The clarity, the clarity, the clarity! Great balance. From the recordings I've listened to so far, there is an absolutely incredible amount of detail for orchestral strings, woodwinds, harps, harpsichords, and as you all must know my now, vocals. If I didn't have my receipt in front of me right now, I'd be thinking that I must have payed over 1,200.00 dollars for these speakers.

This is mainly a problem with the stands available for purchase at the ascend website--Though they are sleek, stylish, and compliment the CBM-170's nicely, they aren't really capable of keeping the speaker from falling down. All that's holding them on to the stands is some velcro that comes packaged with the stands.

Wow, what a change from the Bose 901's. With the Bose speakers, I really had to strain myself to be able to hear finer details in the music, such as dynamic contrast and timbre. The 901's were decent at higher volume levels, but lower volumes were incapable of rendering an enjoyable musical experience. That and the sound was too muddled.
(Ahem) What product was I supposed to be reviewing now?
Oh yeah, the CBM-170's.
The 170's are, in my opinion, highly worthy of the praise that's been given to them so far. As mentioned earlier, the amount of detail one can hear is simply amazing. Home audio entertainment gets as close to a live performance as possible; Wind instrumentalists can be heard taking breaths between phrases ,for the sake of Peter! Being a wind instrumentalist myself (clarinetist, saxophonist), I found that I was able to hear small quirks that are particular to my instruments--For example, a mid Bb, on a clarinet, will tend to sound a little "Airy", while other notes sound "fuller". Mind you, this is not a flaw in the speakers, but a problem native to the instrument itself. The fact that I was able to hear this "throat tone", as it is called, so clearly, almost brought tears to this clarinetists eyes! Being able to hear the clicking of keys against the pads was also very satisfying. (I was listening to Eddie Daniels "The Five Seasons", a classical/jazz arrangement of Vivaldi's orignal "Four Seasons".

The speakers provide a modest ammount of bass; A Hsu VF2 compliments them really well. But, really, who has ever heard of a speaker that provides THE perfect balance between Treble, Mid-range, and Bass? The Mid-range and Treble are the best that I have yet to hear on a speake-pair under two thousand dollars.

And, no, Ascend isn't paying me to advertise for them. I bought the speakers in the same fashion everyone else on this board did. I read teh reviews, was intrigued by them, and decided to try the product out. By the way, I must take my hat of and give three cheers to Larry, over at Ascend's customer service. What a great guy. If in doubt, e-mail Larry for questions! Hail to Larry!

If anyone here has any questions for me, as well, feel fere to e-mail me.

I am using: Harmon Kardon 3370
Cambridge Audio D300 CD player
Monster Cable Interconnects.

Similar Products Used:

Bose 901's.

Well packaged, good customer service, and solid construction right here in The U.S.A. The Sound is unbelievable!

The have more orders for these things than they can ship. If you want some I suggest you place an order now because it will take a couple weeks to get them.

I have been visiting Sound Track, Listen Up and other retail vendors trying to find a speaker with superb sound (well..at least better than my Bose)and a price I can live with. If you are on a budget of $400 - 1200 then look no further! I do not claim to be an "audiophile," but I do know good sound when I hear it. If you want to spend 3 times as much for a comparable B&W bookshelf, knock yourself out. These may not have the astetic or name brand appeal some of the other speakers have, but the sound is all there! They have a nice clean appearance...nothing fancy. I hear things in I haven't before in CD's I have listened to for years. You have my permission to flame the sh*t out of me if I am wrong on this. Try them Sam I Am...they are better than Green Eggs and Ham.

Similar Products Used:

BOSE..Yes, I know Bose suck.

Clear highs, fantastic vocal reproduction, can be pushed to load levels and can fill a large room with sound

lack in the lowest bass

I posted a review much earlier. Since then, I have had relatives over who had a chance to hear the Classics and the Ascends and thier comment was that they liked the Ascends even better. I'm not saying that they Are better but from the midrange on up they are in the same legue. Sure, the Classics cost 10 time the amount. For that you get a wood finish, bass response +/- 3dbs down to 22 hrz, and can play clean up to 120 dbls. The ascends need a sub.
I have some new cds from Christmas and I have been thoroughly amazed at the sonic performance from these small speakers.

