Ascend RAAL Tower Companion

[ematthews]

I own the RAAL towers and have to say they are the best towers I have heard. Nothing beats them with high quality recordings. With that said lower quality recordings don't do so well with these. I do listen at times to YouTube, Spotify etc at times and find it a bit tough to do. I am looking for a different speaker to sit next to my RAAL towers where I can switch my cables over when I listen to less quality material. Any suggestion in the Ascend line up?

[ematthews]

Or to add to this. Any other speaker manufacture that has a bookshelf speaker that plays well with poorly recorded audio. I was wondering about the CMB-170 from Ascend since it has the soft dome tweeter.

[curtis]

Or to add to this. Any other speaker manufacture that has a bookshelf speaker that plays well with poorly recorded audio. I was wondering about the CMB-170 from Ascend since it has the soft dome tweeter.
All Ascend speakers are accurate.

IMO, there are so many things that can cause a poor recording, and they can't generally be compensated for with a speaker.

You need to isolate what you are trying to fix, go from there. A lot of compensation can. E achieved by using simple tone controls.

[sharkman]

ematthews, on the poor quality recordings, I've got plenty of those too, on my iphone. I found a great solution, but it was in how the music gets converted to analog. After having a bad experience with a separate DAC(XDA-1 Emotiva), I tried another in a Schiit Modi Uber. I was so impressed I sent it back for a Bifrost Multibit DAC. With my system, it gets more detail out of poor recordings though I don't have anything like the Ascend Towers. I have a Nad C375BEE, and for speakers I swap between the Sierra 1, Tannoy Definition 6.1 and Revolution DC4T.

None of these speakers have ribbon tweeters, but I did notice that formerly lousy mp3 files sound quite listenable on a better DAC like the Schiit.

[ematthews]

ematthews, on the poor quality recordings, I've got plenty of those too, on my iphone. I found a great solution, but it was in how the music gets converted to analog. After having a bad experience with a separate DAC(XDA-1 Emotiva), I tried another in a Schiit Modi Uber. I was so impressed I sent it back for a Bifrost Multibit DAC. With my system, it gets more detail out of poor recordings though I don't have anything like the Ascend Towers. I have a Nad C375BEE, and for speakers I swap between the Sierra 1, Tannoy Definition 6.1 and Revolution DC4T.

None of these speakers have ribbon tweeters, but I did notice that formerly lousy mp3 files sound quite listenable on a better DAC like the Schiit.

Thanks. I am using the internal DAC on my Parasound P5 Preamp.
Curtis. I was told that RAAL ribbons don't play well with poor source material because they are so accurate.

[sharkman]

Hmm, that's a tough one. I don't know if you've experimented with DACs at all, my experience is limited to the DAC in the Oppo 95 and Nad C565BEE and the stand alone Audioquest Red and Emotiva XDA-1 DACs. I can say without reservation that all DACs are not the same.

I can also say that the secret sauce proprietary filtering and what not that Schiit does is really good. The owners are actual engineers that have a background in amps and Dacs, just as the Ascend owner has a background in speakers(among other things?).

I have owned the Sierra 2, though I don't presently have it. Raals are quite detailed, perhaps someone has found a solution for the Tower with poor recordings.

[ematthews]

I will do some changing around of my DAC's
I have the Parasound P2 and also the Zdac 2
Wouldn't mind using my Chord Mojo with the big system. Best DAC I have currently. This little wonder is fantastic with headphones. Source is my Iphone.

[sharkman]

Yeah, mixing it up might give you some different characteristics than the P5. It never hurts to try.

I have heard good things about that Chord unit.

[davef]

I own the RAAL towers and have to say they are the best towers I have heard. Nothing beats them with high quality recordings. With that said lower quality recordings don't do so well with these. I do listen at times to YouTube, Spotify etc at times and find it a bit tough to do. I am looking for a different speaker to sit next to my RAAL towers where I can switch my cables over when I listen to less quality material. Any suggestion in the Ascend line up?

I would say out of all of our speakers, our Sierra-1 do the best with poorly recorded source material but you might want to first try what others have also suggested. Personally, I love our ribbon towers with even poor source material as I do like to hear it all, the good and the bad...

[SunByrne]

That's funny, as one of the things I noticed when I upgraded my Sierra-1s to NrTs is that they punished bad recordings more than the regular Sierra-1s. Not so much that I can't live with it, but the extra detail and forwardness made it harder to ignore flaws in the recording.

So, when I upgrade from NrTs to 2s, I guess I get to go through this again? Hmm... somehow I think it'll still be worth it.

