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Ascension Audio (Adelaide Speakers) Owners & Discussion Thread


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Please see my post above where I am not only smiling but also tongue-in -cheek. Are you sure your humour levels are topped up as well?:o

Geez rantan, touchy much?

Yardley was obviously just having a bit of fun, you know-humour??:D

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Got mine today, 863PDSTL, will post some photos soon, only been listening to them for a few hours, initial thought is okay, a little better compared to my JB3 + sub in term of details and sound stage. I am driving these with a cheap chinese valve amp that I bought on ebay for 30 dollars, obviously I need to get a new amp but at the moment I cannot say if I have made the right decision, although with the budget I had I don't see other alternative and I do want a floorstander. I will have to let these run for while before I can say whether these speakers are worth it or not.

PS I am listening to some of my favourite songs while typing this, i think they are running smoother than initially thought

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OK guys, here we go.

My order got shipped on the same day as benandfaith's did. Also arrived on Wednesday to Brisbane.

I'm sure you're a happy camper at the moment! Nice setup and good to hear that you are happy with your purchase.

Btw... where are you in Brisbane? And would you be happy for me to 'audition' your speakers? I'm keen to get a similar setup to you some day... but probably in the distant future!

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As promised, here are some pictures of my 863PDXTL, I have had them for 2 days now, initial hearing I found them very average, sounded very muddy, doesn't excel in the low or hi, but its getting much better after 2 days, much more clarity, I can enjoy my female vocal, strings and saxo again, bass are tighter and more define. I am sure after a little more burn in these speakers would live up to my initial expectations. My decision to buy these speakers was not a regretful one after all.

//edited I have also cut my speaker cables half short (does this even do even anything), i think my cheap amp was not sufficient to drive the speakers, hence the initial disappointment, I can say i love these speaker now, clarity, details sound stage, bass is tight and define.

Edited by voidness
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Very nice voidness. I am finding mine are improving with time as well. I redid Audessy for the 3rd time yesterday, trying to get my sub right. Lowered the volume knob until the trim got itself down to -3.5db, then manual upped it to -2.5db to give me a bit more. Also upped the centre from -5.5db to -4.5db for a bit more dialog.

Finally changed XBMC output from directsound to WASAPI and sounds a bit better as well.

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As promised, here are some pictures of my 863PDXTL, I have had them for 2 days now, initial hearing I found them very average, sounded very muddy, doesn't excel in the low or hi, but its getting much better after 2 days, much more clarity, I can enjoy my female vocal, strings and saxo again, bass are tighter and more define. I am sure after a little more burn in these speakers would live up to my initial expectations. My decision to buy these speakers was not a regretful one after all.

//edited I have also cut my speaker cables half short (does this even do even anything), i think my cheap amp was not sufficient to drive the speakers, hence the initial disappointment, I can say i love these speaker now, clarity, details sound stage, bass is tight and define.

Have you tried dragging them out and away from the wall at all? If they are rear ported TL's, they may benefit from a bit more room to breathe. Even playing with the positioning in general can make a big difference (distance from rear and side walls, toe in etc)

Also, just from the pic, the room looks like it may be fairly "bright" with hard walls and tiled floors. Perhaps you could try (although you may already have) a nice rug out in front of them.

TB

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What amp are you using now voidness?

I connected my Timberwolves to my AVR (RX-V1800) for about a week whilst I was building my rack for the XPA-5 and noticed a real improvement when I connected the power amp.

Edited by DaveH1
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Thanks for the suggestions tb123 and DaveH1, my room is quite small so I dont really have much option, I will definitely will get some rug and a set of pre and power amp, my current amp is a cheap valve amp I bought on ebay for fun, never thought I would seriously use them, if I remember correctly, the rated power is 10 -15 watts. I am thinking of the entry level rotel pre and power combo RC and RB 06. What do you guys think, for the pre I might go with NAD integrated BE326 then use the preout to the power, thats the plan, with entry level and without looking for second hand i dont think i have much options

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Thanks for the suggestions tb123 and DaveH1, my room is quite small so I dont really have much option, I will definitely will get some rug and a set of pre and power amp, my current amp is a cheap valve amp I bought on ebay for fun, never thought I would seriously use them, if I remember correctly, the rated power is 10 -15 watts. I am thinking of the entry level rotel pre and power combo RC and RB 06. What do you guys think, for the pre I might go with NAD integrated BE326 then use the preout to the power, thats the plan, with entry level and without looking for second hand i dont think i have much options

I would say that would be a significant cause of the problem then. Mine sound best with a bit of power going to them. Have you got anyone nearby that you can borrow an amp from?

