New to speakers, am I going to regret not getting the Sierra 2?

[Sakome]

Hello, I am really new to audio speakers and always wanted my own surround set. I have a set of Ascend 340 CMT 340 L/C/R on the way but now I wonder if I should have just gotten a pair of Sierra 2 speakers instead. The price difference is big but is the quality difference so large that it would be worth it? Eventually I'd want to setup 5.1 but I am ordering it piece by piece until I can afford everything.

Now I am new to speaker sets in general but I truly appreciate great sounding music, movies games etc. Truly accurate, authentic neutral sound is what I am hoping for. I really don't like it when it is too heavy on bass or treble. I want to enjoy what I am listening to as it was intended to be. If a set of Ascend 340 is enough then I feel much better about my purchase. Thank you in advance for any opinions/ideas!

[petmotel]

Hello, I am really new to audio speakers and always wanted my own surround set. I have a set of Ascend 340 CMT 340 L/C/R on the way but now I wonder if I should have just gotten a pair of Sierra 2 speakers instead. The price difference is big but is the quality difference so large that it would be worth it? Eventually I'd want to setup 5.1 but I am ordering it piece by piece until I can afford everything.

Now I am new to speaker sets in general but I truly appreciate great sounding music, movies games etc. Truly accurate, authentic neutral sound is what I am hoping for. I really don't like it when it is too heavy on bass or treble. I want to enjoy what I am listening to as it was intended to be. If a set of Ascend 340 is enough then I feel much better about my purchase. Thank you in advance for any opinions/ideas!

You could order a pair of Sierra-2s, audition them, and the CMT 340s, and decide for yourself if they are worth the price difference. Return the ones you decide not to keep, and you're only out some shipping money, confident in a choice only you are qualified to determine.

Jay

[markie]

Hi Sakome,

What Jay said.

If it were me and the money was there, no doubt it would be the Sierra 2. With the Sierra 2 you are near the very pinnacle of what a bookshelf speaker can achieve, but at a fraction of what this type of sound would usually cost. So there would be no second guessing down the road - something you are currently experiencing now hehe! There is also another critical factor: the Sierra 2's have high (as they say) WAF (Wife Approval Factor), if such a person were to enter the picture at some point. It's a speaker you would have no worries of a partner wishing they weren't there for aesthetic reasons. They are much smaller than the 340 CMTs, and of course look stunning like beautiful furniture. There is just so much amazing sound and looks put into a small volume! What the CMT's have going for them is what Curtis shared earlier - they may represent the biggest bang for the buck in Ascend's lineup.

But to take the pressure off, it's not like you are committed to one or the other for life. I'm sure there are lots on this forum who have simply sold their Ascend speakers when the time was right and moved up the ladder to the Sierras.

Mark

[Sakome]

Would a pair of Sierra 2 be enough without a Center and Subwoofer for awhile? That is one concern I did have which drew me away from them is it would take me quite some time to save up for a Center, Subwoofer and surrounds. I do have an AVR ready though (Yamaha rx-v 577).

Not sure if it's another Sierra 2 or Sierra Horizon that is the better center but regardless, huge price difference than that of a 340

[petmotel]

Would a pair of Sierra 2 be enough without a Center and Subwoofer for awhile? That is one concern I did have which drew me away from them is it would take me quite some time to save up for a Center, Subwoofer and surrounds. I do have an AVR ready though (Yamaha rx-v 577).

Not sure if it's another Sierra 2 or Sierra Horizon that is the better center but regardless, huge price difference than that of a 340

A center can be important in a home theater setting if some of the seating positions are substantially off center from the main speakers, phantom center imaging works quite well if you are seated close to the midway point between the two.

I'm a fan of identical speakers across the front LCRs but the S-2s, and Sierra Towers/Horizon (w/RAALS) are so closely matched, either are very good choices for a center with either of the mains (IMHO).

A good sub will definitely enhance the movie experience, and to a bit lesser degree, music. I think you'd be OK for a while without the sub if you're not accustomed to it, but once you get used to quality bass, you'll be hooked!

Jay

[Sakome]

Imaging as a phantom center is no problem, so a dedicated center isn't a dire need. For a sub, again not essential if they're run full range. The same reasoning as the center applies, as well.

Sorry, I'm a real newbie when it comes to speakers. Not quite sure what you meant by this. Would these be options on my AVR to do this for the speakers? I can have my AVR tell it to act as a Center channel and how big of a range of sound they produce?

[natetg57]

Sorry, I'm a real newbie when it comes to speakers. Not quite sure what you meant by this. Would these be options on my AVR to do this for the speakers? I can have my AVR tell it to act as a Center channel and how big of a range of sound they produce?
All you would do is tell your AVR that you have only two speakers and no sub. The speakers will be set to 'Large' which means that all of the frequency range will be set to them. The Sierra's or 340's will probably surprise you with the amount of bass they can produce.

