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Bronze Member Username: Builder1Beantown, MA Post Number: 23 Registered: Feb-05 | I've been looking at some Ascend speakers and they seem to be a good match with what I'm looking for - quality 7.1 sound, (alot of HT, some music), and a decent price. I figure the 340's for the mains and center. Would the 170 be the best choice for the 4 surrounds? How do the Ascend subwoofer's stack up / should I be looking elsewhere? I will most likely be going with a Marantz SR8400 or 8500 for the receiver. |
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Silver Member Username: KanoPost Number: 560 Registered: Oct-04 | Timbre matching is important, so the 170s would be the best match for the 340s. Unfortunately Ascend doesn't make a di-pole speaker which IMO is better for home theatre, while direct firing is better for music. Ascend uses HSU subwoofers. Very decent, and can be had for quite a deal using the Ascend website's package deal. |
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Silver Member Username: DakulisSpokane, Washington United States Post Number: 381 Registered: May-05 | There are a couple of strings you may want to review and you may want to talk to Edster. Initially, I started to go with 340s across the front and 170s around but I opted for 170s around to get exact timbre matching and, because they had to fit in my lovely wife's HT cabinet.) Anyway, I've been very happy with the 170s and the HSU subs are an excellent match with the Ascends. (I have an older M&K sub that works great, designed by the same folks at Hsu before they went over there.) Anyway, that's all IMHO. |
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Gold Member Username: ArtkAlbany, Oregon USA Post Number: 1462 Registered: Feb-05 | Personally I would stay away from internet direct speakers. The war over on the "Ring of the Ling" thread exemplifies why. The only folks who have heard them are the few folks who have bought them and a few of their friends. I want to hear a speaker and compare it to others before I buy. I tried the internet direct thing with a sub and was sorely disappointed. I believe that there are some good speakers and subs to be had internet direct but unfortunately I have no way to know. Edster suggests finding someone who has them in your area and contacting them. That works for some but not for me. I believe it is incumbent on the manufacturer to sell me a product which includes giving me an opprtunity to sample it. I don't want to have to sell it to myself by doing the legwork for them. Internet direct proponents point to the fact that you can sample the wares for just the cost of shipping. I don't want to pay a manufacturer to sample their product. These are just my feelings on it. I believe that there are far, far too many great speakers out there that I can hear before I buy for me to seriously consider internet direct. If you live in an isolated area then it's a different story. |
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Bronze Member Username: Builder1Beantown, MA Post Number: 24 Registered: Feb-05 | Kano, you said in another post (edited a bit)... "IMO back speakers are only useful if the space behind your seating position is large enough that you can't get the surround speakers to reverberate off the rear wall behind you. If you have diffuse firing surround speakers that image well off the area behind you and can create the effect that the sound effect is coming from behind, the rear speakers may muddy the sound more than add to it, especially when matrixed off the surround channels. As well, di-pole speakers work best for surrounds IMO, and bi-pole or direct firing bookshelfs/towers are better for the surround back speakers." Ok let me make sure I have this. Bi-pole are basically regular speakers like the 170 or 340's. Di-pole (which is diffuse-firing) send sound behind the source as well. So is the optimum setting dipole surrounds + bipole rear surronds? |
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Silver Member Username: Joe_cAtlanta, GA Post Number: 911 Registered: Mar-05 | I would have to definitely agree with Art. My money is not spent by other people. It is spent by me so why should I base a purchase on what other people write and talk about. Who knows what comments are paid for and what comments are by friends. Go and listen to speakers, you will get lost in the wonderful world of choices that you can listen to. |
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Silver Member Username: DakulisSpokane, Washington United States Post Number: 386 Registered: May-05 | Geez Stu, come on, get over it. Now, having said that, Acious, you live in Boston. Art and Joseph are right, you've got plenty of options of listening to speakers before you "pull the trigger." Go listen to Paradigms, B & Ws, Energys, JBLs, Klipsch, and anything else that has been favorably reviewed. Then, after you've found what you like, you could consider auditioning a pair of Ascends to compare. Art, in fairness, even though I bought the Ascends, I did listen to 10-15 speakers first and 5-6 a second time before I bought them. Granted, it wasn't the best situation since the hi-fi store wouldn't allow a side by side but that's possibly their loss. (AND YES, I really wanted to hear the Paradigms but that was a whole nother story as you know.) BUT, Acious, please respond to my prior post as I think everyone will agree that those questions will help shape some suggestions before you go listen AND you really do need to go and listen. |
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Silver Member Username: DakulisSpokane, Washington United States Post Number: 387 Registered: May-05 | Joseph, that's why I'm a Dodgers fan, they were smart enough to get out while the getting was good. Of course, I hate the Giants and they were only slightly less smarter. LOL |
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Bronze Member Username: Rysa4Post Number: 11 Registered: Jul-05 | I got to listen to the Ascends, both 170s and 340s, at Eddie's place, a couple of weeks back. I don't own them nor do they pay me or whatever. I listened to perhaps 100 brands at CES 2005 and 20 or so locally before purchasing what I own now ( 2004 purchases). I agree to listen to what you buy- AScend has a 30 day money back deal if you don't like the result by the way. That aside, If your receiever crosses over at 80hz, how low a speaker goes becomes less relevant. Both 170s and 340s go below 80 ( way below) so there is no frequency response advantage to one over the other. However, the 340s are much larger and use different woofers, and require more space between the rear port and the front wall. I like 170s all the way around personally. Other cost effective choices might include AADs E-series speakers ( e-44c and E-40s) as well as the entry level RB series from Klipsch. While not exactly audiophile quality for 2 channel music, they provide a fine listening expreienced for 5.1 produced movie soundtracks. Good luck and have fun. |
