Well, I knew someone on here or another forum would ask this, and quite frankly, I don't have an "audiophile" level answer.
The speakers are different but basically have these things in common:
- They both use a RAAL tweeter, although the Ascend uses a different model according to them.
- They both are 3 way speakers.
- They are both ported, although the SALK is ported in the front, at least mine is.
- Both companies were a pleasure to deal with. Salk was a little different because I wasn't sure what I wanted so Jim helped me narrow in on the Song3a. There was some WAF involved here to, but not with the Ascends, I just got what I wanted for my room by ordering online. Dina has been great to work with.
The differences are really considerable, and the reason I'm not going to really compare or say that one is better than the other, except to say that I listen to them in totally different environments in with different equipment.
The Ascends are in my dedicated theater with wall treatments and low ceilings. My seating area is fairly close 7/8 feet. The finish is very nice, I have the black matte bamboo. I would probably consider my listening style as fairly near field in this room. I have some damage to my hearing at my age, and I find that I can listen to these at much lower volumes than the EMPteks that they replace which my family will appreciate. I assume this is because of the higher resolution from the tweeter and midrange drivers. My equipment in this system is probably above average for a theater, Yamaha CX-A5111/MA-5000, Oppo 203, Bluesound node 2, Thorens TD-145 through a Graham Slee stage.
The Salks are in my living room upstairs attached to the kitchen much larger room with 10' ceilings, no room treatments. They are a larger and heavier speaker. Finish is furniture grade, statement level, pretty much 5 month wait, but worth it. Electronics in this system are different, more of an old school analog bent- Yamaha A-S2100 integrated (more powerful, refined and just better than the HT amp), Oppo 205, Thorens Td-147 Jubilee, Bluesoud Vault 2. No phono stage as the one in the integrated is just a good as the Slee in my downstairs system as far as I can tell.
Here is what I'll say:
- The bass is about the same, not better, but different with one larger driver and the much larger and heavier cabinet.
- The mids are about the same but have a different sound signature.
- They seem to be a little more efficient, at least they don't seem to work as hard to me, but that is probably because they were designed in a different manner.
I don't have any intention of carrying the ascends up to the LR or the Salks down to theater to hear them side by side, mostly because I bought each for different reasons and different times and I am happy with both. Also, a big part of my decision to buy Ascend's was the Horizon center which will be doing most of the work in my theater anyway and it's reputation as pretty much the best somewhat affordable center channel, and I wanted RAAL too.
Needless to say, I think I'll be pretty happy with both systems and it'll be several years before I think about upgrading speakers in either room.