Nope. You need to dump the Denon. The Focal and Sierra are designed to handle major amplification. The Denon does not have the power reserve necessary to bring the Focal and Sierra to their best performance level. Dealers are like politicians, they'll tell you exactly what you want to hear. Rule of thumb matching an amplifier to a speaker for maximum performance. Under powering a speaker at high volume levels will heat up your drivers and cause damage. When a company list specs such as amp recommendation as " 100 to 300 watts " , always go for the max. To determine the correct amount of power, call the speaker company and talk to their tech designers, and ask them what is the maximum continuous power their woofer magnets can handle and divide by two. If you are told 500 watts, then 250 watts is what you need. The Parasound A21 amp would be an excellent choice at 250 watts per side and you could pick one up used, as an example. You always want your drivers current volume at least 50% at all times to keep your drivers and crossover components cool for the very best performance. I would go for the Sierra's, much cheaper since their factory direct and you would save about $700, sell the Denon and if your on a tight budget, pick up a used Class D integrated from Wyred 4 Sound, to provide the power you need. Go to the Ascend Acoustics website and read the review by Enjoy the Music of the Sierra Towers. Review is outstanding. www.ascendacoustics.com |
Spendmoney one more question would the ascend towers match up with my Denon better then the Aries?Enter your text ... I just recently owned Ascend Towers with the Raal Tweeter options. I had them paired to a Marantz 7500 @ 110 watts, and then upgraded to a Outlaw 7500 Amp ( with a Marantz 8801 Pre Amp) . The Outlaw was 200 watts per channel. To answer your question, the extra 100 amps, when turned up, was very noticeable. Made the system solid at high volumes. More dynamic, more impact. Then I upgrade to a ATI 6005 @ 300 watts per channel. Again, the change was noticeable when turned up. And even when turned up, the silence in the (quiet parts) was noticeable, as the floor in the ATI was so much better.... But were getting deep here... Lets stay basic. I agree with Audiozen. Ditch the Denon, Go with the Ascends, trade up in Amplification., And I'll add,,, you will need a sub .. I'll vouch for the Ascends, there a heck of a speaker. But they need a sub for my liking. But that's just me .... . |
@audiozen Nothing against Ascend speakers. I haven’t heard them but from everything I’ve read, I have no doubt that they’re at least competitive with others mentioned here. Owners seem to love them. Do you own a pair? As far as materials are concerned, I wasn’t referring to tensile strength, I was referring to resonance characteristics, where MDF has the advantage over many materials. Besides, compression strength is the more important factor, which is why Magico and others use carbon fiber cabinets, not bamboo and aramid. Best regards. |
helomech..I was referring to organic materials only. Not synthetic like carbon fiber which is made up of polyacrylonitrile and rayon. Very bad material for the environment. Cannot be recycled and it winds up in land fills. China is currently developing an alternative, bamboo carbon fiber, which I'm not sure how green it will be. I heard that Donald Trump is having a pair of Magico M3's dipped in gold to put in his bathroom at the White House. |
