Diamond Tweeter?

[ed_bob]

Depending on the final price, I wonder how much interest there would be in this "hot-rodded" Sierra-2 with the new woofer and the big RAAL. I imagine the price would start to approach the RAAL towers, which are still likely the superior speaker, but I'm sure there are people out there who prefer a 2-way monitor to a 3-way tower regardless of price.

If the new woofer could be an upgrade option for the standard Sierra-2 and stay under $2k, I think that would be a real sweet spot.

[Mag_Neato]

Depending on the final price, I wonder how much interest there would be in this "hot-rodded" Sierra-2 with the new woofer and the big RAAL. I imagine the price would start to approach the RAAL towers, which are still likely the superior speaker, but I'm sure there are people out there who prefer a 2-way monitor to a 3-way tower regardless of price.

If the new woofer could be an upgrade option for the standard Sierra-2 and stay under $2k, I think that would be a real sweet spot.

My thought was to pair the new woofer with the standard Sierra-2 RAAL as a "Next level" upgrade, easily installed by the end user as was offered for the NrT & Sierra-2 kits.

[N Boros]

My thought was to pair the new woofer with the standard Sierra-2 RAAL as a "Next level" upgrade, easily installed by the end user as was offered for the NrT & Sierra-2 kits.

I would very much be up for this too. I love my Sierra 2s, but it sounds like this is a significant upgrade to the woofer.

[racrawford65]

I'm also interested in this as an upgrade to my S2's. Wondering if these woofers would also be a possible upgrade for the Towers.

[curtis]

I'm also interested in this as an upgrade to my S2's. Wondering if these woofers would also be a possible upgrade for the Towers.

From davef earlier in the thread:

This woofer is designed to produce bass and mids, as such, it has quite a bit higher moving mass combined with a longer voice coil and greater excursion. The mid in the tower is a pure midrange with very low mass and uses an underhung voice coil for exceptional transient reproduction. Using this woofer as a mid in the tower would not improve performance, it would actually inhibit performance as we would have to pad down both the tweeter and bass woofer levels by a considerably amount to match the sensitivity of this mid (we would have to cut about -4dB, which is considerable, dropping the sensitivity of the tower to about 85-86dB)

As a pure bass woofer, overall bass extension would be slightly less as well.

It is an amazing woofer for a 2-way, and fully optimized when it comes to producing both mids and bass, but improvements can be made to optimize it for use as a dedicated mid or a dedicated bass woofer.

Hope this makes sense.

[ed_bob]

Dave,

Not considering cost, which would you consider the more worthwhile upgrade for a “stock” Sierra-2: the new woofer being discussed here or the RAAL 70-20?

[rifmon]

I’m also wondering if the Sierra 2 would need a new crossover for this new woofer if this woofer were to be a viable upgrade.

[davef]

I'm also interested in this as an upgrade to my S2's. Wondering if these woofers would also be a possible upgrade for the Towers.

I do not have enough of these woofers on hand to do a thorough enough test. One important note is that the towers would take a big hit on efficiency, likely losing 3-4 dB but with wattage being inexpensive these days, this really isn't a big deal. I have ordered a few more samples with an impedance change.

[davef]

Dave,

Not considering cost, which would you consider the more worthwhile upgrade for a “stock” Sierra-2: the new woofer being discussed here or the RAAL 70-20?

The woofer would be the most audible change and by a large margin.

I’m also wondering if the Sierra 2 would need a new crossover for this new woofer if this woofer were to be a viable upgrade.

Yes, absolutely - a new crossover would be required as well.

Guys - I know this is exciting but we are jumping the gun just a bit at this point. It is fun speculating but these woofers have never been mass produced before and SEAS has a few concerns about production quantities of this special Curv cone. Until SEAS is able to confirm that they can reliably mass produce these and at a price and quantity I am comfortable with, it really is all speculation. I truly hope we will be able to offer these in a standard product but for now they remain a very limited hand assembled prototype woofer that we are matching with the white diamond tweeter.

[rifmon]

Thanks Dave. I always appreciate the constant window into the development and evolution of each line of speakers you produce. (Something I believe is unique to Ascend Acoustics!) I will be patient and will be buying Sierra 2's very soon. If there is ever a "Sierra 2+" with the new woofer and crossover, I'm sure it'll be announced.