Your rich audiophile uncle just died ...

[Veloce_Racing]

... and the will specifies that his beloved pair of pristine CLS IIa and just purchased Ascent i's be given to you and your jerk cousin - one set per inheritor. The uncle -- being loopy in the head from too much exposure to electrostatic charges -- failed to specify who get which. What would you do? Which speaker would you fight for? Trust me ... there's a reason that I'm asking .... Need answers FAST!!!!!

 

[roberto]

depends a lot of your liking...

... and the will specifies that his beloved pair of pristine CLS IIa and just purchased Ascent i's be given to you and your jerk cousin - one set per inheritor. The uncle -- being loopy in the head from too much exposure to electrostatic charges -- failed to specify who get which. What would you do? Which speaker would you fight for? Trust me ... there's a reason that I'm asking .... Need answers FAST!!!!!

I'm a CLS lover, but the Ascent i is in a general way of speaking, more easy to set and easier to live with. It depends a lot of your liking. CLS are the most demanding speakers on earth...regarding source, pre amp, amplifier, cables, room, setting up...etc. The Ascent i, are more friendly user than the CLS. Also are less room dependent. Both are great!..it is very difficult to recommend any os them without knowing what's you liking and taste for music. Ascent i does better with big orchestra. CLS does better with voices, solo intruments, and small combos, jazz, or camera music. This does not mean that the Ascent i does not play great jazz...of course they do! Alos the bass at the Ascent i has more punch. Setting the CLS will take you some time and to match them for the right electronics it is also another quest. Again, trust you ears and choose the one that you like most!
Happy listening,
Roberto.

 

[TomDac]

I'd go for the CLSs... The reason being this: you know the history of this particular pair and they're pristine. Grab a piece of ML history... fight for the CLSs... you can get Ascents anytime, anywhere....

Good luck!

Tom.

 

[Veloce_Racing]

A clarification ....

OK, maybe I should fill you guys in on what's going on. ACTUALLY, no one is dead (umm... at least not yet). Rather, I purchased a pair of new Ascent i's last week. They're nice - don't get me wrong. But I've always loved the way the CLS-II looks. This appears to be a really nice pair. Before you suggest it, no, I don't want to take the Ascent's back to the dealer because I think that's unethical. If they were defective, sure, I'd do it but not because I found something different. For amplification I have a pair of JC-1's and the room is pretty big and rather live. I listen mostly to voice, small combo jazz and classical (nothing symphonic) and acoustic. So ... any ideas?

 

[Gilbert Y]

Veloce_Racing

Based on your last post, keep the Ascent i. CLS are easy to get "lost" in big not even mention live room. However, if you like the look of the CLS, buy it anyway. You can always use them in a smaller room. I use one of my CLSIIz in a 10' x 11' room and they sounded great, with ture 50Hz bass too.