Also, If anyone wants a proffesional review of these speakers, go to www.cheaphometheater.com Their assesment of their performance is consistant with many of the personal reviews in this forum.

Similar Products Used:

Legacy Classics, Klipsch quartets

Everything

Are you kidding?

This is a review for the 5.1 Surround sound package with 2 CBM-170s as fronts, and 3 HTM-200s as rear surrounds and center. Package also includes a Hsu VTF-2 Subwoofer. This is, in my opinion, the best $1000 you can spend in the world of Home Theater today. Everything about these speakers from the customer service, to the appearance, to the breathtaking sound they produce in both music and movies is utterly perfect. A friend of the family who I spend thanksgiving with every year has a $8000 B&W system, and this package blows it away. For music, the sound out of the CBM-170s is amazing, and the balance this system brings to movies in 5.1 surround sound is breathtaking. There's not a negative thing I coudl say about these speakers if you paid me to, and I think that the flawless reviews time and time again speak for the quality of these speakers. The Aperion Audio 5.1 System was very nice, and probably would give similar sound quality, but was several hundred more, and I wanted a black finish rather than a wood finish, adn the Hsu sub is better than the Aperion subwoofer. Aperion does run specials on refurbished units with full warranty for about $1000, making them competitively proced to the Ascends, so some people may be interested in looking at those if they want a wood finish on their speakers. But all in all, I cannot think of any reason not to recommend this system to anyone. I've alreday recommended it to 3 people, 2 of which have already purchased it, and they feel aexactly about it as I do: the cornerstone of their home theater. Feel free to e-mail with questions about thiese speakers or any part of my system.

My System:
Ascend Acoustics 5.1 HT Pacgake with Hsu VTF-2 Subwoofer
Denon 3801 receiver
JVC XV-SA70BK DVD Player
Onkyo DCX-380 CD Changer
Toshiba CN36X81 TV

Similar Products Used:

Aperion Audio 5.1 system

SOUND, BUILD QUALITY, EFFICIENCY,

ABSOLUTELY NONE

INCREDIBLE WHEN COUPLED WITH MY CONSUMER REPORTS BEST BUY RECEIVER TECHNICS SADX1050 AND HSU VTF-2 SUB, DAVID AT ASCEND IS VERY PATIENT AND THE PRODUCT IS ...I GET SPEECHLESS WHEN TALKING ABOUT IT BECAUSE IT IS THAT GOOD. IF YOU TRY IT YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED. 1 COMPLETE SOUND NOT SOUND COMING FROM HERE AND THERE, A WHOLE SOUND THAT TOTALLY ENVELOPES YOU. VERY PRECISE. FABULOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Volume, small size

bass if not using sub but barely

I often use this service to check things out . Now I live in Hawaii on an outer island so its impossible for me to compare products and there are no stores here to listen. So based on the reviews and PRICE and return policy I tried them. I was using two giant Yamahas bought in 97 for $200. At 1st I was a little disapointed, there was a drop off in bass, obviously bookshelf from 20'' monitor with 12" woofers. In 3 days I had to keep listening at lower and lower volumes because the speakers kept getting louder and louder. Music is great but Home Movies wow. My first test was Casino which has worst recording ever and had to listen at vol 75 to hear anything on Yamahas. at 45 with asend it was perfect. T-2 DTS my ears were bleeding at only 55.
At $360 a pair it is the best steal of the decade. One day I will have an audiofile system, but I'll never sell these speakers. And yes they are probably worth 1200 if name brand or retail.

