How about an Ascend Acoustics Subwoofer?!

[Mike^S]

Hsu now has bookshelf speakers as do SVS. How about it? I say bring on the Ascend Acoustics Subwoofer!

[curtis]

I think this would be a good thing too. With his previous job history, I am sure he has worked on and and with some great subs.

But the poor guy hardly has any leftover time as it is, now you want a sub, an GaryB wants a tower. You guys are relentless! :) It's not like DaveF goes out and hires others to do his design/engineering. ;)

He did once tell me, "With subs as good as Hsu, and the cost, there really is no need to make subs."

[bikeman]

An Ascend sub is coming. I feel it in my low frequency bones. ;)

David

[Jonnyozero3]

It's not like DaveF goes out and hires others to do his design/engineering. ;)


ha ;)

[GaryB]

...GaryB wants a tower...Don't forget the 3-way center! :D


"With subs as good as Hsu, and the cost, there really is no need to make subs."With all the offerings from Hsu, SVS, and others (the upcoming Mark Seaton-designed MFW-15 from AV123 looks really interesting), I for one am not clamoring for an Ascend sub.

[BradJudy]

I have to agree with Gary - there are lots of good, well priced options out there. I'm happy picking up a Hsu, SVS, Onix, ACI, etc model.

[Lou-the-dog]

I think it would be cool to own a sub from Ascend. I'd be most interested in a moderate sized sub for a 2 channel/music only system...perhaps a sealed design. Something tells me that Davef is working on a bass stand for the existing SE lineup. This would cover those that desire a full range speaker/sans sub offering. How close am I Davef??????

Randy

[tilt]

Put me down for a NO vote on subs. Sub people should do subs and speaker people should do speakers, not that I do not think Dave could do a sub.

I am a happy SVS sub owner. As some here may know SVS sent out questionaires to recent purchasers asking questions about how to improve their products....my suggestion was to stop making speakers and just be THE SUB to own.

I think that when you branch into other areas the immediate response is good as you sell a lot off of your name, but I think it is inevideble that the products suffer the customer support suffers and pretty soon you are not the company that attracted people in the first place.

I also think there are still a lot of speaker things left to do: floor standers, computer speakers, in wall speakers....Just my 2 cents.
Eric

[BradJudy]

I also think there are still a lot of speaker things left to do: floor standers, computer speakers, in wall speakers

I think computer speakers would be more distracting than a sub. It would require completely different drivers and enclosures, spec'ing little amplifiers, completely different market to understand, and lots of competition. At least the sub is familiar turf in terms of a market and DaveF certainly has experience working with various subs.

[Quinn]

Dave has done subs before elsewhere. They were considered among the best at time.

[Jonnyozero3]

He makes a hell of a cold cut trio...

[GaryB]

:confused:
.
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:D
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:rolleyes:

[Jonnyozero3]

Well, I thought I was funny at least. :D

[davef]

Been a crazy day ---

The subwoofer issue has been nagging me for a long, long time... Truth is, I worked side by side with some of the brightest minds in the industry, we set the standard for reference quality subwoofers well before the sub/sat system became an industry standard.

There is much irony in the fact that I don't offer a line of subs considering how many years I spent behind a Dual Domain Audio Precision System 1 (a $20K audio analyzer) evaluating and tweaking subwoofer amplifier performance... Perhaps it is due to a few too many capacitors exploding in my face or having to rip the guts out of the AP to track down a tripped breaker due to a mis-wired power supply on the amp... I suspect that it has more to do with my own personal satisfaction, to me, there is still art and expression in loudspeaker design, and with subwoofers it is more about numbers... More power and more excursion. Companies like Hsu and SVS already deliver that in spades...

Back in my "sub" days, we built subwoofers for sound quality. We were more concerned with accuracy, distortion, mechanical noise and system Q then with how much output they managed at 20Hz. Never a rattle or buzz... Tight, clean and EXTREMELY musical. However, in today's marketplace and on paper, a subwoofer built with these parameters rather than max output and extension would be a tough sell, unfortunate, but nevertheless true...

At this time I would rather precisely focus my efforts on products that offer exceptional sound quality for 8 or 9 octaves of the 10 octaves we can hear. Will there ever be an Ascend subwoofer? Probably – but only when I can come up with something different rather than offer a product that has 2 or 3 dB more output at 16Hz compared to the current champion, only to be dethroned a year later…

For example, the CBM-170 is over 7 years old and still remains the standard for accuracy in an affordable bookshelf speaker (yes, it has been updated once to the SE but the overall performance, design and principles have remained the same). I am not sure that type of long lasting appeal is possible with a subwoofer. At least it hasn’t been done yet ;)

[Jorge59]

If I correctly understood the "spirit" of Ascend, its main strength is being very focused (apart from the direct channel strategy).

Of course, David could do a great sub but, in this industry war, he might not be ready yet to jump into the "line extension trap".

As they grow successfully, most companies are temptated to introduce new lines of product. But the marketing experts say this is something that only the industry leader can afford. Over-segmentation can be an expensive pain in the neck....to say the least.

