The Official Salk Sound Owner's And Discussion Thread - Page 113

Now officially part of the family just bought Jims pair of Ambrosia Maple HT3's Can't wait till Monday or Tuesday to get them!!

Paid for these HT3's yesterday morning. Just checked the tracking and they are on the FedEx truck for delivery today. Needless to say I'm completely giddy. Unfortunately I have to go to Hofbrau house tonight for my brother in laws birthday. (I love hofbrau house never thought I'd be dissapointed in going

Congrats on the HT3's! Do you have them yet?

While I am very happy for you, I do think less of you due to the fact that you didn't have to wait 6-8 weeks or even more for you Salk's. It's part of the experience you know.

Make certain to post some pics of them in their new home!

the fireburst looks bright. REAL bright. Almost too much not sure if its the camera.

I hooked up the HT3's yesterday (didn't have any time to mess with placement yet) and only had a chance to listen to a few songs just to hear them. I think one of the tweeters may have been damaged in shipping It is making a crackling type sound and only at certain frequencies it seems.

I did realize also how terrible they can make badly recorded music sound. I happened to
have Chris Cornells new CD in my player and thought it was a pretty good recording (in my car and on my Rocket RS1k's) but you can instantly hear how over compressed the music is.

Anxious to listen more and troubleshoot on this tweeter.

Will post pics soon!

apparently I've just never heard any speakers like this. I no longer think the tweeter is blown. I think it was clipping in the recording. I put in the Shins Whincing the night away this morning just to see if I heard it trying not to wake anyone up and couldn't help but sit through the whole album while getting shivers down my spine multiple time it sounded so damn good. And the room right now is a disaster and setup isn't ideal. All I can say is "WOW"!!

Not sure I agree that most of the album is compressed, but certainly on certain samples on maybe 2 or 3 tracks. There is some definite distortion and clipping there. I saw him last night in concert and let me just say, wow!! Jesus Christ Pose and Just Like Suicide were highlights for me personally. 2 hours and 40 minutes of Chris Cornell is awesome. Seasons was also a highlight.

-Chad

Sounds like a hell of a show!! You know it seems that it's Cornells vocals that seem overly compressed on the album. The layered guitar parts are seperated well and I'm hearing them in a completely different light.

Do you have ht3'? If so curious if you like them for rock? I mainly listen to classic rock, 90's alternative, some jazz but am new into it and looking for more. Any suggestions?

I own HT1s which are going to sound similar except the very lowest end. I have the same musical tastes and if you end up like me you are going to find yourself seeking out and listening to your best recorded CDs on your system while tending to ignore the badly recorded material more and more. I still play them here and there but am really drawn towards the good recordings because the payoff is so large. There is enough good stuff out there to keep me happy. If I'm listening just as background noise then I don't seem to notice or care as much.

The brightness is not a good representation of the true color its just my crappy camera skills, I just thought it was a interesting looking shot tho. The best representation is the first picture that was posted, and they even get a lot darker in low light.

I have it figured out. It was clipping in a recording. I'm using for the time being my Earthquake Cinenova (300 Watts into 8ohms) to power the HT3's with an Odyssey Candela. Looking to upgrade to a coupld of Wyred 4 Sound amps once I get some money back in the pocket.

congrats on the new HT3's there M8....

The Wyred amps are great and I think you will love the build quality and attention of detail they bring to the plate, and sonically they are clean, powerful, and transparent as a top quality amp should be...

mcallister,

I own a pair of SongTowers. If you like recommendations here are 2 of my favorite songs on the ST's so far:

A Perfect Circle - Fiddle and the Drum
Tool - Wings for Marie / 10,000 Days

Both are impressive and will really show you some nice things your speakers can do. I mostly listen to rock, but tend to lean towards hard rock and metal.

-Chad

nuance if you can I do reccomend the w4s amps i picked mine up used for 1300 on agon, they sure do make the ht2's sing

Hello, I would like to know if anyone has listened to the Salk bookshelf
CAOW1? I am thinking about getting a pair for use in my home
office. They would be for music only in a 14x12 room with built-
in bookshelves.I won't be using a sub.
I listen to rock, blues,country and some jazz. They would be powered
by an older H/K amp that runs at about 60 watts per channel.
I welcome your thoughts and opinions!

