Hello from another Oregonian!

[Brady]

Hey Guys,

This is a combined "introduce yourself" and "setup question" post.

I'm 80% there in my research to switching over to an Ascend system.

Oregonian here (PDX area), married, youngish kids. Axiom Epic80-500 5.1 owner for last 10 years. I'd call myself an audiophile "wanna-be". I love words like neutral, transparent, imaging (3 dimensional!), effortless. I dislike words like forward, silver speaker cables, boomy, pain.

I love my Axiom M80s, for about 20 minutes. Then I want to turn them off and to do something else. For the longest time I thought it was because I was too bored to just sit and listen to music for longer than that. But this past year I've realized I suffer from listener fatigue. From reading various forums I understand it’s not an uncommon problem with the Axiom line. Maybe its the twin tweeter design. Maybe it’s their obsession with blind testing (something will sound great for 15 minutes, but wear on your after 30, but do blind testers listen that long to one single source?). We also are SO done with the VP150 center channel. Turn up because can't hear. Turn down because its too bright and painful. Great company, great people, but upgrading is very expensive with them now, so I've looked elsewhere.

I used to own Legacy Classics, and LOVED the detail from their ribbon tweeter, so I was excited to see Ascend using this technology in many of their speakers. However, I experienced fatigue with the Legacy's as well, but perhaps that was because they used two tweeters as well (one soft dome, one ribbon)?

I long to sit in the sweet spot and sit back and listen to great music for longer periods of time. Enjoy the recording. Enjoy being able to pin point instruments/vocalists in a wide 3d soundstage.

Towers w/ RAAL are calling my name. The Horizon is as well, as we're about 80% Home Theater/20% critical listening. Love the Ascend philosophy/approach. I don't want to listen to the speakers. I want them to get out of the way so I can just listen to the music.

I do like the QS8 quad pole surrounds by Axiom, so if I switch I'll miss them a bit. Great dispersed sound. Going Ascend looks like Luna is the best bet? They do ok as surround? They'd be great in an Atmos system I bet. Worry a little about having to cross them over so high (80?). Anyone have experience here?