I think that, before making a sub, Ascend would rather deliver a 3-way speaker. But this is only customers' wishful thinking, not David's rationale, I guess.

He'll certainly know when to cross the borders, if ever.

[Jonnyozero3]

Nice thoughts - glad you shared them, Dave.

And Happy Turkey Day :)

[KojiroTakenashi]

Perhaps you could focus on size (smaller than the others) and price/performance...sort of like the Wii. You could be the Wii to another company's PS3-style subwoofer.

[dae3dae3]

If we are voting......

I vote for the tower first. I should be moving to a new house where I can have a dedicated theater in probably 4 to 5 years. That gives Dave a good solid amount of time to have the tower ready for my new theater. :)

[KojiroTakenashi]

If we're voting, I vote for commercial theater Ascends...oh hell yeah.

[curtis]

Unfortunately, I can not use a floorstander in my room. So if we are being selfish, I am hoping for another bookshelf that pushes beyond the current offerings in sound quality, making the same kind of impact the CBM-170 did 6 or 7 years ago, but at a higher price point.

I enjoy my 340SE's immensely, but I always wonder what DaveF could do for a cool $1K. I wouldn't be able to afford food for a while, but hey, sitting and listening to music does not burn up too many calories. :)

[Kpt_Krunch]

An Ascend sub - now that would be perfect with my music setup. I can hear it now, nice and tight, punchy (like a bass kick drum) but not 'boomy' like H/T subs are designed to be.

David - take your time - I'm sure you have lots to keep you busy, but when it comes out - send me an email, I'd be very very interested ;)

[joacosole]

what does this mean??

Stay Tuned For An Exciting Announcement Regarding Subwoofers for 2007 and Beyond!!!

[bikeman]

what does this mean??

Stay Tuned For An Exciting Announcement Regarding Subwoofers for 2007 and Beyond!!!
It means stay tuned. Ascend will be offering a different line of subs in the very near future. I'm guessing it will be an established ID sub manufacturer. What's your guess?

David

[joacosole]

It means stay tuned. Ascend will be offering a different line of subs in the very near future. I'm guessing it will be an established ID sub manufacturer. What's your guess?

David

JAJAJAJJAJA. I know that it means to stay tuned, I wanted to know if someone has an inside scoop to it.

My guesses:
-Making some kind of contract with HSU
-Contract with SVS
-Contract with both
-An Ascend subwoofer that blends seemless with their speakers. Maybe down from 16hz to 80hz. No x-over needed, just plug and play.

[chas]

what does this mean??

Stay Tuned For An Exciting Announcement Regarding Subwoofers for 2007 and Beyond!!!

Has it really been a year since this was posted on the sub product page??

Come on Dave...throw us a bone....:)

[Quinn]

It means stay tuned. Ascend will be offering a different line of subs in the very near future. I'm guessing it will be an established ID sub manufacturer. What's your guess?

David

My guess is it doesn't take a year to reach a dealership agreement with a sub manufacturer.

[drewface]

My guess is it doesn't take a year to reach a dealership agreement with a sub manufacturer.agreed. there's got to be something coming that has Ascend's name on it somewhere... can't wait!

[John_H]

Well, on the one hand I think it would be nice to have one just so that people who are anal retentive could have a complete brand matching home theater speaker set instead of having ascends with x-brand subwoofer. They would know that the set was engineered to be together that way.

On the other hand, I think Dave has a point about Hsu. I mean, is there really a whole lot he could add to the table in the sub realm? He would basically be doing it just to do it.

[curtis]

What stands over the test of time? Sound quality. From Dave's post above, I think that is what he is going after if he develops a sub.

[BradJudy]

Hsu's recent comments about changing business models lead me to guess they are either going to mainly do "engineered by Hsu" jobs for brick-and-mortar retail speaker brands or go directly into B&M sales again (like they tried with CompUSA a while back).

While it's possible they just design for ID companies like Outlaw and Ascend, I doubt it.

[boludaso]

Evidently you guys arent very big dreamers. I'm looking forward to something like this from Dave, in bamboo or piano black, sounding better, and for only $1449 a pair.

http://www.verityaudio.com/e/lohengrin.html

[davef]

Evidently you guys arent very big dreamers. I'm looking forward to something like this from Dave, in bamboo or piano black, sounding better, and for only $1449 a pair.

http://www.verityaudio.com/e/lohengrin.html


Darn -- I guess the cat is out of the bag now :p :D

[buddhadas]

What???

Dave is this true????

You sure are good at keeping those lips of yours tight when need be!

Peace,

Jim

[dallas]

I love the marketing for that speaker....

"Beautifully crafted and finished with exquisite Italian lacquer"


As if lacquer from any country but Italy would not shine as sweetly. LOL.

Remember folks, it's not high gloss unless it's High Gloss Italian! (made in china)

:)

[Jonnyozero3]

it'd be better if it was Italian "liqueur"....

[drewface]

i'm confused.... :o

[buddhadas]

Welcome to my world drewface.:p

[Jonnyozero3]

Liquor?? I just met her!


(is that better?)

[buddhadas]

Too damn funny Jon O.

[Jonnyozero3]

I had wine tonight :)

Now, back to COD4....