want to order ascends, a little nervous

[bigpete1984]

over the last 2 weeks or so ive been doing some research on home theater speakers. of courser ascends name has come up over and over as well as axiom, x-ls series, and others. im just a little nervous however, first off, if i buy ascends and dont like them, who pays for the shipping back??? secondly it seems that a lot of people are doing 80% music and about 20% movies. my setup, however will be quite different, i'll be doing about 80% movies and 20% music. now, the reason i say this is because a lot of the the raving reviews that i have read on ascends, people were listening to music. how do they sound with movies???? i just want to be to able to have an AWESOME experience, sound wise with my system, but at the same time being able to listen to music that is above average. thanks in advance and sorry for the all the questions.

Pete

[curtis]

Pete, welcome to the forum.

If you do not like the speakers, you pay for the shipping back to Ascend. But if you notice, the cost of shipping the speakers to you is discounted.

Maybe you can find someone in your area for a demo first. Where are you located?

Many of us here thought we would be using the speakers more for HT, but after getting the speakers and enjoying them so much, we start listening to music more and more, rediscover our music collections, and seek out new music. The speakers are great, and reproduce what they are fed...regardless if it is for HT or music.

Have you gone out and listen to stuff at your local shops?

[bigpete1984]

im located in a little town called ladysmith, thats in wisoconsin. about an 1 hour north of eau claire. to be honest im not that much of a music person. dont get me wrong i like music and have several groups that i enjoy to death, however i would rather sit down and watch a movie than listen to music. the only speakers i have ever demo at an actual store are paradigms. i have a friend that has the cbm-170's with a hsu sub and absolutely loves them. im also not real sure on want receiver to purchase. the speakers will be run in stereo/2.1 for 6-12 months. any suggestions are greatly appreciated. thanks for the help so far.

Pete

PS-do you guys have a customer database that list where people are located so that i might be able to demo them??

[curtis]

There is a frappr map that might help you locate someone near you.
http://forum.ascendacoustics.com/showthread.php?t=1427


dont get me wrong i like music and have several groups that i enjoy to death, however i would rather sit down and watch a movie than listen to music.
Totally understood. What I have found is that when I am not sitting down watching TV/movies, I am playing music even if it is just in the background while I am doing other things around the house.

[audibleconnoisseur]

[QUOTE=bigpete1984] i have a friend that has the cbm-170's with a hsu sub and absolutely loves them. im also not real sure on want receiver to purchase. [QUOTE]

I suggest you go to your friends and listen to them and then think about it. I will say if you are mainly using for TV, the 200's would get you by *with a sub but the 170's would be better. If you want a larger and fuller effect wtih music, the 340's. I would say the 170's would be a good match for your needs since you are 80/20 HT. I would also consider a HSU sub to match them with. They are nice size but absolutely worth the cost and the bass and musicality from them is VERY impressive. Good luck young man!

[ebh]

a lot of movie sound is music, if you think about it. soundtracks are important parts of the film experience. and a speaker that handles music well generally performs well with other parts of the movie experience. clear dialogue and proper positioning/smooth transitions from left to right and front to back (tho i see you are starting with 2.1) are some of the things you want in your movie speakers. you will also need a capable subwoofer blended well with the other speakers to reproduce the low frequency effects. remember also that speakers are only one part of the equation. placement/room setup also plays a huge role.

start with a pair of 170s. also consider ordering a pair of the x-ls and the axioms (assuming they give you a period to send them back if you dont prefer them). yes you will pay shipping back on whichever speakers you send back, but at least you will be sure of your decision.

i generally don't see a divide with music/movies as far as sound performance. maybe you can get away with a little less for movies but if the prices are close i'm not sure the tradeoff is worth it.

[MichaelG]

I agree that you might start with a pair of 170's and at least an HSU 2.3 sub. They will sound great and you can build from there.

I too listened to 95% HT before purchasing my 5.1 Ascends. It is now closer to 20% HT and 80% musics. The HT is truly awesome combined with the sub. The music laced within the movies is awesome and the sound and effects are impressive. A 340SE center would be a great choice too.

Good luck in your decision!

Michael

[drewface]

i think the most important aspect of ht vs music is the sub you choose. like some of the posts above have mentioned or implied, if a set of speakers is good with music, it will most likely be good with movies, since the majority of the work the speakers will do is dialogue and the music in the background. in addition to this, though, are all the small sound effects that really create the ambiance of a film. i noticed after getting my ascends that there are a lot more subtle audio effects in many films that i never knew were there. i assume that many of these would be poorly reproduced with certain speakers, but the faithful source reproduction of the ascends is perfect for bringing these out.

going back to the sub woofer, most people i've heard talking about upgrading their speaker system for home theatre wanted to do so for all the crazy action sequences in the films. subs play a huge role in these scenes, so that should be a priority in an HT-targeted system.

[Grayson73]

I use my system for 95% tv/movies 5% music and I think they are amazing. For movies, you want clarity for the speakers and a rocking sub.

I have 3 340SEs up front and 2 170SEs as surrounds. 170SEs are overkill for surrounds. I don't think I'd miss anything if I had HTM200s as surrounds.

[daman]

Welcome BigPete, I'm down south of you near Milwaukee. The XLS at AV123 has free return shipping. I had both the XLS and the SE 170's. I can tell you this, the Ascend is the better sounding speaker but it does cost more. The XLS does have the better cabinet. I have no experience with Axiom. Good luck with your decision.

Later, Daman

[merrymaid520]

Daman & bigpete,

There are quite a few WI people around here, i am surprised:) I live near mukwonago. Bigpete, I hunt in your neck of the woods every year for the last 15 yrs or so. We stay at the old Wonderspot resort every time then drive to the Blue hills for the hunting.

