nitrobob..To bad you sold your Ascend Acoustics. You were using the wrong amplifier. The speaker is known for its killer bass and works best with gobs of power. You were using a Marantz 7500, a budget surround receiver with not enough power reserve to meet the demands of the Ascends. Don't be deceived by the price. They are designed on a level of the best studio and high end speakers on the market. The owner of the company,
David Fabrikant, is one of the finest acoustical engineers in the country who stays off the radar. Their word of mouth reputation makes up for a large cult following globally. David also is a speaker driver/designer. Their way ahead of the game, using a bamboo cabinet structure which is 500%
stronger than MDF capable of much higher resistance to cabinet resonance, distortion and internal turbulence. If you are into heavy metal, hard rock, the Nrt tweeter is better than the RAAL for that type of music. You would've been better off using a hefty 200 watts outboard amp that doubles at 4 ohms which would've transformed your Sierra Towers to a performance level you were not aware of. No wonder you got 6 buyers in eight hours. |
I'll take the Ascend Acoustics Sierra Towers over Vandersteens any day of the week. In order to survive, Richard had to take on outside engineers to keep his company afloat during the past twenty years. Richard is not a acoustical engineer nor had an education in electrical engineering. He started out as a DIY guy building speakers in his garage in 1977. Their good speakers but over priced, and Ascend Acoustics designs superior drivers. The goofiest thing I ever came across years ago when Vandersteen updated their website, Is his article on " The truth about pistonic drivers"..when I shared the article with my high end friends they couldn't stop laughing. Great piece of hyperbole. |
More than likely, Vandersteen is using "ghost writers" to answer your technical questions online. I mentioned in a recent thread I started under amps/preamps on the new Belles Virtuoso integrated of the very bad experience I had with Richard Vandersteen, having to deal with his explosive temper which he is known for. In the summer of 1998 I spoke to him on the phone and asked him a technical question regarding the 2CE,
wanting to know what the SPL/weighted db level the speaker could reach. He replied "What do you mean?" He had no clue what I was talking about and went dead quiet on the phone. I repeated the question and he yelled at the top of his lungs " I don't have time to answer technical questions" and slammed down the phone. Worst treatment I have ever experienced from an audio company in forty years. |
Avoid retailers at all cost who troll around threads trying to hard sell you to lure you into their stores. Having owned a retail audio business just for two years, and a authorized Nuforce dealer at the time, here is how bracket wholesale buying works. The average wholesale discount a retailer gets for a pair of speakers is 40%. So if a retailer sells you a pair of speakers that cost $10K, he pockets a profit of $4K. The discount is higher, 45 to 50% if purchased in volume. This is why many speaker companies set their retail price very high since they have to sell their speakers at a high discount to retail stores, so you wind up buying an overpriced speaker. Factory direct is the better way to go. I have not bought from a retailer in 24 years. |
Also, the speaker manufacturer cost to make a speaker, average formula
is four to one of the factory wholesale cost. The retail wholesale cost for a $10K speaker is $6K. The total manufacturer cost to make that $10K speaker including packaging and out the door, is $2400.00. This is why the majority of speaker companies build their cabinets with MDF panels,
since MDF is dirt cheap, and will not standardize bamboo panels as an alternative, since it would reduce their profit margins. |
helomech..you are off the mark. The report you refer to is from 1977. I looked at the two tables listing woods and composites and bamboo is nowhere to be found. Bamboo plywood is what I'm referring to is stronger than steel. Bamboo has a tensile strength of 28,000 and steel has a tensile strength of 23,000 and is three times stronger than oak. When layered in multiple sheets to form bamboo plywood, it has the highest dampening and resonating ability out of any organic material on the planet. Bamboo is King. Ascend Acoustics uses bamboo plywood for their top speakers which is why the Sierra Towers have a performance level typical of speakers in the $8K to $12K range. Back in 1977 no one even considered at the time to explore the science of bamboo material for the advancement of speaker cabinet structure. |
Nope. You need to dump the Denon. The Focal and Sierra are designed to handle major amplification. The Denon does not have the power reserve necessary to bring the Focal and Sierra to their best performance level. Dealers are like politicians, they'll tell you exactly what you want to hear. Rule of thumb matching an amplifier to a speaker for maximum performance. Under powering a speaker at high volume levels will heat up your drivers and cause damage. When a company list specs such as amp recommendation as " 100 to 300 watts " , always go for the max. To determine the correct amount of power, call the speaker company and talk to their tech designers, and ask them what is the maximum continuous power their woofer magnets can handle and divide by two. If you are told 500 watts, then 250 watts is what you need. The Parasound A21 amp would be an excellent choice at 250 watts per side and you could pick one up used, as an example. You always want your drivers current volume at least 50% at all times to keep your drivers and crossover components cool for the very best performance. I would go for the Sierra's, much cheaper since their factory direct and you would save about $700, sell the Denon and if your on a tight budget, pick up a used Class D integrated from Wyred 4 Sound, to provide the power you need. Go to the Ascend Acoustics website and read the review by Enjoy the Music of the Sierra Towers. Review is outstanding. www.ascendacoustics.com |
helomech..I was referring to organic materials only. Not synthetic like carbon fiber which is made up of polyacrylonitrile and rayon. Very bad material for the environment. Cannot be recycled and it winds up in land fills. China is currently developing an alternative, bamboo carbon fiber, which I'm not sure how green it will be. I heard that Donald Trump is having a pair of Magico M3's dipped in gold to put in his bathroom at the White House. |
mtrot..Then why do we assume all reviewers hear the same thing? This is nothing more than propaganda from the high end industry. Your confusing hearing with sensitivity. Comparing eating a plate of Spaghetti to listening to music is a stupid analogy. If you believe that than go eat a sub woofer.
