Ascend CMT-340 SE Center Channel measurements!

[ahender]

You're not doing the Ascend brand or it's owners a great service with the postings that you've been doing over at ASR. I suggest that you let it go.

All my posts were civil. Apparently I'm a moron because I do not accept the premise that a speaker does not have to be listened to. The Ascend brand is in no danger based on my comments. If there is a danger to the Ascend brand, it's robotic journalism (aka ASR robotic speaker reviews). The latest casualty is the ASR CBM-170 review. ASR is bordering on cult-status. Amir is obsessed with his new analyzer. He labeled me a company PR hack in one of his last posts. All because I do not believe in his system of reviews. I'm a laymen and apparently, he looks down on laymen. A layman does not have the capacity to judge speaker quality by sound alone. Amir hates the audio companies. It's all a conspiracy. He stated I should never let my ears be the judge of a good speaker. If I buy a speaker and love it, I have sinned if I have not looked at his speaker graphs. I'm totally OK with what I have posted on the ASR forum. I'm not into cults so I want be back.

[cel4145]

I understand your point, but nobody is claiming that the preference rating is a be all end all solution to choosing a loudspeaker. It is interesting because the formula was derived based on the Harmon spinorama research and was statistically shown to correlate to user preference at a 0.86 rating. We don't have a lot of measurements or formulas in the audio industry that correlate to user preferences. The more hard data and correlations that we can make the better off the consumer will be.

What would be interesting to me, as a Sierra RAAL Tower owner, is a blind speaker test consisting of the BS22 and the Sierra 2 in a controlled environment with a large sample of listeners. Once at low volume where the BS22 is well behaved and once at high SPL where the BS22 cannot compete (this is not taken into account in the preference score). I wonder what the results would be? If we are to believe the Harman testing performed by Sean Olive, the BS22 might win the first and lose the second. I don't know what would happen, but I am not aware of any other group that has performed large scale controlled listening tests and published the results.

I think that would be great if you did the blind testing. That kind of thing needs to happen (a lot) to validate Olive's formula.

[Robert]

I think that would be great if you did the blind testing. That kind of thing needs to happen (a lot) to validate Olive's formula.

I agree. Also, my advice for anyone looking into speaker reviews is to take a deep breath and take a moment to evaluate and process the information. I saw some of the dialog on ASR and it was a bit over the top. It's one of the reasons why I likely will never participate in that site as it just seems too toxic of an environment. ASR could definitely improve on the presentation part as forum posts can sometimes reek of smugness....That can be tough to moderate I'm sure, but less opinionated statements to me is a plus! We just need to keep in mind that we're all fans of audio in some shape or form.

It's also important for us as consumers to be critical of the measurement process and ensure that it is presented consistently and objectively. A lot of the mainstream magazines have done away with measurements, which I find very unfortunate as it can hold vendors more accountable if they are accurate.

What I'd like to see is ASR's process validated better, as well as a more refined, more objective, & less opinionated criteria for speakers under a certain $$$ amount. Hey, I'd like the perfect speaker, but I likely don't have the big dollars to get there......I typically can't buy a Ferrari on a Honda budget. Besides, I'm slowly adding more room treatments in my media room and it is starting to feel like I have a whole new set of speakers.

[cel4145]

CBM-170 SE review out at ASR now: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/f...-review.11839/

[choombak]

While objective measurements are certainly useful, they aren’t the only parameter that determine which speakers would work within a particular room. I went through Klipsch, SVS, PSA and finally settled on Ascends for the price-to-perf the offered (in my living space, the CMTs’ and PSA bookshelves were indistinguishable in blind tests).

I read through ASR threads, and they certainly have an agenda beyond objective measurements - evident from their recommendations (which sway opinions), and attacks on people with whom they disagree. I don’t think I am interested in that forum anymore.

[bertf]

Hi All.. My first post and perhaps a hair off-topic...
I'm considering using qty 3 - CMT340's as LCR behind a 10 foot wide fabric projection screen (2.35:1 aspect). Based on the posts above and the fact*the CMT340C center model has "different" EQ/tuning than the normal LR model CMT340, seems I should buy the normal CMT 340SE to use as my center channel instead of the CMT340-C model designed to sit horizontal. This way I can use 3 identical CMT340se speakers all in a vertical orientation in my LCR setup behind the screen fabric. Just sanity checking with the forum here... Thanks in advance friends !! <Bert>

[racrawford65]

Where do you see that the center and verticals have different EQ/tuning?

[MusicHead]

They are different, the center has baffle compensation. See this thread, with comments straight from davef himself:

http://forum.ascendacoustics.com/sho...Main-vs-Center

[bertf]

Yes. As musichead points out, the EQ is different and I did not realize til recently most manufacturers of center channel speakers do this since they assume the center will sit horizontal underneath or on top of a TV. But in my case I have all 3 channels vertical at ear level behind the screen. Really glad I caught this little nugget of critical info !! I hope Ascend sales dept will be ok with selling me 3 identical speakers.

[davef]

Yes. As musichead points out, the EQ is different and I did not realize til recently most manufacturers of center channel speakers do this since they assume the center will sit horizontal underneath or on top of a TV. But in my case I have all 3 channels vertical at ear level behind the screen. Really glad I caught this little nugget of critical info !! I hope Ascend sales dept will be ok with selling me 3 identical speakers.

I wouldn't term this as "EQ" being different, but yes - the crossovers between the 340SE main and 340SE center are different. The center version uses a different crossover point between the woofers and the tweeter, and more importantly - has what we call "Extended Baffle Compensation". Most speakers have a baffle step compensation network as part of the crossover. With our 340SE center, the baffle step compensation network was designed to not only account for the size of the speaker's front baffle, but also to the extended baffle created by placing the speaker on top of TV a stand or in a cabinet.

I hope Ascend sales dept will be ok with selling me 3 identical speakers.

Of course! We do this all the time and since you will be using the "center" positioned vertically in your setup, it is recommended to use what we call at the office - 340SE single main. Which is simply a single 340SE, not the 340SEC.

All you need to do when you place the order, either through our website or by phone is indicate either by phone or email that you want the a 340SE single main as the enter.

Hope this helps and happy New Year!