We Saved The Best For Last!

For as long as we have been manufacturing speakers, we have received requests for a true end-game speaker. A speaker that provides class-leading performance in all the critical performance areas.

• Accuracy
• Detail
• Dynamic capability
• Directivity
• Wide dispersion
• High frequency linearity and extension
• Non-fatiguing
• Bass extension and midbass punch
• Low distortion
• Good efficiency
• Power handling
• Accurate transient reproduction

This list goes on and on…

Achieving a few of these lofty goals is difficult enough but attempting to achieve all of them is a highly complex engineering challenge and almost impossible. To achieve one design goal, sacrifices in other goals must typically be made.

Our towers were introduced 11 ½ years ago and have truly stood the test of time, other than a few cosmetic changes, we have never made even a single change. We have almost always run a constant backorder, selling out continuously.

With our newer and NFS optimized EX and LX speakers, we have come very close to matching the performance of our towers. Both the EXv2 and LX have surpassed the towers in certain very specific performance characteristics, and this was our goal. With the LX, we surpassed the towers in overall dynamics, bass extension and power handling – with the EXv2, directivity and midrange accuracy and detail.

We have closely tracked and logged all customer feedback on these 3 speakers (Towers, EX and LX). This critical data was the catalyst to developing something truly special, world-class products that compete with and even surpass nearly all other passive designs.

One of the reasons this took us so long was that a few key elements were missing. One of those were our incredible LX woofers, which have now been fully vetted and tested being in the hands of hundreds of customers with our Sierra-LX. The dynamics, bass extension and sheer power these woofers provide is unmatched and has been proven as such. When designing these woofers, it was always our intention to be able to use them in our towers, and they were designed and optimized as such. We just needed to amass enough feedback on them and now we have it.

With our Sierra-2EX V2, we were able to achieve text-book perfect directivity with our EX woofer and RAAL ribbon tweeter, and feedback from the V2 has far surpassed our expectations.

The last missing element, our Klippel NFS. Having the most advanced acoustic R&D device at our disposal allows us to put this all together in a manner that very few audio companies are capable of.

It has always been our intention to offer an end-game product, but we weren’t going to do so until all the critical pieces were in place, and I am so pleased to say that this complex puzzle has been solved. And, in such a way that this product clearly defines that age-old adage “The whole far exceeds the sum of its parts”. Considering every component used is truly top-of-the-line, that is a bold statement to make.

The real key to this project is in the unique crossover topology that we have been working on and trying to perfect for over a decade now.

One of the problems with 3-way parallel crossovers is that there needs to be a very large capacitor in series with the midrange driver to form the high pass filter, which gently rolls off the lows. Such a large value series capacitor in series with the critical midrange driver causes some unavoidable issues. Amongst these are a large phase shift, distortion, and it also dampens dynamics. Then, to increase the high pass filter slope from 1st order to second order (12dB/octave) – you then must add the appropriate inductor in parallel after this capacitor. This then takes lows that should not reach the driver directly to ground.

To filter out the highs that are meant to go the tweeter, you then also add a low pass filter, (a series inductor with a parallel capacitor) – thus completing what is known as a bandpass filter for the midrange driver. The tweeter then uses a separate high pass filter while the woofer uses a low pass filter, and then these 3 filters are wired in parallel. This is the standard for crossover designs for 3-way speakers. It is a tried-and-true design, relatively simple to design and when done right, provides good results.

I have had an idea in my head for a different 3-way crossover topology for what must be 25 years now and we started work on this back when we first developed our towers. We made several samples, and the results were good, not great – and not better than the more simplistic and common crossover design we eventually went with.

With help from advanced computer modeling and hundreds of hours of NFS testing, we have finally been successful in developing this different crossover topology, that avoids the negatives of a large series capacitor as described previously while also routing much of those low frequencies that would normally go to ground, to the bass woofers.

The results are amazing, driver integration and overall directivity is about as good as it gets for a passive loudspeaker. Coherency is on par with the best 2-way speakers, yet this is a true 3-way. Dynamics are astounding as is bass response as this new crossover design mitigates those losses as I outlined above. Because phase response is more accurate, directivity is improved and this results in remarkable spaciousness, but not overly so such that center imaging is still focused and not dispersed.