Paper cones I "hear" are more delicious. |
The name of the company is Ascend Acoustics, not Accent. I'm not a fan boy of the Audio establishment. More than anything else, I'm a music man, big time. I listen to music at least two hours a night seven days a week when my system is in place. My main interest is Classical Composers and jazz, and hard rock for dessert. Implying I'm lying regarding my stint with Richard is absurd. When I called him back in the summer of '98, it was a quick call and I was impressed he answered the phone. I was polite, easy, just calling to have a tech questioned answered, thats all. I got the impression that he was distracted, probably assembling a speaker, who knows. During the past 30+ years I have had many great phone conversations with companies regarding tech issues that were all very positive. Richard took me by surprise, thats all. My focus in my recent threads is mainly on boutique companies that stay off the radar, that make their products solely for music lovers, not Audiophiles that are just into gear. Companies that have a long term word of mouth reputation, known for making musical treasures. Such as Belles and Ascend Acoustics. These companies are not interested in becoming a large mega million establishment audio company plastering their ads all over the planet in top high end magazines. Their only focus is the music lover, and these type of companies are disappearing. Having been burned by three retail businesses since 1986, is why I only buy direct.
General idea about pricing? I worked in retail for five years selling electronics and camera equipment, and I'm very familiar with bracket buying tables on paper, displaying vertical columns for different product amounts and wholesale discount rates. Common in retail. Also, I have never bought into the false concept " we all hear differently " when we listen to music. Twenty years ago, when I attended the monthly Audio Society meetings on Mercer Island at a church in their lower floor large rec room, we would bring CD's or vinyl to listen to and evaluate. An average of thirty people would show up every month. At the end of each listening session, everyone would have the same opinion of what we heard and always pointed out the bad or good qualities in the recording,
such as poor bass, cold highs, shallow midrange, and poor sound stage.
We assume all reviewers in the top high magazines, regardless of the mag, all hear the same things, Thats why we read their reviews in the first place! For evaluation! When three thousand people are in a concert hall to hear a symphony, guess what, they all hear the same thing. What a bunch of hyperbole. |
helomech..I owned a pair of Ascend Acoustics CBM-170 SE's, which I sold before Christmas. A remarkable review you can find on The Sound Apprentice website. Go to their homepage and to the right click on Ascend Acoustics on their topic and brands list. Their conclusion is correct, a benchmark product. It is the best bookshelf I have ever heard in thirty years in its price range. Had it hooked up to my Rega Mira 3 integrated. |
spendmoney...Here is an excellent choice of low priced high end quality components from Nord Acoustics in England. They make Class D amps, preamps, and integrateds. You have your choice of Hypex Ncore or B&O ICE amps. You have two choices of Op amps. From Sparkos or Sonic Imagery. The Sparkos op amp is better, known for its warmer, richer, more relaxed signature. Here ya go. www.nordacoustics.co.uk |
ctsooner.."Also, good luck when the company eventually fails"...
HA! What a joke! Ascend Acoustics has a very strong following globally and have been in business for 11 years. David Fabrikant works an average of 12 hours a day at his production facility to keep up with purchase orders. Hes still young and has a lot of mileage. As long as passionate music lovers exist, he will not be going anywhere soon. I never said that Audiophiles are not into music. I made it very clear that their are two types of Audiophiles, those that are into music, and others that just buy and show that are switching out their sysytems every two to three years to keep their stage show fresh. My closest friends are Audiophiles heavily into music and have their audio systems for an average of 7 to 10 years. |
