Not making a judgement on Ascend, but of course people are almost always happy with their newest purchase. Their ego is vested in validating their newest expense.

The best speakers depend so much on the usage, the space and on what you personally like. I like rich enveloping surround sound where the audio engineer's work is as valued as the cinematographer's. I'm not big into appreciating "stereo" music; it doesn't exist in real life and I seldom take an hour to focus solely on the music in a sweet spot.

I do have a rather purist friend, purist in many ways. Makes him excellent on projects when a team is built with his skills in mind, but often rather hard to integrate into one. His audio preference really is to sit in his sweet spot recliner, nobody talking, and just "listen". He needs a different system.

I have Def Tech bipolars all around. Powered LCR (integrated subs.) Additional rear subs. All sonically matched. They sound amazing, the result is a near-sweet-spot through out a huge space. Properly mixed music - I have a bunch of DTS - is astonishingly good, as are movies - no matter where you are, you know about where the sound was meant to come from.

But it's chaotic to my friend. I suspect it's not orderly enough for his preferences. Bipolars aren't what he wants. For that kind of noise, he'd prefer to go to a theatre, where I suspect his mindset allows it to be okay.

Of course Def Tech makes a wide variety of sound systems. I don't like the Mythos line at all, but I also don't like Bose or B&O. My point after all this rambling and detail is, sometimes the type of speakers matter more than the brand of speakers, to match your needs.