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Custom Ascension 5.1 System - 3 months on, initial review.


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Hello Audiophiles.

 

I’ve had my system for a few months now and it’s got a few hours on it so far, so I thought I’d show it off in all its finished glory and give you my impressions. Excuse the long winded review.

 

For some background, you can have a flick through this thread:  http://www.stereo.net.au/forums/index.php?/topic/58189-edit-now-with-pics-putting-together-ascension-51-system-from-adelaide-speakers-updated/

 

 

 

 

Components include:

 

 

 

TV: Wall mounted Samsung 64†F8500 Plasma

 

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Receiver: Yamaha Aventage RX-A710

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Fronts: Ascension Summoner 1093DFRTL fronts with upgraded Dayton 10" bass driver and Silver Flute 5" mid.

 

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Center: Trio F253FVV , Custom built for my purposes (sitting on top of fireplace mantle) shortened in depth to 200mm and lengthened it by 10cm on each side to 900mm length, and added the ports to either end.

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Rears: F502FS

 

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Subwoofer: 1230ETL Upgraded

 

 

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Sources: PS3 for Blurays, Music streamed from Galaxy S4 or iPhone 4s through TV via Screen Share, Wifi Direct, or through the Yamaha AV Remote app. OR,  1TB HDD through the TV.

 

 

 

So that’s the gear, how does it all sound? Well, in one word… Sublime.

I have never heard a set up that sounds this good at this price range. Actually, I have never heard a system sound this good under $25K, and if you must know, this cost me well under $10K. Please don’t think I’m gloating, because looking around this forum, there are systems where 1 amp is worth my whole system, and I’m sure they sound better. I tell you what though, these Ascension's from Adelaide Speakers will give them a run for their money, at a fraction of the cost.

 

Music is delivered with a richness that is only demonstrated, and can’t really be explained via written language. The low to mid-range is very impressive, kicks are felt in your chest and mid-range bass lines are propelled effortlessly by those 10" drivers. Listening to MJ’s Dirty Diana and In the Closet is hair raising. The smashing glass sound effects and boosted snare drums demonstrate a simply unbelievable level of clarity with the ribbons and 5†woofer coming into their own, I never knew how deep and “thick†a snare can sound. The voices are distinct, every peak and trough is audible and listening to rough, raspy voices is a pleasure.

Then comes the bass. Oh, lord have mercy, how I love this subwoofer. It's nearly cocky, and whilst it’s not the most powerful on the market at 300WRMS, it sure knows what it’s doing and does it bloody superbly. It’s crying out for more juice and the juice it wants isn’t made by Sunraysia, it’s the stuff you get in the 4th cubicle at the local body builders gym.

The bass in the intro to Jacqui Naylor’s version of Ain’t No Sunshine get’s down like a 17 year old at schoolies. If I had my top off, you could visibly see the hair on my shoulders stiffen and vibrate. My spine feels as if it’s warping. I don’t know the correct terminology but the way the sub controls the bass as it moves up and down in HZ is mind bogglingly precise.

If you listen to EDM, this sub is for you. I’m pretty big on PsyTrance and I’m hearing the bass lines in a way which I never have before. Usually, 8†– 10†woofers are preferred for this genre of music, as larger subs introduce lag on repetitive notes, but this sucker does not hesitate, doesn’t waver and never feels like it’s trying to catch up. This subby has personality.

 

In action:

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Movies feel like they are from another planet. This is where this 5.1 system shines. The center channel is ridiculous, pumping out voice clear and distinct, gunshots sound like gunshots. I know. I shoot. Of course, depending on the film and their use of the rear channels, the F502’s are up for it. The beach invasion in Saving P.Ryan is my demo of choice for surround. The PING as bullets hit the steel x-beams used as the only cover from the machine gunners are excruciatingly high pitched and will have you ducking for cover. Last night I watched Oblivion, (absolutely brilliant, reference quality picture and sound might I add, story is ‘meh’), and there is a scene where the main flying craft approaches, circles around the camera and sets down in front again. A very obvious inclusion for an immersive effect, the rears really had their muscles flexed and delivered brilliantly, complimenting the sweeping movements of the futuristic flying machine on screen.

Again, bass delivery is hefty, more often felt rather than heard. Explosions rock me in my seat and you can never really tell where it’s coming from. Sometimes, it feels as if the bass is coming from behind. In Master and Commander, where a cannon is fired and heads straight past the camera, the sub does most of the work and it somehow appears to reproduce a directional wave starting high and dipping gut wrenchingly low as the canon passes over head. Simply astounding.