My systm
Onkyo DX-TS797
L R Center Asend
Yamaha SW-140 subwoofer
15 gauge spaker cable walmart
Toshiba SD-4109X 6 changer DVD
Sony CE-315 Cd player

My only decision now is to add 3 HTM's or 3 CB-170 for suround L R & Back and upgrade my sub

Similar Products Used:

none

These little speakers are amazing. I have them coupled with some giant Cerwin Vegas with big woofers, and the result is perfection. I have the Cerwin's tweeter and mid turned off and just use them as light subwoofers. My receiver is an old giant Pioneer from 1979, an sx-870 with more power than we can use, even when very large groups are here(and we have had it loud). I only am using this set up for music, not anything video related.

The Ascend speaker is the best I have ever heard; and that includes any M&K speaker that costs 4 times more. The difference between this speaker and all the other bookshelfs, to me, is the warmth of sound. It can be turned up very very loud, and not hurt my ears with that high pitched tinny sound so many speakers have. And yet they are the clearest speakers I have heard also. They are warm, comfortable, and clear, which in my opinion is unheard of. The true test is that my wife and children are comfortable listening to a much higher volume with these speakers, and even my skeptical wife was amazed at the difference in sound she heard. These speakers are made for vocals, and I dont really know how they would be for just instrumentals, or classical music.

The price for these should be around $1000.00, but for some reason Ascend isn't charging that much, but instead only around $350.00. They have a very fine fit and finish, and feel solid. They have great depth. You do need to add bass though, as with any bookshelf speaker.

What a great company, and they give great, fast customer service. Ascend seems more interested in provided a great product and service, than simply making money. In fact, I dont know how they are making money on this fine product at that price. Buy these, you can't go wrong!!!!!!!

Dont know of any yet

See positives above.......

Clean, natural, 3D sound. Amazing bass with the HSU which integrates very well with the Ascends. Very well built. Great Customer Service

Wish I would have found this company before trying numerous other systems.

After resisting HT for a long period of time, I visited my brother-in-law's (BIL) HT installation (using all Paradigm speakers) and was bowled over while watching Gladiator. For many years, I was completely satisfied listening to my music seperately from watching my TV (and listening to the horrific stereo sounds coming from the 50 cent speakers the TV manufacturers use).

My 2 channel music system with my "Maggie" speakers served me well over the years. After deciding to get a "big screen" and DVD, I attempted to integrate the Magnapans into a surround system. This proved to be futile. Those of you who have Magnaplanar speakers know how difficult it is (if not impossible) to integrate them with a HT set up. They just don't lend themselves well integrating with other speaker types for the surrounds and subwoofers. Trying to match Magnaplanar surrounds into the system in any semblance of reasonable space (and get them to work correctly) was an exercise in futility, and I have a large area to work with.

So, I had to start from scratch. I wanted something that would sound as good with music as it would with HT. Started with the Paradigms that my BIL had installed. They were great for HT...not so good with music. I auditioned all the "similar products used" from above with the same results. Either they were good with HT and not with music or vice versa.

I was about to give up trying to find the "ideal system" when I happened across Ascend. After much handwringing about buying speakers I've never heard over the WEB, I found this site. After talking to Jeff at Ascend (great guy to gather information on their products), I decided to take the plunge.

I got the 170's for right and left (for my music) and the 200's for the center and surround. Again, Magnapans are not known for their bass (they are great for the 3D effect they have on music, though). I thought that the HSU subwoofer would be nothing else if not interesting in adding some low end heft that I'd been missing with the maggies.

Speakers were delivered very well packaged and boxed. The construction and the mateials used is very high quality. They're hefty too (which told me they had good internal bracing). Rap your knuckles on these and you'll find they are very solid.

OK, time to turn them on for break-in and "tweaking". The sounds that eminated from these speakers out of the box was stunning and very musical. This was totally unexpected because every "box" speaker I had ever heard always let it be known you were listening to a "box". Although, not quite as 3 dimensional as my Magnapans, they were very close. I was hearing things in the music that I'd never heard before. No noticeable "box" coloration. They just disappeared. Voices and instruments were all very transparent and immediate. They presented a true "soundstage".

