crisp, but not too bright no listening fatigue surprisingly sweet bass

none, except that you'll never tolerate lesser speakers again...

I have CBM-170's all around (center, fronts, and surrounds). I am planning to buy another pair to fill in the rear for a 7.1 setup. The sound is easily superior to a theater; I play the Dolby Digital Demos to everyone who wants to hear my system- amazing. Get a good sub to fill in the low end and you will agree. Next weekend I am carpeting all the walls; can't wait to hear it then! Be careful with music though- these sound so good, so clean, that you'll want to just keep turning them up. I did that when I first got them, and while the sound was beautiful, my ears were hurting all next day!

--natural, holographic sound --tremendous build quality --very high value --great customer service --I'd rather stay home to watch movies and concerts --you could spend a lot more, but why?

--no pretty wood veneer --bi-wiring of center doesn't yield any noticeable improvement

Being a very satisfied customer of Ascend Acoustics for the last year or so with a 6.1 set-up (3 CDM-170s across the front, 3 HTN-200s for surround), I decided to upgrade my audio portion since I just recently acquired a 53" HDTV. First call was to David at Ascend to trade in my HSU VTF-2 for a VTF-3. The VTF-3 is the best sub I've heard, regardless of price. Although happy with the CBM-170 as a center channel, I inquired about a center that would give me a bit more "heft". David informed me that he had a prototype center called a 350 and asked if I would like to try it out. No arm twisting was required. The new 350 is a double woofer, single tweeter layout much like the HTM-200, only much bigger. The new 350 center is about twice as big as CBM-170. It is rear ported with large external and internal flares. It contains 2 6.5" custom Aerogel longthrow woofers and 1 brand new high performance wide directivity 1" soft dome tweeter 8 ohm Impedance 92db Efficiency 55hz - 20 khz response. The dimensions are 21" length x 7.5" height x 10.5" depth. Ther are provisions to bi-wire the center, although I've never been able to gather any improvement on any speaker by bi-wiring. The sepaker has internal jumpers for those who don't want to bi-wire. To the sound....well...my system went from sounding great to, what I can only best describe as, stunning. The 350 blends seamlessly with the other Ascend speakers with no gaps in the sound stage. As important, the soundstage now extends well past the speakers into the room and up the side walls. Dialogue has the "heft" I was looking for (not "boomy") and is very natural. I am now drawn into the movies (I jumped out of my chair during the "gun shots" from "Road to Perdition"). Everything just sounds like "you are there". I don't believe I could have a better movie experience even in a theater. DVD-Audio disks are nothing short of a revelelation with this system. I couldn't go to a concert and have better sound. I have yet to hear a system costing 3X this set-up that sounds better. Hats off to Ascend. Great job (again) and great price.

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--Def Tech --Klipsch --Maganapan --Cambridge --Paradigm

Highs, midrange.

Bass

Well, I've had alot of speakers the past year. I've had a pair of Paradigm Mini Monitors, Axiom M3ti's, and Dahlquist QX6's. These speakers sound so much better to my ears than the others. The midrange is so much clearer. Highs are superb. The bass is a little lacking, but hey, thats what a sub is for. These are great speakers well worth the $328.

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Paradigm mini monitors, Axiom M3t's, Dahlquist QX6, JBL Studio 26.

(read my post above)

None at all! Maybe why I didn't get these earlier? :)

I have found the long lost speakers! I bought these based on reviews i've read from various forums and let me tell you, these speakers are the real deal. I was about to spend twice the amount on some M&K 750 speakers but these blow them away! Crisp, clean, & bright! The Hsu sub matches perfectly with this setup. I couldn't be any happier with my choice. Thank you David!

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M&K 750, Bose (tossed them out), Polk, Klipsch

Reasonable efficiency and power handling,well built,clean,crisp sound,compact size,not too expensive for the exellent sound quality they produce.

None so far.