 

 

This Samsung’s picture really needs to be seen to be believed, and I’m talking pre-calibration here. (Speaking of which, I should have received a call back to book in a time…) I won’t go into too much detail here, but this panel displays everything from the fast paced motorbike scene in the Matrix, to the dark and shadowy scenes of The Dark Knight absolutely flawlessly. Black is BLACK. White is WHITE. Everything just looks so real and deep. The way everything moves within a scene is unlike any panel I’ve previously owned. It’s as if I’m looking through a window, rather than watching a screen. I am looking forward to the calibration, I have no idea how it can get any better than this but I guess we’ll see. My only gripe is sometimes, watching football, I lose sight of the ball when the background is the crowd, or watching the cricket, when the ball is hit along the ground it kind of ‘flashes’ in and out of picture. Does that make sense? It’s not that much of an issue, but I’m hoping the calibration sorts this out. 

 

Just a phone pic:

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Cons with the setup?

I think the receiver is a little down on power. Whilst the Yamaha A710 is a great little unit, sometimes I feel like the whole system has so a little more to give. In a year or so, I may upgrade to something a little bit more powerful, but for now, I am really enjoying what I have.

 

Rattle rattle. When the sub is singing, our double doors leading to the deck rattle. It’s pretty bad and is definitely something I need to look at. I’m hoping it’s something as simple as adding some rubber seals to the frame. I need to tighten up our hanging light shades as well, as they are vibrating and emitting a buzz, and also maybe add some rubber grommets or something to some little display pieces, as the other night, one fell off the coffee table and startled the wife.

 

All in all, I can’t speak of or thank Edward at Adelaide Speakers Design highly enough, and I obviously, highly recommend his products. I know you’ve read this before but he is one super professional operator, ready to custom make or tailor specific systems to your needs, even to the point of matching colours to your own furniture, as you can see above how the speakers match the fireplace mantle perfectly...

The pricing on his gear really is too cheap. I asked my installer to put a value on what he’d demoed at my house, and he said he would pay at least $15,000 for the lot. Value for money here is bonkers.

I would welcome anyone in the Western suburbs of Melbourne who is thinking of Ascension speakers and would like to come round and have a demo.

Check out Edwards gear here: http://www.adelaidespeakers.com/

 

If you got this far, thanks for taking the time to have a read. If you have any general advice or good movies or music to run, please feel free to share it.

 

Kind regards,

 

Elyas.

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Being happy with what you have is a rare thing in this lifestyle, good for you. May you have years of enjoyment.

 

Thank you mate. Might be a case of beginners ignorance, but I'll take it!

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Grats on the new speakers :). Don't blame you for loving the sound as I have a pair of summoners myself. They have SB Acoustic/scanspeak drivers and Edward tweak them to sound damn smooth. Been very happy with mine.

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With regard to PQ of your TV, calibration will definitely improve on any TV because non of the TV on the market specially Samsung deliver reference level accuracy that calibrators are striving for.  You can google search for dummy's guide for colour and gamma calibration it gives you a good run down of what pro calibrators and DIY should do to calibrate their TVs and projectors.  The benefit I can see from proper calibration wether it is done by pro or DIY are fatigue free viewing, greater shadow detail, more accurate colour,  purer white and black (whiter white can often be the result of higher blue push in high IRE range or lack of red and green in those range).  Of course you can go further from here you can spend more money on products like video processor from Lumagen or Dvdo which offer even more effective calibration control over what is available on TVs.  I use Lumagen on my set up the result of it really push the boundary on the picture quality these TVs can achieve and how far short in effectiveness TV's own calibration controls are compare to some of the third party products.  

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Been trying to get someone over but either they make too much from corporate jobs and don't want the little guys money, or their just **** business people who don't know how to secure work... Jeez.

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I played Enigma - The Platinum Collection last night. God i missed that album! Tried to play it in stereo with no sub, changing the front setting to Large Speakers (rather tthan the Small they're currently set to, aiding the crossover). I then turned off the sub. For some music, this would sound ok, but I got half way through the first track and changed it all back.

This album NEEDS the sub. Love it.

 

One setting I've been tossing up to try is changing the Fronts to Large, and lowering the crossover to 60 or 40hz for movies.

Does anyone run with this setting? How will it compare to the 80Hz crossover/small fronts setting?

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  • 4 weeks later...

I played Enigma - The Platinum Collection last night. God i missed that album! Tried to play it in stereo with no sub, changing the front setting to Large Speakers (rather tthan the Small they're currently set to, aiding the crossover). I then turned off the sub. For some music, this would sound ok, but I got half way through the first track and changed it all back.

