markenki
06-18-2011, 02:04 PM
Hello folks, I'm a new Sierra-1 owner and wanted to introduce myself. In the late 90's I put together a system consisting of a pair of B&W DM302 speakers powered by a Yamaha RX-V595 amplifier, supplemented by a DIY subwoofer a friend of mine designed for me. The down-firing subwoofer has a 12" NHT 1259 woofer housed in an internally-braced sealed cabinet built from 3/4" mdf filled with fiberglass stuffing. This served as both my HT and music setup. After my kids were born, I stopped listening to music on this system, and listened mostly on my laptop. Recently, I bought a Yamaha HTIB, freeing up my old system, which I set up in our basement for dedicated music listening. The old Yamaha receiver was really noisy, so I bought a new NAD amplifier to replace it. At the same time, I also bought a NAD CD player. The B&W's were pretty good but I wanted to find something better in the $500-$1000 range. By chance, I read a post by someone on an online forum who mentioned Ascend. After reading numerous reviews, I decided to take advantage of the current Ascend sale and ordered a pair of Sierra-1's.
I received the Sierras last week and have been thoroughly enjoying them. The first thing I noticed is that knocking on the cabinets is like knocking on a solid piece of wood! They're beautifully finished and solidly built. And the sound! They're revealing things about CDs I've had for years that I didn't know were there. Really amazing clarity and soundstaging.
One advantage for me of having a separate setup for music only is that I don't have to compete with the rest of the household (a wife and two boys). The setup is in the basement, so I can listen any time of day or night and not worry about waking anybody up. I listen mostly to jazz, and primarily trumpet players as I am also learning to play the horn. Chet Baker is my favorite. Listening right now to his "The Touch of Your Lips", I'm in acoustic heaven.
Thanks to Dave and Dina for answering my questions and being so helpful and accommodating. I believe they will be hearing from me again within a year.
Here's my current setup:
Ascend Sierra-1
NAD C 326BEE Stereo Integrated Amplifier
NAD C 515BEE CD player
DIY subwoofer with an NHT 1259 woofer
AudioSource AMP 100 Stereo Power Amplifier to power the subwoofer
Regards,
Mark
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h110/markenki/022ss.jpg
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h110/markenki/019ss.jpg
I received the Sierras last week and have been thoroughly enjoying them. The first thing I noticed is that knocking on the cabinets is like knocking on a solid piece of wood! They're beautifully finished and solidly built. And the sound! They're revealing things about CDs I've had for years that I didn't know were there. Really amazing clarity and soundstaging.
One advantage for me of having a separate setup for music only is that I don't have to compete with the rest of the household (a wife and two boys). The setup is in the basement, so I can listen any time of day or night and not worry about waking anybody up. I listen mostly to jazz, and primarily trumpet players as I am also learning to play the horn. Chet Baker is my favorite. Listening right now to his "The Touch of Your Lips", I'm in acoustic heaven.
Thanks to Dave and Dina for answering my questions and being so helpful and accommodating. I believe they will be hearing from me again within a year.
Here's my current setup:
Ascend Sierra-1
NAD C 326BEE Stereo Integrated Amplifier
NAD C 515BEE CD player
DIY subwoofer with an NHT 1259 woofer
AudioSource AMP 100 Stereo Power Amplifier to power the subwoofer
Regards,
Mark
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h110/markenki/022ss.jpg
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h110/markenki/019ss.jpg