Anyone have any experience with these particularly the CBM 170's? I took a leap of faith and ordered them. I was interested in Rockets but was informed by my wife that while they are beautiful the rosewood doesn't work with her country red living room. I don't have the patience to wait three months to see what the ebony Rockets will look like and then how ever many more months to actually receive them.

If the Ascends don't work out I'm only out the return shipping.

I presently have a set of Paradigm Atoms which I intend to use as the rear surrounds is this a mistake?

I'll try to post my experience with them next week.

Any break-in advice?

I received my Ascend CBM 170's today. Nicely double boxed. I got them set up just in time for my two year to get home asleep. So, the sound meter went back in its box for another day .

I listened to some Norah Jones, Diana Krall-Live in Paris and India.Arie-Acoustic Soul at moderate levels. The improvement in sound over the Atoms was immediately noticible. I could hear things like the high hat and brushs on the drums I've never heard before. Piano was tremendously improved especially higher notes. And the voices of these women never sound like this before. My wife was amazed at the sound difference and pleased with the looks of speakers. I guess I won't be hearing, Are they availible in white? Can't you get something smaller?, anymore.

I was only able to play with the home theater for a few minutes. I threw in Monsters, Inc. Listened the THX show off piece and the door vault scene. It is funny how much the score adds to the movie experience and now I'm hearing all of it. I can't wait to calibrate the system and experience a movie.

That's it for now. More next week when I've experienced some movies and a wider array of music.

[This message has been edited by Q-man (edited January 11, 2003).]

[This message has been edited by Q-man (edited January 11, 2003).]

I am at day 30 of my demo with an Ascend 5x CBM 170 & Hsu VTF-2 combo. I have only been able to listen to them in a 2-channel set-up so far,(delays in getting 5-channel going too lengthy to get into) but they aren't going any where. Very musical and transparent. They make my even my 20-year-old 35 watt p.o.s. receiver sound good. In a word I would just describe them as "clean" sounding. They are anything but full-range and leave a bit to be desired aesthetically (CBM170s) but they're worth the price of return shipping just to demo. Then again I do not know how much it would cost to return them, nor will I find out.

Mike

The more I listen to these the more they impress me. I've noticed that the improvement over the Paradigms is so great that when I use the random function on the cd player I frequently have to stop and listen before I recongize music I've heard(or didn't hear all of) for years.

For anyone on a budget I highly recommend this set up. If you don't like it shipping is all you pay.

aquaman-Did you see that the 170s made The $ensible Sound(issue 94) recommended list? I also come across this today from SoundStages. http://www.soundstages.com/revequip/ascendacoustics_cbm170.htm

[This message has been edited by Q-man (edited February 28, 2003).]

[This message has been edited by Q-man (edited March 02, 2003).]

[This message has been edited by Q-man (edited March 02, 2003).]