. in those videos!

Rob's comments about bass reminds me of what happened when I first got my Monitor Audio GR60s. I was disappointed in them, preferring the old speakers I had. The seller encouraged me to get used to the GR60's sound, which I thought was his way of consoling me for buying them. In the end, I wound up giving away my old speakers to a friend.

After a year with the GR60s, I happened to hear my friend play some music in his apartment with speaker placment similar to mine. I was shocked how horrible those old speakers sounded, and those were the very same speakers I preferred over the GR60s when I first got them! It was a startling experience, and the seller was right -- the GR60s were my first experience with audiophile speakers, and they do take time getting used to. The improvement is not always noticeable immediately.

I wonder if that's what's happening with astr0b0y -- when he says the Sierra-2s "slowly but surely become very enjoyable to listen to," he may be going through the same ear calibration experience I went through with the GR60s. It would be interesting to see what astr0b0y thinks if he is able to listen to his old speakers after spending several months with the Sierra-2s.

[astr0b0y]

This really is a major part of my experience, yes. The other is a 3 year old taking up my listening time!
Rob's explanation of bass with less distortion and shorter ringing is what I am concluding too, after getting some time to myself to listen for extended period, sub woofer off.
I still have my old speakers (Tannoy Mercury floorstanders) so might see if I can do an AB test for fun.
My long term plan is to do exactly what Rob has done and order two more Horizon for mains duties.

[astr0b0y]

Double post.