The Official Salk Sound Owner's And Discussion Thread - Page 7

Anyone in Phoenix area have Song Towers yet?

I've been listening to my new Songtowers for a few days now and wanted to post some thoughts. I have been a very pleased owner of a pair of HT1's for a couple of years and decided to order Songtowers for a 2'nd bedroom system. Once again, Jim has provided a speaker that is stunning in both looks and performance. I am amazed at the quality of sound Jim can provide at the Songtower price point. The midrange is incredible, darn close to the HT1's!!!! Highs and lows are outstanding, and the overall sound is balanced and transparent. Imaging and detail are downright spooky on well recorded material, and vocals and horns are quite realistic. I put Jim's demo CD on both systems and proceeded to go back and forth from room to room to see how the HT1's compared to the Songtowers. The ribbon tweeter is unbeatable to my ears, but the Songtower highs are also very smooth and accurate. The midrange is very close with a bit of edge in transparency going to the HT1's. The bass is tight and controlled in both speakers, but I am definitely getting more of it from the Songtowers. I did stop to think at one point just how much fun I was having comparing two sets of such fine speakers!!!!!! My conclusions? Both are absolutely fantastic with the HT1's winning in ultimate detail, transparency and resolution, but the Songtowers are very competitive, as well as deeper in the lows. Soundstage and imaging are outstanding on both. I haven't heard anything that beats either at their respective price points and I've listended closely to martin logan, magnepan, gallo refs and vandersteen. I must say that all were impressive, but I'm keeping my Salks!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well done yet again Jim.

That is a great finish on your speakers! Just beautiful!!! Any chance you or Jim could post a few more shots of them? I'm very interested in getting the ST's, but unsure of what finish to get until I get the colors of the house I'll build figured out. I'll definitely keep this finish in mind.

bigjp -


I will try to post some pics next week. I'm just headed out to IN for a regional tennis tournament. It will be the first week-end I have not worked in some time and I need a break anyway. When I return, I have a few things to attend to, but Wednesday I may have a chance to post some pictures of a few pairs.

This particular pair was done in cherry veneeer and I used a traditional mahogany dye on them. We can get a close match to just about any color as long as we have a good sample to work from.

- Jim

Just a quick note to let everyone know that the price of the SongTowers will be going up within the next two weeks or so. We are currently analyzing costs and working out the details. There will probably be several pricing tiers depending on the finish.

When we came out with the SongTowers last October, we aimed for a target price of $1495. At the time, we realized that in order to hit this target, we would have to adopt alternative production methods to increase productivity. We have made great strides in that regard and have dramatically lowered the SongTowers labor costs. But we still aren't quite where we need to be.

We were still considering holding the price and living with less-than-ideal margins. But then we were hit with some significant price increases on drivers and other parts.

The US $ has been taking a beating on international monetary markets. Since the woofers and tweeters come from Norway, that means the most recent shipments were more expensive. Shipping costs for the parts has also risen with increases in oil prices.

The bottom line is that these parts price increases finally made use realize that the SongTowers just couldn't be priced at $1495.

While we never like to raise prices, we are very confident that even at slightly higher prices, the SongTowers will still be the best speaker anywhere near their new price point and will continue to represent one of the best values in audio today.

Thanks, in advance, for your understanding.

- Jim

A tennis tournament? A tennis tournament! How do you figure you can take even a minute off for yourself? You have a responsibility to all us owners (well, soon to be owners) and that means, simply put, you can't have a life. We are all waiting for our speakers and none of us can stand it any longer and here you take off to play tennis. A tennis tournament? What? At your age?

At your age all you should be doing is sitting in your work shop continuing to build the best sounding, best looking, best valued speakers in the universe. Doing anything else is a roadblock to your destiny. You have chosen a path and there is no room for even a tennis ball on that road. There is only room for Songtowers, HTs, etc. A tennis tournament indeed!!

My thoughts exactly. I know for a fact that Jim had a 2-week vacation in 2001.

Yea Dennis, that should have been plenty vacation for him. Boy, you'd think the guy was Henry Kloss or something!!

So after reading all the glowing reviews I've decided to add Salk to my audition list. Based upon price and my inclination for a ribbon tweeter I'm very curious about the V3 and HT2. I know there are owner reviews spread around here and audiocircle but I think it would be very helpful to have a single link where potential owners can see where all available demo owners are located. I didn't see a frappr site so even though I'm not an owner I started one.

The link is below, it would be great if owners could add their location, Salk gear, and relevant components.

Salk Sound Owners Map

http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/i...?topic=20721.0

Plenty of owners posted here.

thanks, here's all the rest i can muster right now. i'm away on vacation.
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Thanks I saw that there are about 10 owner locations posts in the 3 pgs of posts. AVS has a lot more traffic and I figured a frappr site is a lot easier to see all owners in one glance.

Are there any V3 owners that wouldn't mind discussing their opinions on differences between the V3's, SongTowers and HT3's?

Also, I would like to verify if the price increase is for the full product line or the SongTowers only.

Thanks,

Mike

Indeed I am planning on purchasing a pair of HT3's, after hearing them the choice was an easy one.

