Question about Sierra 1's

[gus6464]

Over the past few weeks my wife and I have been looking for a pair of bookshelves for music. We prefer just 2 channel music with no sub and have listened to the following (Paradigm S2, Dali Mentor 2, Dynaudio Focus 140/Contour 1.4S, B&W 805S/705, PSB Platinum M2, Martin Logan Clarity/Summit, Vienna Acoustics Waltz/Haydn Grand, Aerial Acoustics Model 5B). Out of all the speakers we listened we loved the Dali Mentor 2's the best with the PSB M2's a close second but the bass on one of the songs we used was just too much. We are fans of neutral sound across the board and we were wondering if the Sierra 1's have that type of sound. The songs we use to test to see if the bass is too overpowering is Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero tracks 2 and 4.

Reason I am asking is because I have heard great things about the Sierra 1's and that they are easily worth twice the price which puts them in the same league as the PSB M2's, B&W 805S, and Dali Mentor 2's. Do you Sierra 1 owners feel that the bass would be too much according to our findings when listening to the PSB M2's?

[Mag_Neato]

I think the Sierra's will give you what is fed them. They are not going to emphasize any one spectrum of the frequency range over another. The bass you will get from them is clean and articulate, not bloated.

You always have the in home trial period!

[curtis]

I have heard the PSB M2 a while ago, and the 805S. Both are very nice speakers. If the bass was "too much", I would guess that they were not setup correctly.

The Dalis I recently heard were the Helicon 300's.....and I did not like them much. Same goes with the Ikon.

That said, IMO, I would say the Sierra is in the same class as M2 and 805S.

[gus6464]

The Dali Mentor 2's and PSB M2's were heard side by side on an NAD C162/C272 combo in a room with no acoustic treatments whatsoever. The room resembled a normal living room as much as possible which is why we were amazed at the clarity of the Dali and PSB when compared to the B&W demo which was done in an acoustically treated room powered by $12k MacIntosh gear.

We are going to do the in home trial period for the Sierra's but we were worried about the clarity and "neutrality" before going ahead.

[curtis]

I am not sure if you can easily mimic an actual room.

The Dalis I have heard all sounded "thin" to me and not very smooth/refined.

How would you chracterize the differences between the Mentor and M2?

[gus6464]

I am not sure if you can easily mimic an actual room.

The Dalis I have heard all sounded "thin" to me and not very smooth/refined.

How would you chracterize the differences between the Mentor and M2?

The mentor's and M2's sounded exactly the same on the first 3 tests we did. We used the following cds to hear the differences:
Muse Absolution/Black Holes and Revelations - Highs
Coldplay X&Y - Mids
Queens of the Stone Age - Era Vulgaris - Vocals
Nine Inch Nails Year Zero - Lows

On the nine inch nails cd the bass hit a lot harder on the M2's than on the Dali's and we were torn on whether we liked the extra bass or not. I preferred the Dali's but my wife preferred the M2's on the bass. I am guessing that if we found a speaker that was right in between the two on the bass in the NIN tracks we would be in front of the perfect speaker for our tastes.

One thing that I am actually wondering about is that on the other songs the lows hit exactly the same on both speakers and its when we got to the NIN cd that the bass was just exploding. Maybe the M2's produced the bass that the recording was meant to produce which would make them more accurate than the Dali's. And from what I read on the forums the Sierra-1's can produce very powerful bass which would put them right next to the M2's. I guess we are up to the point where listening to too many speakers has confused us.

[curtis]

Very interesting.


One thing that I am actually wondering about is that on the other songs the lows hit exactly the same on both speakers and its when we got to the NIN cd that the bass was just exploding. Maybe the M2's produced the bass that the recording was meant to produce which would make them more accurate than the Dali's.
Yeah...it means the bass response between the two speakers, at least in that room, is not the same.

[curtis]

Out of curiosity, when you compared the M2's and the Mentor's....did you level match when switching between the speakers?

[gus6464]

Out of curiosity, when you compared the M2's and the Mentor's....did you level match when switching between the speakers?

Not really sure what you mean by level match but we were comparing them at the same exact volume level if that's what you mean.

[curtis]

Not really sure what you mean by level match but we were comparing them at the same exact volume level if that's what you mean.
Yeah...that's what I meant. Did you set it by ear or with a meter?

If you left it at the same level on the receiver.....that is not level matching because the two speakers probably have different sensitivity ratings.

[BradJudy]

the two speakers probably have different sensitivity ratings.

90db @1W/1m and 86.5db @1W/1m to be exact

[curtis]

Thanks Brad....and the M2 at 4ohms and the Mentor 2 is 6ohms.....so the M2 is a little tougher to drive and the Mentor 2 is a little less efficient.

If you kept the volume on the receiver the same....the M2 probably sounded louder.

[Quinn]

90db @1W/1m and 86.5db @1W/1m to be exact

Which means if you didn't use a sound meter to match volume but just put the volume knob in the same place one was playing 3.5dB louder than the other and that makes comparisons off. General wisdom is .5dB difference skews things.

[curtis]

Which means if you didn't use a sound meter to match volume but just put the volume knob in the same place one was playing 3.5dB louder than the other and that makes comparisons off. General wisdom is .5dB difference skews things.
Which very possibly could have been the difference in the bass you heard.

[gus6464]

Yeah...that's what I meant. Did you set it by ear or with a meter?

If you left it at the same level on the receiver.....that is not level matching because the two speakers probably have different sensitivity ratings.

We mostly set by same volume level on the preamp.

[curtis]

We mostly set by same volume level on the preamp.
Then you likely experienced the scenario that Quinn pointed out, the then the "more" bass you heard from the M2's was probably a result of it.

[gus6464]

Then you likely experienced the scenario that Quinn pointed out, the then the "more" bass you heard from the M2's was probably a result of it.

The bass was like night and day though. Can that small amount of db difference cause such a drastic difference in bass? On some songs at same volume the Mentor's were producing very mild bass whereas the M2's were exploding with bass.

[curtis]

3.5dB is not small.

Of course there could be other factors, but I bet that is one of them. It also affects the perceived clarity of the speakers.

What is interesting is that the Mentor 2 is rated with more bass extension.....39hz vs 50hz for the M2.