SteveInNC
Well-known member
(time for a general update 05sep2010)
1. Steve
2. Research Triangle, NC
3. Ascent i, Depth x 2
4. Purchased in July 2005, Depth in January 2006, and another Depth when they were being discontinued.
5. No mods.
6. Electronics:
The following italicized equipment has been retired (various stages) in favor of other stuff, below:
Sony DA4ES: HT receiver, used for 7.1 home theater and as a prepro.
Hafler DH-500: two channel power amp for mains, solid state, approx 380 watts RMS/channel into 4 ohms. It's also 20+ years old.
Update 02/2007, the Hafler has been retired in favor of a Musical Fidelity A5 Integrated, running mainly in HT pass-through. It's significantly better at controlling the Ascents.
Hughes HDVR2: DirecTV TiVo satellite receiver. I was an early-adopter of DirecTV - I bought an original RCA system ($900) in July 1994 during the beta test and installed it myself, 3 months before DirecTV officially offered service. I hated cable that much...
Denon 1920: DVD/SACD/DVDA progressive scan, connected via fiber to receiver for HT and analog for SACD, video over HDMI.
Sony DVP-NC615: DVD/CD carousel, for when you want to run a bunch of background music.
JVC HR-S3500U: Super VHS ET, just in case.
Toshiba 46HM95: rear projection DLP. If you note, it's in front of the fireplace. I bought a DLP specifically because it's light enough (86 lbs) to pick up and move if I decide to have a fire. Front projection just wasn't suitable for my room. I like DLP well enough, particularly with hi-def sources which I pull in over-the-air. Standard-def signals can be good, or really suck, particularly for color purity. I run the SD stuff in TheaterWide mode (stretches the aspect ratio, mainly at the edges, to fill the screen).
New(er) stuff:
Denon 3808ci used as a pre-pro and surrounds power
Musical Fidelity A5 Integrated running mainly in HT pass-through mode to power the Ascents
2 Depths powered off of the Denon's LFE-out, set to LFE+Main, with the fronts set to "small". They are positioned just to the outside of, and in-plane with the Ascents.
Pioneer KURO PDP-5020FD 50" plasma
Oppo BDP83 for DVD/Blu/SACD/DVDA
DirecTV HR 21/100 hidef sat receiver
Phillips DVDR3576H DVR/DVD Recorder combo to archive stuff.
JVC HR-S3500U: Super VHS ET, just in case (still
)
Equipment rack is a BDI Vector in cherry. It is coated steel with adjustable glass shelves. Each shelf will hold 75 lbs, and the bottom shelf will hold 150 lbs. It has a decent cable management system in the back. The whole unit is slightly wedge-shaped, tapering to a narrower back when viewed from above. The front cherry facing is roughly V-shaped, widening as you move up the rack.
7. Comments
I auditioned Ascents intermittently for about two years before purchasing them from Audio Advice in Raleigh, NC. They are replacing a pair of ESS AMT-1Cs (Heil air transformer), and I was specifically looking for good midrange. The AMTs do very well down low, and the Heils go up to 35 Khz, so highs are covered to. Midrange has always been problematic though. As my tastes in music have changed, I tend to listen to stuff that really needs good midrange, like female vocals, acoustic guitar, jazz, etc., so the Ascents sound like heaven by comparison. The first time I auditioned them, the sales mgr played a cut from Sarah McLachlan, and the hair literally stood up on my arms. I was in lust...
A week after I ordered mine, they were discontinued. I decided that it didn't really matter - they were still as good as when I had been auditioning them, the Summits were out of reach, and the Vantage wasn't due out any time soon. Audio Advice did give me a refund of the discounted price without any prompting from me. That's why I like them as a dealer. I've also bought stuff from them for 20+ years, including the Hafler mentioned above.