WooHoo! Party at Funk's!

Congrats on finding your speakers!

Jim, You could charge $2495 per pair for the SongTowers, and they would still be a bargain. They are just plain fantastic !

I know Jim's a nice guy and makes fantastic speakers, but for everyone's sake...PLEASE limit that price increase talk!

I own both V3's and HT3's. I gave a quick synopsis here:

http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/i...?topic=52308.0

Please understand that I am less demanding audio-wise in my HT than I am in my 2 channel room. That does not mean the V's don't deliver. It means that in my mind they are all I need to have a satisfying experience (very satisfying) because the ribbons get it done and the center is a beast. I personally do not need HT series in my HT. Some do and maybe someday I will. I do not listen to music or SACD in the HT but thet V's still sound like HT3's except for the low end. And the V costs less. Is this helping?

I have been the proud owner of SongTower QWT's and SongCenter for a little over 2 weeks. I have been corresponding with Jim via email and he suggested that I post. I have been a musician/sound engineer for 35 years and have heard, mixed, and performed a lot of music and sound. I have also been an avid, I hate this term, "audiophile" even longer. I simply cannot beleive that these speakers sound as good as they do at this price. The sound is coherent, transparent, at the same time vivid, with imaging and soundstage in spades. Top to bottom, and the bottom is amazing, these speakers just sound "right". I have paired them with an Emotiva XPA-5 and they love the power! They sound even more amazing than when I was using my HK DPR 2005 receiver. Everything is just "there" now and I cannot beleive that those 2 5 inch speakers deliver this much bass. I have not heard Jim's other speakers, but with what I am listening to right now, I don't care. I had searched and auditioned many, many speakers, too many to list, none had the "sound" like the ST's. I am in the process of re-listening to my entire collection, which will take some, enjoyable, time. I found out about Jim on this forum and consider it a great service that I have found "my" perfect pair of speakers. Thanks to all and especially Jim and the folks at Salk....

nuance - thanks, i have read funkmonkey's thread and think he has done a fantastic job with his speaker reviews. definitely fun to read.

funk - i wish you the best on your ht3 purchase.

pad - thanks, every bit of info is helpful. of couse, the necessary thing to do is hear them!

If the price goes up too much, so much for custom finish....oh well, like Nuance I am saving as much I can as fast as I can to buy a pair..

Is the black a polished black, the pics online don't really capture if they are really shiny or not?....thinking of piano black finish to match my 50 inch KURO (my 2007 a/v purchase)

Song Towers = 2008 a/v purchase

Stop reminding him, perhaps he forgot!

I've been communicating with Jim recently, and his planned increase isn't too bad but if you are serious make sure you ask him what the planned increases are. I won't divulge anything he sent to me in an email because I don't think his plans are final at this point but he has a good idea.

I plan to get a pair of SongTowers, the center, and matching surrounds. Hopefully I can pair this up with an SVS Ultra, Epik Conquest, or maybe even dual MFW-15's. I'm not settled on a sub yet, but even after not listening to any speakers on the market yet I think I have to get the ST's. There are too many rave reviews and comparisons to other speakers out there for me to consider anything else in the price range. Not to mention they just look amazing.

Nuance,

I'll have some Song Towers soon, so if you ever feel like taking the Badger from Manitowoc to Ludington this summer i'll be able to scratch your itch!

Doug

So, I had my interest piqued the other day when skimming the "Search to find my perfect speakers" thread and saw some mention of the Salk SongTowers. I'm wondering if they might be the right speaker for me. I've been considering an upgrade to my front main speakers in my surround system. Current system is Magnepan MMG in the front, no center speaker, Magnepan MGMC1 in the rear, and Hsu VTF-2 subwoofer. There is a lot that I like about the MMG's. However, my room is not exactly perfect for them (wife hates them 3' out in our small room) and they just don't have as much "oomph" as I like sometimes, even with the sub. Plus, I'm just curious to try something new after several years with the MMGs.

80% of my listening is music and 20% is home theater. The majority of my music listening these days is hi-rez multi-channel SACD and DVD-A. Some stuff in heavy rotation these days Beatles, Yes, Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd, Natalie Merchant, REM, Peter Gabriel, Porcupine Tree, Genesis, ELP, John Denver, Carpenters, Allison Krauss, Beck, and some heavier stuff on occasion like Linkin Park, Tool, and Metallica. I've also really started to enjoy Lawrence Jubar since I had to try one of AIX recordings after reading so many amazing things about them.

My components include Emotive LMC-1 pre-amp and LPA-1 amp. I'm also very likely to upgrade to their LMC-2 and XPA-5 in the near futre. My room is about 15' front to back and 13' wide. However, there is a max of 10' usable space on the front wall since it open into a kitchen and upstairs/downstairs staircases on the right side. The room is carpeted and has pretty large upholstered couch about 2' from the back wall.

I'm looking for somethign with great imaging, dynamics, and a smoothness that I can listen to for hours without feeling "fatigued." So, any opinions on whether the SongTowers might be a good choice. Their $1,500 price is close to my limit.