Sierras and iTunes

[sonicboom]

Hi Ascend Community.

I just want to ask if the Sierra line is overkill for iTunes. Majority of my music has been downloaded from the iTunes store, and I'm wondering if it is practical or advisable to upgrade to the Sierras from my current set-up of CMT 340SE fronts and CBM 170SE surrounds. I have two 12-inch subs to augment the low end. I also listen to Pandora once in a while.

I am itching to upgrade but I want to hear from you if I will benefit from it or not. Your thoughts will be appreciated.

Thanks,
Daniel

[Johnny_Mac_III]

I think that it's very subjective. But Ive found due to the revealing and lifelike nature of Ascend speakers; poorly recorded, highly compressed, and poorly mastered music sounds worse on my 340s than say listening in my car, so I can only speculate it would sound even worse on the sierra 2s as they are even more reaveling. In my opinion, the 340s or sierras would not necessarily be overkill for the majority of iTunes and Pandoras overly compressed library, they will just reveal it to its full extent (good or bad). i would not necessarily go by price, but by speaker characteristics. Because both the SE series and Seirra 2 series are very linear and clean, they will reveal compressed dynamic range, noise floor, ect.

Here's what I do. Go to http://dr.loudness-war.info and search for a good album. Find the one with the best dynamic range. Note the catalog number. Then go to discogs.com and search for the album by catalog number. Buy that album and rip to ALAC on my HD.

After listening to a good source with the right speaker placement, the ascend line of speakers will put you right there in the music. On the other hand with a lesser source, I don't believe you will have the most pleasant experience.

I hope this helps a little.

[davef]

Hi Ascend Community.

I just want to ask if the Sierra line is overkill for iTunes. Majority of my music has been downloaded from the iTunes store, and I'm wondering if it is practical or advisable to upgrade to the Sierras from my current set-up of CMT 340SE fronts and CBM 170SE surrounds. I have two 12-inch subs to augment the low end. I also listen to Pandora once in a while.

I am itching to upgrade but I want to hear from you if I will benefit from it or not. Your thoughts will be appreciated.

Thanks,
Daniel

As revealing as the ribbon tweeters are, I listen to Pandora all the time through a pair of Sierra-2's and actually prefer these speakers to any of our others for this type of listening. Please note that I do pay for Pandora One which *supposedly* improves streaming quality from 128Kbs to 192Kbs, but I have never been able to notice a difference. My recommendation would be to go with either Sierra-2 or Sierra-1 (non-NrT).

[sonicboom]

As revealing as the ribbon tweeters are, I listen to Pandora all the time through a pair of Sierra-2's and actually prefer these speakers to any of our others for this type of listening. Please note that I do pay for Pandora One which *supposedly* improves streaming quality from 128Kbs to 192Kbs, but I have never been able to notice a difference. My recommendation would be to go with either Sierra-2 or Sierra-1 (non-NrT).

Hi Dave,

How long will the piano black Sierra-1s be on sale?

[davef]

Hi Dave,

How long will the piano black Sierra-1s be on sale?

We were supposed to end the sale 2-weeks ago ;)

[sonicboom]

We were supposed to end the sale 2-weeks ago ;)

Hey, wait for me! Two more weeks, please.

[GunmetalR56]

I listen to pandora (free version) as well as music from iTunes and Amazon and I think it all sounds great. The RAAL's revealing nature has posed no problem for compressed music.

Good luck with your choice!

[sonicboom]

Off topic, but this one will be a factor in my choice: Due to the layout of my room, my speakers have to be wall-mounted.

Dave, are the foam plugs designed for the Sierra-1s also applicable to the Sierra-2s? Or will crossing my speakers over at 80hZ not require the use of the foam plugs at all?

Advice please.

[davef]

Off topic, but this one will be a factor in my choice: Due to the layout of my room, my speakers have to be wall-mounted.

Dave, are the foam plugs designed for the Sierra-1s also applicable to the Sierra-2s? Or will crossing my speakers over at 80hZ not require the use of the foam plugs at all?

Advice please.

The Q-Plugs will work just fine in the Sierra-2 :) That said, I generally don't recommend them simply because the bass alignment of the 2's is different than the Sierra-1 and is a more natural rolloff. If you are crossing the 2's over at 80Hz and have 2-3 inches of clearance behind them, you will not need to plug the ports. Let me know if the speakers will be closer than this.