I bought these speakers based on the reviews I read.They are a very inpressive speakers for their size.I wanted a speaker that was compact and could provide clean,detailed output to use with my dayton sub.They are well built,clean and dynamic,with a very good sound stage.Music seems to sound very clear and natural through them.I didn't want to spend more than 300.00 on speakers,and the company was offering free shipping on them,so I decided to give them a try.I'm very happy with their performance.Highly recommended speakers for music and movies.

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Klipsch,Cambridge soundworks,cerwin vega,etc.

Well designed and built. Does everything very well.

Not the best(??)(who cares for little $$)

Bought this with the Hsu VTF-2 sub. Great system!!! Speaker is right up there with Axiom,Paradigm,et al..You can try them for 30 days (an added bonus!). Company is VERY serious about customer satisfaction. They were going to ship out a replacement when a faulty connection made it look like a bad speaker,having me sending the bad one back in the replacement's carton WITH a PRE-PAID UPS STICKER!!! THAT is service!!! Give them a try; you can return ANYTHING you buy within 30 days, but I bet you won't!

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listened to several Paradigm models, old Spica's...

Good bass down to low 70's, mid and tweets musical, fast and unstraining for it's 4ohm load on my H/K 520

WAF factor is low, if she wants small and unubtrusive.

Larger box than I thought. It was replacing the radio shack 55's! Fit and finish are perfect, nothing outstanding, Toyota Camry like. The performance was definetly Lexus though. It does everything it was designed to do, very well.

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Killed the Bose 201's Lambasted the RadioShack 55's Bowed to the VMPS 626r's with auricaps

Musicality! Vocals. Accuracy. Transparency. Size. Build quality. Huge sound in small boxes. Best speaker value in audio, maybe best value in audio, period.

None at this price! Be aware that bass cut-off is 74hz, the speaker is rated at 4 ohms and it is probably not the best choice in a huge room, but certainly worth a try.

I bought the 5 channel home theatre package. I won’t recycle all the adjectives that have already been used to describe the CBM-170s. I agree with most of the favorable reviews. I will say that: They are HEAVY and SOLIDLY-BUILT. These are not the Radio Shack parts stuck in an empty milk carton you’d expect for the price. Also, they are VERY MUSICAL. You’ll find yourself enjoying recordings that you had become bored with. And, they are TRANSPARENT. They let the music just go right through them and don’t seem to add a thing. Plus, they are BIG SPEAKERS IN SMALL BOXES. In a blindfold test I doubt that many people, even audiophiles, would believe that speakers this size could produce the sound they do. Vocals are the test of any speaker, and the Ascends simply shine here; extraordinarily lifelike and spacious. And this with an Onkyo receiver driving them! I’m looking forward to hooking up high-end equipment to see what this speaker is capable of. To keep them small, they aren’t designed to go below 74hz. I use a Hsu 1225 subwoofer and the combination sounds great. They are fine home theatre speakers as well, although they might not fill a large room. Mine is 10’x14’ and they have plenty of headroom. Ascends are hands-down the best speaker value on the market, and may be the best value in audio, period. Try them and I think you’ll agree (there’s a 30 day no-questions-asked return policy). P.S. I had a problem with one of the surrounds. I was afraid it was out of warranty. Nope — Ascend has a FIVE YEAR WARRANTY. I e-mailed Ascend and David Fabrikant replied within a few hours telling me to send it back. It turns out the speaker was not at fault; it was probably the amp. However, Ascend repaired it free of charge and got it back to me within a week. This is a company that stands behind their product and believes in going above and beyond the customer’s expectations.

