The Tower Discussion Thread!

[Dark Ranger]

It seems like a lot of people who use Ascend speakers also use Emotiva amps so I have a question for here that I specifically didn't want to post at Emotiva. I have towers, horizon and seirra-2's all powered by a XPA-5 and everything is pretty amazing. Even people who work for Emotiva have stated that they think the XPA-1's (and xpa-1L) are their favorite amps and even compare them to the reference series. I'm wondering if there would be a noticeable change to power my towers with the XPA-1L? This would allow be to have a fully balanced audio chain from source to amp too.

I am familiar with the my system/my ears/my room issue with how changes are different to different people but still wanted to ask. The change from my old AVR to using my XPA-5 was pretty significant.

Hi tme110,

I currently own six Emotiva amplifiers. In my experience, they all have more similarities than differences regarding sound quality. I found the largest improvement was in my initial jump from my Denon AVR to a real amplifier. I was just testing the waters back in 2012, so I opted for Emotiva's smallest amp, the mini-X. The improvement was anything but "mini." I was hooked and wondered what their more expensive amplifiers might offer. If I'm honest, the improvement from subsequent amplifier upgrades was more subtle. Definitely not night and day. I don't have any regrets, though.

Right now, my primary system uses three XPA-1Ls for LCR, and a UPA-500 for the four surrounds. I'm completely satisfied with the 1Ls, but also for reasons other than sound quality. They are, near as makes no difference, perfect amplifiers to my ears in that they reproduce exactly what they get without adding unnecessary ingredients. These are my "end game" amps for many reasons. But I did not notice much of a sound quality upgrade coming from an XPA-200 (for mains).

If you're really curious about the XPA-1Ls, definitely give them a try. But I'd caution against expecting a huge improvement. The XPA-5 is already a great amp.

[Sam1000]

The bass woofers on the Sierra Towers are specifically designed for bass... the S2 woofer is designed for bass -and- mids. To get improved mids, we had to go with a lower mass cone and this limits deep bass capabilities. Swapping the bass woofers in the towers with the S2 woofer would hurt overall performance, even though there is more radiating area -- bass response would suffer and since the bass woofers cross to the mid at ~200Hz, there would be no performance improvements at any frequency (just considerable added expense)

Hope this makes sense!

Yep, makes sense. Thanks for taking the time to address the question.

[JasonT35]

I'm thinking of upgrading my 340SEs to the Sierra Towers. Like most, I'm going back and forth between the NrT and Raal.

Anyone in South Florida who has the towers with raal willing to audition?

I will bring beer :-)

[ilovegold]

I have just placed an order for Sierra Towers w/ the raal ribbon. I'll be using a Yamaha rx-v373 avr to power the speakers. The avr has an impedance setting that the manual describes:

(From the manual)
6 ohm - Select this option when you connect 6-ohm speakers to the unit. You can also use 4-ohm speakers as the front speakers.

8 ohm (default) - Select this option when you connect 8-ohm or higher speakers to the unit.

Which setting is more appropriate?

Really looking forward to the towers!

[davef]

I have just placed an order for Sierra Towers w/ the raal ribbon. I'll be using a Yamaha rx-v373 avr to power the speakers. The avr has an impedance setting that the manual describes:

(From the manual)
6 ohm - Select this option when you connect 6-ohm speakers to the unit. You can also use 4-ohm speakers as the front speakers.

8 ohm (default) - Select this option when you connect 8-ohm or higher speakers to the unit.

Which setting is more appropriate?

Really looking forward to the towers!

Based on the specs of your receiver, I would recommend setting it to 6 ohms.

Enjoy!!!

[Joechoes]

I ordered a pair of RAAL towers as well.
I can't bring myself to watch a movie on my old speakers now. Feel like I have to wait and watch them
at their best with the new towers when I get them.
Hopefully, by then I will have saved up enough to get the Horizon as well....

[dhybiak]

Anybody with Sierra Towers (NRT) and a PS3? I'm a bit concerned. When I choose something and get that chime, I hear a bit of fuzz coming from the middle driver of my towers. I'm concerned I damaged something or something isn't setup right.

The speakers are connected to a Denon 4311CI, and I use Direct Mode. I only have the towers, no sub or anything else (running a 2.0 system).

Any advice or thoughts would be greatly appreciated. PM me if you like as well. Thank you!

[JustaSheep]

You could try using a tone generator from a different source to isolate the driver and remove the PS3 from the equation for the time being.

[curtis]

If it is both speakers, I am betting it PS3 is the source. Quite the coincidence is your mess up the mid on both speakers.

[Fantom]

I have original Sierra-1s and also hear the fuzz (somewhat like static) in the trail off after the selection chime sound from PS3.

Speakers powered by Emotiva amp running through a Denon 3312CI. I've found a few issues with the Denon (that Denon refuses to acknowledge or fix) but in this case, the sound coming from the PS3 is LPCM so I can't imagine the Denon could mess that up. It sounds like really low compression of the chime sound to me. Why Sony would feel the need to save a few KB on a short sound used constantly? No idea. Perhaps just a mistake that no one has noticed or cared to fix. I am curious now to check it out with a completely different setup (to isolate the chime compression itself as the culprit). Do you hear the "fuzz" sound with other setups (it may just be more noticeable with the towers).

Side note for PS3 users and Denon: Netflix on PS3 has surround sound and uses Dolby Digital Plus. I found that my Denon's decoding of DD+ is low quality and has random high pitched blips from the surround speakers. So I told my PS3 not to output DD+ so the PS3 does the decoding and I get better sound (and no blips) while watching Netflix! So many bells and whistles in today's AVRs, they can't be bothered to actually make all those features work. /rant