We lose a small bit of overall efficiency, but this is offset by presenting an easier impedance load to the amplifier, so the amp uses less current and as such, has more headroom available.

In simple terms, this new crossover brings out the maximum potential of each transducer, sums them ideally and the results are clearly and instantly audible when it comes to dynamics, spaciousness and imaging.

Attachment 2432

For many reasons I won’t be publishing details on the circuits themselves, but it functions differently than a 3-way parallel crossover and the results have proven to be better than I had expected. I am honestly not sure if it would have been possible to properly design this without an NFS.

This is a unique, expensive, highly complex, 2-layer crossover that, with specific optimizations that we perform by hand, serves as the brains for 4 new versions of our towers, and 4 new versions of our Horizon!

Stay tuned....

Introducing our ELX line of towers and horizons!

Combining the best performance attributes of our Sierra-2EX V2, Sierra-LX and our original towers, with a hefty sprinkling of a huge amount of customer data and a massive investment in R&D, we have created true endgame speakers.

Our NFS optimized ELX line achieves and exceeds every performance goal we set for every category. Simply put, this is a level of performance on a scale never seen at anywhere near this price point. We had targeted several renown benchmark products that we were looking to match or exceed, products that retail for at least 2-5x. We achieved and even surpassed that goal, both objectively and more importantly, subjectively.

It is hard to describe the differences in performance between our original towers and our ELX, but it is both dramatic and shocking. Every aspect of our original towers has been significantly improved upon and the differences are clearly audible. In fact, and I personally found this as somewhat bothersome since our original towers have been so beloved by so many, direct level matched A/B comparisons make the original towers sound constrained and lifeless. Others who have done this same comparison will agree.

ELX towers and horizons are incredibly spacious sounding, with shocking dynamics and near full-range bass extension, massive midbass punch that you can truly feel, combined with perfect tonal balance and accuracy. Of course, resolution and detail are off the charts – thanks to using the absolute best ribbon tweeter on the planet, combined with a purely custom SEAS Excel Curv cone driver for the midrange, of which the 2 combined present a near perfect directivity match.

As I had previously mentioned, with our new crossover topology, we lose a small bit of efficiency, so the ELX Tower and ELX Horizon will come in with a sensitivity rating of 87.5dB anechoic, 90.5dB typical in-room. For the ELX Tower, -6dB point for bass extension is a remarkable 33Hz, with typical in-room bass extension to 25Hz and even lower. No subwoofer is needed with these speakers, but we do still recommend one for home theater usage.

Distortion, even at high volume levels, is extremely well controlled. These speakers are ideal for 2-channel music purists and also for those seeking the most dynamic, accurate and immersive home theater. There is no source material or audible frequency range that our ELX line cannot produce with accuracy, realistic dynamics and, if demanded, reference level volume levels.

All this performance in a stunning, slim and compact, non-resonant, environmentally friendly 3-ply layered bamboo cabinet.

ELX towers and horizons use the same cabinets as our original towers, although due to supply chain issues and costs, we are no longer manufacturing the cabinets domestically. ELX line uses (2) of our 6” LX woofers for bass, and our 6” SEAS Excel “EX” driver for the midrange. Customers will have the choice between our customized RAAL 70-20xram or our Titan dome tweeter.

We will have the following finishes available:

Satin Espresso, Satin Dark Cherry, Natural and Piano Black (this a new offering)

Introductory pricing through Jan 1st:

ELX Ribbon Tower pair (all finishes) = $4998 + shipping. Pricing will increase to $5298 in January.

ELX Titan Tower pair (all finishes) = $4398 + shipping.

Shipping on the above versions will begin within 2-3 weeks!

For the ELX Horizon, we have a limited supply of domestic cabinets still available. Overseas cabinets are not yet available, and we hope to have these new cabinets within 5-6 months.

ELX Ribbon Horizon, domestic cabinet = $2798 + shipping.

ELX Titan Horizon, domestic cabinet = $2498 + shipping.

ELX Upgrade kits are already available and shipping!

Sierra Ribbon Tower pair to ELX Ribbon Tower pair = $1998, price increasing to $2198 in January.

Sierra NrT Tower pair to ELX Titan Tower pair = $2198, with possible price increase in January.

