[Mitch Ziegler]

I'm sure the Sapphire provides tremendous bang for the buck. Can you be specific?

Did any of you compare Ascend 340s to any speakers in the aci line? What did you think?

[ajayrav]

I own the Ascend CBM170s and the 340c center.  I also own a pair of Sapphire XLs.  For me, the XLs blow the Ascends out of the water.  The bass generated by the ScanSpeak 'revelator' driver is tight and lightning fast. The treble is sweeter and the overall sound is much smoother. However preferences differ among people.  Curtis, from the Ascend forum has auditioned a number of speakers, and preferred the sound of the Ascends almost all of the time.  In other words, you should listen to them yourself and decide. Remember though, that the XLs are more expensive than the Ascends.  For the price, the Ascends are difficult to beat. To me shelling out the extra money was definitely worth it.  I LOVE my XLs.......and the Ascends are doing a fine job in my bedroom system.

PS: I have not heard the newly tweaked Ascends which probably involve a significant improvement over the original that I have.

[Mitch Ziegler]

I know Curtis, and I heard the speakers at his house. We are hitting a place Monday where we'll listen to his speaker and a number of other brands. Right now I love the Ascends, and I really like some NHT Classic Threes I heard. Curtis and I are thinking of trying out the Sapphires and split the cost to return if I don't want them. My set up is pretty lame and complicated, so the search has been difficult for me.