Sierra Tower audition in CO?

[shinny]

Are there any Sierra Tower owners in Colorado willing to offer a listen, both dome and raal would be great? Any help much appreciated. Steve (outside denver) I can bring beer:)

[Jasonindenver]

Send me a PM.

Given by my signature, I can probably help you out.

You did mention beer, right?

[NewHTbuyer]

I have a pair on order and I am planning to have a little shootout in my own home with some other good Internet brands. Here is the thread I started over at AH

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/loudspeakers/82334-%242-000-3-000-tower-speaker-comparison-need-help-picking-contenders.html

The middle of the thread gets way off topic, but go to the end and you can see we are discussing a get together at my place in February.

Let me know if you are interested in coming by (both of you are invited). I am getting the upgraded versions with the Raal tweeters. that way you can compare to some other great speakers.

[Jasonindenver]

I have a pair on order and I am planning to have a little shootout in my own home with some other good Internet brands. Here is the thread I started over at AH

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/loudspeakers/82334-%242-000-3-000-tower-speaker-comparison-need-help-picking-contenders.html

The middle of the thread gets way off topic, but go to the end and you can see we are discussing a get together at my place in February.

Let me know if you are interested in coming by (both of you are invited). I am getting the upgraded versions with the Raal tweeters. that way you can compare to some other great speakers.


Please keep me in the loop on this. I have your speakers in-house now and am VERY happy with their performance. Frankly, most of the B&M pieces I demoed (with the exception of the KEF R300) left me seriously underwhelmed. I think the only speaker I heard comparable to the Ascend was a $6000 Sonus Faber at ListenUp.

[shinny]

I'd like to kept in the loop on your shoot-out in Denver, if possible.

Although not a tower, I've seen excellent reports on Soundfield Audio's Monitor 1 playing way beyond it's size and pricepoint. There is a demo program available that will put a pair at your doorstep for a week or so to evaluate. Reports are that A.J., owner/designer is a good guy also. It is another one on my very short list.
Thanks,
Steve

[NewHTbuyer]

Please keep me in the loop on this. I have your speakers in-house now and am VERY happy with their performance. Frankly, most of the B&M pieces I demoed (with the exception of the KEF R300) left me seriously underwhelmed. I think the only speaker I heard comparable to the Ascend was a $6000 Sonus Faber at ListenUp.

The Kef R700 were some of the best I have heard so far. I also liked the Focal 826v and Tannoy Precision 6.2.


I'd like to kept in the loop on your shoot-out in Denver, if possible.

Although not a tower, I've seen excellent reports on Soundfield Audio's Monitor 1 playing way beyond it's size and pricepoint. There is a demo program available that will put a pair at your doorstep for a week or so to evaluate. Reports are that A.J., owner/designer is a good guy also. It is another one on my very short list.
Thanks,
Steve

I have heard good things also about the Soundfield speakers. There are just so many to choose from.

Anyway, I will post on this thread once we decide on the exact date and time.

I am in south Denver.

Mike

[billy p]

I'd like to kept in the loop on your shoot-out in Denver, if possible.

Although not a tower, I've seen excellent reports on Soundfield Audio's Monitor 1 playing way beyond it's size and pricepoint. There is a demo program available that will put a pair at your doorstep for a week or so to evaluate. Reports are that A.J., owner/designer is a good guy also. It is another one on my very short list.
Thanks,
Steve

I know they're given high prasie over at AVS and I know this is the Ascend forum but here is a direct compro of the SAM vs. 340's. As for AJ's....I wouldn't call him a nice guy...;)

http://forum.ascendacoustics.com/showthread.php?t=5068

[shinny]

Thanks Billy P.-- nice work in review on the two speakers in question and impressive overall for the Ascends. One thing that i thought intersting re. the Soundfields was the guy who compared them very favorably to his Salk HT TL 2's, one that I did like in their lineup. More reason to hear all of them in person.
I have a large space, 25x20+ open the house, 15' ceilings and greater with lots of glass but music sounds good in there. Not sure about dome vs.Raal on the Ascends as much is off axis, casual listening. Steve

[Jasonindenver]

Thanks Billy P.-- nice work in review on the two speakers in question and impressive overall for the Ascends. One thing that i thought intersting re. the Soundfields was the guy who compared them very favorably to his Salk HT TL 2's, one that I did like in their lineup. More reason to hear all of them in person.
I have a large space, 25x20+ open the house, 15' ceilings and greater with lots of glass but music sounds good in there. Not sure about dome vs.Raal on the Ascends as much is off axis, casual listening. Steve

I really like the RAAL off-axis. It is very similar to the KEF Uni-Q to my ears in this regard. This was one of my concerns as my current, and soon to be former, stereo listening area had my seating away from the center axis.