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I have just finished building a set of Greg Ball SKA GB150 amps (rated at 150w) with matching preamp Power is amazing everything is just better. I previously had a Cambridge Audio 640R which is also good but no comparison to a dedicated 2 channel setup. If you are a little bit clever with a soldering iron, this set up is hard to beat and matches perfectly to my Summoners.

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I use a rotel RB-1552 (120W/ch class AB) power amp to drive my Summoners (1093's, 10" & 5" SB acoustics + Scanspeak 1" dome). When i first got these back in Feb i was only using the AVR to drive them. Found that using a power amp (slightly more power that the AVR) they did sound better. I also believe that not only does it sometimes take awhile for the speakers to run in but also takes humans awhile to get use to the sound. I know i did as my previous speakers were Krix. I experimented with positioning but i too have limited room but eventually found a good spot for them.

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I have just finished building a set of Greg Ball SKA GB150 amps (rated at 150w) with matching preamp Power is amazing everything is just better. I previously had a Cambridge Audio 640R which is also good but no comparison to a dedicated 2 channel setup. If you are a little bit clever with a soldering iron, this set up is hard to beat and matches perfectly to my Summoners.

Sounds very interesting repeet, tell us more.

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Hi Voidness, I have an Emotiva amplifier which I'm very happy with. To second Dazz's comments above a power amplifier can make a distinct improvement in your setup. For 2 channel they have a UPA-2 125w into 8ohm ($299US) or an XPA-2 300w into 8 ohm ($799). To give you some idea of overall cost, my XPA-5 is a similar weight to the XPA-2 and cost $124US to ship to Sydney and arrived within 4 days of ordering (took less time in fact than my speakers from Adelaide). Depending on the sensitivity of your speakers and setup you may find that a UPA-2 will be more than satisfactory and I'm sure a bit cheaper to ship. I'm sure there are plenty of other options/opinions. Cheers, Dave.

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I've been looking at Emotiva amps to power my 8883PRTL's (what does the 'M' signify in yours Dave?).

Either an XPA-3 (which do my centre to) or go the mono-block route with a pair of UPA-1's.

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I have a custom 252PR with the same Peerless mids and Fountek ribbon tweet as my 8883PRTL's. Was $500-600.

I've been happy but unable to get the best from it due to poor placement (too high) on my current entertainment unit - a new one is on the way and will fix that.

I must admit I have a bit of upgraditis about it at the moment, and have been toying with speaking to Edward about making one using the 8883PRTL's Peerless Woofers too (i.e. a large W(T/M)W centre), but I'll see how the existing one goes in its new location first.

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hi voidness. I use my AVR's preamp which is a Marantz SR6003.

I have a centre speaker from Adelaide speakers. A 4 driver 3 way design using 2 peerless 5" nomex drivers, 1 peerless 4" poly driver and a SEAS 1" magnesium dome tweeter. It sits under my plasma TV. Its fairly big. Good off axis as can hear the vocals clearly on either side of the speaker. Mine was a bit more than $500. I supplied the tweeter.

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Just a quick report back on the 1020RTL Subwoofer http://www.stereo.net.au/forums/showthread.php/23809-Adelaide-Speakers-Ascension-MkII

After about a month of home theatre and music use, the sub has 'loosened up' nicely. LFE effects are more pronounced and 'smooth' - used to have an abrupt (muffled?) end point at lower frequencies, but that has gotten significantly better. Am also 'feeling' the rumbles more, not just hearing it. It's tight enough on the musicality side of things, but I don't have much to compare it with. Definitely happy with my 'upgrade' from my previous Mission MV-AS.

It also helped that I moved the SW away from the corner of the room and have it now placed inside my right hand speaker. It's still kinda corner-ish as I have a narrow room, but it's now about 50cm away from the side wall as opposed to right up against it.

Is 15cm off the back wall enough for a transmission line, rear-ported sub? Do I need to bring it out further to allow it to 'breathe'?

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