Sierra Tower w/RAAL tweeter. Are they bright? Harsh? Considering returning Aria 936's

[Despotes]

I received my Focal Aria 936's last week and am still trying to get use to them. The tweeters are bright, unnatural, often harsh and have a lot of sibilance. My SACD's, CD's and even radio have a harsh sibilance now compared to my older Rocket 850 Signatures.
Many people say the Aria 936's are not bright, but for the life of me, don't know how they think that. I know they say it's subjective, but distorted harshness can't possibly be all subjective. Hearing loss?
Are there any of you with Sierra Towers/RAAL tweeter with a sensitivity to brightness think the RAAL's are bright or harsh sounding? I'm considering these speakers, but definitely don't want course/bright/sibilant tweeter distortion of any kind without sacrificing detail and resolution.
Any disadvantages to the RAAL design?
Thanks

[edgeh2o]

I received my Focal Aria 936's last week and am still trying to get use to them. The tweeters are bright, unnatural, often harsh and have a lot of sibilance. My SACD's, CD's and even radio have a harsh sibilance now compared to my older Rocket 850 Signatures.
Many people say the Aria 936's are not bright, but for the life of me, don't know how they think that. I know they say it's subjective, but distorted harshness can't possibly be all subjective. Hearing loss?
Are there any of you with Sierra Towers/RAAL tweeter with a sensitivity to brightness think the RAAL's are bright or harsh sounding? I'm considering these speakers, but definitely don't want course/bright/sibilant tweeter distortion of any kind without sacrificing detail and resolution.
Any disadvantages to the RAAL design?
Thanks

The Rockets are pleasant sounding speakers but they are much warmer sounding and lack high frequency extension compared to the Aria. I have the Focal Flax speakers in my car, which are very similar to the Aria drivers, and I find them to sound very natural and smooth.

I've been itching to upgrade my Sierra-1 for a while now, and the RAAL and Aria are my top two contenders. The RAAL is very revealing but also very smooth. That's all I can say on the matter, interested to see what others say.

[Saintale]

I have had the RAAL Towers for a couple of years and listen to them for many hours a day (admittedly, background mostly, but I still listen actively a lot) and can tell you that they are the furthest thing from bright or harsh or unpleasant or glaring. They are silky smooth and extremely musical. I find them easy to listen to for hours. Detailed, extended and, well, just superlative on the top end.

[davef]

Hi Despotes and welcome to the forum.

I am sorry to hear that you are having some issues with the Aria's. This is not a knock on the Arias, but based on the Stereophile measurements, there is significant ringing from the tweeter in the 18kHz + range. 20dB's worth, which is, IMO, huge... Ringing in this range is likely not audible to most listeners, but for someone with a sensitivity to brightness or some hearing loss (or the onset of Tinnitus) -- this can be brutal to ones ears. The RAAL ribbon in our towers is completely free of this type of ringing and is exceptionally smooth while being both accurate and detailed. I universally recommend these ribbons for people with any form of sensitivity to brightness.

Here is the link to the Stereophile measurements: http://www.stereophile.com/content/focal-aria-936-loudspeaker-measurements#bQzXX0jopvhzxOmo.97

Look at the frequency response - you can clearly see the ringing in the 20kHz range, also plainly evident in the more revealing CSD plot.

Here is a link to the measurements of our Sierra Ribbon Tower -- if you look at the high frequency response and CSD plot, you will see absolutely no ringing (no high Q peaks or dips)

http://www.ascendacoustics.com/pages/products/speakers/SRT/Ascend%20Sierra%20Ribbon%20Tower.pdf

I absolutely feel our ribbon towers will resolve these issues for you.

Hope this helps!

[DougMac]

Last year I had the opportunity to audition some Sierras with RAAL tweeters at Ascend's home office. I concur, they have a detailed but smooth sound, not at all brittle or harsh. They compare well in sound to their dome tweeters, perhaps being a little more detailed.

[Despotes]

I'm going to try a few SACD's (Dire Straits, Brother In Arms and Nora Jones, Come Away With Me)I ordered that are known to be of good quality before I make my final decision. S's and Th's are very pronounced and irritating. Maybe it's the source material.
I keep hoping the sound will improve because I'll be losing $300-ish for returning the Aria's. It's a painful thought. lol

[davef]

I'm going to try a few SACD's (Dire Straits, Brother In Arms and Nora Jones, Come Away With Me)I ordered that are known to be of good quality before I make my final decision. S's and Th's are very pronounced and irritating. Maybe it's the source material.
I keep hoping the sound will improve because I'll be losing $300-ish for returning the Aria's. It's a painful thought. lol

While your ears might adjust somewhat, the actual sound being produced by the speakers really won't change all that much (if at all). Some drivers do break-in and it is measurable, but these changes are subtle and one can argue back and forth forever if these subtle changes are actually audible....

[Despotes]

The Dire Straits SACD sounds amazing (DSD Direct Mode), but just a tad bright and Nora Jones is mildly sibilant and harsh in some areas. My Arias apparently are very (too) revealing. Is it possible to have very fine detail w/o exposing the limitations of the source material? All my CD's are unlistenable and all my local radio stations have a lot of sibilance and harshness to varying degrees. Are the Sierra's also very revealing? Detail vs Too Revealing. Do they always co exist?

[curtis]

Sibilance starts with the recording. A speaker may or may not accentuate it. You have the find the balance that is correct for you.

IMO, you should try the Sierra Tower w/RAAL.

[Johnny_Mac_III]

Revealing speakers should not sound harsh on good recordings. They should sound smooth and detailed. You should be able to hear lots of separation with and at times, an eerie sense of realism. Just as a subwoofer will sound boomy if the lower frequencies don't decay quickly enough, tweeters will sound harsh if the upper frequencies do not decay quickly enough.

[davef]

Revealing speakers should not sound harsh on good recordings. They should sound smooth and detailed. You should be able to hear lots of separation with and at times, an eerie sense of realism. Just as a subwoofer will sound boomy if the lower frequencies don't decay quickly enough, tweeters will sound harsh if the upper frequencies do not decay quickly enough.

100% correct... There is no tweeter that is more revealing than the RAAL ribbon (this is backed up by firm measurements), but yet it is incredible smooth and easy to listen to. The issue here is that the ringing (metal dome tweeter resonance) that is obviously present in the measurements of the Aria is aggravating to the listener's ears. We don't actually have to physically hear these sounds for them to be aggravating.

[freesole]

Interested to hear what happened here. I have the Focal Aria 936's right now too and while they sound fantastic to me - I keep wondering how the Sierra towers with RAAL would compare. The Sierra towers are about $400 more expensive + I would have to incur about $300 in shipping costs back to MusicDirect.

[nino]

I am also very interested on the comparison between the two. Although I have never seen a bad review of the Sierra tower W/ Raal.

[freesole]

I'm not sure about the OP but I purchased the Ascend Towers for a direct comparison and ended up keeping the Ascend's and sending the Focal's back. Both were really great speakers but I preferred the Towers in this case and am very happy with my choice.