Farewell to 340SE's!

[Mr.Lawrence]

The VTF 3.3 is VERY fun on movies. It fully gets a 10 from me on that. On music though, I can never seem to balance it to the point that I'm totally satisfied. Also, it is slightly more boomy that I had hoped for meaning the damping oscillation seems to be just slightly longer than the former SVS SB12 I used to have. Granted, that could be because the SB12 couldn't even play the frequencies of sound that appear to be lingering a tad too long.

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BTW, I want to go ahead and withdraw my concern about the piano black finish. My wife and I both agreed it was not overtly modern looking (which would be a bad thing for our decor). In fact, we realized after placing them on the shelf that our Sony TV also happens to have a shiny, "piano black" finish, so nothing appears gaudy at all.

Thanks for the subwoofer input. Selecting a subwoofer has been a challenge to say the least. My decision has been based solely on reputation, the suggestions of others, reviews I have read and appearance. I'm pretty sure I'll go with the HSU, however, the Epik, SVS and Elemental Design subs have me interested. I'm really trying to take my time, and that's not easy for me.

When I purchased my Sierra-1s, Piano Black and Natural were the only choices.

[azanon]

Thanks for the subwoofer input. Selecting a subwoofer has been a challenge to say the least. My decision has been based solely on reputation, the suggestions of others, reviews I have read and appearance. I'm pretty sure I'll go with the HSU, however, the Epik, SVS and Elemental Design subs have me interested. I'm really trying to take my time, and that's not easy for me.

When I purchased my Sierra-1s, Piano Black and Natural were the only choices.

The 3.3, especially when it's on sale, is a tremendous value, IMO. There are subs about $300-500 more or so I would have also loved to try, but in theory, I just didn't see where the extra money was accounted for. I think the music vs. HT has to be a strong element of the equation. Overall, I'm far more HT than I am music. If I were strictly or more than 50% music over HT, I'd probably pick a different sub over the 3.3

[bluemando]

I agree with you, that going back and forth between speakers within a short time frame, and with the same CD would be a lot more accurate. I'm just hoping the differences are obvious enough so that I can avoid the PITA of switching the wire back-and-forth.

However, I believe you just compared distinguishing CD players and amps, to comparing different speakers! That analogy is a little extreme don't you think? What you're doing is FAR more difficult. Unless one CD player and/or amp is of really poor quality, I probably couldn't tell the difference even if i tried; assuming, of course, both are being played on the same speakers. You say you can and I'll believe you given your admitted expertise. But we're talking about completely different speakers here which are physically and mechanically dissimilar. Using real examples, I'd have no problem at all telling an HTM-200 from a CBM 170 from the 340 blindfolded.

? Perhaps I'm misunderstanding you, but I think we are in agreement here. I have never been able to distinguish differences between cd players and integrated amps. This "flaw" in my sound perception (and double blind tests seem to indicate that I am not alone!) effectively allows me to focus exclusively on the speakers being compared w/o throwing the amp or cd into the mix for consideration. If I was unclear in my post I apologize.

You say you can and I'll believe you given your admitted expertise. But we're talking about completely different speakers here which are physically and mechanically dissimilar. Using real examples, I'd have no problem at all telling an HTM-200 from a CBM 170 from the 340 blindfolded.

Putting my MMG's aside for the comparison, I'd say my Premier's and KEF's aren't all that mechanically different. Yes, I agree that lower bass capability of the Premier's (35hz) is a dead give-away, the KEF's only go down to 50hz; however, that can be neutralized by selecting music that doesn't have "blatant low-bass information" which obviously would point to the Premier's as the source. Doing that, I can pretty much focus on comparing detail, imaging, midrange and highs as revealed by each pr. of speakers.

> I have a very dubious opinion of high end amp separates or those CD players that cost 1K+ with the advanced circuitry that I don't understand. With CD players, the medium (bitrate of the CD) is probably the limiting factor to begin with. And with amps, if you already have a relatively high end A/V with a good amp, I'd probably be hard pressed to distinguish it from even a 2K dollar amp separate. And if it was hooked up wrong, it'd seem like there's actually a greater possibility for electric noise introduction if you have pre/pro + amp vs. just an A/V.

Yeh... I have to agree w/ you about that. In fact I KNOW I can't tell the difference )