Getting (actually already) old

[James Valenti]

My hearing drops out considerably after 16,000kh. Would it still be worthwhile for me to get the Sierra2 over the Sierra1? Still listen to a lot of music although I'm not sure how much of it I actually hear anymore. So sad but still a lot better than not being above ground at all. Currently my stuff is all vintage. Vintage Kenwood and Sherwood amps, Paradigm speakers, Wharfesdale speakers And of course all the reel to reel's I grew up with. All of it still looks and sounds cool to me. Only use Tidal when I don't have it on tape or vinyl. Hard-core old school. Thanks for any help you can give me.

[curtis]

While the RAAL does extend well above 16khz, its virtue is in the detail it reproduces and how it does it, not the extension.

[RicardoJoa]

The sierra2 is simply a better speaker to me. I upgraded from the sierra1 and i hear what i like.
What really shines apart is the woofer. The new seas woofer are more detail and cleaner than the sierra woofer and is tonaly right for long listeninhgs.
The sierra1 still good if you dont want to fork out the money but i think is well worth it.
Is not something is you can quantify but the enjoyment you get is whay it counts.

[davef]

My hearing drops out considerably after 16,000kh. Would it still be worthwhile for me to get the Sierra2 over the Sierra1? Still listen to a lot of music although I'm not sure how much of it I actually hear anymore. So sad but still a lot better than not being above ground at all. Currently my stuff is all vintage. Vintage Kenwood and Sherwood amps, Paradigm speakers, Wharfesdale speakers And of course all the reel to reel's I grew up with. All of it still looks and sounds cool to me. Only use Tidal when I don't have it on tape or vinyl. Hard-core old school. Thanks for any help you can give me.

This is one of the many misconceptions about true ribbon tweeters. While these ribbons extend to 60kHz, this has little, if anything, to do with the advantage they have over dome tweeters. The major advantage is that this type of ribbon tweeter has ~ 50x less moving mass than a high quality 1" dome. This translates into more accurate transient reproduction = less inertia = less stored energy. The ribbon starts and stops practically instantly and over a typical listening window of 30ms, it means there is significantly less unwanted energy being produced. This is why you commonly hear them described as being extremely transparent with loads of detail, but yet very smooth and easy to listen to...

This all translates into being easier on your ears :)

[Beave]

My hearing drops out considerably after 16,000kh. Would it still be worthwhile for me to get the Sierra2 over the Sierra1? Still listen to a lot of music although I'm not sure how much of it I actually hear anymore. So sad but still a lot better than not being above ground at all. Currently my stuff is all vintage. Vintage Kenwood and Sherwood amps, Paradigm speakers, Wharfesdale speakers And of course all the reel to reel's I grew up with. All of it still looks and sounds cool to me. Only use Tidal when I don't have it on tape or vinyl. Hard-core old school. Thanks for any help you can give me.

Losing your high-frequency hearing with age is completely normal. I have an old tube/CRT TV in my bedroom, and for years its 15.75kHz transformer squeal drove me crazy. A year or two ago I noticed I was no longer hearing it - but I'm sure it's still doing it.

Practically every older audiophile who attends shows, works on gear, or writes reviews for magazines or online sites has also lost their hearing above 15 or 16kHz. But it matters little, because there is only a *tiny* amount of musical energy that high - mostly high-order harmonics of low amplitude.

Although many manufacturers like to promote how high in frequency their tweeters can play, the far more important part is how well a tweeter plays lower in its range (say, below 10kHz).