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Silver Member Username: KanoPost Number: 561 Registered: Oct-04 | Acious Magoo XVII : http://www.polkaudio.com/education/tech_article.php?id=27 |
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Silver Member Username: KanoPost Number: 562 Registered: Oct-04 | As far as di-poles as surrounds AND bi-poles as surround backs I have no idea what that would sound like. |
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Bronze Member Username: CurtisManhattan Beach, CA Post Number: 32 Registered: May-04 | Ascend is one of the only speaker companies that are highly regarded by customers, professional reviewer community, and does not advertise with the websites or magazines that have given them high praise. Sampling the product is a bit more cumbersome, but you get to do so in your own home for 30 days. Return shipping on a pair of Ascends is between $20-$40 depending on where you are. There is no substitute for sampling with your own equipment and your room. |
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Gold Member Username: Edster922Abubala, Ababala The Occupation Post Number: 1489 Registered: Mar-05 | Acious Magoo XVII --- heh heh heh great name there...I likes! Somehow I have the feeling this personage has been created by the same "Anonymous" poster who used to often post under various "unregistered guests" names ("Alfonso Reyes" for example) each with a slightly different persona but all with the same mission: to stir the pot around here. Lately he's taken to registering these aliases, most famously one "Devil's Advocate" and again the intent is the same: to stir up discussion especially volatile ones like this. Just the title he chose for this thread should be a dead giveaway, guys. On the other hand this multi-faceted "anonymous" poster could also be the ever-elusive Admin for all we know, who stands to benefit by generating more activity on this site, especially the heated kind as long as they don't get too out of hand! Oh well we'll never truly know, such is the wild wacky world of eCoustics, gods bless it! Just fun to throw out a theory. Or two or three... lol |
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Silver Member Username: T_bomb25Dayton, Ohio United States Post Number: 606 Registered: Jun-05 | AM knowones asked you how much you are spending or do you listen stereo and how big your room is,come on guys I know we can do a better job than this before we start pointing him in a direction.So AM can you give us some of this imformation? |
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Silver Member Username: Devils_advocatePost Number: 166 Registered: Jul-05 | LOL Eddie. While I can't say I havn't caused ANY trouble around here, I can't claim to be Mr. Magoo there. |
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Silver Member Username: Devils_advocatePost Number: 167 Registered: Jul-05 | Besides, he's been regged since February. |
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Gold Member Username: Edster922Abubala, Ababala The Occupation Post Number: 1492 Registered: Mar-05 | well DA either AM has been lurking very stealthily or he's one of your countless "sleeper cells!" lol |
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Bronze Member Username: Builder1Beantown, MA Post Number: 26 Registered: Feb-05 | No anonymous posts from me. Well this will all be going into a living room - I'm not sure what it will look like yet as I will be moving. I imagine a normal sized room with carpeting. Dakulis, you said "BUT, Acious, please respond to my prior post as I think everyone will agree that those questions will help shape some suggestions before you go listen AND you really do need to go and listen. " I don't see - what questions you are referring to? But I will try to give some info. I have owned 5.1 setups in the past but they were not that great, so I'm looking for something fairly nice. I am reviewing other brands as well but wanted to get a take on the Ascends. Now I'm a little confused with what I should be getting for surrounds. I will probably have some space behind me and to the side, but I don't know if it would be better to get 4 dipole 4 bipole 2 dipole for the side/2 bipole rears 2 bipole for the side/2 dipole rears I watch alot of movies as well as HD shows that come through with Dolby digital. I would like to be able to play music using the 7 channel stereo and have it sound good as well. |
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Silver Member Username: KanoPost Number: 565 Registered: Oct-04 | Two Pairs of these for fronts and surround backs. http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/products/individual/bookshelf/all/lsi9/ And one pair of these for surrounds. http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/products/individual/surround/all/lsifx/ And of course this subwoofer - http://www.svsubwoofers.com/subs_pcplus_20-39.htm The speakers are 4 ohms so you'll need some good amplification: http://www.nadelectronics.com/ht_amplifiers/T163_framset.htm http://www.nadelectronics.com/ht_amplifiers/T973_framset.htm |
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Bronze Member Username: Jorge59Rio de JaneiroBrasil Post Number: 37 Registered: May-05 | Hello guys, Let me jump in and tell my experience. I got my Marantz SR 8400 and 3.1 Ascend/Hsu package. Used to my - so called - "crappy" Yammy/Polk system, I expected much more from the new set up. It might be the calibration, I'm still getting started. You can read more at: http://forum.ascendacoustics.com/showthread.php?t=1273 |
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Bronze Member Username: Rysa4Post Number: 12 Registered: Jul-05 | Some of the older Yamaha receivers were really good-- I dont consider them crappy by any means personally. Your new 3.1 AScend/HSU should be pretty good. Really not sure what to say. I don't own any of these products myself, but have heard them all except perhaps the Polks. The only Polks I have listened to were in a Circiut City store. They were OK too. |
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Gold Member Username: Edster922Abubala, Ababala The Occupation Post Number: 1513 Registered: Mar-05 | Marc I've been trying to PM you because I can't find your email address, please turn on your PM capability. |
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Bronze Member Username: Rysa4Post Number: 13 Registered: Jul-05 | Hi Eddie. I cant seem to do that effectively for some reason. I did PM you however with my contact info-- hope to hear from you. |
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Silver Member Username: DakulisSpokane, Washington United States Post Number: 410 Registered: May-05 | Acious, you're absolutely correct, I didn't say that. Way too many posts on too many threads, BUT, why can't you just read my mind, at least, that's what I always ask my lovely wife? LOL |