[curtis]

So, when I upgrade from NrTs to 2s, I guess I get to go through this again? Hmm... somehow I think it'll still be worth it.
The RAALs are more detailed, but don't equate that to being brighter or more forward.

[SunByrne]

The RAALs are more detailed, but don't equate that to being brighter or more forward.

I don't really attribute most of the difference between the standard Sierra-1 and the NrT to forwardness (though there is a slight difference)—I think it's the extra detail that really punishes bad recordings. So I expect the extra detail retrieved by the RAALs to require a similar adjustment on my part.

Like I said, I'm sure I'll live. :) I'm probably not doing the upgrade for a while anyway.

[curtis]

I don't really attribute most of the difference between the standard Sierra-1 and the NrT to forwardness (though there is a slight difference)—I think it's the extra detail that really punishes bad recordings. So I expect the extra detail retrieved by the RAALs to require a similar adjustment on my part.

Like I said, I'm sure I'll live. :) I'm probably not doing the upgrade for a while anyway.
I went from classic CBM-170s, to classic CMT-340s, CMT-340SE's, to the Sierra-1, skipped the NrT, to the Sierra-2, and wouldn't change a thing.

[ematthews]

I would say out of all of our speakers, our Sierra-1 do the best with poorly recorded source material but you might want to first try what others have also suggested. Personally, I love our ribbon towers with even poor source material as I do like to hear it all, the good and the bad...

Thanks Dave. I need a really good bookshelf speaker. Don't think I will buy towers again as they are hard to move around. Although the Ascend towers are way easier to move than my RBH towers. Bookshelves and a sub.

[Roen]

I went from classic CBM-170s, to classic CMT-340s, CMT-340SE's, to the Sierra-1, skipped the NrT, to the Sierra-2, and wouldn't change a thing.

No towers in the plan?

[Roen]

Thanks Dave. I need a really good bookshelf speaker. Don't think I will buy towers again as they are hard to move around. Although the Ascend towers are way easier to move than my RBH towers. Bookshelves and a sub.

Sierra-2 or Sierra Luna since you're getting a sub.

[curtis]

No towers in the plan?
Nope, not currently. My room would not gain enough benefit.

[rdkusher]

i have both sierra 1 and 2 and have owned nrt's and 170's.the 2's are one of the least fatiguing speakers i have ever heard or owned.the balance,detail,clarity and fullness of sound with that deep and wide imaging is what does it for me.i listen to many genres of music including a lot of metal from the more extreme side of things.you don't get much more opportunity for fatigue than some of those recordings.if you find the sierra 2 to be too revealing i have one suggestion for you.i also have a pair of carnegie acoustics csb-1's.they are a step down from the s2 in detail and bass extension and midrange detail but are still very detailed and easy to listen to and have very good imaging.they are not in production anymore but you could look for a used pair or could build a pair of gr research n1 that the carnegie was based on if you can solder.i hope it is ok for me to post that here.i just think it would fit well for what the op says he is looking for.

[davef]

So, when I upgrade from NrTs to 2s, I guess I get to go through this again? Hmm... somehow I think it'll still be worth it.

I think you will find quite the opposite actually. There are different reasons why we are able to "extract" more detail with RAAL ribbons compared to why the NrT dome is more detailed than our standard Sierra-1 tweeter. With the RAAL's - it comes down to dramatically lower moving mass, which translates to nearly no stored energy. Stored energy in this context is energy that is produced after the initial impulse - this additional energy should not be there and the lesser there is, the easier it becomes to hear all of the detail -- while at the same time, because there is less stored energy - the less fatiguing the sound becomes....

[ematthews]

I'm throwing this out there. I have wanted the Natural Bamboo RAAL towers since I got my Espresso. I made the wrong decision. I am really wanting to either trade, sell and repurchase, or send them in for new cabinets. Any takers?????? I know it's petty, but the natural is what I want. Then my speakers will be perfect.

[curtis]

I'm throwing this out there. I have wanted the Natural Bamboo RAAL towers since I got my Espresso. I made the wrong decision. I am really wanting to either trade, sell and repurchase, or send them in for new cabinets. Any takers?????? I know it's petty, but the natural is what I want. Then my speakers will be perfect.

How about natural Sierra-2's?? 😄

[maheeinfy]

Switching cables based on the music? I am not sure how practical it is

You probably want to get a tube amp, which might soften the edges of your low quality music and make it enjoyable

[ematthews]

Switching cables based on the music? I am not sure how practical it is

You probably want to get a tube amp, which might soften the edges of your low quality music and make it enjoyable

Switching cables as in taken the existing speaker cable and changing over to a different speaker siting right next to it. Not different cables.