ascend sierra tower with raal or Focal Aria 936

"Ascend can't possibly be that ideal of a speaker"
- kosst_amojan

"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out"
- the music label Decca, 1962, when announcing they were passing on signing the Beatles

"The earth can't possibly be round".
- Everyone, pre-6th Century BC

The Raal tweeter used in the Ascend speakers is one of the best tweeters out there that I’ve heard, to me it sounds much better than the AMT tweeters used in the Golden Ear speakers that I auditioned.

 It sounds a lot like the one used in my Infinity IRS epsilons that cost $ 16,000.00 in 95.

 The Raal is slightly faster and as dynamic as a dome tweeter but with less high frequency extension than my epsilons tweeter,   it sounds very very good.

In my opinion no dome tweeter can match the sound quality of the Raal tweeter no matter what material they’re made out of, including diamond and beryllium, not even close.

 Everyone should go audition a good pair speaker that incorporates the Raal tweeter to see what I'm talking about, once you hear the difference there’s no turning back, just my opinion. 

Well now, kosst_amojan, that’s a fine way to go about living your life. Form opinions about things you’ve never actually experienced in person, and then cling to those opinions against all logic or opportunity. With that mindset, there’s no point in trying new foods, traveling to new places, or meeting new people. Everything that you need to have experienced at this point in your life has already been checked off the list. Whatever else one might say about living that way, you could surely argue that at the very least it’s frugal!

I had an extensive audition with a pair of Focal 936s, a local dealer was closing them out for $2k. I wouldn't call them bright, but they definitely have a cool tonal balance. If I hadn't known I was using a class AB amp with them, I would've assumed they were paired to a class D amp.

I can see why some like them, they're a decent speaker, but not at the price of $4k. IMO, the Monitor Audio Silver 8s (retail $2k) are better than the Focals.

I would look at speakers from Salk Sound.