When I auditioned the Ascents, I felt like they lacked some punch, so I had the sales mgr hook up a Depth too. That solved the issues that I had with them, so I knew that I'd be buying a sub at some point. I eventually bought a Depth about six months later, after allowing myself to get used to the Ascents. It has helped as I expected.
Retired to the bedroom:
The Sony is good enough as a prepro, and excellent as a HT. I don't think that its audio section is as good as my previous Sony GX-900ES ProLogic unit that it replaced (now a bedroom system). As a result, I'm now giving serious consideration to a Musical Fidelity A5 Integrated Amp which has an HT bypass. This would allow me to run two-channel straight to the amp and let it serve as a mains amp for HT via the DA4ES. When I auditioned the Ascents, the store was using Musical Fidelity for sources (although I think that they used separates). If they have the A5 Integrated in-house, I'll try to arrange for an in-home demo to see if or how much of an improvement it makes. Yes, I'm caught on the upgrade train...
My room is 15.5x16.5x8 feet, with the speakers on the 15-foot wall. Originally, they were on the 16-foot wall, but that had a slightly strange geometry and some nearby door openings, with a resulting hot band in the mid-highs. To solve this, I rotated everything in my living room ninety degrees counter-clockwise. This did help tremendously. Unfortunately, my existing standard-def CRT TV would block the fireplace, and was probably too deep anyway for the hearth, so I had to go buy a hi-def DLP as described above. (Update 05sep2010), I gave the DLP to my brother and replaced it with a Pioneer KURO 50" plasma. It's significantly better , unfortunately, Pioneer exited the plasma business, supposedly selling their related tech to Panasonic, so that's probably your best bet now.
Note that the picture is actually three that have been stitched into a panorama via Photoshop, thus the somewhat ugly pin-cushioning and strange lighting. That's a coffee table with a bunch of stuff in the middle-bottom of the picture. There is an area rug on the laminate floor under the coffee table which helps deaden the room some, along with miscellaneous shelves and curtains around the room. The listening position is approximately eight feet from the plane of the panels. The speakers are eight feet apart on-center, and 3.5 feet from the rear and side walls.
1. Steve
2. Research Triangle, NC
3. Ascent i, Depth x 2
4. Purchased in July 2005, Depth in January 2006, and another Depth when they were being discontinued.
5. No mods.
6. Electronics:
The following italicized equipment has been retired (various stages) in favor of other stuff, below:
Sony DA4ES: HT receiver, used for 7.1 home theater and as a prepro.
Hafler DH-500: two channel power amp for mains, solid state, approx 380 watts RMS/channel into 4 ohms. It's also 20+ years old.
Update 02/2007, the Hafler has been retired in favor of a Musical Fidelity A5 Integrated, running mainly in HT pass-through. It's significantly better at controlling the Ascents.
Hughes HDVR2: DirecTV TiVo satellite receiver. I was an early-adopter of DirecTV - I bought an original RCA system ($900) in July 1994 during the beta test and installed it myself, 3 months before DirecTV officially offered service. I hated cable that much...
Denon 1920: DVD/SACD/DVDA progressive scan, connected via fiber to receiver for HT and analog for SACD, video over HDMI.
Sony DVP-NC615: DVD/CD carousel, for when you want to run a bunch of background music.
JVC HR-S3500U: Super VHS ET, just in case.
Toshiba 46HM95: rear projection DLP. If you note, it's in front of the fireplace. I bought a DLP specifically because it's light enough (86 lbs) to pick up and move if I decide to have a fire. Front projection just wasn't suitable for my room. I like DLP well enough, particularly with hi-def sources which I pull in over-the-air. Standard-def signals can be good, or really suck, particularly for color purity. I run the SD stuff in TheaterWide mode (stretches the aspect ratio, mainly at the edges, to fill the screen).
New(er) stuff:
Denon 3808ci used as a pre-pro and surrounds power
Musical Fidelity A5 Integrated running mainly in HT pass-through mode to power the Ascents
2 Depths powered off of the Denon's LFE-out, set to LFE+Main, with the fronts set to "small". They are positioned just to the outside of, and in-plane with the Ascents.
