Internet Direct Brands (ID): Ascend Acoustics, Chane, Philharmonic Audio, Wavecrest Audio, SVS

[Roen]

Does anyone on these forums own a pair or set of these Internet Direct speaker brands?

If so, please share your comments!

 

[Krusty09]

Hello. I own a ascend acoustics center ch.
It's not the low one it's not the new new one and it has the upgraded tweeter not the ribbion.. I like it it sounds real good. I'll think of the model and put it up. The other thing I know they have bstock sales from time to time. Nice people to work with.

 

[Roen]

Hello. I own a ascend acoustics center ch.
It's not the low one it's not the new new one and it has the upgraded tweeter not the ribbion.. I like it it sounds real good. I'll think of the model and put it up. The other thing I know they have bstock sales from time to time. Nice people to work with.

Just a centre channel?

Interesting speaker choice.

 

[Ron Texas]

SVS is now sold by Best Buy. I think it's a commission deal with speakers drop shipped by SVS.

 

[Krusty09]

Hey. Your right about that. I always wanted to try them out but always was a 2ch guy and once I got my home theater pre i got a center . I have Vandy 3a sigs and believe it or not the match is not half bad. Little tweeking here and there and the match wasn't half bad. I think they make a good product.

I think since then they have stepped up their game . They have nice stuff.

 

[esm]

My living room is all SVS kit: a single SB13-Ultra (their older generation 13" sub), ultra center, 2x ultra towers, 2x ultra surrounds, 2x ultra bookshelves in the rear, powered through an Outlaw 7700, eq'd with a MiniDSP DDRC-88a, which is fed by the multichannel analog output from my Oppo UDP-205 at the center of the system. I feed a cheap aliexpress HDMI switch into that as my source selector, and have another headphone amp (a Gustard H20, which is a little too large to ship to Amir, unfortunately) hanging off of it for late-night 2-channel listening lest I get evicted.

I'm incredibly happy with SVS' stuff, particularly the towers; it's well-built and gorgeous (I love me some piano gloss black), and all of my dealings with support have been phenomenal. I ordered everything direct from them, so I don't have a clue what support looks like when buying through best buy (I had no idea they were selling through another channel now).

That said, my "I'm happy with it" is purely subjective, and I have no measurements to share. (I can make one comment about the amp though: there's no gain control, and the noise floor is clear as a bell in all speakers with the DDRC-88a connected to it, without additional attenuation. That was a fun discovery after plunking down on shipping it to the US.)

 

[astr0b0y]

I have Ascend Sierra-2 and their Horizon centre channel with RAAL tweeter. Had them for about 4 years now and have no plans to make any changes. I took a pretty large punt on these as I live on the other side of the world so, even though they were happy to honour their return policy for me, shipping back to the US would have seen me eat well north of $1000 in freight costs overall. Build quality is exceptional, they look as new as the day they arrived. I feel they have a lovely and well defined bass response. Even at high SPL the bass remains impressive. Upper octaves are smooth too and seem free from distortion even at almost uncomfortably high SPL.
When I was researching new speakers I had just found my skeptical voice so I was turned off by a lot of the marketing lies that the majority of audio companies use to entice buyers. Ascend’s marketing seemed far more honest, in fact as far as I know they don’t advertise at all outside their own website and word of mouth.

 

[GoMrPickles]

I have an SVS PB10 I bought on Craigslist a decade ago for $300. The logo fell off the grille, but other than that, no complaints for when it's called into action to supplement my Paradigm Studio 100 V2s during TV/movies. I leave it off for music; getting the EQ dialed in was a little more work than I wavted to put in.

 

[Ron Texas]

Two internet direct speaker companies worth looking at are Hsu and Rythmik. The latter is sub's only.

 

[pierre]

Do you know of similar companies in Europe?
I have heard of xtz.se

 

[DonH56]

Owner:
Emotiva amplifiers (processors, not so much...)
Rythmik subs (five in house)

Respect:
Salk (speakers, streamer)
Philharmonic Audio (speakers)
SVS (subs)
Ascend (speakers, subs from Rythmik)
Sanders (ESLs, amplifiers)
March Audio (what the heck)

No real experience or contact with others that I recall off-hand but I am sure I've left several off the "respect" list.

FWIWFM - Don

 

[Vincent Kars]

Do you know of similar companies in Europe?
I have heard of xtz.se

https://www.teufelaudio.com/

 

[SMc]

I have stuff from NHT and Axiom.

 

[DDF]

I have an SVS PB10 I bought on Craigslist a decade ago for $300. The logo fell off the grille, but other than that, no complaints for when it's called into action to supplement my Paradigm Studio 100 V2s during TV/movies. I leave it off for music; getting the EQ dialed in was a little more work than I wavted to put in.

Have a several year old SVS SB12-NSD. Ordering was hassle free, product was well packaged and shipped in good time.

It's a bit of a thumper! The Onix Rocket UFW it replaced was more accurate in my system. I found it really hard to integrate with several sets of speakers, even using measurement gear. It has high delay (up to 1.5 cycles in the low end) which could be a factor.

 

[jhaider]

Unfortunately, too many comments about "internet direct" speaker companies online read like advertorials.

 

[Biblob]

https://www.teufelaudio.com/

I can't tell if this brand is actually selling good speakers or not. They seem to improve iteratively, but that might just be a marketing technique without actually improving the sound.
I can't find some actual good reviews/measurements on the speakers. Only some anecdotal positive ones.

 

[oivavoi]

I had the first "Philharmonitors" from Philharmonic Audio. These were my first proper hifi-speakers. Perceived them as very, very good. Their measurements are extremely good for a passive speaker: Flat frequency response from top to bottom, and relatively even dispersion with frequency. I also really liked the Raal tweeter.

I almost can't remember why I sold them. It was before I started getting interested in the theoretical side of hifi, so I just wanted to try out something else, more or less randomly.

 

[Roen]

Unfortunately, too many comments about "internet direct" speaker companies online read like advertorials.

True, but the proof is in the pudding with free auditions shipped to your door.

Don't take the internet's word for it, try it yourself.

 

[Ron Texas]

True, but the proof is in the pudding with free auditions shipped to your door.

Don't take the internet's word for it, try it yourself.

I saw it on the internet, it must be true, LOL.

 

[GGroch]

True, but the proof is in the pudding with free auditions shipped to your door.....

In looking at the Ascend, Chane, Philharmonic, Wavecrest and SVS websites, it appears that only SVS has truly free returns. That is, they pay shipping both ways. The return periods vary from 14 days (Philharmonic) to 45 days (SVS) with the rest being 30 days.

Shipping on something as heavy as set of speakers can be substantial. So auditions are cheaper and faster through a local retailer who has a standard return policy. Am I mistaken on this?

I am confused by the value proposition of direct speakers today. A few decades ago when speakers were mostly manufactured in the U.S. there seemed to me to be real value in cutting out the 50-100% retailer's speaker markup.

However, today nearly all large mid-fi speaker brands are manufactured in China. Many direct to retail speakers also have substantial amounts of Asian content, but many are assembled here. In addition to volume discounts, large manufacturers also have much lower domestic shipping costs.

This does not mean you cannot get quality speakers direct...I am less sure we can assume that you are getting a deal relative to build quality/cost compared to the traditionally retailed brands.