Originally Posted by
arrogantyeti
A few months ago I purchased a pair of Sierra-1. Initial reactions were along the lines of "these sound pretty good but..." and I never really finished the thought. I had them hooked up to an Emotiva A-100 for first impressions. I brought down my Sonos amp and there was a definite improvement in dynamics and clarity (literally, things sounded clearer. There may be something wrong with my Emotiva, I've also noticed some static-like noises for the first few minutes after turning it on). So it was better, still not blown away, but pretty good. I should mention this is all a near-field-ish setup - they are each about 4' away from me, and probably 8' away from each other, certainly not ideal distances but it works well enough.
Long story short, I blew the hell out of any semblance of audio budget I had for my little work space and brought home a McIntosh MA5300. It's transformed the Sierra-1s in all the right ways. They sound really, really, incredibly good. This doesn't mean they're 100% what I'm looking for, though, I have a couple of things I wish they did differently.
First, I wish they were a little warmer. I'm not sure my definition of "warm" is the same as everybody else's so to clarify when I say "warm" I'm talking about full-bodied mids, deep punchy bass, and deep extension...honestly I think I might even prefer a little bit of bass bloom, whatever that is. I'd say the S1 have the full-bodied mids I like, and are right on the cusp of having enough bass for me, but I wish they had more bass impact/slam/presence at lower volumes. They can definitely belt it out at high volume, but I want some of that at lower volumes too.
Second, I wish the highs were a little...smoother? Honestly this isn't something I can put into words exactly. I fell in love with the AMT tweeters in the Emotiva line and Martin Logan's folded motion tweeters. They had sparkle without ever being harsh or bright or offensive. I have the stock tweeter in my S1 and there have been times where I've been like "This is a really good tweeter, do I really miss the AMT?", and then other times where I've thought "Yep, the AMT would've done that better."
This all brings me to the long-winded point of my post. Because I can't stick to a budget, I'm thinking about doing the S1->S2-ex upgrade kit. But I'd really like somebody who has either done this upgrade, or has heard both the S1 and S2-ex, to chime in with their impressions, thoughts, observations. Based on some things I've read online I have expectations already set that the Sierra-2ex will be smoother up top, warmer in the middle, and more rotund at the bottom both in terms of extension and weight. Are these expectations out of line with reality? How much warmer will it be? How much more bottom-happy? I've tried looking at both of their frequency response charts, and based on those it looks like there's only marginally more bass extension and output in the ex so I feel like there's got to be something I'm missing based on some of the things I've seen online so far, or maybe I just don't know how to read those charts properly.
As a possible reference point, I had the Emotiva T-Zero placed in the same position as these are right now. Those had the exact characteristics I'm looking for in terms of bass and I loved the AMT. There were other things that eventually led me to give those away, and for those reasons I wouldn't personally reconsider the Airmotiv line as they exist currently, but sonically they got more right for me than wrong.
Sorry for the rambling post, but I appreciate any feedback or guidance on my journey to what I hope is an audio setup I will be enthralled with for years.