Ascend 170's or 340's

[jerrymb]

I can't decide which to get. These will be used for music only at fairly moderate levels in a fairly small listening area. Would the 340's be overkill? Thanks.

[curtis]

What kind of music?

The 340's will play louder and deeper, and you might not need a subwoofer.

With the 170's you will likely need a sub more than with 340's.

Personally, in a small room, I would do the 170's with a nice subwoofer.

[jerrymb]

What kind of music?

The 340's will play louder and deeper, and you might not need a subwoofer.

With the 170's you will likely need a sub more than with 340's.

Personally, in a small room, I would do the 170's with a nice subwoofer.

Softer classic rock. I don't like subwoofers. I don't like too much bass either.

[curtis]

You can adjust the volume of the subwoofer to your liking...it really helps flush out the bottom end.

That said, try a pair of 170's and see if they are to your liking.

[jerrymb]

I just returned a pair of Axiom M3 bookshelf speakers. Too bright even though Axiom swears they aren't bright at all! I think I'll go with the 340's.

[curtis]

IMO...the 340's can compete with the M60's.

One thing the M3's have is a bump in the bass around 100hz making a perception of having deeper bass response. You won't find this exaggeration in an Ascend speaker.

Enjoy...let us know what you think.

[jerrymb]

Are the tweeters on the 340's smoother than the aluminum tweeters on the Axiom's? No one on the Axiom forum could understand when I told them that the tweeters on the M3's were harsh to my hears. I was hearing sibilance where I never heard it before with the Axioms.

[curtis]

Absolutely.

BTW... sibilance starts with the recording/source, and can get accentuated by the speaker.

What speakers are you coming from (besides the M3)?

[DougMac]

Softer classic rock. I don't like subwoofers. I don't like too much bass either.
Why don't you like subwoofers? I'm guessing you've never heard a "musical" sub set up properly in a two channel system. Done right, you don't even notice there's a sub until you turn it off. Then you miss "weight" in the electric or string bass and a certain authority of the kick bass drum.

If you don't want to use a sub, the obvious choice (disregarding economics) would be Sierra's. They go deeper than either the 170 or 340. Short of that, either the 170 or 340 would do fine, I'd give a nod to the 340's on stands.

I think the Axiom rep was playing dumb. Tweeter harshness in Axioms is a common complaint. I don't think it has so much to do with the use of a metal tweeter as it does with its inelequent application; other speaker companies use metal tweeters and the don't sound harsh. Axiom's were on my short list, but I kept bumping into concerns about them being brittle.

Tweeter harshness won't be a problem with any of the Ascend's. They are very articulate without sounding overly bright.

I hope you get Ascends. If you do, let us know what you get and what you think.

[jerrymb]

Thanks. I can't afford the Sierras. It'll be either the 170 or 340.

[davef]

Hi Jerry,

For music listening with no subwoofer, between our 340's and 170's -- I would recommend the 340's.

Hope this helps!

[davef]

Are the tweeters on the 340's smoother than the aluminum tweeters on the Axiom's? No one on the Axiom forum could understand when I told them that the tweeters on the M3's were harsh to my hears. I was hearing sibilance where I never heard it before with the Axioms.

Hi Jerry,

We use premium custom built soft-dome tweeters from SEAS (Norway). SEAS is in the upper echelon of high performance transducers and are well know for having a smooth, detailed and non-fatiguing response.

If your priorities are for accurate and detailed mids and highs, at this price point it would be very difficult to beat our CMT-340 SE.

[jerrymb]

I just ordered a pair of 340s. These will be the best speakers I've ever purchased. Now the wait until they arrive!

[DougMac]

I just ordered a pair of 340s. These will be the best speakers I've ever purchased. Now the wait until they arrive!
Jerry,
Let us know what you think when you get them! I'm not one who believes in speaker break in, but it did seem that after a week or two my 340's "settled in" and sounded noticeably better. There may have been other factors involved.

Over the years I've owned Infinity's, Boston Acoustics, DCM Timeframes and others. I feel that in many ways my 340's are the best speakers I've ever owned.

Doug

[jerrymb]

The 340s arrive tomorrow. Why do the 340s have the dual speaker terminals on the rear when the 170s don't? Everything I've read about bi-wiring says that it's just another scam. That there is no difference whatsoever between a non bi-wired and a bi-wired speaker. Why would the 340s be bi-wireable but not the Sierras? You would think the more expensive speaker would be bi-wireable.

[stevecake]

It's for bi-amping -- putting the tweeter and woofer each on their own dedicated amp. With the 340s, I'd say you only want to do this if you have extra identical amps lying around -- for instance, if you're using a GOOD HT receiver with a dedicated amp section for each channel, you might have a couple channels that aren't running any speakers. You could bi-amp with them.

Bi-amping allows one amp to run just the woofer, and one amp to run just the tweeter. This improves the speakers' capabilities, especially at higher volumes... but the tweeter load that you're removing is really small relative to the woofer's load. So whether it results in an audible difference... depends on your setup, ears, and typical listening volume.

[P Seastrand]

This is a good description from Dave:
http://forum.ascendacoustics.com/showpost.php?p=32217&postcount=4