The Official Salk Sound Owner's And Discussion Thread - Page 223

^^^

yea, it's amazing what you can purchase an older "flagship" avr for these days... i paid 300 for a 5800 last year to use in my wife's home office... it drives the rocket 850 sigs she has in there to well beyond ridiculous levels...

that being said, i'm a big believer in room correction software, and would not swap the a100 from my main room out to move the 5800 in...

Would anyone in / around Houston be willing to let me audition a pair of SongTowers? Many thanks in advance.

My first real AVR was a Denon 5600, boy was that a sweet AVR, it pretty much started it all. Nice sounding really mellow, I had power speakers at the time, but it did the trick for the mids and highs. I wanted a 5308, a little which ago and do the whole upgrade thing, but didn't think it was to wise owning the 4311 already.

That's one sweet price you got that baby for Edit: I see Chris got you beat on price match on the 5800.

Djoel

Heya - you may get a larger list of possibilities if you ask Jim Salk directly. This is what I was instructed to do when I was looking in central Virginia. You can find contact information at Salksound.

Good luck!

^^^

it will also help to get auditions if you provide some type of bona fides when you ask for the audition....

for example, i'm generally willing to show off my stuff to people, but recently got a pm from a new member with one post asking for an audition that i didn't even bother to respond to... i'm pretty brave (plus i'm literally surrounded by cops here ), but i'm not THAT brave....

Hey Chris for the record you could have come up to my place that time we meet, I was just concern about your car being stolen Just kidding, you were quadruple parked, I live in an area where there's two car per family Which is pretty stupid when there's several major public transportation that run 24 hours a day. They could have save all that ensurance cash and put into something nice, hm like some Salk speakers" SS8".

Dan

lol!

oh yea, you invited me in...

but yea, parking was at a premium, that's for sure...

Thanks for the AVR suggestions guys. I have verified the Denon 4311 explicitly rates for 4 ohms. Given the price:features and pre-out option it might be the one for me. My listening space is crap so I was really excited about the Anthem's ARC, but I've heard good things about the Audyssey QCXT32whateverthehell on the 4311 too.

I'm in Dallas, if you're ever in this neck of the woods....

Cheers,
Chad

Hard to beat the Denon 4311 right now in terms of performance & features....especially for around $1500 new & authorized dealer. Has been done by DenPureSound.

^^^

LOL! yea, that's not exactly a ringing endorsement...

Hi Guys,

I am about to pull the trigger on the following:

Mains- Veracity HT2-TL
Center- Veracity HT2C
Rears- Supercharged SongSurround IIs

Any suggestions/recommendations on this system? Would you purchase this package or choose another Salk package? Any thoughts or experiences with the Sonicap or Blackhole upgrades?

On Audioreview.com several of the reviewers noted how "revealing" and "forward" the HT3 was. I am VERY sensitive to bright speakers. I've owned Revel, Def. Tech, and Wilson Audio among others and I simply can't deal with their bright tweeters.

Can I get some feedback from the RAAL tweeter owners with regards to brightness? If these are they type of speakers that are ruthlessly revealing then I need to move on. I'm looking for an honest assessment, particularly from people who are sensitive to forward sounding speakers and have switched to Salk. :-)

Thanks in advance people!

-Brian

Revealing yes, smooth yes, bright no. The best description I've read about the RAAL tweeter is "not there".

For reference, I've had HT2-TLs just over 1 year.

i'd agree with the above posters...

it is VERY revealing/detailed...

it is NOT bright... i do not like "bright"...

however, as noted by others, everyone's ears react differently...

as far as the caps/blackhole... i would save my money there... it's better spent on other things... like maybe ht-1's as surrounds instead of the song surrounds...

@nuance...

darnit, i GOTTA quit looking at those pics...

^ C'mon, since you have repeatedly said you don't need an electronics upgrade, what is else there to spend all that refund dough on?

Anybody compared Soundscape 10 or 12 to something like B&W 803D or 802D? Inquiring for a friend.

^^^

LOL! no, i'm gonna go spend some money on my other hobby for awhile now...

sadly, i will be sending a check rather than receiving one this year... oh well, beats giving the gummint an interest free loan...

fortunately, they won't work in my room (or at least i'm telling myself that)...

i haven't heard the soundscapes, but i believe that brandon can probably give some feedback vs. the b&w's...

In my opinion, almost all the Salk Speakers best B&W 800 series speakers. I've written on this before, and the 802 was my "end all, be all" speaker for quite some time. I just couldn't afford their $8,000 (at the time, it's since gone up to $12,000) pricetag. I ended up purchasing Salk SongTowers (for something like 1/6 the price) and I have about 90% of the 802's performance, and am only lacking the bottom end that the 802's can produce and a bit of soundstage width/depth. For me, they best the 803's in just about every respect, and we're talking about a pair of $2,000 speakers with only the base options. I didn't do ribbon upgrades or anything else.

Having listened to the next speaker up in the Salk lineup, the HT2-TL's, I can honestly say they do everything that the 802's do, and do it better. I can only imagine how much better the SoundScapes are, but they are 2 more speakers up in Jim's lineup beyond the HT2's. Don't take my word as gospel, but I believe they're probably in a completely different league.

Cheers,
Chad

I'm going with the Supercharged SongSurround IIs. They use the RAAL tweeter and two Seas drivers. They are actually a performance and price upgrade from the HT1s.

I'd love to purchase the Soundscape 8's but that would cost $15K for the package vs $10K. In addition, I am using a sub crossed over at 80hz most of the time so the bass would go to waste.

-Brian

*As long as you're not nearfield.

Based on my audition of the 800D, 802D, & 803D, I would prefer a lot of other speakers over them.

They sounded boring, compressed, and not revealing at all. So if you want speakers that don't reveal all the details, the B&W may be it.

Or if you are like me and just love the way the 802D looks.

With that being said, everyone is different and every room is different. I'm sure not everyone will agree with my assessment. If you are super sensitive, you have no choice but to audition for yourself and not take anyone's word.

+1

Thanks folk,

I really appreciate the insights. I have followed Salk slightly and when I was asked about alternatives to B&W my first thought was to check in here. Y'all do not dissappoint! A listening test is in his future.

Now, I may be in trouble with another friend who got 803D's a few years ago with me as an extra set of ears and for advice, before I had really gotten back in the game and knew/remembered Salk.

Live and learn... - Don

Well, if possible always audition before you buy.

If you are not super sensitive & not so selective/picky, and if audition is really not possible, then word of mouth in addition to on-axis & off-axis speaker measurements will probably work.

But if you are indeed super sensitive/selective/picky, then world of mouth + measurements will probably still NOT work.

So no thoughts on the black hole or cap upgrades? Any thoughts on my proposed package?