New proud owner of Sierra towers and Horizon center

[jahjd2000]

If you've seen my other posts, yesterday I visited the Ascend facility and came home with some new toys. I purchased Sierra towers and a Horizon center in satin black all with the NrT tweeter. Been super busy with work today (have to work tonight too) but wanted to reserve this spot for a future review.

The tl;dr version is I love them. Listened to some music last night and was blown away. I didn't realize the time and next thing I know it's 1 am. The mid range is fantastic (vocals are crystal clear and pronounced), I heard instruments in songs I never heard before. Today I watched briefly a few movies and the dialog was very intelligible (my biggest goal for HT). Overall really happy with the purchase. Even my wife was impressed with how the towers sounded with music, and she's not electronically or audio inclined -- she can barely turn on the TV.

I'll post more thoughts later when I've free. Tonight on the way home from work I was worrying what the wife would think about the form factor of the Horizon...:cool:

[Elmo]

congrats!

Did you do any comparison between the raal and nrt?

What make you choose the nrt?

[jahjd2000]

I actually had my mind set on the NrtT tweeter prior to my demo, which worked out because none of the speakers in their demo room were equipped with the RAAL when I visted. For me it came down to cost (saved $1,000), the fact I probably wouldn't take full advantage of the RAAL (Dina said it really excels with jazz and classical music, two genres of music I don't listen to), and since I could always upgrade later being just a stone throw away from Ascend.

For my application, listening habits of 60/40 for HT (although I see music listening going up now), I think I made the right decision. In all honestly though, I probably will upgrade to RAAL someday because of upgraditis, but that would be more of a want than a need.

I'll probably be back up at Ascend within the next 45 days to buy a pair of 170's for surround duty (possibly another pair for front heights) to replace my def tech di-pole speakers. Since I'll be accustomed to the NrT sound by then I'll make it a point to demo the RAALs for a compare and contrast. For now I'm enjoying the NrT's.

I didn't get a chance to listen to a lot of music yesterday but I did pop in the Transformers blu ray. I watched a few scenes with my daughter. It was rather late so I didn't get a chance to listen at reference level, but I cranked it up a few times on some of the more audio intensive scenes. I really liked what I heard from the horizon. There were sounds that I either didn't notice before or didn't appreciate. My old def tech speakers, while no slouch for HT, would spear the sound in comparison to the Horizon. With the Horizon and Towers, some sounds are so prominent (in a good way) that's it's like watching the movie differently. Some of the special effects seemed to float in the air...there was a high pitched noise one of the transformers made that panned from left -> center -> right. The sound seamlessly moved across the front stage.

At one point me, my daughter, and wife sat there immersed in the movie. For some reason, probably because of the many distractions at our disposal (laptops, phones, etc.), it's rare for to all sit down and be engaged in a movie like that. Usually one person is engrossed while the other two are off doing something. We sat there quietly and enjoyed the movie because of the new audio experience.

One more cool thing. Regardless of the volume or what special effects were going on, I could always make out the dialog. Even when characters were talking softly, I could always make out what they were saying. Never once did I have to turn it up because I couldn't make out the dialog. I suspect it's because of the dedicated mid range driver.

This weekend I plan to do some critical listening with both movies and music. Will snap some photos and provide more thoughts.

[jahjd2000]

I've been watching a lot of movies and listening to a ton of music. I have to run in a few minutes (wife is waiting for me to watch "End of Watch") so excuse my brevity, but man I'm loving these damn speakers. Some random thoughts...

I'm loving music in direct mode. I never thought I'd enjoy music without a sub or Audyssey processing, but these Sierra towers sound so good 'al naturel'. I pulled out some old cd's that I haven't listened to in a while and it's a whole new experience. The imaging is amazing...each instrument is clearly articulated and separated. I know most of you are into jazz and classical music, but if you're looking for something different check out Katchafire. They're a reggae band out of New Zealand and use a lot of instruments. The saxophone on some of their songs is crazy good. Another great CD, if you're into R&B, is Alicia Keys unplugged. Great vocals.

The form factor of the horizon grew on me quickly. I was worried my wife wouldn't like it but she was cool with it by the second day. I actually think it looks pretty cool, especially without the grill. And holy special effects batman! As others have stated, there's so much that comes from the center in HT. I didn't realize this previously because my old center didn't image as well (not even close), but you hear so many sound effects from the center while watching movies. Love it.

And the bass from the towers are excellent. I'm a former bass head. I used to run two 12's in my car back in high school and college, and now I think I have more refined taste :). But yeah, the bass from the towers are awesome for music. At times I found myself double checking that it was in direct mode and not stereo.

I've got a pretty small living room and such "big" speakers. But it doesn't overwhelm the space at all, plus I'm pretty much future proof. My Sierra towers, Horizon center, Epik Empire, Denon 4311...audio bliss.

[Dark Ranger]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I agree that you must be in audio bliss. :D

I've found that room correction software (like Audyssey) can help in very poor acoustic spaces or with lesser speakers. With the Ascends, they are already focused on accuracy and balance. Dave doesn't artificially boost the bass and treble frequencies for more "wow" factor (e.g. the smile curve). Nope, it's about achieving "audio purity" like the company motto says.

Enjoy!!