Ascend home theater

[choombak]

Recently completed setting up a 5.1 home theater with CMT-340 SE for LCR, and HTM-200 SE for surrounds, with SVS SB12-NSD for subwoofer duty. And I am very pleased with how they sound. Compared to Klipsch RP-150M, and SVS Prime series, I find the Ascends excel at projecting a fantastic 3D soundstage in stereo mode, have better airiness, amazing instrument separation, and crisp high-frequencies, both on- and off-axis. I started with Klipsch system about 6 months ago, then moved over to SVS Prime, and had a chance to audition the CMT-340 SE at a cousin's place three weeks ago. I was blown away at the sound quality, so I sold the SVS Prime system, and got the Ascends. I think I'm settled for the next few years.

Here is how it looks:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--EW0u4-E9u0/VzIkgYI_oMI/AAAAAAAAAWc/9Wi21QvLrNYuQhBEMVjzo9K41JH-DM7RgCCo/s1440/ascend0.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-84SZqGpv1A8/VzIkgSVIXyI/AAAAAAAAAWg/elIWdotlqHEcz6-eDa0cqxTOym70mnNZgCCo/s1440/ascend1.JPG

Thanks to this forum, avsforum, and audioholics where I can continue to read about Ascends. And Dave, who responds to every email I've sent! :cool:

[sludgeogre]

Great to see yet another SVS customer come over to Ascend. Your setup looks fantastic, and I agree that Ascend speakers give you the most incredible 3D soundstage ever combined with incredible separation. They're hard to stop listening to.

[Todd WI]

Nice!

I'm waiting for the big brown truck to come with my 200s (surrounds). Back to the civilized world of 5.1 after roughing it with only 3.1 for a rather long stint.

[loonytunes]

Welcome to the family. That's a nice looking setup.

[Mr.Lawrence]

I think your rear speaker stands are the same as my side surrounds. I currently have HTM-200 mounted on mine, too. I find the stands to be very wobbly so I temporarily have furniture items preventing them from toppling over. I'm working on a solution to provide a more stable base.

Why didn't you route the speaker wire through the stand's pole?

[Johnny_Mac_III]

Nice setup! That couch looks very comfortable :)

[choombak]

I think your rear speaker stands are the same as my side surrounds. I currently have HTM-200 mounted on mine, too. I find the stands to be very wobbly so I temporarily have furniture items preventing them from toppling over. I'm working on a solution to provide a more stable base.

Why didn't you route the speaker wire through the stand's pole?

Laziness... :p

[Mr.Lawrence]

Are your CMT-340 fronts setup for large or small. Audyessy detects and sets my 340's to large. Of course I have the ability to manually switch to small. Just wondering what's recommended. I listened with both small then large settings, and I'm not sure that I can tell the difference. Should have auditioned using varying movies.

[sludgeogre]

Are your CMT-340 fronts setup for large or small. Audyessy detects and sets my 340's to large. Of course I have the ability to manually switch to small. Just wondering what's recommended. I listened with both small then large settings, and I'm not sure that I can tell the difference. Should have auditioned using varying movies.

It really depends on your room, your taste, and your speakers. Because Ascend speakers play so darn accurately, they can manage pretty well on their own. I have two F12 subwoofers that push out some serious output, though, so my Sierra Towers get set to small by my processor. If your room is pretty big and your subwoofer lacks the output to energize the full room, your speakers may be doing a better job of playing down low, and might integrate just fine with large settings. It's really hard to tell unless you're in the room, hearing the system. In acoustic treatment threads I've seen guys do all sorts of crazy tricks and setups, you can make a lot of different things work.

In the end, just play around with it and settle on what sounds best. If you can't tell much of a difference, run them large and just enjoy their delicious output. Those speakers are so room filling and powerful it doesn't surprise me that they sound that great running full range.

[choombak]

Are your CMT-340 fronts setup for large or small. Audyessy detects and sets my 340's to large. Of course I have the ability to manually switch to small. Just wondering what's recommended. I listened with both small then large settings, and I'm not sure that I can tell the difference. Should have auditioned using varying movies.

