Ascend Acoustics Sierra-1 V2 - Review & Measurements by Erin

[cavedriver]

as far as the raal tweeter: now that J Salk is retired i'd venture to guess that ascend and philharmonic audio represent the vast majority of the wholesale orders between them....

I look forward to hearing Dennis' new center speaker and seeing it reviewed against the Ascend center that has measured well. A little healthy competition going on there...

 

[goldark]

I look forward to hearing Dennis' new center speaker and seeing it reviewed against the Ascend center that has measured well. A little healthy competition going on there...

The original Horizon center was measured by Amir: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...coustics-horizon-center-speaker-review.15199/

But since then, there have been a couple of upgraded versions, the Horizon V2 (with the improved NFS optimized crossover) and the Horizon ELX version (with the newer drivers). Both are measurable improvements over the original.

 

[tw 2022]

I look forward to hearing Dennis' new center speaker and seeing it reviewed against the Ascend center that has measured well. A little healthy competition going on there...

yes, nice catch... Dave and Dennis are friends with a healthy respect for each other... i think they actually feed off of the others success .. it's good to see....

 

[JAJDACT]

I hope the general readership here know that using SEAS drivers is more a positive than a negative.

Yeah I would hope so,my comment mainly stems form this one,I'm sure it's not the majority opinion.

https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...eries-with-mat-white-paper.43946/post-1563039

 

[T.T.]

except for the grille mount holes, it looks almost perfect for the price. But I am surprised no one picked up on the low sensitivity, 81.5db is maybe the lowest I have seen (especially when the spec says 87). I would not mind much, as I listen at low volume 90% of the time, but still made me count whether my 100W amp would be enough.

 

[Wseaton]

I'm going to betcha that the low sensitivity was a result of not compromising on the crossover to get as neutral a response as possible from both those drivers. And / or these are off the shelf drivers that don't quite match in terms of dB levels, so the tweeter was brought down a bit vs making less audio friendly compromises . You can either beat down the peaks, futz with notch filters, or compromise with a simplier xover but sacrific over all sensitity to get things to behave and not look like the EKG of a meth head which often sounds better to aging audiophiles with too much hair in their ears. Looking at you B&W.

I'll take the low sensitity and neutrality any day

Ascend has always been one of those companies that get it, but don't have that much recognition. Just hoping the keep 'getting it' and produce an active version wit the same neutrality.

 

[T.T.]

I'm going to betcha that the low sensitivity was a result of not compromising on the crossover to get as neutral a response as possible from both those drivers.

agreed, I would trade high sensitivity for flat FR every time, especially now when powerful amps are so affordable, but they should not say it is 87db. I see it is an industry standard to overstate the sensitivity, but they seem to be measurement oriented, so it was a bit surprising.

 

[JAJDACT]

agreed, I would trade high sensitivity for flat FR every time, especially now when powerful amps are so affordable, but they should not say it is 87db. I see it is an industry standard to overstate the sensitivity, but they seem to be measurement oriented, so it was a bit surprising.

FWIW the stated anechoic sensitivity is 83db,in room sensitivity is listed as 87db.

 

[AscendDF]

agreed, I would trade high sensitivity for flat FR every time, especially now when powerful amps are so affordable, but they should not say it is 87db. I see it is an industry standard to overstate the sensitivity, but they seem to be measurement oriented, so it was a bit surprising.

Happy Holidays!

It is important to understand the difference between in-room sensitivity and anechoic sensitivity, we list both for every speaker on our site. Anechoic sensitivity is the sensitivity specification of the speaker without any room gain or reflections, as if the speaker was being used outside and mounted on a 12 foot pole. Our in-room sensitivity specification is a much more accurate representation of sensitivity a user should expect, as it includes room gain and reflections, which can typically add as much as 6dB more output to the anechoic sensitivity spec, sometimes even more.

We measure in-room sensitivity with the speaker positioned in our medium sized demo-room. We find that with our speakers that use dome tweeters, reflections + room gain typically add about 4dB. With our ribbon tweeters, they typically add about 3dB, and this is due to having increased vertical directivity which lessens reflections from the floor and ceiling.

Hope this is useful info!

 

[T.T.]

Hope this is useful info!

thank you for the swift response, I appreciate that you distinguish between different sensitivities, and it does makes sense of course. But it seems the approach is not the same for all manufacturers, so it makes the comparisons a bit confusing. Still when I compare the same measurement (e.g. from Erin's page) with other speakers, the sensitivity comes out quite low, sure not a problem as long as it is matched with appropriate amp.

