Sierra 2 Reviews

[bobola]

Not sure why you are experiencing that. How are the speakers setup, i.e. distance apart & from the main LP, and are they toed in? The dispersion of the ribbon is different than a dome. I have mine slightly toed in but not aimed directly at my LP(Listening Position). They are actually aimed about 2' to 3' to the sides of me. Try adjusting them in small increments. You'd be surprised how small position changes will affect the sound. The way I have them setup makes Diana Krall's voice float in space.

These speakers image very, very well. I completely agree with this advice of carefully adjusting toe in. If you have one available, you might also use a mono recording to make sure you have a stable image tightly focused in the center. Good luck!

[mcatucci]

Not sure why you are experiencing that. How are the speakers setup, i.e. distance apart & from the main LP, and are they toed in? The dispersion of the ribbon is different than a dome. I have mine slightly toed in but not aimed directly at my LP(Listening Position). They are actually aimed about 2' to 3' to the sides of me. Try adjusting them in small increments. You'd be surprised how small position changes will affect the sound. The way I have them setup makes Diana Krall's voice float in space.

Thanks for the response Ed. I have them in the same position as the NrT's. They are 7 feet apart and I sit 6 feet away from each speaker. I tried the tow in but I'll move them in smaller increments tonight to see if that helps. Both straight ahead and aimed right at me, I was able to pinpoint the sound coming right from the speakers. For example, listening to Joe Bonamassa, his voice is dead center, but there is a guitar that floated around the right side of the stage with the NrT speakers, with the S2's the guitar is zeroed right in on the speaker. A lot of the sound (drums typical, but keyboards, etc) seems to be coming dead center too. It's like my soundstage narrowed up instead of opening up. And that's odd because the reviews all state the opposite.

[davef]

I received my S2's Monday and it is very obvious that they are a special speaker. Despite reading a number of reviews, I was still not expecting to hear the quality bass it produced. That bass just sings to me and I have no need to add a sub for my needs (2 channel only music).

Ok so that said, why am I missing my NrT's just a bit? I certainly hear some things I did not with the NrT's but I've also noticed a thing or two I dislike. For example, I can pinpoint the sound coming from the speaker now where as with the NrT bookshelves the speakers disappeared 95% of the time. This does not happen on everything but quite a few things and on albums that I always thought were very well recorded/mastered: both vinyl and hi res downloads. This bothers me more than anything else. Is it a question of allowing them to break in more? My eyes and ears tend to go right to the speakers instead of focusing on the music now as a whole.

Anyone else experience this and have it resolve?

The S2's have a far superior horizontal polar response. This means that you just might be hearing more accurate imaging the way the recording engineer intended the listener to hear. Also, Vinyl is full of various distortion, loads of harmonics that will be more easily replicated with the RAAL ribbon than with any dome -- and these harmonics can and will, more often than not, throw off various directional queues.

In addition, because horizontal dispersion is so wide with these ribbons, you are likely getting more side wall reflections than with the Sierra-1 NrT. How close are the S2's to the side walls?

When listening to well recorded vocals - is the singer dead center?

[mcatucci]

Dave,
Yes the singer is dead center on good recordings. The speakers are about 12" away from the side wall. The left speaker has some leeway because the side wall ends and the speaker sits out past it halfway. The right speaker is the one that really is drawing my attention and that one has to deal with the wall all the way out.

That said, I moved them around just a bit tonight (closer together and no toe in) and it made a huge difference. These speakers really seem to react to the material. They sound INCREDIBLE on one record and then on another they really highlight all that is wrong with the recording and I guess I have to get use to that. It has to be the music, there's no other explanation for how great these sound and then occasionally its like sour grapes. It also is opening my eyes to what I thought was good recordings and in reality they are not all that great.

I put on more of my favorite 80's material tonight and I would have thought these speakers would have destroyed those songs but instead they sound beautiful. I was able to key in on instruments I never knew were there.

Does this make sense?

Mike

[davef]

Dave,
Yes the singer is dead center on good recordings. The speakers are about 12" away from the side wall. The left speaker has some leeway because the side wall ends and the speaker sits out past it halfway. The right speaker is the one that really is drawing my attention and that one has to deal with the wall all the way out.

That said, I moved them around just a bit tonight (closer together and no toe in) and it made a huge difference. These speakers really seem to react to the material. They sound INCREDIBLE on one record and then on another they really highlight all that is wrong with the recording and I guess I have to get use to that. It has to be the music, there's no other explanation for how great these sound and then occasionally its like sour grapes. It also is opening my eyes to what I thought was good recordings and in reality they are not all that great.

I put on more of my favorite 80's material tonight and I would have thought these speakers would have destroyed those songs but instead they sound beautiful. I was able to key in on instruments I never knew were there.

Does this make sense?

