Matt_Smi
12-17-2007, 09:33 PM
After playing so much back and fourth in my head about what speakers to buy to replace my aging, older than me, straight from the 80s, Advents, I finally decided to pull the trigger on some re-certified 170 SE’s with SP-30 stands, so far I am very happy I decided to make this move. Just for an FYI, I plan to only run these as my mains for a few mouths, then once I have some more money to spend (receiver upgrade comes first) I plan to purchase Sierra-1s for my front soundstage, and then the 170s will take over surround duty. So here we go with the impressions, I will try not to go on too long but I want to mention as much as I can.
Initial impressions of packaging, build quality, ect.
The speakers came well packaged and arrived undamaged. They were bigger than expected, but I imaged this would be the case. I inspected both speakers, figuring since they were re-certs I would find some type of blemish or a note to remind me these were used speakers, but I could not find any flaws! I swear it looks like no one has ever touched these speakers before, maybe Ascend sent me a new pair by mistake. The speakers look OK, nothing special but not ugly either, they match my HSU VTF-3 MK3 nicely, but again these will be my surrounds eventually so I am not concerned with looks here. I was also impressed with the stands, very sturdy and heavier than I thought, they also have very nice brass spikes and with the 170s perched on top they give off that cool studio monitor look, although they are a little taller than I would like, 37” overall height with speakers would have been a bit better looking IMO, but if the height helps the imaging I am all for it.
Listening tests/impressions of sound
First of I have to mentioned I am running these speakers with an incredibly cheap, crappy and dated AVR, it’s a Sony 545 that I purchased in 2001 when I was first getting in HT, it was $300 then and claims to put out 100 watts per channel, I would not be surprised if actual output was more like 40-50 watts a channel. That said I decided to setup the good old A/B test between the Ascends and my Advents so I could switch on the fly. I did this with some different source material, including high bit rate (192kbs) MP3s, CD’s and DVD’s. At first the differences were not striking between the two speakers, but the more I listened the more pleased I became, first off the soundstage and imaging is much better, I know everyone says this but the speakers do almost disappear when you are in the sweet spot, and the they give the impression that the sound is all around you, a very immersive speaker. Next would be the nuances of sound coming though, whether it be an extra guitar strum or a cymbal, I was hearing things that I could not notice with my old speakers, while they may have been there if you listened closely, they did not shine though like with the Ascends. The speakers sound overall much cleared and hit higher notes, but they do not sound harsh or bright on the high end, which was a big fear of mine, they also do not make my MP3 collection (mainly 160-192 Kbs bit rate) sound like crap, another big fear of mine.
I invited a friend over who is into sound (not an audiophile), but he knows his sound, in fact I just sold him my old STF-2 after upgrading. Anyway we did a blind listening test on a few songs and he always picked the Ascends, he said on some tracks it was hard to tell, but as soon as some complex instruments started playing, or the soundstage opened up the difference was clear. He plans on buying a pair of Dana 630's, so you can expect an A/B between those two from me in the future!
I understand that the Advents are old, but I still consider them to be very fine loudspeakers, much better than many I have heard today, and it is amazing that a speaker 1/4th its size and at only $350 a pair ($250 in my case) outperforms them, and just think these will be my surrounds and I will be getting the top of the line model for my fronts!
My friend and I only complaints are that the speakers can sound a little thin on the mid bass and bass in general, but I really think this has to do with my crappy AVR, it seems to be barley moving those poor woofers, this could also be due to my room. But overall I love the signature sound of the speakers, all the words most use to describe them are true, I wont list them all but you know what I mean, neutral, revealing but not fatiguing, open soundstage, ect.
In conclusion, so far based on only about 4 hours with them I love them and am pretty sure they are here to stay with a set of L-C-R Sierra-1s on the way in the near future (tax return time anyone). I still have a lot of listening, testing and configuration to do. And my next purchase will be a new AVR, either an Onkyo 705 or 805, but wow my system is finally starting to come together peace by peace. Here are a few pictures of my old speakers and new ones. Enjoy!
