Any reviews/impressionsons of Ascend Sierra 2?

The Sierra-2's arrived and I'm breaking them in. But right out of the box I'm seriously impressed. As I mentioned they replaced some Paradigm Monitors, but at first I put them side by side with the Signatures using a speaker selector so I could get an almost immediate switch between the two pairs. I used music that I'm pretty familiar with and enjoy what the Paradigms do.

I was quite impressed with how well these bookshelf speakers did against a floorstander like the S6. They imaged so well, and I actually preferred the vocal frequencies of the Sierra 2. I wish I could have compared them using my better quality speaker cables, but had to make do with 12 gauge lamp cord style. Still, apples to apples, the Sierras held their own quite well against a speaker that costs close to 4 times as much.

The Paradigms have the superior bass, can produce more db's, and at this point I haven't seriously evaluated the highs, as I've read the Raal Ribbons need time to break in. This is a seriously good speaker, though.

Several have compared the Sierra-1 to the Kef LS50's and preferred the Sierra. Complaints about the Kef's were that they can be schrill, and fatigue can set in. Also the Sierra has superior bass response. There haven't been as many reviews comparing the Sierra-2 to the LS50, but people really love those ribbons.

They sound very promising. After they've broken in, update us if you can on how they sound (especially the bass and if they would need a sub or not)and your overall thoughts on them. Thanks.

I just posted this in the audiokarma forum, hope it's okay to post it here too.

I just got through a listening session on the Sierra 2 vs my old Paradigm Monitor 7 v3(towers with 2 drivers and a metal tweeter) connected to my Denon AVR 4520 using a cd player as source. I was able to A/B the speakers by connecting the Sierras to zone 2 while the Paradigms were on main stereo 2 channel. No sub or processing.

I listened to a variety of music to get a feel for each speaker and was surprised that the Sierra's were not lacking in the bass compared to the towers and their much larger cabinet. In some rock or pop style music they were fairly close at times, though you could hear the ribbon tweeter was clearly more accurate.

But as I kept playing and listening, it began to be clear that the Paradigms seemed to be out of their depth. They sounded veiled at times going from speaker to speaker. Vocals was where this was most obvious. Then I reached for Dianna Krall's All For You cd.

The piano, the voice, the other instruments, wow. The Sierras had realism, detail, the sense that the band was in the room. The Paradigms gave a colored rendition of the music by comparison. Again they had no more bass than the Sierras, which impressed me to realize those small cabinets are something else. And with well recorded/produced stuff from Yo-Yo Ma as well, 3D imaging was apparent and not so much with the Paradigms.

I've always been a sucker for a pretty voice, and with Dianna the Sierras sounded gorgeous; clear, detailed, and emotional. As if there were no speakers at all, or the closest I've come to that sense.

As I mentioned earlier, I put them up against my Paradigm Signature S6 v2 as well. This was with Parasound gear, a A21/P7 system. They of course benefited from the superior electronics and larger room. Again, I actually preferred the mids and vocals of the Sierra, though I think in this case, personal preference would have a larger part to play, and the results were very close. Here the S6 won the nod over all due to the rest of the package, and well they should as they cost 4 times the retail of the Sierra 2. Impressive that the Sierras did so well, however.

Overall I am seriously impressed with the Ascend product. They offer the kind of detail and realism in a bookshelf that I've simply not heard before. I only bought a pair of them as a try out in the theater room. I'll be buying the center channel without hesitation once the budget allows.

They sound great. Congratulations! How much power do they need? And it sounds like they would not work well in a small room? (Mine is 9 by 11.)

As far as power goes, they work fine with receiver power. From what I've read, they don't dip below 6 ohms at any point so are not a difficult load. But with the 87db sensitivity, more power is better if you want to get really loud.

I've also run them with a 250 wpc amp, and they were fine then too. With room size, I'm not sure about that, but I suspect it wouldn't be a problem, they are a bookshelf after all.