This speaker is visually indistinguishable from hundreds of products from other manufacturers that measure far, far worse. Just goes to show that much of the time the things you can't see (like painstaking optimization) matter a whole lot more than the things you can.
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Ascend Sierra-1 V2 Speaker Review
- Thread starter amirm
- Start date
No one hear believes measurements tell all, but there a great place to start. This speaker doesn't measure perfectly and the measurements show what EQ to use, so whats your problem with measurements?This speaker and review shows clearly that measurements are just one part of the equation. It measures beautifully yet, it needs EQ to sounds it's best. Hopefully this will sober up some people here that seem to pray to the "measurement god" although I, for one, am not holding my breath on that one
This is also a great argument AGAINST amps without tone controls. In my humble opinion, amps that have no tone controls should be penalized out of the start box so to speak.
Agreed they are not. But due to diffuse light they really look like ray tracing. I'm not the only one to think so. I think some other object or background texture is needed for the shots.
Customer gallery gave me some idea though. Now I'm down to natural finish vs dark cherry...
Post in thread 'Ascend Acoustics Sierra LX Review'
https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...acoustics-sierra-lx-review.47294/post-1696438
OP
- Thread Starter
- #204
Yes, corrected. Thank you.
OP
- Thread Starter
- #205
I would get a high power class D amplifier in general and certainly here. Since speakers are not very sensitive, noise is not as much of an issue as is running out of power.
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Exactly -- I don't care how hard an amp has to work to meet the speaker's current demand at the desired SPL as long as it was properly designed for such a job.
I think the reason they look that way is because the image itself seems to have been cropped around the speaker, so you only see the white background and no shadows there, just on the speaker itself. Zooming in on the picture, it looks exactly like the speakers I have (with texture and shadow). And I totally get how people could think that -- I thought the same when I first saw it. Sorry if my terseness implied any other subtext, that was not my intention.
Oh please, no subtext implication was perceived. I appreciate the exchange.
I see the owner/designer engaging with the community, and I like their approach to things both technical and business. Just wanted to drop in a quick constructive suggestion if they happen to read...
I don't operate in legal as a profession but you're not gonna be getting Klippel & ASR to approve a design of a speaker, I mean imagine that! NFS optimised means that someone has used a Klippel to optimise their speaker, which is perfectly valid & sensible, but "Klippel & ASR Approved" is something that Klippel & ASR would have to agree re a commercial endorsement, which is more trouble than it's worth for everyone involved I imagine!NFS optimized!
Why not directly Klippel/ASR approved?
Lol... In this brave new world, we audiophiles no longer buy audio gear, just branded sinads and spinoramas...
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Penelinfi
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This guy has 3 finishes lined up at 3:00
Tharbamar has a natural finish in his video of a Sierra 2.
Ha, when you're cynical! If it sounds good it sounds good, it works for me in my experiences re headphones & speakers with regards to the ethos of this site. But it's not surprising that it does when you have the preference research that backs it. Ultimately I think it's true that when a person gets to a certain point in their experimentation of EQ & gear adventure that you should end up where you're just enjoying the music rather than listening to the gear. It's fun to experiment, but it's good to know when you're done at least for a few months or so or maybe longer, most of us here like the journey & experimentation with EQ, and most of us probably have firm favourites for headphones & corresponding EQ's along with speakers & maybe anechoic EQ's & room EQ's so it's all about fine tuning around a good starting point (that the research provides). I think most of the time people here probably swap gear less often and for better reasons than other places on the internet. Some people are close to their end journey of audio nirvana here, lol, it's true!Lol... In this brave new world, we audiophiles no longer buy audio gear, just branded sinads and spinoramas...
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This. I've gotten "to a certain point" at which I know I'd have to drop a fuktonne of moolah to get a significant improvement over what I already have. I still read ASR and Erin's to keep current with what's out there, but I'd have to win a lottery jackpot before I could afford something clearly better -- e.g. a Kii 3 system or a pair of three-way Genelec monitors -- for my particular use case. For now, I'm staying on the lookout for bargains that might bring a little more convenience and/or joy to my listening life, but I'm done chasing major performance improvements because that would be too expensive or swapping in different gear for the sake of a couple of additional SINAD points because that would be difference without any audible advantage considering said use case.
