Originally Posted by
bri1270
I'd just like to add a few comments after having the speakers for about 4 days now. I have listened to a lot of music and I have now had the chance to watch a couple of movies. I think I covered my opinion as far as music, but I wanted to add that these speakers are almost too revealing. Some recordings are just simply trash. As for MP3's or downloaded music, forget cranking it up, it sounds terrible on the Ascends. Obviously this isn't the speaker's fault, it's the recording, the speakers just let me know how bad it is. I was surprised by this because my Paradigms never showed me anything close to this level of detail. I have some really great recordings as well, which sound absolutely amazing. DMB live at Redrocks for example; I think that's a great recording, and I also like to use it as a musical demo. There are a few songs that are preceeded by or contain within them some hellacious drum solo's, and the 340's kept up like it was their job...wait a minute, nevermind. And "Along the Watchtower," when Tim Reynolds breaks out into his guitar solo, it's so damn crisp. I love being able to hear the picks hitting the strings. As for the imaging, forget it, these things are outstanding. When I would listen to music with my Paradigms, I would have to listen for a while, and almost convince myself that the voicing was coming from the center of the soundstage. The 340's out of the box were perfect.
Now for movies - Again, I am extremely impressed. There are a lot of details that I didn't realize I was missing out on (again with the detail thing). Small things, like people off to the left or right speaking, although I don't know what they're saying, I can hear them; I couldn't before. Dialogue is much more pronounced, and clearer from the center. I'm not sure what else to say as far as movies go. The Ascends handle all the material I've watched very well. Again, to me it's a detail thing. I like the fact that I am hearing things that I haven't before, it's great. I have watched mostly dialogue intense movies, as opposed to SciFi or special effects movies, because to me, my Paradigms were lacking in the center area, and I wanted to see how much better it would get with the 340's. With the Paradigms, I was constantly rewinding and turning up the volume. I don't have to do that anymore, which is great, because sometimes I'd forget to turn it down and something would explode or there'd be some intense action scene, and I would get blown out of my chair.
All is going very well, I am enjoying my new speakers very much. I now say with the utmost confidence that purchasing the Ascends was the best upgrade I have made to my HT setup. Who knew speakers were so important...
