Upgrade path?

[Chris S.]

So I currently have a small 5.1 living room setup using the Sierra Luna's as L/R, the Sierra Duo as a center, HTM-200's for surrounds, HSU VTF-15h mk2, and Marantz sr6014. I will be moving within the next few months, and hope to have a larger, dedicated room for home theater, and am trying to reason through where to go with the speaker system. I'm hoping to end up with a 5.2.4 system. (may add more to get to 7.2.4, but that's a future problem.) The new CMT340SE2's excited me as a possible option for a relatively inexpensive option for identical bed-layer speakers, but given that I already have Sierra's for my LCR, I was wondering if this would be side-step or even a downgrade from what I currently have? Looking at the sierra lineup, my first thought would be to get new L/R speakers, and move the Luna's to surround duty, but I'm unsure which speakers would be a good fit. Use case would be around 70% movies/TV, 20% gaming, 10% music.

The tower's are a little out of my price range at the moment, so I guess I'm really only looking at the Sierra Duo vs EXv2 vs LX. The Duo's would give me an identical LCR, and are fairly easy to drive, but how do they compare to the EX and Lx? If I used the EX or LX, would my AVR be enough to drive them or would I need an external amp? Would the LX match well with the Duo center I currently have?

Thoughts?

[SunByrne]

Looking at the sierra lineup, my first thought would be to get new L/R speakers, and move the Luna's to surround duty,

That's certainly what I would do, but I'll admit I haven't heard the SE2 version of the 340. I've heard the SE version and while it is a very good speaker for the money, it's not in the same class as the Sierras. I'm sure the SE2 is a substantial improvement over the plain SE, but all the Sierras have also gotten a nice quality bump of late, too.

The tower's are a little out of my price range at the moment, so I guess I'm really only looking at the Sierra Duo vs EXv2 vs LX. The Duo's would give me an identical LCR, and are fairly easy to drive, but how do they compare to the EX and Lx?

The V2 version of the Duo is a dramatic improvement over the original version but honesty it's still a step down from the EX or the LX. I have space constraints in my HT and so I'm running Duos as the mains and it's still very good, but honestly if I had the space I'd switch to LXs. The fact that the LXs are also like $200 cheaper still blows my mind.

If I used the EX or LX, would my AVR be enough to drive them or would I need an external amp?

If your AVR drives your current Lunas to volume levels you find acceptable at your current seating distance, you won't have any trouble with the EXs and LXs, both of which are more efficient than Lunas.

Would the LX match well with the Duo center I currently have?

Yes.


If I were in your shoes I'd pull the trigger on a pair of LXs without hesitation.

[Chris S.]

Ended up finding a deal on some lightly used V1 towers I couldn’t pass up, so I’ll be getting some towers after all! I’ll update with some impressions vs the Luna’s when they arrive (before they get moved to surround duty), although I’m no eloquent audiophile, so don’t expect too much.

[racrawford65]

Congrats on the Towers. Now start saving for the v2 or ELX upgrade :-)

[Chris S.]

Congrats on the Towers. Now start saving for the v2 or ELX upgrade :-)

You read my mind hahaha. Would love to eventually move to ELX towers plus a Horizon, but for now I’m excited to enjoy the much beloved V1 towers alongside my Duo center.

Follow up question regarding the Duo: If I have the space to orient it vertically (with appropriately rotated RAAL), would that sound better than the horizontal orientation it’s currently in? (Would also require pulling it out of the cabinet which I assume would be an additional improvement)

[Chris S.]

Towers arrived today and sound awesome! They sound bigger, fuller, and more detailed than the Luna’s (Although I’m very impressed with the sound the Lunas do put out despite their small size!!). Excited to play around with positioning and listen to more music!

[billy p]

Glad...you like the V1....which version?

Based on your other questions...sounds like you have the V1 RAAL...with the duo...it would work vertically if the tweeter was aligned but your current duo is not iirc...just make sure, in the cabinet, it sits on the edge clear of any diffraction issues. The obvious suggestion would be to get the Horizon....otherwise vertically aligned S2EX/or LX > duo...if possible.

Enjoy the towers....and experiment you might be content for the time being...nice thing about owning Ascends is the opportunity to use any given upgrade path for your speakers down the road.

[Chris S.]

Glad...you like the V1....which version?

Based on your other questions...sounds like you have the V1 RAAL...with the duo...it would work vertically if the tweeter was aligned but your current duo is not iirc...just make sure, in the cabinet, it sits on the edge clear of any diffraction issues. The obvious suggestion would be to get the Horizon....otherwise vertically aligned S2EX/or LX > duo...if possible.

Enjoy the towers....and experiment you might be content for the time being...nice thing about owning Ascends is the opportunity to use any given upgrade path for your speakers down the road.

It’s the V1 RAAL tower. (and the duo is V2 oriented horizontally. If I were to switch it, I would pull the RAAL out and rotate it 90 degrees, just curious if that would provide any benefit over the horizontal orientation)

Totally agree! I think moving forward my plan is to acquire a Horizon and then look into the ELX upgrade, but it might be a while.

[billy p]

ItÂ’s the V1 RAAL tower. (and the duo is V2 oriented horizontally. If I were to switch it, I would pull the RAAL out and rotate it 90 degrees, just curious if that would provide any benefit over the horizontal orientation.
Totally agree! I think moving forward my plan is to acquire a Horizon and then look into the ELX upgrade, but it might be a while.

Majority of folks...recommend having 3 identical oriented speakers up front...though most Horizon owners use it horizontally ...but it's a different design and a fantastic CC.
I'd defer to Ascend.. if any distinction rotating will yield any said...advantages...plus difficulty level doing so. Hopefully.. Dave will chime in + offer his advice.

[N Boros]

You read my mind hahaha. Would love to eventually move to ELX towers plus a Horizon, but for now I’m excited to enjoy the much beloved V1 towers alongside my Duo center.

Follow up question regarding the Duo: If I have the space to orient it vertically (with appropriately rotated RAAL), would that sound better than the horizontal orientation it’s currently in? (Would also require pulling it out of the cabinet which I assume would be an additional improvement)

Orienting the Duo vertically will allow for seats off axis to more closely resemble the sound on axis. If that matters to you and you have the space then absolutely orient the speaker vertically. If you only care about one seat on axis then it probably won’t make much of a difference.

Technically the vertically oriented speaker should also yield better performance directly on axis since the off axis reflections should more closely resemble the on axis sound. I think this might be a pretty small difference that might not be all that noticeable though. It is easy for you to try for yourself and see if you hear much if any difference though. That is the best thing to do here. Switch it for a week and see if you like it.