Ascend CBM-170SE2 Speaker Review

[YouDontHaveEnoughBass]

Why did you say 60-65 hz?

View attachment 555508

Ports tuned to 50hz so you can EQ bass to be flat down to 50 (and not much lower at 40hz) without much distortion consequence

I’ve always done this with ported speakers without subs in the past; a peaking filter with a Q of 1 at port tuning frequency to boost it level with the midrange then whatever else is needed to fix anechoic response then finally a filter or two to cut room modes once the speakers measured in room

 

[Mark609]

I don't want very little if any vertical dispersion in a center. Will take plenty of horizontal though.

Brainfart! I want little vertical dispersion in a center.

Tweeter is protected by the grill.

 

[John.D]

Tweeter is protected by the grill.

I guess you are referring to front grill? If yes then it's no protection with kids around.
What I meant was something like Elac DBR62, Sierra etc.

 

[Mark609]

I guess you are referring to front grill? If yes then it's no protection with kids around.
What I meant was something like Elac DBR62, Sierra etc.

I did. You'll just have to keep the kids trained to respect your property unless they're toddlers, then all bets are off.

 

[a4eaudio]

....unless they're toddlers, then all bets are off.

Or teenagers.
....
Well, or pre-teens.
....
Or college students.
....
Yeah, unprotected tweeters are doomed!!

 

[tw 2022]

Or teenagers.
....
Well, or pre-teens.
....
Or college students.
....
Yeah, unprotected tweeters are doomed!!

Keep the covers on...bringing up the need for those measurements as well

 

[DanTheMan]

Or teenagers.
....
Well, or pre-teens.
....
Or college students.
....
Yeah, unprotected tweeters are doomed!!

I had a set of speakers for a decade. I let a friend borrow them for 1 weekend to host an adult party (no one under 35yrs old). One night and both tweeters and dust caps were pushed in. That was the event that ended in me finding the way to the ADAM ARTist 5 that I am using now as I type. The ADAM are active and very difficult to repair now depending on what problem may arise. Up until just a few years ago, all parts were available. Now, I think I can only source the woofers. These are the first speakers that make me feel like I'll be alright without the ADAM and still have leftover funds for new source components.

 

[monx]

Really nice to see these reviewed so well. I began my hifi journey as a broke college student with the original CBM-170 and held onto them for about 20 years. Perfect for winding down the day with classical music. I am glad to see Ascend is still producing great stuff.

 

[goldark]

Big Ascend fan and currenty own the LX's. Glad to see these measure well. If I were starting a home theater on a budget, I'd get 5 of these, add a subwoofer, AVR and call it a day.

 

[Rinz]

Are there any owners of these new version 2 speakers that can provide some real life feedback regarding their experience with these speakers? Anything you like/dislike or maybe were surprised by?

 

[JW7]

Are there any owners of these new version 2 speakers that can provide some real life feedback regarding their experience with these speakers? Anything you like/dislike or maybe were surprised by?

I purchased a pair of CBM-170SE2 and three HTM-200SE2 to upgrade my music/HT setup. I have only completed some basic testing so far and have used the CBM-170SE2 as surrounds due to odd measurements I got with the HTM-200SE2.

Overall impression of the build quality is that these are very nice for the price point and the binding posts are particularly solid. With the CBM-170SE2 as surrounds, they match quite nicely with the Clements 207di's I'm currently using as mains for music listening. They are also surprisingly compact speakers as I didn't check the dimensions before ordering them.

Here are my on-axis quasi-anechoic measurements with grille:

The situation I found with the HTM-200SE2's is this:

I've been discussing this with David at Ascend Acoustics and just identified the grille as the culprit this morning. I measured similar response with all three HTM-200SE2's.

Without grille it looks like this:

I measured a series of off-axis angles in an attempt to understand the 4k-6kHz behavior observed previously (after having removed the grille for this series of measurements).

So the HTM-200SE2 looks very good with grille off, not so great with grille on. TBD whether modifying the grille can correct this.

I'll be swapping all of these into the HT setup soon (HTM-200SE2 with grille off).

 

[Rinz]

@JW7 thanks for sharing your analysis. I suppose my curiosity is for a slightly different purpose than home theatre which it seems these are geared towards.

I'm considering getting the CBM-170SE2 for general usage in the living room as a 2.0 installation connected to a TV and for general ambient room music. Not looking at a critical listening setup but hoping to get something that is enjoyable and non-fatiguing to have playing for extended periods in the background. They'd be connected to a Wiim pro plus and 3e Audio A5, replacing some Paradigm 3SE mini's that I'm in no rush to replace. My assumption is that there should be some sort of improvement in sound with speakers designed 30 years later. Any thoughts how the 170SE2 might fare?

 

[JW7]

@JW7 thanks for sharing your analysis. I suppose my curiosity is for a slightly different purpose than home theatre which it seems these are geared towards.

I'm considering getting the CBM-170SE2 for general usage in the living room as a 2.0 installation connected to a TV and for general ambient room music. Not looking at a critical listening setup but hoping to get something that is enjoyable and non-fatiguing to have playing for extended periods in the background. They'd be connected to a Wiim pro plus and 3e Audio A5, replacing some Paradigm 3SE mini's that I'm in no rush to replace. My assumption is that there should be some sort of improvement in sound with speakers designed 30 years later. Any thoughts how the 170SE2 might fare?

