Have around $2500 to upgrade Sierra 1 setup...need suggestions

[december11]

I have pair of Sierra-1 originals. Powered by Parasound P3/A23. 125 watt per channel.
Mostly listen to FLAC, Squeezebox, Spotify. No sub.

Want to spend around $2500 and completely upgrade my sound.
Bigger soundstage, separation, more clarity and details, better midrange.
Listen to everything from death metal to opera.
Don't really care about home theater.

I was leaning towards getting the Sierra Tower with RAAL.
Then selling my Sierra 1's. No sub.

or

My other thought was spending roughly 1.5K on a good dac, an another 1K on a Rythmik F12 to fill out the Sierra-1s.

Looks for any suggestions to make the biggest overall sound difference to make me go holy crap it sounds sick!

Would I need to upgrade the amp to power the towers? That would bust the budget.

[Dark Ranger]

Hi!

Based on your current gear, listening preferences, and expectations for sound quality, I think you're a perfect candidate for the RAAL-equipped Sierra Towers.

You have some very nice gear. In my opinion the Tower upgrade will make the biggest improvement over the other listed options. I would not worry about the P3/A23 combo. 125 watts per channel is plenty to get 'em good and loud. The Towers have a higher sensitivity than your Sierra-1 pair.

My $0.02, and I'm sure others will chime in. :)

[parimento1]

I think your speakers are what are holding you back. Towers will not disappoint.

[GirgleMirt]

My other thought was spending roughly 1.5K on a good dac
That would be a huge waste of money (http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dmatrix%2Bhifi%26num%3D100%26hl%3Den%2 6safe%3Doff%26prmd%3Dimvnsb&rurl=translate.google.ca&sl=es&twu=1&u=http://www.matrixhifi.com/molingordo5_pc_dac1_beh.htm&usg=ALkJrhh6X9TMx1UNqwUZLG6xMPWiOLl5Hg)...


Bigger soundstage, separation, more clarity and details, better midrange.
The RAAL towers will certainly give you that, as well as a bass improvement!


Looks for any suggestions to make the biggest overall sound difference to make me go holy crap it sounds sick!

Would I need to upgrade the amp to power the towers? That would bust the budget.
This is a bit counter-intuitive, but it's most often easier to drive larger (more efficient) speakers than smaller (less efficient) speakers... RAAL towers; 4 ohms 90dB sensitivity vs Sierra-1 8 ohms 87 dB

A23:
125 watts RMS x 2, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, 8 Ω, both channels driven
225 watts RMS x 2, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, 4 Ω, both channels driven

So in other words, your amp can drive 4 ohm speakers fine and if it can drive the monitors it should be good for the towers :)

[Mag_Neato]

With that budget, I'd definitely go for the Towers w/RAAL.

The Sierra-1 w/NrT upgrade will get you closer to the sound you want, but I'd suggest adding a Rythmik sub if you go that route. A sub would benefit the Towers as well by taking the bass load away from the A23 and freeing up watts for the mids/highs.

[RicardoJoa]

defenely towers, dont wadte your money on a 1.5 k dac, is just insane to spend that much on a Dac. Now it is up to u wether u wanna epend the extra on the raal or rythmik. Both will have a definete advantage over the standard tower but in a different way.

[hearing specialist]

RAAL Towers! Everything you asked for and so much more.

[december11]

Thanks for the responses.

Looks like I'll be ordering the Towers with RAAL.
Hopefully the Sierra 1s can sell fairly quickly.


So, what determines if the Towers will be getting 4 ohms or 8 ohms?

The wattage for the amp is higher at 4 ohms. The specs for the tower say it can take either 4 or 8 ohms.

What determines whether it gets fed 125W or 225W from the amp?

125 watts RMS x 2, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, 8 Ω, both channels driven
225 watts RMS x 2, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, 4 Ω, both channels driven

[GirgleMirt]

speakers, whether they're 8 or 4 ohms(Ω). And they're not really getting fed 125/225, that's the max the amp could theoretically push before starting to distort but you're far likely to be using much less wattage.

[Dark Ranger]

So, what determines if the Towers will be getting 4 ohms or 8 ohms?

As GirgleMirt said, the speaker is the component presenting a load to the amplifier (I'm ignoring the cable resistance). However, it's not a constant or straight-line impedance either, it usually varies with frequency. For example, a speaker might have an average impedance of 4-ohms, but present a load of 10 ohms around 100 Hz and 2 ohms around 16 kHz.

The Sierra Towers have one of the best impedance/phase graphs I've seen. Here it is:

http://www.ascendacoustics.com/images/products/speakers/srt/BODE.gif

The upper curve represents the impedance response. Although the Towers are rated at 4 ohms (minimum), notice the crests around 72 Hz (~9 ohms) and around 2.2 kHz (~13 ohms). As you can see, the impedance varies with frequency.

For a comparison, here is the Sierra-1 impedance/phase plot:

http://www.ascendacoustics.com/images/products/speakers/SRM1/BODE.gif

Notice the upper curve has two large crests and one small crest. This means the amplifier load is around 34 ohms at 30 Hz, drops down to 5 ohms, and then rises again to 36 ohms around 74 Hz. This is not unusual, but it just goes to show that impedance is not a constant value. :)


The wattage for the amp is higher at 4 ohms. The specs for the tower say it can take either 4 or 8 ohms.

What determines whether it gets fed 125W or 225W from the amp?

125 watts RMS x 2, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, 8 Ω, both channels driven
225 watts RMS x 2, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, 4 Ω, both channels driven

The wattage specs are higher for 4 ohm loads because the resistance between the speaker and amplifier is lower.

Ohm's Law states that I = V/R. Current equals voltage divided by resistance. In other words, the current increases as resistance approaches zero. A 10 ohm (minimum) speaker will draw much less current from the amplifier than a 2 ohm (minimum) speaker. In the latter case, the amplifier will generate more heat due to the higher current passing through the amplifier.

This is why many entry-level and mid-level receivers do not support 4-ohm speakers. They are not designed to handle the higher current and heat output generated by these low-impedance speakers.

The Parasound Halo A23, however, can handle 4-ohm loads just fine. Because resistance is lower, it can provide up to 225 watts for the connected speaker. This is the maximum available power, and it is usually tapped during peaks and dynamic changes in the music. Average power levels are much lower.

For example, a theoretical 8-ohm speaker is rated at 90 dB sensitivity (anechoic) at 2.83v/1 meter. This means the speaker will produce approximately 90 dB (at 1 meter) with roughly 1 watt of input power. Add a second speaker for a stereo pair, and you're up to 93 dB total acoustic output using around 2 watts of power (1 watt per channel).


Hope this helps. :)