The Official Salk Sound Owner's And Discussion Thread - Page 149

Response Audio is in Endicott, NY out in western NY.

Endicot is 3 hours away but they mention an nyc showroom.

I might be begging ccotenj for a gtg ha

^^^

bring good beer... that's all the "begging" we need at this house...

My gf has the car (live right near NY trains)... She like this stuff but 3.5 hours each way might finally ruin that.

I was just pointing out your misinformation of being in NYC, no debate on the drive. However I did purchase HT3's and center unheard.

I was just pointing out your misinformation of being in NYC, no debate on the drive. However I did purchase HT3's and center unheard.

Living where I live is a long drive everywhere.

i also bought my speakers unheard... i felt it was worth the gamble, as the odds are stacked very high in my favor...

if after having them for 6 months or so and by some miracle, my ears are the only ears on the planet that have heard salks and don't like them, it's not like i'll take a whomping on them... they rarely hit the used market, and when they do, they don't seem to sit there very long...

when my wife expressed her desire for "big speakers" again when we first started to look (i was originally going to go with bookshelves), i asked a few people i trust for some recommendations, and i read some threads for some background information... based upon that, and a few emails with jim, we decided these were a safe bet...

after all, it's not like i haven't listened to all of the normal b&m suspects many times... it wasn't going to do me a tremendous amount of good to draw the process out...

I've heard/owned/auditioned probably hundreds of loudspeakers, and the numerous Salks I've auditioned, in general, surpass all others in their categories. (The SoundScape is unmatched by any speaker IMHO, by the way.) Though personal tastes differ, and you "should" audition first, if for no other reason than to satisfy which model turns you on, I don't believe you can lose on buying Salk. As stated, resale is high and fast (and infrequent). And have you yet even seen on negative review on Salk speakers?!

I only wish that I could afford a set. I have no connection to Salk, but the auditory presentation and the aesthetic beauty of the pieces I've seen and heard have certainly turned me into a self-admitted fanboy.

That's one person's impression, in any event. Food for thought for you.......

The reasons I purchased Salk speakers were many, but the main reason is one thing you point out below. I simply couldn't find one negative comment regarding their sound. I bought them unheard and feel the SongTowers compare favorably to ANY B&M speaker up to about 2-3x their price. In fact I even liked some things about them better than one of my favorite speakers of all time, the B&W Nautilus 802. The Nautilus won in a few categories and they should given the pricepoint, but the Salks compare VERY favorably and they cost $8,000/pair!

Cheers,
Chad

I just had to ask, what size is your screen?

Regards,
Ken

Hi, i just wanted to ask you, since you owned a pair of sierra, and now ST, can you give a few commnets about both of them, how would they compare. I have a pair of sierra, but i feel that the ST are a step above the sierra. I really like the looks of salk speakers and may buy them in the future. Thanks

I'm going to be taking delivery of 2 songtowers, a songcenter, and 2 songsurround I's in the near future. My problem is that i currently have a denon avr-1909 and i'm worried that it won't have enough power. I plan on running the ST's full range during 2 channel playback and crossing over all the speakers at 80Hz during 5.1 playback. The 1909 is rated at 90watts but i have a feeling that these ratings are on the liberal side though it has no problem driving my Monitor Audio B4's (i believe these are less of a load?).

My plan for the future is to get a refurbed onkyo 707 rated at 100wx2 FTC at 0.08% which should be enough to get the job done until i add either Van Alstine or Odyssey external power amps to the system.

Am i hoping for too much by wanting the denon to handle the songseries until i can make further additions?

I'd keep your AVR if you like it and add a cheap external amp.

i wish i could but the 1909 does not have pre-outs so i'm out of luck there.

not sure how much it will help, but in a few weeks (hopefully), i'll be able to post some feedback on sierra's and ht2-tl's...

25 days down...

As long as you're using a subwoofer and crossing over at 80hz and setting all of your Song Series speakers to "small" your Denon should do at least a respectable job.

I've recently been researching my options to upgrade my current ADS L1290/2 speakers and am at the point where I really need to hear some.

I was hoping to find an owner that let me audition a pair of HT2-TLs (or maybe even the SongTowers, although I'm not sure they would be an "upgrade" for me?).

I'm in southeastern VA.

Thanks.

Saturn94

If you can't find anyone closer to you, the offer I made to you on audiocircle to come hear my SongTowers is still good. (You'll find many of the same readers here as you did on AC.)

In fact, now that I learned something about your speakers from an April 1984 review, I am very curious to hear them. The reviewer (Julian Hirsch) praised them highly. Just to read Hirsch again was a welcome blast from the past.

I'm reasonably sure that Dennis Murphy would also be interested in hearing and running some test sweeps on one of these speakers.

