Ascend cbm-170 we for 180.00… mint?

Jcbluesman

Active Member
Looking for near-field monitors that are neutral for mixing music and for listening too, and I found these on CL for 180.00. I don't want the amp in the speakers monitors. From what I've read these may fit the bill. I have a Onkyo tx-80, 100 watts so I won't have trouble driving them. Any here with any experience with these, and are they a good value at the $180 asking price? He started at $240 so probably not much wiggle room there on the price, possibly $170? Thanks
 
The CBM-170 SEs have been my bench speakers for about 2 1/2 years. I have them set up sitting on the bench, a little below ear level, 8 Inches from the wall, 4 feet apart center-to-center, and I generally listen to them from 4 to 8 feet away. I have never tried them on stands or in any other setup.

In my personal opinion, and based on my ears alone, they sound a little muddy with my cap-coupled Sansui AU-555A, but crisp and clean, with very good imaging when driven by my direct-coupled Nikko TRM-750 amp. They don't sound unnaturally warm to me. Bass is tight, but maybe a little on the thin side, about what you would expect from a small 2-way. Soundstage is good and three dimensional on good recordings.

Ascend advertises them as flat across the spectrum and, while I don't have a fine tuned ear, I think that's right. Bad recordings sound bad.

I'm no engineer, but I hope this helps.
 
The CBM-170 SEs have been my bench speakers for about 2 1/2 years. I have them set up sitting on the bench, a little below ear level, 8 Inches from the wall, 4 feet apart center-to-center, and I generally listen to them from 4 to 8 feet away. I have never tried them on stands or in any other setup.

In my personal opinion, and based on my ears alone, they sound a little muddy with my cap-coupled Sansui AU-555A, but crisp and clean, with very good imaging when driven by my direct-coupled Nikko TRM-750 amp. They don't sound unnaturally warm to me. Bass is tight, but maybe a little on the thin side, about what you would expect from a small 2-way. Soundstage is good and three dimensional on good recordings.

Ascend advertises them as flat across the spectrum and, while I don't have a fine tuned ear, I think that's right. Bad recordings sound bad.

I'm no engineer, but I hope this helps.
Yes, it helps. The thing about powered studio monitors is they are all colored, no matter how they market them. I tried the krk rocket 5s, I'm definitely on a budget, and I learned about ear fatigue, and muddy, and jumbled sound stage, and undefined real quick. Amazing they are one of the best selling studio monitors. Thanks for your input because reading ak has helped me form some knowledge on this, of which I had no knowledge in receiver, TT, speaker game. Any opinions on the 180 price tag, or could I do better. I want to kill two birds with one stone here, mixing and then enjoying.

Thanks
 
Well, I just checked Ascend, and they are currently on sale for $298 a pair, so I guess it depends on the condition of the ones on Ebay.

EDIT: The folks at Ascend responded very quickly to my emails when I was scoping out these speakers. Plus, I see that they have a forum on their website, so you might want to check that out.
 
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Well, I just checked Ascend, and they are currently on sale for $298 a pair, so I guess it depends on the condition of the ones on Ebay.

EDIT: The folks at Ascend responded very quickly to my emails when I was scoping out these speakers. Plus, I see that they have a forum on their website, so you might want to check that out.
Well, I have learned the most from personal experiences by akers with equipment, especially from personal comparisons between equipment, speakers, receivers and such. Oh, these are local CL speakers. Thanks
 
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