[Sakome]

My set of Ascend 340s are here and I have been listening now for a couple days. At first my Yamaha RX-V 577 Yamaha kept shutting off when I turned it up but that may have been my fault. I had to redo the wires and it seems to be ok now.

The highs and mids do sound nice if I have my AVR turned up a decent amount. It seems to be a bit lacking on low though but is that because I don't have a subwoofer? When I tried playing soundtracks with heavy Brass or bass, it wasn't as clear as I'd like. I don't have enough Banana plugs to plug in the Woofer bottom set yet to my AVR, would that be the problem?

[RicardoJoa]

My set of Ascend 340s are here and I have been listening now for a couple days. At first my Yamaha RX-V 577 Yamaha kept shutting off when I turned it up but that may have been my fault. I had to redo the wires and it seems to be ok now.

The highs and mids do sound nice if I have my AVR turned up a decent amount. It seems to be a bit lacking on low though but is that because I don't have a subwoofer? When I tried playing soundtracks with heavy Brass or bass, it wasn't as clear as I'd like. I don't have enough Banana plugs to plug in the Woofer bottom set yet to my AVR, would that be the problem?

How big is your room? The bigger the room the harder is for the speaker to fill in the low end.

[Kisakuku]

It's passive bi-amping, so additional separation and dynamics can be expected from powering them this way.


Passive bi-amping cannot be expected to improve separation and dynamics.

[Beave]

Passive bi-amping cannot be expected to improve separation and dynamics.

Yeah, I'm wondering if he meant "no additional separation and dynamics can be expected..."?

[davef]

Ok, sorry about that. The additional separation is from 2 separate amplifier channels being used, the farther the channels are independant from one another, the better (no completely individual ampliers used in this case). (the internal speaker crossover is being bypassed by removal of binding post attachments. And the additional dynamics are from essentially doubling available amplifier power. :)

Hi Choir,

Just some minor corrections... In passive speakers with bi-wire/bi-amp options, passive bi-amping certainly does not bypass the speaker's crossover. If it did, the speaker would sound horrible and the tweeter would pretty much instantly fail...

By removing the bi-wire straps, you are simply moving the electrical separation point between the two crossover filters from the end of the speaker wires to the beginning of the wires (output of the amplifier). Other than a slight change in load impedance (in milliohms), it will have no effect on the speaker's crossover.

With regard to increasing power, this is also not the case. Think about it this way...

One amplifier output channel sends 50 watts to the speaker. Because of the crossover filters and the impedance load of the drivers, lets assume 10% of the power is drawn by the tweeter and 90% by the woofer.

One channel output (50 watts), 5 watts are drawn by the tweeter (10%) and 45 watts to the woofer (90%).

with passive bi-amping:

One channel output (50 watts) going to the tweeter (10%) = 5 watts
One channel output (50 watts) going to the woofer (90%) = 45 watts

the limiting factor of how much total current can be sent is the power supply of the receiver, and all of the amplifier channels run off this same power supply.

Here is a simpler way to think about it...

You have a bucket full of water. the bucket has one pipe leading from it that is split into two pipes, and each pipe then feeds one sprinkler.

In passive bi-amping, you then have two separate pipes from this same bucket with each independently feeding a sprinkler.

In either case, the flow to the sprinklers is identical and the determining factor of how much water is drawn is determined by the sprinklers themselves.

This is a simplified example but an easy way to understand the concept.

Hope this makes sense!

[Beave]

Thanks Dave! You just saved me the time of typing up a reply, and you probably explained it better than I would have too! :)

[Sakome]

Regarding lacking bass, that could be due to a few reasons. Speaker placement, room acoustics, and simply being more used to a heavier lower end. That part itself can take getting used to, the speakers themselves are pretty linear and neutral, so a lack of hearing added bass is more along those lines. Again, it does take getting used to, it's worth it tho (Sierra-2's are ironically 'worse' in this regard, if you can see why).

Yesterday I took the time to listen to more music and it did sound better to me. I think a lot of it was me getting used to having actual speakers now instead of listening to music on headphones. Started getting used to the sound.

What did you mean by the Sierra 2's are "worse"? They don't cover as much low end as the Ascend's? Or they are so detailed bass and low end instruments sound detailed but not as heavy?

[Audiolover458]

Hi Choir,
Wish I could understand all that talk about DECAY...

SO does the UPA-7 work well for you at 80WPC? I was thinking of simply doing a XPA-3 where the most power is needed and let the Receiver drive the back surrounds. I am only going for a 5.1 although my TX-SR875 is 7.1.

[choirbass]

Here's a review:
http://www.audioholics.com/amplifier-reviews/emotiva-upa-7/upa7-introduction



edit: Looking for a used UPA-7 is a better idea than the one I noticed you meant. A big difference is in the weight, it's usually a good judgement of overall quality.

Stated at end of review:
"In the meantime, you can rest assured that dollar for dollar, pound for pound, a better multi-channel amplifier does NOT exist on the market. This is a safe purchase and a highly recommended one!"

[choirbass]

Sorry Dave :(