Small -- because the sub does a fantastic job at lower frequencies than the CMTs'. If you have a sub, then set them to "small", as explained by Audyssey here (http://www.audyssey.com/blog/small-vs-large) (the first line itself!). Of course, you then need to set the cross-over frequencies for speakers, typically 60 or 80 Hz. is a good choice.

[Mr.Lawrence]

It really depends on your room, your taste, and your speakers. Because Ascend speakers play so darn accurately, they can manage pretty well on their own. I have two F12 subwoofers that push out some serious output, though, so my Sierra Towers get set to small by my processor. If your room is pretty big and your subwoofer lacks the output to energize the full room, your speakers may be doing a better job of playing down low, and might integrate just fine with large settings. It's really hard to tell unless you're in the room, hearing the system. In acoustic treatment threads I've seen guys do all sorts of crazy tricks and setups, you can make a lot of different things work.

In the end, just play around with it and settle on what sounds best. If you can't tell much of a difference, run them large and just enjoy their delicious output. Those speakers are so room filling and powerful it doesn't surprise me that they sound that great running full range.

Thanks for your suggestion. I have 2 subwoofers HSU VTF-MK3 and a Mirage Omni S12. I went to the Audyssey website per Choombak's suggestion and found a lot of useful information there. Audyssey recommends using the small setting with 60 - 80 Hz. I will give that a try, but also switch back to large for comparison. I also discovered some useful information regarding subwoofer adjustments and microphone placement during the measurement phase that I will give a try.

My space is pretty large, but has almost an "L" shape. The basement space is finished and serves multiple purposes as a family/entertainment space. I don't have any acoustic treatments.

Without any adjustments, the system sounds really good, but I find myself wondering if I'm getting all that the components have to offer. Ahh, the search for audio nirvana. :D

[Johnny_Mac_III]

Hey MrLawrence. Here is a good resource on bass management:

http://www.acousticfrontiers.com/guide-to-bass-optimization/

There is also a great podcast/YouTube live stream that has wonderful home theater advice where you can send in any question and get a very well informed answer:

http://www.avrant.com
https://youtube.com/user/mrnomas

[Mr.Lawrence]

Hey MrLawrence. Here is a good resource on bass management:

http://www.acousticfrontiers.com/guide-to-bass-optimization/

There is also a great podcast/YouTube live stream that has wonderful home theater advice where you can send in any question and get a very well informed answer:

http://www.avrant.com
https://youtube.com/user/mrnomas

Thanks! Much appreciated.

[Mr.Lawrence]

I not sure if you intended this thread to be a place for members to post their Ascend HT, but maybe that's what it will become. Here's our basement area. I adjusted the exposure on the photos as the space can seem dark.

340's front, 170's side, 200 rear.

I'm extremely pleased that I was able to mount the rear surround's on the ceiling. I used mounts designed for under cabinet LED Tv mounting. The mounts swivel left to right, and tilt providing a full range of motion. The mounts are designed to support 18 lbs and I was able to secure them to the joist. I had to cut an opening in the mount to accommodate the speaker wire. I was fortunate that the ceiling joist run parallel to the TV screen. This allowed me to fish the speaker wire to the speakers through a series of convenient openings above the drywall. It all turned out very tidy.

The ceiling is about 7' 10" high, so the speakers are a bit more than 36" above ear level. Not optimal, but I wanted to keep adequate clearance for walking traffic under the speakers.

I performed a partial Audyessy calibration (I did not include the subwoofers), then watched Iron Man 3. Despite the height of the rear speakers the initial listening results are spectacular.

I decided to go with a small setting for all of the speakers with the fronts crossed at 80Hz.

I'm confident that there's room for improvement, and I have a lot to learn about the finer points of audio setup. For now, though, I can't see needing to purchase any speakers for a very long time. Well maybe another HSU sub to replace the Mirage Omni. :)

[Mr.Lawrence]

side 170's

When these arrived, I was surprised by the size. The 170's are actually wider than the 340's. I was expecting a shortened version of the 340's. Not at all a problem since clamping speaker stands are sufficient.

My speaker stands (formerly used to support the 200's) could not handle the heft of the 170's. So i secured the left stand to a piece of 3/4" plywood roughly 24"x24". That did the trick. For the stand supporting the 170 on the right, I mounted it on 3/4" plywood 24"x36". My Mirage subwoofer now sits on top of that board adding additional stability.

