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Thread: Need advice on Sierra Tower Speakers (Currently own Sierra 2s)

  1. #11
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    Feb 2016
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    Default Re: Need advice on Sierra Tower Speakers (Currently own Sierra 2s)

    Quote Originally Posted by N Boros View Post
    I bet the Sierra Sats would be even better for a nearfield desk monitor. You might want to talk with Dave. Sounds like it might be a slight be cheaper too, if his pricing estimate is accurate.
    Actually, yes, that was my plan, eventually. I won't have the cash for that for a couple of years, but those Sats really do look like the absolute perfect desktop monitor, especially with little stands that tilt them up 15 degrees or so. Mated with a small subwoofer, I bet it would be intense for gaming. I do a lot of FPS gaming on my PC lately and headphone soundstage just doesn't do it for me with those games.

  2. #12
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    Apr 2014
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    455

    Default Re: Need advice on Sierra Tower Speakers (Currently own Sierra 2s)

    Quote Originally Posted by justthinking View Post
    Sierra-2 vs Sierra Tower w/ RAAL

    Soundstage - both has really wide soundstage and both speakers disappear really well, but the tower has better vertical soundstage and just sound taller

    Imaging - both speakers focus really well with Sierra-2 been the better of the two by a hair thin margin

    Mid-Range Clarity - This is the main reason I traded my Sierra-2 for the tower, the midrange, especially vocal, IMO is on a whole different level, mid-range on Sierra-2 is good, but you sort of feel it is blend in with rest of the sound, on the tower the mid-range is, for the lack of better wording, SEPARATED/ISOLATED

    Bass Response - Tower can go deeper and may have enough bass depend on the type of music and how much you like bass, but IMO, both needed subwoofer to sound complete

    Placement - Sierra-2 is really easy versatile and easy to place, I have used them as nearfield monitor, place them on stands with various distance settings and Sierra-2 always sounds good. Towers on the other hand, took me a long while to finally have them dialed in and my advise on the placement with towers is they need room to breath, if you can't give them at least 8-9 ft distance apart and 8-9 ft from your ears, you are better off with Sierra-2..
    justthinking,

    My main use of my Sierra 2s are for my main speakers in a surround sound setup. I mostly use them for home theater and just a little music. The two main advantages I would see going with the towers, for me, would be 1) a taller soundstage and 2) more midrange clarity. How noticeable are these when watching movies?

  3. #13
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
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    55

    Default Re: Need advice on Sierra Tower Speakers (Currently own Sierra 2s)

    Quote Originally Posted by N Boros View Post
    justthinking,

    My main use of my Sierra 2s are for my main speakers in a surround sound setup. I mostly use them for home theater and just a little music. The two main advantages I would see going with the towers, for me, would be 1) a taller soundstage and 2) more midrange clarity. How noticeable are these when watching movies?
    I don't think the dedicated mid-range in tower is that big of an advantage in ht setup since most of the dialog is coming from center channel and most tv shows now have 5.1 surround encoded

    What center channel are you using? What is the size of your room? Assuming you are using Sierra-2 for the front LCR, for small to medium size room, if you have 1 or 2 good subs, I would think upgrading from Sierra-2 to Tower w/ RAAL will not get you as big an improvement as going from Sierra-2 center to Horizon center w/ RAAL

    If you have a large room, then tower will definitely fill the space better and will sound fuller

  4. #14
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    Apr 2014
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    455

    Default Re: Need advice on Sierra Tower Speakers (Currently own Sierra 2s)

    Quote Originally Posted by justthinking View Post
    I don't think the dedicated mid-range in tower is that big of an advantage in ht setup since most of the dialog is coming from center channel and most tv shows now have 5.1 surround encoded

    What center channel are you using? What is the size of your room? Assuming you are using Sierra-2 for the front LCR, for small to medium size room, if you have 1 or 2 good subs, I would think upgrading from Sierra-2 to Tower w/ RAAL will not get you as big an improvement as going from Sierra-2 center to Horizon center w/ RAAL

    If you have a large room, then tower will definitely fill the space better and will sound fuller
    Right now I am in a corner of a finished basement, but it is an open floor plan. So it is about 10 to 12 thousand cubic feet of space. Huge. My Sierra 2s do quite well in such a large space, but I only sit about 8 or 9 feet from them. Currently I have a 4.1 system with Sierra 2s as fronts, Aperion speakers for surrounds and an Outlaw subwoofer. I bought the Sierra 2s because my plan is to put up a couple of walls and have a sealed 13 ft x 19 ft x 7 ft dedicated room. In terms of output I don't think that I need the Sierra towers, in that room.

    Right now I have a phantom center, since I am deciding if I want to get a Sierra 2 for the center or a Horizon with Raal. I'm planning to get probably four 12" Rythmik subs in the room, when it is finished. Also, I will be filling out the rest of the 7 surround speakers with Ascend speakers and a couple of pair of in-ceiling speakers for a full Atmos speaker setup.

    I'd rather not swap out Sierra towers for Sierra 2s, unless it will be a big difference. This is because in this narrow room, it is probably too tight to even use them as surround speakers. The Sierra sats would be a better fit there. Like you say the biggest benefit I will probably get by going with the more midrange clarity is with the center channel speaker. This would only leave a possibly taller soundstage of going with the Sierra towers as main speakers and maybe a "fuller" sound. I'm not sure how much "fuller" of a sound I would get having very capable subwoofers in a smaller room. Also, I'm not sure not large of an impact a taller front soundstage would be if I have in-ceiling Atmos speakers helping to create a height effect. After selling the Sierra 2s and buying new towers it might cost $1800 to $2000 for the upgrade to towers. I guess I'm trying to assess if that is a big upgrade or not.
    Last edited by N Boros; 05-27-2016 at 12:22 PM.

  5. #15
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
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    457

    Default Re: Need advice on Sierra Tower Speakers (Currently own Sierra 2s)

    Quote Originally Posted by justthinking View Post
    I don't think the dedicated mid-range in tower is that big of an advantage in ht setup since most of the dialog is coming from center channel and most tv shows now have 5.1 surround encoded

    What center channel are you using? What is the size of your room? Assuming you are using Sierra-2 for the front LCR, for small to medium size room, if you have 1 or 2 good subs, I would think upgrading from Sierra-2 to Tower w/ RAAL will not get you as big an improvement as going from Sierra-2 center to Horizon center w/ RAAL

    If you have a large room, then tower will definitely fill the space better and will sound fuller
    I would disagree here. Very little of Hulu is in 5.1, and only certain shows such as originals are 5.1 on Netflix, so I end up listening to a lot of things in stereo. I don't know about cable, because I'm a cord cutter.

    I do agree that the best idea is to go with a Horizon center no matter what. It really is incredible, and if you are going to be watching lots of 5.1 like I do, it's uncanny how realistic people sound through it, depending on how well the source material was mastered. Netflix originals sound pretty incredible, Daredevil is probably one of my favorites.

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