Sierra Ribbon Horizon to ELX Ribbon Horizon = $1048 + shipping, price increasing to $1148 in January.

Sierra NrT Horizon to ELX Titan Horizon = $1148 + shipping, with possible price increase in January.

The above information will slowly be added to our website over the next 1-2 weeks, if you would like to get an order in now, please give us a call.

Next post will be ELX Ribbon Tower and ELX Ribbon Horizon measurements (likely later this evening)

ELX Ribbon Tower Measurements

ELX Ribbon Horizon Measurements

ELX Titans!

The ELX Titan version substitutes the RAAL ribbon with our fantastic Titan dome tweeter. The goal with this version was to come as close as possible to matching the overall directivity and frequency response with the ELX ribbon versions. Of course, the intense dynamics, punch and deep bass response are fully retained as the only change, besides crossover optimizations for the different tweeter, is the tweeter itself.

As we had mentioned when designing the Sierra-LX, we chose the SEAS Titan dome tweeter due to it very closely matching the horizontal directivity of our RAAL 70-20xram ribbon. As good as our NrT dome is, the Titan is the overall better dome tweeter for this application and as such, the NrT dome has been replaced. As shown by the measurements, we have closely matched the stated goals.

I have spent a lot of time comparing both ELX versions with direct A/B switching. The two versions do sound very close but there are some audible differences with the RAAL versions that I have yet to be able to capture with measurements, even with using our Klippel NFS. With the RAAL’s, and more specifically – for music listening, there is a more defined attack combined with faster decay times that no dome tweeter can match. As a guitar player, string instruments do sound more realistic to me compared to the dome version – but one must specifically listen for this.

These slight differences disappear for movies / home theater and the wider vertical dispersion of the Titan dome will likely be beneficial for some listeners. Add to that the cost savings and we have a more affordable version of the ELX line, that for listeners who are more focused on movies, gaming, home theater, heavy metal music – I do recommend going with the ELX Titans due to the cost savings.

Retail pricing for a pair of ELX Titan Towers = $4398 + shipping

Retail pricing for ELX Titan Horizon in our domestic cabinet = $2498 + shipping

We are also happy to offer ELX Titan upgrade kits. We only recommend upgrading the original NrT dome versions to the ELX Titan. Going from the ribbon to titan dome is not recommended as it will require cabinet modifications. We can do this for customers at our facility if requested.

ELX Titan Horizon Measurements

Very happy to announce that our Ribbon Tower V2 and Titan Tower are now listed on our website!

https://ascendacoustics.com/collecti...40596422656054

This is true "trickle-down" technology. By applying the same advanced crossover technology to our original towers, we have developed a very affordable RAAL 70-20xram ribbon tweeter tower and Titan dome tweeter tower that measure at the top of their class and more importantly, sound absolutely phenomenal.

Many will ask how these compare to the ELX line and original towers. The answer is simple, I would rate these as offering an overall performance that is halfway between the original towers and the ELX line. Compared to the original towers, the V2 are more spacious sounding with deeper bass and much more midbass energy (much punchier). Dynamics and overall tonal balance are improved, as are imaging and depth.

We lose about 2dB in overall efficiency, but this is gained back by presenting an easier less reactive load to the amplifier, thus the amp will have more available current.

And the best part, these are now shipping!

Finally able to come up for some air... It has indeed been a crazy few months with ELX sales far eclipsing our forecasts.

I know many of you have been waiting for measurements of the Horizon V2, and I am truly sorry for taking so long. Rather than posting the measurements here, we have now added the Horizon V2 to the website with full NFS measurements of both the Ribbon version and the Titan version.

Please note, we have a very limited supply of Horizon cabinets at this time. That will most certainly change in the near future, but it is going to take some time.

I should also mention, Horizon V2 (both versions) offer unbelievable performance and easily compare with the very best centers out there at significantly lower pricing. Pricing will likely increase once we receive our next supply of cabinets.

So what's next? We are making excellent progress on our massive backorder and ELX Towers and ELX Horizon will soon be added to the website.

Enjoy!!!

4 new versions?!

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Originally Posted by 422415

4 new versions?!

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My same reaction haha. Very curious to see what all these new versions are! One of them will likely be my end-game living room setup.