Ascents and Sansui AU AX-919 integrated

Ascents and Sansui AU AX-911DG integrated

New to the Logan family and just wanted to share these Ascents in my 11X16 room are amazing and are positioned on the long way and I sit 9.5
feet back. They flank 110" projection screen that is floating 2 feet out from the wall. I also have the room acoustically treated and did I say amazed?
Did a lot of research and the Sansui AX-911DG kept popping up for its ability to run difficult loads and have a warm clean sound with enough current to
handle the bottom end. The answer is Sansui rocks.. Yes in my room I need no more the Ascents have plenty of slam and incredible sound stage. I listened to Aeon,Aerius, and Electromotions and these were hands down the best of the bunch in my price range. Just wanted to thank everyone as I read the forums for months before my purchase and this community was a big help.

Welcome and congrats on the new Logan's.. The Sansui has great reviews.. The speakers being 2 feet out from the wall? Dont be afraid to pull them out more and get a bit more depth to the stage..

C.A.P said:

Welcome and congrats on the new Logan's.. The Sansui has great reviews.. The speakers being 2 feet out from the wall? Dont be afraid to pull them out more and get a bit more depth to the stage..

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Thanks for the kind words and I played around and there is not enough difference to give up the space in my room. Although it is better it is not enough to move the Ascents into the room. With movies it makes no difference but with audio it is improved moving them 3ft into the room

wow .. I am really surprised with the sansui.....

AHHHHH yes the age old conundrum.. Space for sound fight.. (Albeit I AM not a ML fan for HT. ).. I prefer separate denunciations of both as Dynamic speakers do movies much better to me .. Great set up and enjoy !

Welcome! Congratulations on your new stats. I'm not familiar with the newer Sansui models, just those from the 70's and 80's and they were pretty decent.

Enjoy!

Dan

C.A.P said:

AHHHHH yes the age old conundrum.. Space for sound fight.. (Albeit I AM not a ML fan for HT. ).. I prefer separate denunciations of both as Dynamic speakers do movies much better to me .. Great set up and enjoy !

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Thanks they are great with movies they replaced Paradigm Signature 6 speakers and there is no looking back.
I did move them out but the gain in soundstage was not worth
The look of the theater.

timm said:

wow .. I am really surprised with the sansui.....

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Me to but the love affair did not last long. I bought a McIntosh MC 2200 and have taken the Ascents to the next level. As good as the Sansui was I got greedy and it paid off with the power increase and the dynamics improvement was enough to move the Sansui.

greg9518lc said:

Me to but the love affair did not last long. I bought a McIntosh MC 2200 and have taken the Ascents to the next level. As good as the Sansui was I got greedy and it paid off with the power increase and the dynamics improvement was enough to move the Sansui.

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Nice upgrade..

C.A.P said:

Nice upgrade..

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Thanks. Tried the 8ohm taps and sounded flat and compressed and when I switched to the 4ohm taps they really sing. Going straight out of an Oppo 103d and seems to be a great match. So looks like I will be holding off on a preamp. Using a Tributaries 8pole power cord and custom made interconnects. Speaker wire is Tara Labs Prism helix 8. Had a Furhman 15pfi and ended up removing that and soundstage opened up even more. Went with A 10 guage 15ft power cord with 3 receptical plug on the end and did the trick. I also got rid of ferrite bead power cords and it improved again. Quite amazed by the Ascents as they show every change instantly. Amazing speakers.

Using this thread to update my upgrade progress and the addition of DH Labs Air Matrix interconnects connected between the Oppo 103d
and Mcintosh MC2200 amp has given me more dynamics,clarity,depth,detail and the speakers just get out of the way in my room.

My old interconnects were made by a gentleman in Alaska that used a litz configuration 26 guage copper thru light weight plastic rca silver based and no shielding. They were thin sounding and lacked gain in my system. Quit frankly I knew they were not good but that is all I had. So last night I wrapped the 3ft rca cables in full sheets of household foil and taped them up with hockey tape. Ghetto I know but this was for testing purposes. So anyways played them for 2 hours last night just shaking my head in amazement as these old rca cables came to life. They do some things better then the Air Matrix cables and other things not so good. But I got tons of gain in my system and once again the sound stage was dynamic detailed and the speakers left the room. So my 30.00 cables almost 20 years old were back in the game.

So with my cables sorted out I now await the arrival of my Luminous Axiom MKII western electric passive preamp. It will be interesting how this inter acts in my system and the plan is to have the DH labs from the Oppo to the pre amp and the ghetto revived cables to the McIntosh.


Right now I would say my system is warm and balanced but lacking a little more bottom end and some top end detail/air.

Just wrapped the DH Labs Air Matrix in foil and electrical tape and seems to have changed for the better. The silver cables warmed up and focus and placement of instruments improved in the soundstage. I also noticed the bottom end improvement is nearly 2 fold. The OPPO and McIntosh Mc2200 sounds like a tube system. Very natural and timbre is spot on. I am sure this changes capacitance in some way but in a good way. Before the soundstage was not cohesive. Still waiting on my preamp but and still noticing each and every change that I do. Read alot about shielding and foil is cheap as is electrical tape. These changes to the cables has been immediate and easy to spot. So if your system is a little bright or lacks focus and warmth you might want to give this try. Very easy to reverse. Lot cheaper and effective in changing your sound. Did I say I love my Ascents and auto formers in the Mac wow.