Old
http://img2.putfile.com/main/12/34814372868.jpg
http://img2.putfile.com/main/12/34814373326.jpg
New (I love how much space it appears to have opened up)
http://img2.putfile.com/main/12/35023483788.jpg
http://img2.putfile.com/main/12/35023483795.jpg
HSU VTF-3 MK3 for fun (man I LOVE this sub!)
http://img2.putfile.com/main/12/34717082691.jpg
http://img2.putfile.com/main/12/34814373397.jpg
Comments welcome, and thank you Ascend!
Initial impressions of packaging, build quality, ect.
The speakers came well packaged and arrived undamaged. They were bigger than expected, but I imaged this would be the case. I inspected both speakers, figuring since they were re-certs I would find some type of blemish or a note to remind me these were used speakers, but I could not find any flaws! I swear it looks like no one has ever touched these speakers before, maybe Ascend sent me a new pair by mistake. The speakers look OK, nothing special but not ugly either, they match my HSU VTF-3 MK3 nicely, but again these will be my surrounds eventually so I am not concerned with looks here. I was also impressed with the stands, very sturdy and heavier than I thought, they also have very nice brass spikes and with the 170s perched on top they give off that cool studio monitor look, although they are a little taller than I would like, 37” overall height with speakers would have been a bit better looking IMO, but if the height helps the imaging I am all for it.
Listening tests/impressions of sound
First of I have to mentioned I am running these speakers with an incredibly cheap, crappy and dated AVR, it’s a Sony 545 that I purchased in 2001 when I was first getting in HT, it was $300 then and claims to put out 100 watts per channel, I would not be surprised if actual output was more like 40-50 watts a channel. That said I decided to setup the good old A/B test between the Ascends and my Advents so I could switch on the fly. I did this with some different source material, including high bit rate (192kbs) MP3s, CD’s and DVD’s. At first the differences were not striking between the two speakers, but the more I listened the more pleased I became, first off the soundstage and imaging is much better, I know everyone says this but the speakers do almost disappear when you are in the sweet spot, and the they give the impression that the sound is all around you, a very immersive speaker. Next would be the nuances of sound coming though, whether it be an extra guitar strum or a cymbal, I was hearing things that I could not notice with my old speakers, while they may have been there if you listened closely, they did not shine though like with the Ascends. The speakers sound overall much cleared and hit higher notes, but they do not sound harsh or bright on the high end, which was a big fear of mine, they also do not make my MP3 collection (mainly 160-192 Kbs bit rate) sound like crap, another big fear of mine.
I invited a friend over who is into sound (not an audiophile), but he knows his sound, in fact I just sold him my old STF-2 after upgrading. Anyway we did a blind listening test on a few songs and he always picked the Ascends, he said on some tracks it was hard to tell, but as soon as some complex instruments started playing, or the soundstage opened up the difference was clear. He plans on buying a pair of Dana 630's, so you can expect an A/B between those two from me in the future!
I understand that the Advents are old, but I still consider them to be very fine loudspeakers, much better than many I have heard today, and it is amazing that a speaker 1/4th its size and at only $350 a pair ($250 in my case) outperforms them, and just think these will be my surrounds and I will be getting the top of the line model for my fronts!
My friend and I only complaints are that the speakers can sound a little thin on the mid bass and bass in general, but I really think this has to do with my crappy AVR, it seems to be barley moving those poor woofers, this could also be due to my room. But overall I love the signature sound of the speakers, all the words most use to describe them are true, I wont list them all but you know what I mean, neutral, revealing but not fatiguing, open soundstage, ect.
In conclusion, so far based on only about 4 hours with them I love them and am pretty sure they are here to stay with a set of L-C-R Sierra-1s on the way in the near future (tax return time anyone). I still have a lot of listening, testing and configuration to do. And my next purchase will be a new AVR, either an Onkyo 705 or 805, but wow my system is finally starting to come together peace by peace. Here are a few pictures of my old speakers and new ones. Enjoy!
Old
http://img2.putfile.com/main/12/34814372868.jpg
http://img2.putfile.com/main/12/34814373326.jpg
New (I love how much space it appears to have opened up)
http://img2.putfile.com/main/12/35023483788.jpg
http://img2.putfile.com/main/12/35023483795.jpg
HSU VTF-3 MK3 for fun (man I LOVE this sub!)
http://img2.putfile.com/main/12/34717082691.jpg
http://img2.putfile.com/main/12/34814373397.jpg
Comments welcome, and thank you Ascend!