For those writing about finish, as I said in a previous post, Google image search is very helpful. You can search for "Ascend sierra natural" or "Ascend sierra cherry" or "Ascend sierra espresso" on Google's image tab, and you will find dozens of pictures in different light from various owners.
Example: https://www.google.com/search?clien...QIHdjfDVMQ0pQJegQIDhAB&biw=1366&bih=653&dpr=1
Example: https://www.google.com/search?clien...QIHdjfDVMQ0pQJegQIDhAB&biw=1366&bih=653&dpr=1
ROOSKIE
Major Contributor
NFS optimized!
Why not directly Klippel/ASR approved?
Btw, political correctness apart, the power handling specs for a 5 incher at 40hz is total bullshit...
If you had a small company and went and invested $100k in a new piece of design equipment, an expense/investment that dwarfs what most comparable companies have would you not promote it?Lol... In this brave new world, we audiophiles no longer buy audio gear, just branded sinads and spinoramas...
At the end of the day hifi equipment is just that. Equipment. It can pretty much be boiled down to accurate measurements. The idea that there is more to it is getting very close to going sailing around the world again to prove it isn't flat.
Don't get me wrong there are still some meaningful variations on the theme and interesting characters that come and go but the main story of what is hi-fidelity is very well defined.
The real issue in my fun mind is all the folks that still want to be brave on a flat earth.
Typically power handling is a nominal rating just like impedance or driver size. Nobody educated in specs thinks these handle 180watts at 40hrz. But the woofers can probably take that and more in a chunk of the frequency range for a meaningful amount of time during peaking.
DanielT
Major Contributor
In a way "easy" to choose an amplifier for the Ascend Sierra-1 V2 considering its sensitivity and the way the impedance curve looks. TPA3255 based amps may have too little power and due to the fact that many, due to the lack of PFFB, may be load dependent. So an otherwise perfectly ok amplifier with 90 watts in 8 Ohms, like the one in the link below,had I not chosen to power up a couple Ascend Sierra-1 V2:
Fosi Audio ZA3 Amplifier Review
This is a review and detailed measurements of the Fosi Audio ZA3 stereo amplifier with balanced XLR inputs. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $149.99 with 48 volt power supply. The amplifier has really dressed up from its earlier origins of common enclosures in budget class...
audiosciencereview.com
This makes amp selection easy, a good Hypex or Purifi based amp with plenty of power that is not load dependent. For example, this one with its 245 watts in 8 Ohms. Then you don't have to worry about whether you have enough power, which it has, to the Ascend Sierra-1 V2. Obviously a big difference in price compared to the Fosi amp above, but if you want to wade into the "high end" track with a couple of really good passive small speakers, that's what is required. I think so, anyway:
Apollon NCx500ST Stereo Amplifier Review
This is a review and detailed measurements of the Apollon NCx500ST stereo class D amplifier based on Hypex NCOREx NCx500 modules. It was kindly drop shipped from the member and costs 1,090.00€ (US $1,168) with standard opamp. While the case is stamped aluminum, it is a heavily customized one...
audiosciencereview.com
The question is why, as an almost no name small business owner, why do you spend those 100k ? Do you really spend that money to get a tool that might help you design and engineer better speakers? Or do you pay that price simply to advertise the political correctness of your approach to good sound, a correctness that will become some kind of Unique Selling Proposal, especially at places like ASR which will apreciate that correctness and will bring you their warmest support?
Other question is the ethical correctness of It all...
Btw, the day when all the almost no name small loudspeaker manufacturers decide to invest those 100k on Klippel's name and gear for similar existential reasons, loudspeakers will all become no name commodities with a potential for passing the ASR review...
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Yes. If you know the history, and you read what Dave has written about the subject, then yes, he invested in the Klippel NFS precisely for that reason - to get a tool to help him design and engineer better speakers.
He will surely apreciate this... But no need to mention NFS as a selling argument.
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