I Officially Joined the Family

[Audiator]

My beautiful satin dark cherry Sierra Towers arrived yesterday evening. I had them up and running within 45 minutes. It didn't take long for me to form the opinion that they were keepers. I only ran the towers solo without the sub, and will continue to do so until the weekend. The towers were spaced almost 6 ft. apart, 2.5 feet from the side walls, and 1 ft from the wall in back of them with a very slight toe-in. My ears were 7 feet from the speakers. I was a little disillusioned for the first few minutes, as the sound quality was a little underwhelming. Then I realized that they were running in multi-channel mode. When I changed to Stereo DSD Direct, the magic started, and my frown turned into a smile.

I've been reading owner's posts for the last 3 months that describe them as smooth, clear, accurate, and natural. I wholeheartedly concur that all of the terms apply to these marvelous speakers. I ordered the Dire Straits "Brothers in Arms" SACD and Hans Zimmer "Live in Prague" just so that I could play them for my innaguaral session with them. I reclined back in my chair with my feet elevated, closed my eyes, and experienced the fabled "phantom center". I unexpectedly heard sounds that caused me to instinctively open my eyes, and I discovered that something special had entered my spatial, material, and emotional realm. Yes, the music was that good, in a small untreated room with no calibration or subwoofer. I will post again over the weekend with new revelations. I'm tired, and am ready for bed. I'll be baaaack!

Thank you Dave, Dina, and the entire crew of Ascend!

[RPM]

Congrats! Your distance setting is the same as mine and I love it. You will only
Be happier as you get more time with them. When I added the F12 sub to the towers it was the final
Icing on the cake. Enjoy!!

[Audiator]

Thanks RPM. I just added my SVS PC4000 sub this morning, and yes, it is the icing on the cake. But, on the other hand, I have 2 HTM 200se's coming next week, and a Horizon with RAAL coming next month. I don't know how much better the music can get. The extra speakers will definitely enhance the HT experience though.

I'm just listening to music here all day. I don't want to leave this room! I'll play a movie tonight. My wife understands my obsession, and is ok with it for the time being, although she has asked that I hold off on any additional AV purchases for a few months! There are still a few things that I "need" such as an SPL meter, Dirac Calibration, and acoustic panel wall treatments.

Attached is a photo of what I have so far. IMG_0521.jpg

Don

[whitey019]

Welcome

[Jack1949]

Don,

Glad to hear that you're enjoying your new towers. I hope they give you many years of pleasure.

Jack

[Audiator]

Thanks Whitey and Jack!

Don.

[Audiator]

I just received my new HTM 200 se speakers today. I intend to use them as side surrounds, but today, just for kicks, I set them up as mains. I just put a cloth on the top of each of my sierra Towers, set the 200's on them, and plugged the Tower speaker cables into the 200's. They didn't sound great in the 2.0 configuration, but when I included my SVS PC4000 sub crossed over at 100hz they sounded like completely different speakers! I'm floored by the musical sound quality emitted from these little gems.

I need to get some advice from Dave or the knowldgable members. I don't have speaker stands for the "side surround" HTM 200se's yet. In fact, because of the small room size (11x13x8), I would rather mount on the walls. However, there is no available free space to wall mount on the sides. They would have to be mounted on the back 11 ft. wall, 4 feet behind my listening position. In addition, they would have to be mounted about 1 ft. from the ceiling. This position would entail pointing the speakers down at a sharp angle to my listening position, wouldn't it? Is this mounting position feasable for great sound?

I have the Audysey xt32 for calibration. I already have the Omni Mounts, but I decided that I better ask before I mount them.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Don

[davef]

My beautiful satin dark cherry Sierra Towers arrived yesterday evening. I had them up and running within 45 minutes. It didn't take long for me to form the opinion that they were keepers. I only ran the towers solo without the sub, and will continue to do so until the weekend. The towers were spaced almost 6 ft. apart, 2.5 feet from the side walls, and 1 ft from the wall in back of them with a very slight toe-in. My ears were 7 feet from the speakers. I was a little disillusioned for the first few minutes, as the sound quality was a little underwhelming. Then I realized that they were running in multi-channel mode. When I changed to Stereo DSD Direct, the magic started, and my frown turned into a smile.

I've been reading owner's posts for the last 3 months that describe them as smooth, clear, accurate, and natural. I wholeheartedly concur that all of the terms apply to these marvelous speakers. I ordered the Dire Straits "Brothers in Arms" SACD and Hans Zimmer "Live in Prague" just so that I could play them for my innaguaral session with them. I reclined back in my chair with my feet elevated, closed my eyes, and experienced the fabled "phantom center". I unexpectedly heard sounds that caused me to instinctively open my eyes, and I discovered that something special had entered my spatial, material, and emotional realm. Yes, the music was that good, in a small untreated room with no calibration or subwoofer. I will post again over the weekend with new revelations. I'm tired, and am ready for bed. I'll be baaaack!

Thank you Dave, Dina, and the entire crew of Ascend!

Excellent - very happy that you are enjoying the towers and thanks so much for putting your confidence in us!

[natetg57]

I need to get some advice from Dave or the knowldgable members. I don't have speaker stands for the "side surround" HTM 200se's yet. In fact, because of the small room size (11x13x8), I would rather mount on the walls. However, there is no available free space to wall mount on the sides. They would have to be mounted on the back 11 ft. wall, 4 feet behind my listening position. In addition, they would have to be mounted about 1 ft. from the ceiling. This position would entail pointing the speakers down at a sharp angle to my listening position, wouldn't it? Is this mounting position feasable for great sound?

I have the Audysey xt32 for calibration. I already have the Omni Mounts, but I decided that I better ask before I mount them.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Don

If I understand correctly, this will be a 4 channel system? Left, Right, and two surrounds? I heard a setup similar to this in a speaker store and it sounded good to me. You'll get effective 'surround' effects for movies. If you're listening to music in surround then there will be big gap when sounds pan from the front to the back. If that's the best you can do for now, then I would recommend going for it. If you're eventually adding more speakers to the mix, then the speakers behind you could become 'back surrounds' and you could add another set of HTM-200s or Luna's to the sides.

[Audiator]

Thanks Nate. I have a subwoofer, and a Horizon will be coming soon, so I will have a 5.1 system. Your advice seems sound and correlates to my thoughts. It seems best to get the stands, and have side surrounds, because, actually, I will probably be listening more to music than using HT. Your thinking is similar to mine, as I was thinking that the Lunas would be nice for side surrounds, and to move the 200's to wall mount rear surrounds. How'd you know that I might like the Lunas's? Brilliant minds think alike! Actually, although the 200's are very nice, I kinda wish that I had ordered the Lunas instead. Am I normal?

Everything that I have listed below has been purchased this year. It's no big deal to add another pair of small speakers to the list.... right? Please explain that to my wife!

Dave- thanks for the response.

Don