[Mr.Lawrence]

rear 200's

The pièce de résistance... These little beauties are amazing. Clear and precise in such a small package.

Big thanks to Dave F. for providing guidance for mounting these enclosures. I spent a lot of time trying to come up with a solution to get the mount and placement I was after. As it turns out, I ended up sacrificing one of my HTM-200's (I had 3) on the alter of experimentation. In the end, though, his suggestion was simple and effective and left me feeling a little embarrassed for over thinking the task.

[curtis]

rear 170's
Looks great!

Did you try the HTM-200SE's in a vertical orientation?

What mounts are you using?

[sludgeogre]

Looks really fantastic! I'm very interested in a link to the mounts you used for the HTM-200 SE's.

[Mr.Lawrence]

Thanks Curtis.

I did not. I decided early on that I wanted to have as much clearance for those walking under the speakers as possible. I did follow your suggestion to keep the tweeter in the lower position, though.

See mounts in my response below.

[Mr.Lawrence]

Thanks sludgeogre. They are available through multiple resellers with various names. I got them through Amazon Prime. http://www.amazon.com/VideoSecu-Cabinet-Monitor-Bracket-MLU01B/dp/B00153U1Z0

I used an angle grinder to cut an opening in the back. Much easier than I thought it would be.

[curtis]

Thanks sludgeogre. They are available through multiple resellers with various names. I got them through Amazon Prime. http://www.amazon.com/VideoSecu-Cabinet-Monitor-Bracket-MLU01B/dp/B00153U1Z0

I used an angle grinder to cut an opening in the back. Much easier than I thought it would be.
Very cool!
What did you have to cut and why?

[Mr.Lawrence]

The mount had to be cut because the mounting plate is solid except for the slots used to accept screws for an LED TV (VESA mount). The mount plate covered the binding post on the 200's. I simply removed a section by joining 2 of the slots with 2 perpendicular cuts per mount. Take a look at the mount in the link and it will hopefully be clear. Otherwise, I can post a photo.

[curtis]

The mount had to be cut because the mounting plate is solid except for the slots used to accept screws for an LED TV (VESA mount). The mount plate covered the binding post on the 200's. I simply removed a section by joining 2 of the slots with 2 perpendicular cuts per mount. Take a look at the mount in the link and it will hopefully be clear. Otherwise, I can post a photo.
Ahh!! I get it! That is a great solution!

[sludgeogre]

Looks great!

Did you try the HTM-200SE's in a vertical orientation?

Curtis and/or Dave, I'm curious, I just got my HTM-200 SE's last week that I'm using for surrounds right now, but I want to get a couple more pairs eventually and use them as rear surrounds and maybe add Atmos one day.

What are the benefits/drawbacks of vertical and horizontal orientation in the applications of near field monitor, surround, and Atmos?

-Alex

[sludgeogre]

Thanks sludgeogre. They are available through multiple resellers with various names. I got them through Amazon Prime. http://www.amazon.com/VideoSecu-Cabinet-Monitor-Bracket-MLU01B/dp/B00153U1Z0

I used an angle grinder to cut an opening in the back. Much easier than I thought it would be.

Neat, how did you attach the mount to the speaker?

[Mr.Lawrence]

The red lines are where I cut the mount to expose the binding posts when mounted flush against the back of the htm-200.

[Mr.Lawrence]

Dave suggested using 1" screws. I bought #12 x 1" pan head wood screws from Lowes. The mount is very secure using only 2 screws per speaker (roughly 1" from the top of the enclosure).

[curtis]

Curtis and/or Dave, I'm curious, I just got my HTM-200 SE's last week that I'm using for surrounds right now, but I want to get a couple more pairs eventually and use them as rear surrounds and maybe add Atmos one day.

What are the benefits/drawbacks of vertical and horizontal orientation in the applications of near field monitor, surround, and Atmos?

-Alex
Nearfield, probably nothing...for the other applications, I think it would be off axis characteristics.

[Mh1608]

Bro where did you get the tall stands for those surround

[choombak]

Bro where did you get the tall stands for those surround

Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000VRREPG/