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Too many to remember since early 60's: Electro-Voice, JBL, NHT, Lynn Kans, Maggies, Martin-Logan, a few others.

clarity, detail, soundstage, balance, tight bass, customer service

Don't know

"There is nothing special with theses speakers. They have no bass." Well, this was my initial impression when first listening to the CB-170s with my brand new Technics DX-950 receiver. This impression did not last long (speakers and amp needed some break in). Indeed, I found myself spending more and more time with my stereo, buying more and more CDs and renting DVDs just to listen to their soundtracks! Later I added the cheapest SACD/DVD player (Sony DVP NS500V). The problem is that I started buying audiophile SACDs that cost more than the player. Everything was fine until a friend of mine brought over his Rotel RB990BX amplifier. The difference between this amp and my receiver was amazing. The Rotel has tight bass, extended smooth treble (cymbals), a lot of details without being aggressive and is well balanced (the Technics was over bright). It seems that this Rotel amp and the Ascend match very well. As I'm living in an apartment and don't play music very loud, I don't feel it is necessary to extend the Ascend's low frequency range with a subwoofer. I particularly enjoy the sound of violin and piano with these speakers. Try out the "Oh that Stradivarius!" SACD from FIM. Also, vocals are very natural and have a strong real presence (try out James Taylor "Hourglass", Jacintha "Lush Life" SACD). Several times I noticed surround sound effects when using only two channels music. With Jean Michel Jarre's "China Concerts", CD 1, track #2, the sound seems to come from everywhere. I tried several $500-700 AV receivers to replace the Technics, but none of them could match the Rotel amp for sound (this might be normal knowing the fact that the Rotel is a separate and is quite more expensive). I home-tested a refurbished receiver, which unfortunately had a problem and fried my center channel. Ascend repaired it for free, although the fault was clearly with the malfunctioning amp and not with the speaker. The sound is much better than what I get from my Sennheiser HD580 headphones. Unfortunately, I did not have the chance to listen to other speakers for comparison. I give five stars to these speakers because of the pure musical pleasure they provided me.

Great balance, imaging, and detail. So EZ to listen too. Pure audio bliss!

Subwoofer manual a bit weak but all of my questions regarding placement and settings were anwered quickly. Note: subwoofer manual is from Hsu Research.

My review is for the ascend system 22-1003. This includes 3 CBM-170s for the front (including the CBM-170 center), a pair of HTM-200 for the rears and the Hsu VTF-3 subwoofer. First off, I must agree with the huge number of positive reviews following mine. These are terrific speakers! I will not dwell on what has been said over and over again: incredible detail, clarity and smoothness yet so refined that they are a pleasure to listen to for extended periods of time. Absolutely no listener fatigue. I can hear every detail clear as day and yet somehow the speakers don't even seem to be there, sound seems to be created out of thin air. Remarkable! The comment I wish to stress is that many people consider these the very best bang for the buck speakers available today. While I agree with this, I consider these speakers some of the best I have ever heard at ANY price. Sure, some speakers have tighter and deeper bass, others might have more extended highs, others for sure look better, however, I have not come across a speaker that does all things so well. The balance between the highs, mids, and lows is, dare I say, almost perfect. I have done extreme near field listening ( 1 foot away ) and I can simply not detect any hint of where the crossover point might be between the tweeter and woofer. I won't even mention other systems that I have considered ( there are so many ) but I bought this system for home theater and I now find myself enjoying listening to music, which was never my intention. Sure, my DVD collection is rapidly expanding but so is my new found music obsession, Dianna Krall - Paula Cole - In my teens I would have never listened to this "adult contemporary music".. but now... ahhh pure audio bliss. I should also mention that I was under considerable stress on what subwoofer to choose. After all I have heard about SVS, this was my first choice but would have cost me much more. I felt the staff over at Ascend were honest and full of integrity and I trusted them ( so much different than dealing with a retail stereo salesman!, ) so much so that they fully gained my trust and I went with the VTF-3 sub. RIGHT CHOICE for sure. What a great subwoofer. DEEEEEEP CLEAN BASS. As I wrap up my review, I must say I couldn't be happier with my purchase, the buying process was a pleasure and I am a customer for life.

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B&W, Mission, M&K, Energy, Def Techs, Paradigm... loads more