Sierra 1 or 340 SE's

[qqkltb]

Ok, those of you who have had the 340 SE's and now own the siera1's. I have a question. Putting cabinets aside, because I'm happy with the appearence of the 340 SE's. How much better does the sierra 1's sound. Please base it on sound quality alone. In other words if the 340 SE's was just as attractive as the sierra 1's would sound quality alone justify the difference in price?

[mziegler]

Yes.

[TenYearsGone]

Yes...My new Sierra's are incredible!:)

[mziegler]

Just remember that the improvement will never be directly correlated to price. I wouldn't say that the Sierra is 40% better than the 340 (there are always diminishing returns with any speakers), but the Sierra might be even a better value compared to speakers in it's price range. I have directly compared it to speakers almost three times the price and have preferred the Sierra.

[TenYearsGone]

.....Maybe I should shed a little light on my decision to try the Sierra's...I've been hanging around this forum about a year and am always learning something new.(Thank you people).I've never joined until now. I felt I needed to inform the curious people here about my experience with this remarkable speaker.First off,I sold all my equipment that I purchased in Japan, in 1980 (Pioneer Spec series) after purchasing the Panny xr55. I don't even want to get into what this little box can do. It's amazing!..Anyway,I was very happy with the 340's (se's).My biggest problem was bass management.I could never get the tight,punchy, clean bass I was looking for out of my sub.Don't get me wrong, I had people in my house with jaws dropped over the clarity and sound .But for me I was always looking for more punch and detail in the lower end.After telling Dave,who btw is a great guy and was emailing me at 2 am with answers to stupid questions, I decided to try the Sierra's. I listen to music 80/20. I have about 30 hours on the Sierra's, and man, I am very happy with the separation overall.They really are special. Oh ,my son slipped in Jurrasic Park in on me while I had company over.I knew the sub was off but it certainly didn't sound that way. I was stuck standing on the stairs for 20 minutes listening to the Sierra's...I mean the quiet scenes were dead silence ,the trees blowin in the wind and the sound of the dinosaurs wailing and stomping...Holy crap! All out of my Panny,2 Sierra's and a 340 center.AWESOME! Sooo..I hope this helps and it didn't come off to long winded..Nice work Dave and the Ascend family,nice work!:D One more thing, if you haven't heard 'John Henry Bonham' on the Sierra's your in for a treat!:p

[hotelpontotoc]

How do the sierra 1's hold up against the 340's purely on volume/power handling?

[davef]

How do the sierra 1's hold up against the 340's purely on volume/power handling?

The Sierra's do surprisingly well in this regard, however, if you are looking for extremely high output levels in a large room, the 340 SE might be the better option. It really depends on how "loud" is loud, the size of your room and how much clean power your receiver/amplifier is capable of delivering.

Please feel free to send me an email if you would like to discuss further.

Take care!

[audibleconnoisseur]

16x16x18h, corner to corner for viewing/LP, Denon 1905. S1 or 340SE's? I have pushed the 340SE's to above 110dB so I know they will really get nasty when I need them to be. Should I bother making the change?

[DrS]

Bump.

Interested in the reply and the tradeoffs involved.

[davef]

Bump.

Interested in the reply and the tradeoffs involved.

Hi DrS,

The Sierra-1 are cleaner, more refined, with better imaging and deeper bass response. They are simply a better sounding, more technically advanced loudspeaker than the 340, and this is reflected in their higher pricing.

However, if you require high efficiency and the ability to really play LOUD or fill a very large room with clean and accurate sound, the 340 SE would probably be more appropriate.

Hope this helps and please feel free to contact me directly so we can discuss your individual requirements.