The more I think about it, the less a "Sierra Sat Center" with an M-T-M design makes sense to me. What exactly would be its purpose?
If using dual 4" drivers allows it to play louder and lower, then it essentially just overlaps with the existing Sierra-2. So the question becomes, why not just turn a Sierra Sat on its side and call it a Center, much like how a Sierra-2 can be turned on its side and called a Sierra-2 Center?
Any supposed "Sierra Sat Center" with an M-T-M design would be some sort of "tweener" model - more like an alternative form factor with Sierra-2-like performance, which would be fine, of course. But it raises the question of why both models would exist - at least in my mind.
To me, it makes more sense to keep Ascend's Sierra lineup relatively simple: you'd have the least expensive and smallest model - the Sierra Sat and a Horizontal version which is just the Sierra Sat turned on its side and the tweeter rotated 90 degrees; above that, you'd have the Sierra-2 and its horizontal version; and above that, you have the Sierra Horizon RAAL and Sierra Tower RAAL. No overlap, no "tweener" models.
From there, I think the next logical thing to work on would be a super high output and/or higher efficiency speaker. The two markets that seem to be growing fastest are compact, wall-mountable speakers, which is now addressed with the Sierra Sat, and super high efficiency, super high output speakers that can contend with truly huge rooms and deliver concert-level dynamics.
I'd also REALLY love to see Dave tackle a self-powered Series of speakers. I honestly don't see passive speakers with passive crossovers being the future of speaker technology. Why should a "good" amplifier have to be one that can contend with any sort of load imaginable? Why should the efficiency of a tweeter or midrange driver have to be tamped down to match a less efficient woofer? Why should a passive crossover have to convert a bunch of Watts into heat just to get the drivers to blend?
We have amazing and amazingly inexpensive DSP options now to handle crossover duties. And we have remarkably efficient amplifier technology that works particularly well when it only has to work within a limited frequency range. So why not let the speaker designer perfectly match an amplifier to each driver, and use powered DSP filters to perfectly shape the ultimate response and output?
So those are my hopes for when this Sierra Sat project is complete
- Rob H. - AV Rant Podcast Co-host