Time to hook up the HSU. MERCY!!! I had no idea what I had been missing with the "maggies". There was bass in the music I didn't even know existed. This sub is very musical and never "floppy", boomy and thumpy as I had heard previously from sub-woofers. The bass was tight, fast and LOWWWWWW! From the lowest organ notes to the bass drum "thwack", to the fingers caressing the bass guitar and cello strings....it was all there.

OK...I'm impressed! Time to hook up the surrounds. The 200s are smaller than the 170s (which are surprisingly small themselves). Put "Saving Private Ryan" on the big screen. Again, I was taken aback. I can honestly say that I prefered the sound of this surround system than the one in the theatre where I had originally seen the film. Dialogue was clear as a bell and natural sounding. The surrounds were as natural (they should be, they are the same configuration as the center channel) and would probably serve well as main music speakers in a smaller space.

I put in the Annie Lennox concert DVD. I felt like I was front row center. The ambiance and music of the original performance was all there in spades.

All in all, I couldn't be more pleased. I found the system that will server me for both music and movies. I can't even imagine a system 2X-3X the price (let alone the amount of space a better system would take up) that would be better. My "maggies" are now in storage.

I'm listening to all of my music all over again and amazed at what I had been missing. I've probably bought at least $500 worth of movies and music DVDs just to try out on my new system.

Similar Products Used:

Energy, Paradigm, Klipsch, Magnapan, Def Tech, Monitor Audio

Sound

Large room needs subwoofer

I used this site to help make a choice for my next system.
My budget is limited so I went for bang for buck. WOW! You owe it to yourself to try these speakers. The sound is so clean and realistic my old CDs sound completly fresh and new. Ascend has something going on here, I upgraded my old Yamaha unit with a Nad 370 Int. Reciever and cant wait to do further upgrades. This is fun and I am open to suggestions??? for the next upgrade. Thanks Ascend for revitalizing an old interest.

Similar Products Used:

Bose,Infinity

SOUND,quality of construction,price & customer service.

HUH?

Well,I thought I would finally add my .2 cents worth now that I've had these speakers for over a month and they've had a chance to break in.I ordered the "Ascend Multi-Channel home theatre system plus audio" which consists of 2 CBM 170's for the mains & 3 HTM 200's for the center and surrounds.

I'll be honest-when I first hooked these speakers up I thought they were very "ordinary" or "plain" sounding and I wondered what's all the rage with these speakers? Well,I finally realized that they sounded that way because they are very ACCURATE and add virtually NO coloration! And about a week later-WOW-they completely opened up.Their soundstage & imaging are second to none!If you close your eyes you have absolutely no idea what size these speakers are,and with your eyes open they just disappear.I would classify the sound as VERY 3-dimensional,very forward sounding,and very crisp but not overly bright.The soft dome tweeter is incredibly smooth,and the woofer puts out some incredibly tight and fast bass-not a lot of it,and it depends on how they are positioned(like any other speaker),but the base is so clean it's a nice change.I would recommended a powered sub however.

As for the center & surrounds-they sound awsome as well.The center is unbelievable for it's size.The amount of clear,intelligble dialog & effects it can output regardless of how much information is coming out of it is nothing short of amazing-even off axis!I cannot believe how dynamic this speaker sounds for it's size and it has incredible transient response.

As for customer service-the best.David Fabrikant is the VP of engineering and he is the one who dealt with me before,during & after the sale-how often does that happen?? David actually went through the trouble of calling FedEx & UPS to get me 2-day shipping rates(I DO NOT like UPS)and then called me back with the rates.They arrived 2 days later as promised and they were packaged extremely well.They will arrive safe and sound.

The construction & quality is WAY beyond their price,and they look MUCH better in person.

These are the best quality speakers you can get for the price today PERIOD.

Sorry this is so long but I wanted to give a thorough review of not just how impressed with these speakers I am but of the total buying experience.Thanks.

Similar Products Used:

JBL,Energy & Klipsch.