Thanks,ED

I own a pair of CAOW1s that I built, and it is my favorite small 2-way speaker. I use it as part of a 2-channel music-only system. I originally powered it with an old Marantz 30 wpc receiver, and now power it with a 100 wpc external amp with the old receiver as a preamp. Your HK amp should do well with it.

The CAOW1 is available as a DIY design where you provide your own cabinets, or in Salk-made cabinets. You might also consider the Salk SongSurround I. It uses the same cabinet and same drivers, with a slightly different crossover than in the original CAOW1. This was done to make it a better match for the SongTowers.

One question, do you plan to put the speakers on your bookshelves? The standard design has the reflex ports on the rear of the cabinets. If you plan to put them on bookshelves, you should have Jim Salk build the cabinets with the ports on the front.

After exploring a lot of different options, I am leaning towards upgrading my HT system for the SongTower HT System. That said, without ever hearing the SongTowers directly, it's difficult for me to know whether it's actually a meaningful improvement. Sure, I've got upgraditis -but I owe it to my wallet to ensure I am actually upgrading the system.

My current Piega P4XL's have the following description:

Model: 3-way system column loudspeaker
Recommended amplifier output: 20-200 Watt
Sensitivity: 89 dB/W/m
Impedance: 4 Ohm
Frequency range: 35 Hz - 50 kHz ±2dB
Equipment: 2x 13 cm LDB bass woofer, 1x LDR / II ribbon system
Dimensions (HxWxD): 120 x 18 x 24 cm

Then this is a review from back in the day: http://www.piega.ch/review_archiv/ho...2007-2002.html

Do people think the SongTower system would be an improvement? I mainly care about HT. My living room is about 4000 cubic feet. I am going to be using 500W W4Sound monoblocks and matching with dual Fathom 113 subs.

Thanks so much for your help.

What are your goals and what do you want to improve? You said you primarily care about home theater so does that mean you won't be listening to music on these? Do you want dynamics and impact when watching movies? Is this a dedicated room, or a dual purpose living room?

We'll need more information to help you make choices.

-Chad

I see why you changed your mind about the custom design

IMO, I have nothing against the SongTowers but they are not the ultimal HT choice (not even close), they are not design for maximum HT experience (You do not put 88dB speakes in the ultimate HT room). You want the ultimate setup, all your PMs, your posts suggest that, I think you are seriously compromising your HT design with this possible choice.

Flame suit is ready

The ST's do great dual duty for accurate musical reproduction and home theater in my dual-purpose living room/theater. If I had a dedicated room for theater only (which I don't) then I wouldn't own the SongTowers. There are simply better options for true visceral dynamics and impact in a home theater even at their price. You give up some things though as with any electronic product. A JTR Triple 8 for $899 a speaker is an incredible home theater performer, but don't go putting it in your living room and expect it to look nice. While I hear the music reproduction is very good I suspect some neutral or naturalness is given up for the dynamics and impact a true home theater speaker of its caliber is capable of reproducing.

I'll be honest about it. The ST's will NOT get as loud as I have wanted them to a COUPLE of times. I think mostly limited by the mechanical xmax of the 5.5" CA15RLY drivers they use as I experienced some bottoming out on a couple of movies at -5 reference. Only happened on 2 movies though so far. Aside from that they are beautiful speakers that do a lot of things well including accurate musical reproduction. They are NOT the best home theater speakers in the world and were never marketed that way though. The more and more I'm learning about loudspeaker design is you either design for aesthetics, music, or movies (generally a combination of 2 of these) and you almost never get all 3 perfect because budget begins to be a concern. Not to mention it's got to be really difficult to design something like this in the first place.

-Chad

The set up goes in the living room, and the aesthetics of the speakers are important, especially a small footprint. That's why the SongTower system looked interesting. Yes, I want ultimate HT, but for a living room that does not seemed overwhelmed by gigantic or unattractive speakers.

Chad,

You've had these issues with them crossed over at 80hz? Are you running them large as in full-range? I just can't see them bottoming out crossed over like that.

Mike

Is the midrange any better than song towers?