Well as the third person at the session I thought it was time for me to chime in and take some of the heat off of the others. Just let me state that I currently own an Ascend 5.1 package with 4 CBM-170’s and a 340 center with a VTF-2. Would also like to thank Mark for sharing his home and “speaker collection” with us. That said, I think nothing has changed about my opinions of both of these fine speakers.
The greatest differences with these speakers are that the Axioms are more detailed and forward than the Ascends (both the 340 and 170) and the Ascends just seem to have a fuller sound. Also with the Axioms, as the volume levels were increased, there became a point where the detail was just overwhelming and they started to sound to bright for me. I’ll tell you how these opinions came to be with the movies and music we threw at these speakers.
First we listened to the opening beach assault scene from Saving Private Ryan. With the Axioms, the bullets ricocheting off of the beach obstacles and the falling of shell casings from the machine guns were just more pronounced than with the Ascends. But on the other hand with the Ascends, you got a more noticeable “thud” sound as the bullets hit their mark on those poor soldiers.
Next we put in The Matrix and watched The Lobby scene. As with SPR, the Axioms just had more detail that showed again with things like falling shell cases and machine gun fire. All these sounds were there with the Ascends, just not as pronounced. I will say that with the Axioms on this particular scene, the detail was almost at a level FOR ME of being to much.
Next up was some classical music. This is where I think the Axioms really shined. We listened to Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries” and I think one other piece from a disc Zarak brought. The extra detail of the Axioms just gave these pieces more air and made them more engaging over the Ascends. The only think I liked more about the Ascends over the Axioms on the classical music was the sound of horns.
With the Rock/Pop stuff we listened to, both speakers had their moments. Preferred the Axioms again with “the cranberries” and “Empty” and Dave Matthews Band and “Crash” sounded best on the Ascends.
I don’t think we helped Mark any with his decision. Thanks again Mark, I hope you get this worked out.