Without hearing the ADS speakers, I would agree that you may very well be right, a true upgrade would be the Salk HT2-TLs instead of the SongTowers. A quick comparison should make it easy to answer that.

As an interesting side note, I also have NHTs for my center and rear channel speakers. They blend reasonably well with the STs.

Just curious, why are you looking to replace these speakers?

Richard

Hey Nuance! How's it going?

i fully expect them to make the sierra's run for the hills... crying and screaming for their momma, no less...

i just hope they don't make them run so hard away that i'm forced to not use them for surrounds...

Thanks for the advice everyone, the plan is to eventually build a system around the onkyo w/ some quality external power amps and a nice preamp w/ pass through but until then it seems like the denon might do a decent job, i'll just have to be cautious. It shouldnt be too long before i can upgrade the electronics. I'll be sure to let everyone know how it comes out!

Thanks. Actually since I discovered the Salk Forum at Audio Circle before I found this one I already posted there. I was hoping to reach more owners by posting here as well.


Thanks. I greatly appreciate the offer and just may take you up on it if I don't find a closer owner (I would really like to hear the HT2-TL as well). The idea of doing some testing on my ADSs is very intriguing. I'll let you know once I have a better handle on my schedule the next few weeks.

As far as why I want to replace them? That's a good question. There really isn't anything about the ADSs that I do not like. What started this was reading about the new Magnepan 1.7s. I use to own a pair of Maggies in the early 80's (original SMGs) and really liked them. Reading all the praise got me wondering if there's something out there that I would like alot better than my ADSs (I haven't really auditioned anything else since 1986!). Having recently upgraded my 30 year old amps, I figured I'd see how my 24 year old ADSs compare to todays speakers. (BTW, upgrading my amp also brought improved performance from my ADSs).

I finally got a chance to audition the 1.7s, but still prefered my ADSs. So I've been trying to find other speakers in my range that might be a good upgrade. The first week of June it looks like I'm going to get to hear a pair of Revel F32's and Usher Mini Dancer 2's. I'm also trying to find an owner of a pair Von Scheikert VR33s and VMPS RM30s.

It's very much a possibility that I won't find anything I feel is worth spending $2k-$4k to replace my ADSs. But I won't know that until I do some auditioning.

I am familiar with the review of the ADSs that you mentioned. Does bring back alot of memories when I eagerly awaited each new issue of Stereo Review.

I greatly appreciate everyone's help and suggestions.

Wow, those 24 year old ADSs sound like something special. And I believe you are on the right track with the Salks... have you contacted Jim yet? He can be very helpful for finding an audition.

Drivers on the Mini Dancer 2 look to be the same as those on the Tiny Dancer (Be-718), which I think are a great little speaker... the bigger cabinet and second woofer should flesh out the sound even more. The Be-718s were one of my favorites during my search a couple of years ago... I would put them close to the SongTowers. Makes sense that the Mini's would compete with the HTs in the Salk line... I would be curious to read your thoughts if you get a chance to audition everything that you mentioned in the above post. If you decide to write something up, would you mind posting a link or something.

Cheers, and best of luck in your search

I did send an e-mail to Jim on the 17th, but haven't heard anything yet. I did get a couple of invitations from owners; SongTowers, about 3 1/2hrs away, and HT2-TLs, I think, about 5 hrs away. Hopefully I can find someone a bit closer?

I really hope I can hear the speakers on my "want to audition" list and will certainly post any impressions when/if I get to do so.

At a minimum, this should be very educational since I haven't shopped for speakers in 24 years.

Jim has always been prompt with emails in the past, but Nuance is right, calling him is probably the best way to contact him. The 3 hour time difference and not being able to call from my work, kept most of my personal contact with Jim via email; it was never a problem. There was a brief period of time when Jim's spam filter was preventing him from getting some emails, but I think that was resolved. It may be that he is waiting to hear back from an owner before contacting you with a green light... If the phone is no good, ping him again with another email (he usually catches up with those on Sundays). Otherwise call, he is a great guy and very helpful and understanding.

Cheers

Late to the table----83"


Hope there there is no problem with me giving my opinion to this question as it was not addressed to me.

I have the Sierra's and used and liked them in a 2 channel situation. They are a very competent speaker for that price point. I have heard the ST many times and i own the STRT's and the difference between them and the Sierra's are very discernible. The Salk's reveal depth, transparency and a richness to the recordings. If you a/b test them, you will notice immediately that the Sierra's seem to sound a little muddled and distant. The ST's on the other hand seem to interject life and a definition into the recordings that is missing from not only from the Sierra's but most speakers that i have had or listened to. For what its worth i have Salk CAOW1's and i like them a bit better than the Sierra's at the same price point. These are only my opinions and i suggest that only you know what your expectations are when you listen. Trust your ears to get to where you need to be, but the Salk's are not to be dismissed without an audition.