Signing in from Houston

[JohnCarter17]

I just ended up Speaker Upgrade Adventure at Ascend's door.

Background is mostly HT and some CD. A couple years ago I rediscovered my vinyl after a friend had a vinyl party. I also made the mistake of spending time on the Steve Hoffman Forums (and a touch of AVS). I have been upgrading my system(s). In order to support 4K I upgraded the Yamaha RX-V995 with a TSR-7850 (Costco model - DO NOT GET IT). I also got some small Polk speakers to run Atmos. A friend gifted me his old system a few years ago, a Pioneer SX-1050 and a couple speakers.

I cleaned up the SX-1050 and set it up for my analog system, and moved the Cambridge Soundworks over there.


Otherwise:
Turntable:Rega RP-6 w/ GT subplatter and w. belt, Yamaha P-550
Cartridge:Rega Exact
Tuner:n/a
Digital Front End:Yamaha DV-S5860, Panasonic DP-UB9000
CD Recorder:PC
Analog Front End:Yamaha KX-380 Cassette deck
Pre Amplifier:Tavish Adagio, Musical Fidelity X-LPS
Amplification:Pioneer SX-1050, Yamaha TSR-7850
Speaker System:Cambridge Soundworks MC-500, Klipsch KSW-200


So I decided to get some towers for a better soundstage. I was budgeting 2K.

I started my journey look asking and looking on Crutchfield and was thinking of Polks again. I then started researching more and looking at KEF (R500) and then was looking at Martin-Logan Motion 60XTs. I had decided I wanted a ribbon tweeter. I was figuring best buy for the dollar were the last series of high end speakers on discount. Some really good prices on at a bunch of places. I had pretty much settled on those beautiful Motion 60XT, but was still researching. I had planned to head over to a Magnolia to do some listening. Current world events put the brakes on that.

Another issue is I am a little tight on space, I can't keep them positioned where them need to be, but figure I can move them in and out of the way. To that end I bought some Herbies sliders for spikes. Also, those Motion 60XTs are 48 x 14 x 11.5 @66bls.

I then stumbled over threads about Ascend Acoustic Sierras, and kept looking. There are some rave reviews for them over on the Steve Hoffman forums and also on AVS.

So I decided to get a pair of the Towers in Cherry with the RAAL Tweeter. I really liked what I was hearing about the construction, focus of the company and other things. So I said eff it and busted my budget!

[racrawford65]

Congrats on the Towers.
What part of Houston are you in?

[davef]

I just ended up Speaker Upgrade Adventure at Ascend's door.

Background is mostly HT and some CD. A couple years ago I rediscovered my vinyl after a friend had a vinyl party. I also made the mistake of spending time on the Steve Hoffman Forums (and a touch of AVS). I have been upgrading my system(s). In order to support 4K I upgraded the Yamaha RX-V995 with a TSR-7850 (Costco model - DO NOT GET IT). I also got some small Polk speakers to run Atmos. A friend gifted me his old system a few years ago, a Pioneer SX-1050 and a couple speakers.

I cleaned up the SX-1050 and set it up for my analog system, and moved the Cambridge Soundworks over there.


Otherwise:
Turntable:Rega RP-6 w/ GT subplatter and w. belt, Yamaha P-550
Cartridge:Rega Exact
Tuner:n/a
Digital Front End:Yamaha DV-S5860, Panasonic DP-UB9000
CD Recorder:PC
Analog Front End:Yamaha KX-380 Cassette deck
Pre Amplifier:Tavish Adagio, Musical Fidelity X-LPS
Amplification:Pioneer SX-1050, Yamaha TSR-7850
Speaker System:Cambridge Soundworks MC-500, Klipsch KSW-200


So I decided to get some towers for a better soundstage. I was budgeting 2K.

I started my journey look asking and looking on Crutchfield and was thinking of Polks again. I then started researching more and looking at KEF (R500) and then was looking at Martin-Logan Motion 60XTs. I had decided I wanted a ribbon tweeter. I was figuring best buy for the dollar were the last series of high end speakers on discount. Some really good prices on at a bunch of places. I had pretty much settled on those beautiful Motion 60XT, but was still researching. I had planned to head over to a Magnolia to do some listening. Current world events put the brakes on that.

Another issue is I am a little tight on space, I can't keep them positioned where them need to be, but figure I can move them in and out of the way. To that end I bought some Herbies sliders for spikes. Also, those Motion 60XTs are 48 x 14 x 11.5 @66bls.

I then stumbled over threads about Ascend Acoustic Sierras, and kept looking. There are some rave reviews for them over on the Steve Hoffman forums and also on AVS.

So I decided to get a pair of the Towers in Cherry with the RAAL Tweeter. I really liked what I was hearing about the construction, focus of the company and other things. So I said eff it and busted my budget!

Thanks for putting your confidence in us and I hope you absolutely love the towers. Stay healthy and listen to lots of music!

[SunByrne]

Same as what racrawford65 said: welcome to Ascend, and where in the greater Houston metroplex are ya?

[JohnCarter17]

SW Houston, near BW 8 and Westheimer

[racrawford65]

Close to my office (BW8 and Westpark). I'm in N Houston (Spring). Stay safe!

[JohnCarter17]

My system with the Towers hooked up, which was a minor adventure.

my system.jpg

[JohnCarter17]

I ordered some herbies spike/cone gliders to ease moving the speakers.

Questions:

So how long to break in the towers?

Also, what are the 8 foam pads for? Under the speakers if not using the spikes? I didn't see them mentioned in the tower assembly instruction sheets.

Oh, and the heartbeat in DSOTM rattles the magnetic grilles