Anyway,the ascends are great. Very accurate and clear. I use them in my theater room, family room, and in my parents home in Florida.

Good luck!

Brandon

[muzz]

When I was shopping for new speakers, I was like 80% HT, 20% music..

I think it's ALOT closer to 50/50 now, it may actually be 40/60!!

Sound GREAT in both capacities.

PS- I'd spring for the 340SE Center if I were you.....

Sounds sweet!

[Dread Pirate Robert]

over the last 2 weeks or so ive been doing some research on home theater speakers. of courser ascends name has come up over and over as well as axiom, x-ls series, and others. im just a little nervous however, first off, if i buy ascends and dont like them, who pays for the shipping back???

I can't guarantee anything, of course, but if you're looking for accurate speakers in this price range, then in my opinion, you can't do better than the offerings from Ascend. As long as you aren't looking for a particular "sound" characteristic aside from what your various sources actually sound like, then I doubt you would be disappointed.

That said, many people aren't sure what they want until they hear it, or want speakers that are more "forgiving" of poor source material (which includes most rock and pop CDs, as well as some movies) and "make everything sound good"--there's nothing wrong with that, but the latter certainly does not apply to Ascend speakers, which strive to sound true to the source, warts and all. I can say that good sources are going to sound their best on Ascends, giving you a level of detail that you would be missing on more forgiving speakers. It's analogous to watching a standard definition signal on an HDTV set, where good sources like most modern DVDs can look better than ever, while poor sources can look as bad as they really are. If your friend who owns Ascends lives close enough, then stop by for a listen--using your own DVDs and CDs--otherwise ask your friend whether these descriptions seem accurate.

The other Internet-direct companies you mentioned happen to have a similar philosophy, although there seems to be some degree of consensus that Ascend best lives up to the goal of accuracy at this time. I haven't heard the Onix x-series or comparable Axioms myself, but the former is said to be more on the warmer and forgiving side while the latter is on the brighter side of neutral to most people's ears. Personally, I'm glad that I chose Ascend so that I won't have to wonder whether I'm compromising more than I have to, and I have definitely not been disappointed in the least.


secondly it seems that a lot of people are doing 80% music and about 20% movies. my setup, however will be quite different, i'll be doing about 80% movies and 20% music. now, the reason i say this is because a lot of the the raving reviews that i have read on ascends, people were listening to music. how do they sound with movies????

What is the difference from your point of view? Some people prefer a more "forward" presentation in the midrange for movies because it feels more "dynamic" or "powerful" to them, while others might prefer a high-bass emphasis in order to make movies sound "fuller" or give more of a "slam" (in addition to what their subwoofers put out). Ascends, as noted above, are neutral and accurate, so they won't exaggerate anything in the soundtracks of movies. They should give you what the director intended (as most DVD soundtracks are re-equalized for home theater), and are strong enough to deliver real dynamics when the soundtrack calls for it.


i just want to be to able to have an AWESOME experience, sound wise with my system, but at the same time being able to listen to music that is above average. thanks in advance and sorry for the all the questions.

Ascend speakers sound great with movies, which should be true about virtually all speakers that perform well with all types of music. There may be issues that arise with very large venues that would force a differentiation between speakers designed for movies (related to dynamics and total output) versus music played at a lower level, but in a typical home environment, the notion of "home theater speaker" usually implies that a speaker has poor soundstage and/or imaging that can partially be compensated for with a 5.1 setup. I've heard and owned such systems, and in my opinion, a 5.1 setup with "musical" speakers like Ascends improves on their performance on both movies and music just as much as they do in a 2.0 system.

In other words, if a speaker is found to be lacking in 2.0 music reproduction, it may still sound really good in 5.1 with movies, but you know that you'll be missing something. In other-other words, music in 2.0 is a pretty good test of a speaker's quality for both music and movies.


I use my system for 95% tv/movies 5% music and I think they are amazing. For movies, you want clarity for the speakers and a rocking sub.

Clarity in the case of movies would mean being able to reproduce numerous sounds simultaneously with each sound remaining distinct. Some movie soundtracks help keep dialogue (the most important sound) clear by placing nothing but dialogue in the center speaker, but many others mix at least as much music and effects content into the center along with dialogue, which means the quality and capability of the center speaker are of utmost importance. For the price, Ascend speakers are the best I've heard with regard to "clarity" or "articulation"--this and frequency response are where these speakers excel in comparison to others of a similar class.


I have 3 340SEs up front and 2 170SEs as surrounds. 170SEs are overkill for surrounds. I don't think I'd miss anything if I had HTM200s as surrounds.

I also use 170SEs as surrounds in my system, and although I think that they probably are overkill in that role for the vast majority of movies, there are a few that have moments during which there is a substantial amount of mid-bass content in the surrounds (e.g. Titanic). Multi-channel music would also seem to benefit from relatively hefty surrounds, in addition to having matching tweeters all around, although I have not tried the 200 myself to determine how much it might give up to the 170SE. Perhaps for movies, the most optimal system (in terms of performance, cost, and ease of installation) would consist of a 340SE center, two 170SE fronts, and 2-4 HTM-200 surrounds. Of course, it doesn't hurt (anything but your pocketbook, that is ;) ) to buy more speaker than you need, just in case.

[bigpete1984]

thanks robert. that was all really great info and a lot more than i expected someone to post, LOL. but really a lot of good information there and i am glad to say ascend will be part of my future very soon, as soon as i get enough cash saved up. thanks for all the help and suggestions about my "nervousness". i am happy to say that with all the wealth of info i got, that i will not be disappointed in the purchase that will happen in the next couple of months. i will let you when i get them and let u know what i think. thanks again and have a good one.

Pete