So my new Sierra's are sounding good but...

[jake]

I'm a little underwhelmed with the bass response. With all the good reports about the bass extension I thought the bass would be much stronger.

The bass does sound good, rich and full sounding...but there's not much oopmh to it at all.

For comparison...I had the 340's before...and while the Sierra bass is richer and slighter deeper...it doesn't seem that much different. Definitely not enough to NOT want to plug in my HSU sub.

I was hoping I could run the speakers without the sub for music...but I don't think it's possible.

Would this be an accurate representation of the bass response? Slightly stronger/deeper than the CMT 340's, but not a huge difference.

The Sierra's are on my CMT 340 stands for now, running an NAD 763 on Large speaker mode. I guess I could try different speaker cables.

[merrymaid520]

Jake,

I am surprised with your findings. I too went from 340SE's to the sierras(in the same location FWIW) and the additional bass response and "Slam" was probably the most noticeable difference i heard the first time. The sierras reach quite a bit lower and have much more punch in the mid range. Have you checked your speaker size settings, tried moving them around a few inches here or there yet?

Its also possible your room is effecting the low bass response....suckout maybe?

Brandon

[Tushar]

What kind of music do you listen to and do you have the sub set up to be flat or bumped up some?

I have Sierra-1 and VTF3.3. Looked for bass output difference 2.0 vs. 2.1 in rock (classic, 80's, 90's, alternative), R&B, Jazz and Indian classical. I cross over at 60Hz but tried 80Hz as well and same result. I don't listen to party music which would go very low. I actually prefer the cleaner sound of 2.0. I've owned speakers that supposedly went to 45Hz before this and others same brand that went to about 55 or so and the loss of bass between these two was night and day. However, I have no experience with the 340s.

[Tushar]

Deleted few words from my post. Didn't hear any difference in output sub on vs. off.

[Hksvr4]

It might be that the 340's had an extra woofer. Which means better output. Even though the S-1 dig deeper, it might not be as loud as the 340's. If the S-1 had another woofer, I would assume it would have more oomph than the 340's. The 340's probably filled your room better than the S-1. That's my guess.

[curtis]

but that would only come into play if he played at louder levels.

In my room, the Sierra definitely has more punch than the 340's.

[GirgleMirt]

It might be that the 340's had an extra woofer. Which means better output. Even though the S-1 dig deeper, it might not be as loud as the 340's. If the S-1 had another woofer, I would assume it would have more oomph than the 340's. The 340's probably filled your room better than the S-1. That's my guess.
If the 340SE and Sierra used the same drivers, then you would not have been wrong with "better output". But you're comparing apples with oranges when you're comparing two 340SE drivers vs 1 Sierra drivers. I can attest that the Sierra driver has 'better output' than 2 340SE drivers :) Better in the sense that it sounds better! But this shouldn't be a max output (SPL) issue, although it's not impossible that it is, which is what I think you were referring with "better output". If the speakers aren't driven beyond their capabilities, max output shouldn't be an issue... The problem sounds more that at the same volume, the Sierras should be 'cleaner' than the 340SE, better transients, better 'punch', not sure of the exact audiophile term, but the Sierras are definitely punchier than the 340SEs, and that should be easily noticeable...

jake: How large is your room? How loud are you listening? How far are the speakers from the back wall and from your listening position? I'd try to play a bit with placement, as mentioned, maybe room modes are messing things up for you...

Btw, Hksvr4, S-1 is confusing as the S1 is a Paradigm speaker, Ascend makes no S-1 speaker! I was wondering with the Paradigm S1 had to do with this... hehe

[Hksvr4]

Sorry, I meant to say Sierra-1 (S-1). It could be the response of the Sierra-1's react differently to your room. Have you tried different crossover points?

[cyberbri]

Yes, placement is definitely a huge factor. It's good to move speakers away from walls to let the sound open up, but if you move them too far you lose bass reinforcement.

If they are say 18" from the wall (back of speaker to wall) now, try moving them to 12" or so. You should have a lot more bass.