Mike

Yep -- I was going to recommend moving the speakers a bit closer together. It is important to keep in mind that the 2's have very wide horizontal dispersion. When they are close to a side wall - more sound will be reflected off that side wall compared to dome tweeters, and that reflected sound is then combined with the direct sound and can throw off imaging. The advantage to such wide dispersion is that with the right combination of positioning and toe-in, results can be truly magical. You might even try some minor room treatments on that one side wall.

All of your comments make absolute sense to me. The 2's are much more revealing than the Sierra-1 NrT and yes, some recordings will be incredible and others --- not so much. One aspect of speakers like our Sierra-2 and our ribbon towers is that some recordings sound so incredible that consumers end up seeking out well recorded sources just to experience that often hard to describe hair-on-arm-raising listening experience. And, in seeking out these better recorded sources, end up listening to a much broader range of music than ever before.

For me, in all honesty, I can't go even a week before I purchase some new CD's that our own customers or someone else recommends. I don't even care what genre of music. Today, I am ripping the following to our server:

"Treasure" by David Helpling
"Roseland" by Acoustic Alchemy
"Fourplay" by Fourplay
a remastered version of "Astral Weeks" by Van Morrison
and
"Arnesen: Magnificat"

[bkdc]

"Arnesen: Magnificat"

I can highly recommend any album released by the 2L label from Norway. The recorded sound is mind-blowing. Stereo is awesome, but the multi-channel in 5-channels of Sierra-RAAL speakers is just heavenly. The selection is limited, but the recorded sound is just astounding. I've heard the term 'reference recording' thrown around all the time. When I go to a local high end audio store, I typically see albums like Beck's Sea Change and Pink Floyd's DSOTM for auditioning. We all know how good this can sound on a proper system, but 2L takes it to the ultimate level of micro-detail and clarity. These are truly reference recordings made with the ultimate in 21st century recording technique and technology. No amount of remastering will make DSOTM sound any better based on the limitations of the original recording technique and equipment. My hair stands up when I hear the tiniest details of each individual string instrument of a chamber orchestra separate out. Hands down my favorite label when it comes to sound quality. Their recording engineers know what they're doing. I must own 2/3 of all the albums 2L has ever released.

[davef]

I can highly recommend any album released by the 2L label from Norway. The recorded sound is mind-blowing. Stereo is awesome, but the multi-channel in 5-channels of Sierra-RAAL speakers is just heavenly. The offerings are slim, but the recorded sound is just astounding. I've heard the term 'reference recording' thrown around all the time. When I go to a local high end audio store, I typically see albums like Beck's Sea Change and Pink Floyd's DSOTM for auditioning. We all know how good this can sound on a proper system, but 2L takes it to the ultimate level of micro-detail and clarity. These are truly reference recordings made with the ultimate in 21st century recording technique and technology. No amount of remastering will make DSOTM sound any better based on the limitations of the original recording technique and equipment. My hair stands up when I hear the tiniest details of each individual string instrument of a chamber orchestra separate out. Hands down my favorite label when it comes to sound quality. Their recording engineers know what they're doing. I must own 2/3 of all the albums 2L has ever released.

I purchased the SACD that also came with the BD. Strangely enough, I am finding much better sound quality from the discs than from some of the available hi-res downloads.

[bkdc]

I purchased the SACD that also came with the BD. Strangely enough, I am finding much better sound quality from the discs than from some of the available hi-res downloads.

I only buy the Blu-Ray audio discs or SACD's (sometimes the combo package if sold that way). I hope nothing is lost with their digital download files.

I purchased an old model Sony Playstation 3 to rip the multi-channel DSD audio from SACDs for my digital library. I just prefer to own a hard copy of my hi-res recordings. But DTS-HD or PCM files from Blu-Ray audio discs are so much easier to deal with than SACDs.

[davef]

I only buy the Blu-Ray audio discs or SACD's (sometimes the combo package if sold that way). I hope nothing is lost with their digital download files.

I purchased an old model Sony Playstation 3 to rip the multi-channel DSD audio from SACDs for my digital library. I just prefer to own a hard copy of my hi-res recordings. But DTS-HD or PCM files from Blu-Ray audio discs are so much easier to deal with than SACDs.

Same here, I prefer to buy the discs and rip them myself. I have yet to rip DSD though -- far too complex for me

[mcatucci]

Dave -I actually own both the Fourplay and Acoustic Alchemy titles (even recommended one of them in the music thread here) so I will throw those on tonight and if anything doesn't sound right to me, I'd like to report it here and perhaps we can compare notes. By the way, the NrT's are what caused me to expand my musical taste. While not as revealing as the 2's they are still a special speaker that will hold a place in my heart.

bkdc -I've been wanting to try one of those 2L titles for a while now. Looks like I'll grab the disc versus the downloads to be safe.

Mike