Sierra-1 NrT in home demo

[edmondwolfman]

Ok here is the deal. I was wanting to demo some stand mount speakers in place of my Axiom M60v2 towers and do it while on vacation in August. I had my mind made up to audition the Salk Songtowers but after my wife found out they would be close to 10" taller than my Axioms she freaked out...WAF anyone The Sierra-1 NrTs were what I had narrowed it down to. I emailed Dave on July 3rd and asked if I could get the Sierra-1 NrTs now and what would be the eta. I didn't hear from him for a few days so I erroneously thought that they didn't have any Sierra NrTs available for the near future and since I wanted to devote a good amount of time during my upcoming vacation evaluating some standmounts I went ahead and ordered the Swan D2.1se+Customs. I then received a reply from Dave on July 8th answering all my questions and thought "crap" I've already ordered something else. I realize Dave is very busy and has a lot going on and I'm a little impatient sometimes!

After much thought and everyone always saying "get the speakers you are interested in to your home, preferably at the same time and compare them in your environment, with your own electronics and choose the one that sounds best there" I decided to go ahead and order the Sierra-1 NrTs also. Hopefully I will have both and can compare side by side and pick what is best for me. Naturally one or the other will have to be returned and I was agonizing over how I would feel about ordering new speakers and then returning them but after conversing with Joe at AudioInsider and Dina at Ascend I understand that's just part of the business and that's why they allow 30 day in home demos. They truly do want the customer to be happy with the purchase. In each case I was told I would only be out the shipping costs from and to.

I've seen reviews exclaiming the Swans best the Sierra's and others stating that the Sierras are better than the Swans but I don't believe I've seen a comparison between the Swan Customs and the Ascend NrTs. Whichever one sounds best in my setup will get to stay. I don't have any leeway at all (see picture below). Each set will have to sit exactly where my Axioms currently are standing. They will be between 5 1/2' and 6' apart with a cabinet and plasma between them and about 22" from the back of the speaker to the wall so whichever works best will be the winner for me. I do have the speakers pulled all the way forward so that there is no cabinet between the drivers. The sub on the right is next to a fireplace hearth and the speaker on the left is approaching a hallway. The speakers are only about 7' from speaker to ear so I can't pull them out into the room anymore either. It might be that one will sound best in my situation where if I had room to move them out, left and right etc. the other one might turn out to be better. Bottom line is that the one I pick may not actually be able to beat the other in a shootout under perfect conditions and many may argue that I "chose the wrong speakers" but the ones I choose will be best for me.

I hope they show up around the end of next week.

Any recommendations on music that will put each of the speakers through their paces?

[NegativeEntropy]

Any recommendations on music that will put each of the speakers through their paces?

Music: I suggest pieces you know very well and ones that cover the full range of your listening habits and preferably frequency response (i.e. include some organ or other low freq stuff if it's in your library).

I listen to a baseline with a good set of headphones (Senn HD580 in my case) because that's the most detailed reproduction instrument I have then compare the details to other speakers. I will often find I hear things (details) with the Senns on that I had not/could not noticed on regular speakers.

Other: make sure to level match the speakers. I do not recall the exact details, but our brains perceive louder as better, so at the same volume setting, the more efficient speaker will have an unfair advantage (assuming max volume is not an issue for the less efficient speakers).

I'm not sure if you'll need to "break in " the speakers at all (e.g. leave them playing for X hours at moderate volume) so the sound you hear will be representative of the long term result.

Last: have fun!

[soundseeker]

I'm not sure if you'll need to "break in " the speakers at all (e.g. leave them playing for X hours at moderate volume) so the sound you hear will be representative of the long term result.

I know there are opinions both ways regarding break-in. My Sierras (non NrT) seemed to improve after around 10-15 hours of use.

[scape]

my cbm's and cmt relaxed and opened up around 10 hours. midbass especially

[edmondwolfman]

Do any of you guys know if the 30 day in home demo starts when I sign for the speakers from UPS or the day they ship?

[markenki]

Do any of you guys know if the 30 day in home demo starts when I sign for the speakers from UPS or the day they ship?

From http://www.ascendacoustics.com/pages...0dayguar.html:

A return authorization number must be obtained from an authorized representative of Ascend Acoustics within 30 days of receiving your product.

Regards,

Mark

[curtis]

Already thinking of returning them?