The Ascend Acoustics ELX Ribbon Tower ranks #6 out of 58 total Large Size Floorstanding Speakers for sound quality. See Top Recommended Speakers By Attribute for all the top speaker suggestions.
#6 Ascend Acoustics ELX Ribbon Tower: $5,698/pair Ascend Acoustics
Pros: A RAAL 70-20xram ribbon tweeter and dual SEAS Excel aluminum woofers in a 3-way, 4-driver bamboo tower measure a genuine 38.7Hz extension point with a nearly flat on axis slope of 0.05dB per octave, among the best measured towers in this batch. The bass alignment Q of 0.62 keeps the low end well damped rather than peaky. Backed by a 7 year parts and labor warranty and hand assembled in Orange County, California, with each pair matched within +/-1.5dB.
Cons: Listening window smoothness measures a moderate 0.40 and on axis deviation runs 0.286dB average, both trailing the tighter figures posted by some of the passive AsciLab and Ascend bookshelf models in this same batch. At $5,698/pair it is Ascend’s most expensive tower, well above the Titan dome tweeter version of the same cabinet. The manufacturer’s own claimed sensitivity (87.5dB) runs nearly 1.5dB higher than the independently measured average (86.1dB), worth accounting for when matching an amplifier.
How it compares: Just above it: Radiant Acoustics Clarity 66 - $2300 more, 1.6Hz lower bass extension (-3dB). Just below it: JBL HDI-3800 - $698 cheaper, 4.5Hz higher bass extension (-3dB).
| Bass Extension (-10dB) | 28.5Hz (measured, spinorama.org vendor data) |
|---|---|
| Bass Extension (-3dB) | 38.7Hz (measured, spinorama.org vendor data) |
| Country | United States |
| Dimensions | 43"H x 7.5"W x 10.5"D (1092 x 190 x 267 mm) (43 x 7.5 x 10.5 in) |
| Drivers | RAAL 70-20xram ribbon tweeter, 6" SEAS Excel Curv midrange (sealed sub-chamber), 2x 6" SEAS Excel aluminum woofers |
| Enclosure | ported |
| Frequency Response | 36-27,000Hz +/-3dB anechoic (manufacturer) |
| Impedance | 8 ohms nominal |
| Power Output (Watts) | 400W continuous, 600W peak |
| Sensitivity | 87.5dB @ 2.83V/1m anechoic (manufacturer) |
| Warranty | 7 years parts and labor |
| Weight | 56 lbs / 25.4 kg (56 lbs) each |
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