I have not A/B tested these against the Clements yet, but here is the in room response at 1m on-axis directly comparing them:

The Clements 207di is a large two way bookshelf speaker with an 8" woofer, generally well regarded stereo speaker from the 90's. The main differences are at 40-50 Hz and above 6kHz. Someone else mentioned that the CBM-170SE2 needed a sub to really fill in the low end.

First impressions after initial stereo listening with YPAO Flat active - soundstage is more precise with the CBM-170SE2, but not as "sweet" sounding as the Clements due to the higher frequency content. Taming the highs some with EQ would probably help.

Update - for some reason YPAO Flat is boosting +2.5 dB at 16kHz. Switching to YPAO Natural removed the high frequency boost and harshness. They do sound very good paired with subs and the soundstage imaging is impressive.

 

[Rinz]

Thanks so much for the comparison chart. It gives a rough idea what I might be gaining from the upgrade as my paradigms likely come from the same era as the Clements, although mine would obviously be lacking in the bass region. Another comparison with something more modern would be nice to see but I don't want to push my luck.

 

[ShadowBoxer]

My assumption is that there should be some sort of improvement in sound with speakers designed 30 years later.

Keep in mind the SE V2 tweeter is the same as the SE V1 tweeter (from 25 years ago).

 

[AM88]

@JW7 thanks for sharing your analysis. I suppose my curiosity is for a slightly different purpose than home theatre which it seems these are geared towards.

I'm considering getting the CBM-170SE2 for general usage in the living room as a 2.0 installation connected to a TV and for general ambient room music. Not looking at a critical listening setup but hoping to get something that is enjoyable and non-fatiguing to have playing for extended periods in the background. They'd be connected to a Wiim pro plus and 3e Audio A5, replacing some Paradigm 3SE mini's that I'm in no rush to replace. My assumption is that there should be some sort of improvement in sound with speakers designed 30 years later. Any thoughts how the 170SE2 might fare?

I’d be interested to know how the htms sounded by themselves with the sub if you have the time. I was thinking of getting a pair without a sub and maybe adding one later. My room is pretty small and bare so I thought a sealed speaker would be good but the wide dispersion all round got me a bit worried.

 

[kyuu]

Keep in mind the SE V2 tweeter is the same as the SE V1 tweeter (from 25 years ago).

Sure, but there's a lot more to a speaker than the tweeter.

 

[JW7]

I’d be interested to know how the htms sounded by themselves with the sub if you have the time. I was thinking of getting a pair without a sub and maybe adding one later. My room is pretty small and bare so I thought a sealed speaker would be good but the wide dispersion all round got me a bit worried.

I had a similar thought. The HTMs measure pretty flat, but the bass starts to roll off around 140Hz. Here is the in room response comparing both (HTM-200SE2 with grille off):

My receiver increased the sub crossover frequency to 110 Hz with these speakers.

 

[Ellebob]

@JW7 thanks for sharing your analysis. I suppose my curiosity is for a slightly different purpose than home theatre which it seems these are geared towards.

I'm considering getting the CBM-170SE2 for general usage in the living room as a 2.0 installation connected to a TV and for general ambient room music. Not looking at a critical listening setup but hoping to get something that is enjoyable and non-fatiguing to have playing for extended periods in the background. They'd be connected to a Wiim pro plus and 3e Audio A5, replacing some Paradigm 3SE mini's that I'm in no rush to replace. My assumption is that there should be some sort of improvement in sound with speakers designed 30 years later. Any thoughts how the 170SE2 might fare?

I haven't used it but going by measurements I am not sure I would use it for a 2.0 system. I do think it would be an improvement over your current Paradigm. However, for 2.0 systems I like to see something that goes lower in the bass region. Going lower just add more richness making it sound fuller. I would also consider active speakers for a 2.0 system
Any of them go lower.

If you plan on adding a sub I think these are an excellent choice for their price. Again, going by measurements.

 

[DanTheMan]

I purchased a pair of CBM-170SE2 and three HTM-200SE2 to upgrade my music/HT setup. I have only completed some basic testing so far and have used the CBM-170SE2 as surrounds due to odd measurements I got with the HTM-200SE2.

Overall impression of the build quality is that these are very nice for the price point and the binding posts are particularly solid. With the CBM-170SE2 as surrounds, they match quite nicely with the Clements 207di's I'm currently using as mains for music listening. They are also surprisingly compact speakers as I didn't check the dimensions before ordering them.

Here are my on-axis quasi-anechoic measurements with grille:

View attachment 559249

The situation I found with the HTM-200SE2's is this:

View attachment 559250

I've been discussing this with David at Ascend Acoustics and just identified the grille as the culprit this morning. I measured similar response with all three HTM-200SE2's.

Without grille it looks like this:

View attachment 559251

I measured a series of off-axis angles in an attempt to understand the 4k-6kHz behavior observed previously (after having removed the grille for this series of measurements).

So the HTM-200SE2 looks very good with grille off, not so great with grille on. TBD whether modifying the grille can correct this.

I'll be swapping all of these into the HT setup soon (HTM-200SE2 with grille off).

Your measurements align with Amir's pretty well. That's a great sign for QA! By Amir's measurements, you may want to toe the speakers out by 10-30 degrees to get rid of the perceived excess treble. My bet would be that it would sound better than EQing the on axis treble as it will help retain the total treble energy in the room. Treble gets absorbed quickly in most rooms.