Depends on the size of your primate. My vintage Altec's would fall more into the category of large primate coffins.
Thank you - these would be similar to my current speakers, and I am interested in getting some towers. But I appreciate your suggestion!
I have the sierra towers with raal and like them very much. the ribbon tweeters have an airy, almost 3 dimensional high end, coupled with a lovely midrange and bass which is tight and deep but not over-accentuated. the cabinets are handsome (i have the dark cherry) and the design is tastefully understated. They’re not a speaker people talk about a lot, which is a shame. I think they deserve to be
They do look interesting. Do you know if they are offered with the SEAS diamond tweeter? There was some talk of that but I took a look at the website and I don’t see it as an option. Are the ribbon tweeters also from SEAS?
The Ascend Sierra Tower (optional) ribbon tweeter is from RAAL. It is a custom 70-20xr with AM Core Transformer. Sierra Tower Bamboo Loudspeaker
The ribbon tweeter is from RAAL. the bass driver and i think the midrange driver are SEAS. As far as I know, they do not offer the diamond tweeter.
Don't have to even audition the Sierra towers to know they'll outperform the typical mass-market offering in the $3K price class. The driver quality alone makes it probable. Some manufacturers boast of designing and building their own drive units, but in many cases it amounts to nothing more than marketing ploy and cost savings for them. A good Seas, Peerless/Vifa, RAAL, or Scanspeak driver will often outperform these pretty drive units, despite the comparatively pedestrian aesthetic. Note that brands known for some of the very best midrange quality (Harbeth/Spendor/Audio Note/Dynaudio/ATC) end up with drivers of similar looks to those of Seas and Scanspeak. No gold-colored domes, weird mounting schemes, or ceramic-magnesium-aluminum-unobtanium composite cones.
After quite a few email exchanges with David Fabrikant, owner of Ascend Acoustics, I've decided to order the Sierra Towers w/ the RAAL Ribbon Tweeter in Black Matte. Since, I don't have room under my TV for the Sierra Horizon Center, David suggested the LCR Center. For the rears, HTM-200 SE's. The center channel and the rears will be later on next year. So; after 13 years, my Paradigm Monitor 7 V5's will be replaced. They certainly have served me well! Interestingly; the footprint of the Sierra Towers isn't much larger. About 1.5" wider, and a few inches deeper. The Sierra's are about 5" taller, however. I'll probably sell my Paradigm's locally. No way, I'm going to ship them anywhere even though I do have the original boxes. My current center and rear speakers are Mirage Omnisat Omnipolar. Those, I can ship, if need be. My Mirage Omni-S10 (10" - 200watt) Subwoofer will stay in the system, at least for awhile. I think it's a pretty excellent sub. Never boomy.
Congrats! Please follow up and let us know how you like them once they arrive. BTW, Dave F. has also said to be careful about Class D amps, as the switching frequency may produce an audible sound if you have the RAAL upgrade.
Hopefully, my system will remain dead quiet. I provided all of my system information including my Jolida tube amp to Dave during our discussions.
The Sierras were my first experience with a ribbon tweeter after a lifetime of domes. It’s just lovely. Effortless, wide and very natural sounding. The one thing you’ll find is that the vertical dispersion is narrower than a dome, but the horizontal is very good. I do wish they had just a bit more push down low, but you have a sub so you should be good to go
My friend, it's time to pull that wallet out and spend a few bucks! Are you ready? There is lots of money to be saved!