 

[tw 2022]

agreed, I would trade high sensitivity for flat FR every time, especially now when powerful amps are so affordable, but they should not say it is 87db. I see it is an industry standard to overstate the sensitivity, but they seem to be measurement oriented, so it was a bit surprising.

X2 as a person who has Dennis Murphy modded speakers, I'm going to agree wholeheartedly, that's one way he got better neutrality from my speakers (emotiva b1s), he a Dave sometimes do similar work...

 

[AscendDF]

thank you for the swift response, I appreciate that you distinguish between different sensitivities, and it does makes sense of course. But it seems the approach is not the same for all manufacturers, so it makes the comparisons a bit confusing. Still when I compare the same measurement (e.g. from Erin's page) with other speakers, the sensitivity comes out quite low, sure not a problem as long as it is matched with appropriate amp.

As to other manufacturers sensitivity ratings, if they don't use the term anechoic sensitivity - then you should assume it is in-room, but it should be verified by 3rd party measurements when possible.

For us, lower sensitivity was a design choice based on the tremendous success of our LX speakers. It is not physically possible to get this type of bass extension in such a small speaker without sacrificing sensitivity. It also allows for better linearity in the midbass and upper bass frequency range, where it is common to have a bump in the response at around 100Hz followed by a dip.

Take for example this speaker:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/scl/fi/2qj7v6gggcoxwkcseagu8/CEA2034-Aperion-Audio-Novus-N5B.png?rlkey=xus1wwjskfw42xwiogd1jtmxl&dl=0

See the bump at around 120Hz, followed by the pronounced dip at ~ 300Hz? That dips down to about 82dB, and that would end up being the sensitivity if one were trying to achieve a flat on-axis frequency response. This type of response is quite common in bookshelf speakers where the designer prefers to not sacrifice some sensitivity.

That stated, with the popularity and overall cost savings with the newer class D amplifiers, higher power amplifiers are now in reach for all consumers.

If someone is looking for higher sensitivity, our signature line would be ideal. Our new 340SE2 has high sensitivity and excellent on and off-axis performance, but a subwoofer is strongly recommended.

 

[Beave]

Note that while the anechoic sensitivity is fairly low, the impedance is quite high - always above 7 Ohms magnitude.

 

[tw 2022]

Note that while the anechoic sensitivity is fairly low, the impedance is quite high - always about 7 Ohms magnitude.

it should still be an easy load to drive , and a speaker this size isn't going to shake walls no matter how loud you want to go...

 

[AscendDF]

Note that while the anechoic sensitivity is fairly low, the impedance is quite high - always above 7 Ohms magnitude.

100% correct. For those that don't understand, it means that the amp or receiver will generate less current to reach a specific volume level compared to speakers that have lower impedance, higher impedance eases the amplifier's workload (it will run cooler and have overall greater dynamic range)

 

[Cool Runnings]

Just got my Sierra 1 V2s. Bought them because of Erin and ASR reviews and feedback. Running them with MXN10 streamer and dac to Topping PA5+.

Still tweaking but so far very happy with the SQ. Dark background (finally!), well balanced with good details, good mids and good bass. Still tweaking to find locked in center image. It's there but doesn't feel as locked in as the JBL A120s. Soundstage doesn't extend beyond the speakers. Not sure if I can achieve bigger soundstage beyond this.

Any advice is appreciated.

 

[tw 2022]

Not sure if I can achieve bigger soundstage beyond this.

play with toe in/out and distance from front wall...the closer to the wall generally kills soundstage size / depth....

 

[ooheadsoo]

I would play with getting the speakers closer to the side walls. Earlier/louder lateral reflections should increase apparent source width.

 

[Cool Runnings]

play with toe in/out and distance from front wall...the closer to the wall generally kills soundstage size / depth....

Thanks managed to get the center pretty well locked. Physical space constraints is limiting my ability to get wider soundstage. Not sure I can achieve that in my space. But I’m happy enough to get the center right.

 

[Cool Runnings]

I would play with getting the speakers closer to the side walls. Earlier/louder lateral reflections should increase apparent source width.

Thanks. Interesting. I’ll see how to do this. Have some space constraints. One speaker is closer (~1 foot) to the side wall than the other (-2 feet)