I thought I'd post my thougts in this forum as well as the other, so that anyone that doesn't want to sift through all of the threads ahs easy access.

I honestly don't even know what to say. I'm utterly stunned. Even with all of the hype on this site, I was not fully prepared for how good these speakers were going to sound. This is the best purchases I have ever made for my home audio/video set up. Let me start with this: My daughter finally let me have the room back, so I auto - EQ'd the speakers with my Pioneer Elite receiver's MCACC. I know some of you don't care for auto set ups, but this one nails it every time. I go in and make a couple of preferential tweaks, but nothing major at all. As a matter of fact, I could leave it alone and it would be fine. I just like to mess with stuff.

I haven't watched anything yet, so I can't comment on the movie preformance, but let me tell you, right out of the box these things are phenomenal. I can't believe how the soudstage totally blends and completely disappears. I had my wife come in and sit in my seat (the best spot of course). I asked her where she thought Dave Matthew's voice was coming from and she pointed to the center channel speaker. I'm listening to 2 channel stereo with a sub. I am in total awe. So I've been listening to everything from Danzig to Bob Dylan, to Kay's Choice...on and on. I like to think I have a pretty diverse taste in music. Anyway, like I said before, I won't do a technical review, because I don't know what the hell I'm talking about, but I do know good sound, and I know what I like. Earlier I mentioned doing some A/B testing with my Paradigm LCR 350's; I'm not going to bother, it's not even close. The Ascend 340's completely blow them away. The mids and highs are absolutely crystal clear. The Paradigms were much more muddy sounding by comparison. As a matter of fact, the Paradigms sounded like crap by comparison. At one point I turned the volume up to a level where the Paradigms distorted and were obviously struggling to keep up, and the Acends were flawless, I mean perfection. And I'm talking about a volume that almost makes your eyes water. It was very loud, way beyond normal listening, and these things were absolutely vivid. I can't even believe it. I'm literally sitting here shaking my head. I am very glad that I went for the 340's instead of the 170's. Not that I think the 170's are bad, I've never heard them, but I won't ever wonder what if. I definitely made the right choice. I don't ever remeber being this satisfied with a purchase, best money I've spent in a long, long, time. So my kudos to Dave and everyone else at Ascend. Thank you for making a great product and selling it at an unbelievable price. One of the professional reviews I read was dead nuts on, when it said that these speakers could sell for $800-$1000 and still be a good value.

Did I mention that I am completely awestruck. I bet by the look on my face you would have though that (insert your opinion of the hottest woman on earth) had just asked me out. Of course to me, that's my wife (in case she ever reads this).

One Word - Awesome!!!