While waiting on my Axiom preamp to arrive I got bored and gave the 2ohm taps a try. Seems to have balanced the system out with a larger soundstage and more accurate bass. The biggest improvement was the mids and treble. I have a 40 year old amp the synergy has improved and I like the large airy soundstage. 8 ohm was tubby bass,4 ohm was mechanical. Now I am sure this will change with the preamp. Nice to have a amp that can act as 3 different amps. Definitely glad I chose the old Mac. Sweet and engaging. I am sure the cable capacitance is affecting why I like the 2 ohm tap now. As the cables have broke in the sound was becoming to syrupey and slow. I am now second guessing the reason why I ever bought a preamp.
Review and update of the preamp still to come.

Well the Axiom Western Electric passive preamp is burning in nicely with about 5 hours on it and is a keeper �� So I have the oppo 103d with an 8 pole tributaries power cable and a DH Labs Air matrix II feeding the preamp and the McIntosh now running in the 8 ohm taps with Tara Labs Helix 8 going to the Ascents. Just under 3000.00 invested so far.
The sound is effortless warm and has a full bottom end. Spacing on the instruments and tonal quality is spot on. I went
With the Allen Bradley resistor and the synergy is there in spades. I am sure it will get better 50 hours from now as the system settles in but as it stands this system is perfect. I wish I
Was more articulate in my description but for 235.00 preamp It transformed the system into a musical,tonal, and I am there experience.

greg9518lc said:

New to the Logan family and just wanted to share these Ascents in my 11X16 room are amazing and are positioned on the long way and I sit 9.5
feet back. They flank 110" projection screen that is floating 2 feet out from the wall. I also have the room acoustically treated and did I say amazed?
Did a lot of research and the Sansui AX-911DG kept popping up for its ability to run difficult loads and have a warm clean sound with enough current to
handle the bottom end. The answer is Sansui rocks.. Yes in my room I need no more the Ascents have plenty of slam and incredible sound stage. I listened to Aeon,Aerius, and Electromotions and these were hands down the best of the bunch in my price range. Just wanted to thank everyone as I read the forums for months before my purchase and this community was a big help.

Click to expand...

Greg, I'm late to offer a 'welcome' so Happy New Year !

I quoted your opening post because there is a lot that does not make sense ......... your speakers are on the long wall (16') , you sit 9 1/2' back from them(short wall 11') ? given that distance you must be right up against the back wall ?? you have a projection screen mounted 2' out from the wall thus it's forward of your speakers ?? With this configuration there is no way in the good Lords green earth that you could have an 'incredible soundstage' !

Chris (CAP) I see did give you some good advise, perhaps two channel listening is not your main goal ?

twich54 said:

Greg, I'm late to offer a 'welcome' so Happy New Year !

I quoted your opening post because there is a lot that does not make sense ......... your speakers are on the long wall (16') , you sit 9 1/2' back from them(short wall 11') ? given that distance you must be right up against the back wall ?? you have a projection screen mounted 2' out from the wall thus it's forward of your speakers ?? With this configuration there is no way in the good Lords green earth that you could have an 'incredible soundstage' !

Chris (CAP) I see did give you some good advise, perhaps two channel listening is not your main goal ?

Click to expand...

2 channel and video is both a goal for the best picture and sound in the space that I do have. My screen is floating so it can go back against the wall or extend
2 feet out in the room. By being 10ft back I have a perfect triangle. So a 16L X12D room speakers on the 16 wall. I have listened both ways and there is not enough
difference with screen against the wall or out but have the choice either way.

Sound stage is massive 16 ft wide and wraps around my head. I stand by that statement as Dave Mathews song Knock knock on the door sounded like it was coming
from upstairs with the wife shouting at me to turn it down. 8ft ceilings and is top to bottom. The playback good or bad defines the soundstage until I either run out
of power or dynamics in the recording can distinguish layer upon layer in the recording. I hope this thread has provided some insight on my musical journey. My previous system
was Merlin VSM SE,VTL mono blocks, Audible Illusions 3 preamp,Cary tube cd player. I have also sold audio/video for the past 30 years and still do and thought it would
be fun to build a high end affordable system and pass my knowledge and experience on. This has been my favorite system to date as it does a lot right and very little wrong.
Could use a little more bass but that will be solved when I run different speaker wire to the woofers using the 8 ohm taps and use the 4ohm taps for the mid/treble.

Back at it again replaced my wall receptical with a 5.00 Pass&Seymour TR5262 and initial testing is a definite
Upgrade over the contractor one that was in the wall.
After reading took a shot and worth the investment.
Was sceptical but after 5 minutes it is a night and day
Improvement. Sure is fun to experiment with all the DIY
And this is not a myth. Next on the list a upgraded
Power plug for the OPPO and upgrade the internal power wire.