This album NEEDS the sub. Love it.

 

One setting I've been tossing up to try is changing the Fronts to Large, and lowering the crossover to 60 or 40hz for movies.

Does anyone run with this setting? How will it compare to the 80Hz crossover/small fronts setting?

The only issue i see with setting the crossover lower than 80hz, is the low frequency effects specifically directed to the sub in dolby digital/thx movies. they extend up to 120hz (thx spec is 80hz crossover) and will be missing or reduced in volume if your crossover is set below 120/80hz. Weather or not you would notice that, i dont know.

 

My Pioneer amp has a subwoofer setting for "off" "on" or "Plus" when the fronts are set to "large". I have it on plus, allowing me to leave my front speakers set to large, which allows them to output the full range, while still directing bass from the "large" fronts to the sub, making up for the fronts 50hz limit. I find with fronts just set to small my sub cant output as good midbass as the fronts can set to large. Hope my explaination of that made sense? Maybe check if your amp has such a setting.

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The only issue i see with setting the crossover lower than 80hz, is the low frequency effects specifically directed to the sub in dolby digital/thx movies. they extend up to 120hz (thx spec is 80hz crossover) and will be missing or reduced in volume if your crossover is set below 120/80hz. Weather or not you would notice that, i dont know.

 

My Pioneer amp has a subwoofer setting for "off" "on" or "Plus" when the fronts are set to "large". I have it on plus, allowing me to leave my front speakers set to large, which allows them to output the full range, while still directing bass from the "large" fronts to the sub, making up for the fronts 50hz limit. I find with fronts just set to small my sub cant output as good midbass as the fronts can set to large. Hope my explaination of that made sense? Maybe check if your amp has such a setting.

 

Hi mate,

 

I've been enjoying music with the crossover set to 60hz, and the fronts set to Large.

I am leaving the setting as is for music, however, when watching a "big" movie, I change the fronts back to small, and set the crossover to 80hz.

Until I upgrade the amp, I may have to compromise by playing around with it this way for now.

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  • 1 month later...

Don't those speakers look great. Single wooferfloor standers are always the way to go. I made a pair of 2 way floorstanders in Dec 2012 using Sony Quick Edge Woofers and Vifa Tweeters, rear ported and tuned to 45hz and boy don't they sound amazing (powerful deep bass, warmth, top end, stereo imaging) and I want to consider them for production.

 

Speaking of Psytrance. It is also one of my fave music genres. I am a big fan of Infected Mushroom, Shpongle and more. Infected Mushrrom's Project 100, Becoming Insane and Heavyweight are some of my fave test tracks as these songs cover a huge range of frequencies. I also write my own trance music too.

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I'm very familiar with exactly what you say. Heavyweight is a beast of a track. I a HUGE fan of John 00 Fleming and often blast Laughing Buddha as well. Very bassy, deep, hard. Nice to see more Psy enthusiasts on here.

Speaking of Infected Mushroom, new album out recently... Haven't got it yet though.

Thanks for your kind words.

Elyas.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Been a few months now with everyday use. I've been appreciating the ability to stream from the Yamaha controller app on my Samsung Galaxy s4, with no noticeable reduction in quality. I am finding that larger files, like MJ in FLAC cuts out and skips to the next song when streaming. It's the only playlist that does this, and doesn't do it when plugged straight in via stereo cable.

 

Other than that, whilst I didn't care before, im now taking note of people's reactions to listening and everyone is left gobsmacked. I'm still coming to terms with the value vs quality of the Ascensions, so much so that I'm tossing up adding another sub.

 

The only downfall is the receiver. I mean, it's a great little unit and all, but it just seems a little immature power wise compared to the speakers. They are crying for more juice. I can't look away from Emotiva's new XPA-5, but im not entirely familiar with seperates, and don't know if I just need a processor, or a pre-amp or what. And the XPA-5 is just a 5 channel, where does the .1 come from? Which components do I need to buy for the whole shebang?

As well as toying with that idea, I can't get Anthem's MRX 710 avr out of the way. Every review I've read is 10/10... Might also be a simple yet very powerful upgrade with 90 watts per channel, with 5 channels driven, and apparently, that is also a conservative figure.

 

Any thoughts?

Edited by URHYNS
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the .1 is (invariably) a powered sub - it has its own in-built amplifier.  Part of the reason the sub is heavy.  Another part of the reason why the sub has a power cord to it as well as an analogue cable from the 0.1 output on the amp (not a speaker connection).

 

Your receiver is powering the five speakers, and sending an input signal only to the subwoofer 0.1

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