Surrounds, which speaker?

[loonytunes]

I haven't been on the forums in a while but I now have a new project. I have been enjoying my Sierra towers for a few years now but recently moved and now enjoy them less. The living room in my new house has terrible acoustics. This led to the decision to make half the basement into a dedicated H/T listening room. I have just started tear out so I can build from scratch.
Im looking at all available offerings from Ascend for surrounds.
I currently have my crossover to my sub at 60hz. I will probably switch to 80hz once I have dual Rythmiks in place. Im wondering, which speaker will have the smoothest transition to Rythmik L or F 12s.
Currently, I see no reason the HTM 200 SE wont fit the bill nicely.
I was also wondering if there would be a possibility of trading a very lightly used Sierra center for a single Sierra RAAL tower in satin espresso. Id sure like to have 3 towers as my LCR.

[racrawford65]

I think the HTM200SE's will work well as surrounds. I was using a pair at one point but replaced them with my S2's when upgrading to the Towers. The 200's are now in the office :-)

Not sure about trade-ins. Maybe check usaudiomart or audigon for someone selling a pair of towers at a discount.

[loonytunes]

racrawford,
Usaudio does have a pair of towers listed but they are the Nrt not the ribbons.

[choirbass]

This would do away with surrounds but since you’ve been enjoying stereo with your Sierra Towers, or rather that you’re wanting the return of enjoy ability how about an external DAC instead? The sound quality is noticeably improved with one, I gave up surrounds when I discovered The Emotiva DC-1, an external DAC (no longer available, but $500 when it was). PS Audio has The Stellar GainCell DAC, $1699. I’m planning on getting one.

[loonytunes]

choirbass
Its not my system that is letting me down, its the room. My Oppo and Sherbourn pre/pro do an excellent job through the Emo XPA2 and the towers speak for themselves. Not to say Id turn down a set of the BHK monos.
Dear Santa.....

[choirbass]

I look at it as a choice between a pair of superior speakers or multiple subpar speakers.

Maybe room treatments would help.

An external DAC would most likely replace your current preamp come to think of it, so I can see only if you’re willing to.

For ultimate stereo you’ll want an external DAC.

[loonytunes]

Thank you for the clarification.
I cant argue that an external DAC may be better.
I stand firm however, that the gear is not the issue. Its the room.
Besides, two speakers although great for most when listening to music, just cant do DTSx. I dont care if they are Vandersteen Quattros.

[choirbass]

For surrounds the HTM-200 would be a good and placement friendly choice. It’s not necessary to cover bass frequencies unless you’re doing multi channel audio, which case the 200s may not be the best choice, unless you have a sub which it turns out you do. For the center a Sierra Horizon would be a good choice. Their performance is practically identical to the Sierra Towers.

[loonytunes]

I did like the Sierra Horizon when I had it in my system, its a great center, just didnt need it in my setup as the towers imaged very well. Both my last house and the current room are a bit small for all three across the front. The room I will be going into is 16 ft. across the front wall.
I had visions of three towers more for the aesthetic. I wasnt planning on a flat panel display but ive already changed my mind on that. Im going with a flat panel display along with a retractable screen. Since I also want the flat panel, a third tower will force me to set my display higher than I want it.
Concerning the HTM 200s. Ive been comparing the off center horizontal response with the Luna. Although the Luna has an exceptional horizontal response, the HTM 200s are better vertically. I think the 200s could be mouted vertically to get that wide horizontal of the Lunas.
One could argue most of this would be inaudible but when trying to get uniform coverage I think it would certainly help.

[davef]

Ive been comparing the off center horizontal response with the Luna. Although the Luna has an exceptional horizontal response, the HTM 200s are better vertically. I think the 200s could be mouted vertically to get that wide horizontal of the Lunas.
One could argue most of this would be inaudible but when trying to get uniform coverage I think it would certainly help.

Just a quick comment, no matter how you orient the 200's, it is not possible to match the wide horizontal dispersion of the Luna. The differences are quite significant.