Pioneer KURO PDP-5020FD 50" plasma
Oppo BDP83 for DVD/Blu/SACD/DVDA
DirecTV HR 21/100 hidef sat receiver
Phillips DVDR3576H DVR/DVD Recorder combo to archive stuff.
JVC HR-S3500U: Super VHS ET, just in case (still
)Equipment rack is a BDI Vector in cherry. It is coated steel with adjustable glass shelves. Each shelf will hold 75 lbs, and the bottom shelf will hold 150 lbs. It has a decent cable management system in the back. The whole unit is slightly wedge-shaped, tapering to a narrower back when viewed from above. The front cherry facing is roughly V-shaped, widening as you move up the rack.
7. Comments
I auditioned Ascents intermittently for about two years before purchasing them from Audio Advice in Raleigh, NC. They are replacing a pair of ESS AMT-1Cs (Heil air transformer), and I was specifically looking for good midrange. The AMTs do very well down low, and the Heils go up to 35 Khz, so highs are covered to. Midrange has always been problematic though. As my tastes in music have changed, I tend to listen to stuff that really needs good midrange, like female vocals, acoustic guitar, jazz, etc., so the Ascents sound like heaven by comparison. The first time I auditioned them, the sales mgr played a cut from Sarah McLachlan, and the hair literally stood up on my arms. I was in lust...
A week after I ordered mine, they were discontinued. I decided that it didn't really matter - they were still as good as when I had been auditioning them, the Summits were out of reach, and the Vantage wasn't due out any time soon. Audio Advice did give me a refund of the discounted price without any prompting from me. That's why I like them as a dealer. I've also bought stuff from them for 20+ years, including the Hafler mentioned above.
When I auditioned the Ascents, I felt like they lacked some punch, so I had the sales mgr hook up a Depth too. That solved the issues that I had with them, so I knew that I'd be buying a sub at some point. I eventually bought a Depth about six months later, after allowing myself to get used to the Ascents. It has helped as I expected.
Retired to the bedroom:
The Sony is good enough as a prepro, and excellent as a HT. I don't think that its audio section is as good as my previous Sony GX-900ES ProLogic unit that it replaced (now a bedroom system). As a result, I'm now giving serious consideration to a Musical Fidelity A5 Integrated Amp which has an HT bypass. This would allow me to run two-channel straight to the amp and let it serve as a mains amp for HT via the DA4ES. When I auditioned the Ascents, the store was using Musical Fidelity for sources (although I think that they used separates). If they have the A5 Integrated in-house, I'll try to arrange for an in-home demo to see if or how much of an improvement it makes. Yes, I'm caught on the upgrade train...
My room is 15.5x16.5x8 feet, with the speakers on the 15-foot wall. Originally, they were on the 16-foot wall, but that had a slightly strange geometry and some nearby door openings, with a resulting hot band in the mid-highs. To solve this, I rotated everything in my living room ninety degrees counter-clockwise. This did help tremendously. Unfortunately, my existing standard-def CRT TV would block the fireplace, and was probably too deep anyway for the hearth, so I had to go buy a hi-def DLP as described above
. (Update 05sep2010), I gave the DLP to my brother and replaced it with a Pioneer KURO 50" plasma. It's significantly better , unfortunately, Pioneer exited the plasma business, supposedly selling their related tech to Panasonic, so that's probably your best bet now.Note that the picture is actually three that have been stitched into a panorama via Photoshop, thus the somewhat ugly pin-cushioning and strange lighting. That's a coffee table with a bunch of stuff in the middle-bottom of the picture. There is an area rug on the laminate floor under the coffee table which helps deaden the room some, along with miscellaneous shelves and curtains around the room. The listening position is approximately eight feet from the plane of the panels. The speakers are eight feet apart on-center, and 3.5 feet from the rear and side walls.
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