It was about this time last year when I decided I had to make some changes to my stereo system. I had done as many little things as I could to improve things (positioning, cabling, etc), but I had decided I wanted the music listening experience to be a certain way, and I just wasn't getting that. So, I started. Source first, which resulted in a DAC purchase last summer. Big improvement. Then on to amplification, which took the longest and resulted in the purchase of a tube integrated amp just a couple of months ago. Another big improvement, although perhaps not as profound as the change in source. Strangely, my wife was still talking to me, so on to speakers. After spending considerably less on source and amp than I originally thought I would have to, I was tempted to up the spend on speakers. I got the chance to hear a pair of Zu Druids and they impressed me more than anything I had heard in that price range. But in the end I decided I couldn't spend that much on a pair of speakers. So, since I had enjoyed my CBM-170's so much (especially since the source and amp change), I thought I'd give the Sierra 1's a shot. I was a little worried about driving them properly with 15 watts. But, I don't listen to music loudly at all, and the little tube amp seemed to drive the heck out of my 170's so I figured a small step down in efficiency should be fine.
So after some discussions and emails with Ascend I ordered them and they showed up here yesterday. Piano black. The 170's were always very plain looking to me, but next to the Sierra's they look almost homely. I had made some new stands for them....moss green top and base made out of Corian, and an MDF pedestal painted as black and shiney as I could make them. The Sierra's look damned good sitting on them. Since they are not broken in at all I won't offer much in feedback, other than to say they are clearly a couple of levels above the 170's in both frequency extension and transparency across the frequency range. They sound very refined out of the box. The question of whether I could drive them with my little amp was answered very quickly. Rather than listening with the volume around 10:30-11 o'clock with the 170's, the volume is around 12:30-1:00 o'clock with the Sierra's. I love that little amp.
Best of all my wife is at home today breaking them in for me. Somehow she's coming around. What a gal.
Hey Nuck, I'll take some pics on the weekend. The speakers cleared customs in one day. No duty charges, just a little VAT. The Easter weekend killed me though, as for 4 days nothing moved. If not for that it would have been 9 days from California to my door. Not bad. I definately would recommend using USPS as opposed to UPS for cross border shipping.
Thanks Neil, it was rediculous how much those little buggers ended up costing me. I think just the parts added up to almost $150.00. Add a whole afternoon sanding and I don't think anyone could/would pay me enough. I was happy with the results though. I screwed up a few times, but I think the sanding hid most of it pretty well.
Thanks Nuck. Those are EL84's. My wife isn't keen on all the wires that are visible. I think I'll have to build a new stand and figure out some way to keep the cables less visible.
If your lovely wife is hung up on those wires, dude, I can send my pics along. Your stock will go up. In fact, a few tacks and ty-wraps could keep them back, just cross signal and power cords crossing at 90 degrees. You knew that, Chris, I tossed it in for anybody else.
The Sierra's aren't completely run in yet ( I personally think it takes speakers a few months to really settle in ) but I think they have showed me enough to comment on them. I'll keep it short, as these speakers have been reviewed and commented on quite a bit already.
For the most part, I think these speakers are as most of the reviews describe. They are a very refined speaker. Poised, efficient, transparent. So much so you can forget they were sitting on the stands and just listen to the music. I was a little worried about two things when I ordered them. The bass that everyone one talked so much about, and their sensitivity rating. I was a little concerned they would have too much bass, which I do not favor. Turns out, this is not the case at all. I think people talk about the bass mostly because these little speakers have way more presence than you would think for their size. But the bass is not overdone at all, it's just there. I have them about 30" from the front wall, and that seems about right. My sub is now in the basement, where it will stay until I sell it.
As for the sensitivity rating, I also need not have worried. Despite it's 86.5db rating, this is a very easy speaker to drive. My little Vista Audio I84 (all 15W of it) drives them with great ease. It put a punctuation mark on this yesterday during the crescendo of Deliver Us from the Prince of Egypt soundtrack. 15 watt's isn't supposed to do scale like that through a pair of bookshelf speakers. But it was pretty darned well done. JV has dropped a couple of links in different threads about how to determine tube friendly speakers, and they are definitely worth a read. They certainly explains why these speakers are so easy to drive.
I won't drone on any more. If anyone has any questions feel free to PM me, or post them here.