We are renovating a house in Englewood right now where I will have a dedicated theatre and stereo room in the basement (with acoustical ceiling treatments to minimize the noise between floors). Unfortunately, it won;t be ready before the desired shoot out time.

[shinny]

Mike (newhtbuyer), are you bringing in the Raals or Domes? What are you planning to power them with? And Jason, if you're reading this, what are you using? My plan is to use my Wyred4S 250x2 with an Odyssey tube Candela rig. I like the combo. I may also add a receiver and do a R,C,L+sub for movies/t.v. in the room also. My understanding is the towers are definately 2 channel quality (correct?). Thanks. Steve

[NewHTbuyer]

Mike (newhtbuyer), are you bringing in the Raals or Domes? What are you planning to power them with? And Jason, if you're reading this, what are you using? My plan is to use my Wyred4S 250x2 with an Odyssey tube Candela rig. I like the combo. I may also add a receiver and do a R,C,L+sub for movies/t.v. in the room also. My understanding is the towers are definately 2 channel quality (correct?). Thanks. Steve

I am getting the Raal tweeters. The other speakers I will be auditioning at the same time are Philharmonic Audio Phil2s, Von Schweikert VR-22s, and hopefully a set of the new SVS Ultra towers, if their release date is not pushed back any further.

As far as power, I have a Harmon Kardon HK3490 2-ch receiver, 120wpc. I wanted to put most of my budget towards the best speaker I can get. Also, my room is not that big and I usually can't listen too loud (sleeping wife/kids etc.) I realize the HK 3490 is a bit low end for the speakers I am considering, but I can always upgrade the amp later. I have heard great things about Wyred4S gear. I will also look at Emotiva and Parasound if I ever upgrade.

p.s. If you guys are really interested in coming, if we do have a GTG, send me a PM.

[Jasonindenver]

Mike (newhtbuyer), are you bringing in the Raals or Domes? What are you planning to power them with? And Jason, if you're reading this, what are you using? My plan is to use my Wyred4S 250x2 with an Odyssey tube Candela rig. I like the combo. I may also add a receiver and do a R,C,L+sub for movies/t.v. in the room also. My understanding is the towers are definately 2 channel quality (correct?). Thanks. Steve

I am using a Denon AVR 3319 for HT use. I have a Marantz PM 8004 for 2-channel use. I wanted to keep it as simple as possible so the integrated unit was the way to go for me. I would love to hear the Wyred4Sound unit as this was a strong contender for me at the time but I could not demo it anywhere.

The RAAL towers are perfectly suited for 2-channel listening. At times, I miss the sub with my old setup but I also realize I had been overemphasizing the bass for many, many years that way. The ascends do not lack for bass extension when you are in the speaker's sweet spot. I am anxious to hear if there is any difference in this when I get them in the new room.

Since you are considering a center as well - I HIGHLY recommend the matching RAAL center channel. When I ordered this, I was really doubting myself on buying this as well since HT use has been of minimal importance to me. However, the RAAL center is a HUGE upgrade in performance - even more so than the towers over my previous 2.1 setup.

[shinny]

Mike and Jason, you are both welcome to check out my WFS+Odyssey combo either before or after I get new speakers. I've currently got 12 year Meadowlark Kestrels, nice but not up to the room size or probably electronics.

[NewHTbuyer]

Dfdtruckie? I received a PM from a user named Dfdtruckie but when I replied a few hours later that username was no longer valid. If you check this thread, try to fix your user account and send me another PM



Mike and Jason, you are both welcome to check out my WFS+Odyssey combo either before or after I get new speakers. I've currently got 12 year Meadowlark Kestrels, nice but not up to the room size or probably electronics.

I would love to hear the WFS amp and/or the tube amp as compared to the cheaper, less powerful HK 3490 I have. Maybe when we have this GtG you could bring one of those over and we could compare different power sources.

Also, SVS still does not have product info for the Ultra speakers or ordering info on their website yet. I have a feeling that they may not be ready in time for me to audition them. We will see. Still, Ascend vs. Philharmonic vs. Von Schweikert would be more than enough anyway, even without the SVS.

[shinny]

keep me posted on your GTG so we can figure out how to include the candela and WFS for comparison.

[Volta]

Any updates to this GTG? I live in Aurora, and if it is okay, I would love to hear these speakers too. Let me know if I can join you guys!