The Official Salk Sound Owner's And Discussion Thread - Page 236

Well, he didn't pay that much. And it was a fully active design, so you are also paying for the electronics. This is the dude who thought there was something wrong with his SS center. I'm not blaming him, but he did have Jim and me in hair-tearing mode. He, and the designer of his equalization software, claimed the impulse response for the center showed "pre-ringing." And the software dude also conveyed a not-too-subtle threat that the problem would go viral in various forums if we couldn't rebut the charge or correct the crossover. I had a pretty good idea that the claimed malfunction was impossible, but I did further research, which confirmed that pre-ringing is a physical impossibility in an analog circuit like a passive crossover. It only occurs in digital circuits with very steep "brick wall" filters and, or, design defects.

If only I was rich and had matching fronts, I MIGHT be interested - but then I wouldn't need a deal on a center because I'd already have one.

Have you guys ever tried the Xilica XM 2040 and some of Brunos nCores for that kinda work? Xilica's DSP engine is 40 bit floating point.

I hear that Xilica on rackmount is even better than Dolby Lake.

I can only imagine what could be done with those for an active system.

Xilica XM 2040 is under $400 bucks!

I've heard these guys have good stuff as well. 76 bit IIR/48 biquads

http://www.groundsound.com/diy.php

Hey does anyone know where I can get an electronic copy of Elektor's review PA3CC and and module roundup they did.

PS you don't have to name the designer but perhaps the software name/DSP engine? curious Yes from my understanding linear-phase filters/group delay compensation is need if it's very steep. I can see this might not be implemented properly depending on the software design.

Ugly color? Those are the color of my SongTower setup, and I can assure you that in a modern home they look very nice.

Cheers,
Chad

Always late and usually irrelevant but here goes;
Re the amp distortion deal.
I can personally attest to issues caused by over-driving speakers.
I've blown the LCY ribbons in my HT2s twice due to what I'll call "over EQ'ing".
I use an Anthem D2 with ARC and after reading users raves about extending the freq. resp. EQ from the default of 5k all the way out to 20k, the ribbons shredded on extreme transients not from music but from film soundtracks.

After conferring with Jim and Dennis and doing some needed reading on the basics of room EQ, I wised-up and lowered the freq. resp. EQ WAY down.

Guess what, the sound was far, far better. There's more to the story but I've already bored people enough.

Not knocking anyone and I'm as guilty of it as anyone, but guys have a tendency to crank things up in a group setting and to me one of the beauties of a nice system is how much detail you can hear at moderate levels.

Holy Cow!

I was just responding to Dennis's post where he was talking about active xovers and I was curious the software/DSP used as I'm going to need such a solution in the near future and I don't want a system that's screwy on a software level like what Jim and Dennis experienced with "pre-ringing". I don't believe I ever questioned build quality... just xover point. Is it not OK for a potential customer to ask such things? The other thing I said was just a tip regarding Neo8s solder pad as Dennis had to remove the Neo8 from another pair so you guys could even have a loudspeaker to audition as PE is OUT OF STOCK. I wasn't trying to criticize Dennis but HELP and come up with a reason for what people heard at your GTG that's all!

You read a lot more into things than what's actually there.

But what's the point...

I'm not here to argue with you or get provoked into responding in a rude way. I've had enough of that on this forum!

PS I didn't claim the stuff I shared was "better than anything else" either. Stop putting words in my mouth!

Just a quick note...the issue with the center channel Dennis was describing turned out to be a defective chip in the DSP unit and there was no issue with the speaker. But he sure had us going for a while...

- Jim

I posted this on audiocircle.com, but thought I'd post here as well...

Frans purchased a pair of SoundScape 12's on the used market. The previous owner had only had them a few months when his wife found out what they cost. She said either she or the speakers would stay, but not both. He decided to keep peace in the home and Frans purchased them.

Now it was time for a SoundScape C center and M7's for surround duty. Of course, they had to match the SS12's.

Here are the M7's...



And the SoundScape C center...



Frans, have a great cinematic experience...

- Jim

I'm not sure whether to frame those or listen to them, they are such beautiful works of art!

That's just ****ed up!! Did he marry Darth Sidious? :P Talk about not being supportive!! :EEK:

Who'd think speakers could actually tear a marriage apart - 'specially speakers that nice.

***No offence meant to the previous owner.

I suspect his first mistake was to tell her how much they were. Second mistake was to not do something highly altruistic for her of for the family in general. There were probably several other extenuating factors, but I can totally see how that can easily snowball outta control!

You bought these huge speakers? How much were they?

Hi Jim.

Are you planning on showing the new SoundScape 8 at CAF this year?

I don't know, yet, if we will be attending this year. We have a lot going on this summer and I'm not sure the timing will work out. But if we do attend, yes, we will bring the SS8's.

- Jim

Thanks. I hope you can make it.

May I have these speakers? No. - End of story.

Forget that! He's my hero for trying so boldly and almost succeeding. That took major guts!

I always get disheartened when I hear stories about adults who (presumably) are being told taht they're not allowed to do what they want with teh cash they earn.

My partner and I have separate funds which we put our earnings into. If one of us is unemployed for a while, then the other will help out as necessary. Otherwise, we're both free to pursue our own interests, hobbies and whatnots once the bills are paid.

Seems to be a very harmonious situation to us.

Of course all these comments are assuming that he had the spare cash to spend on speakers. For all we know they really couldn't afford them and his wife was just being the responsible adult in the family.

BTW, we do the same as you. As long as each pays their share of the bills (including contributions to savings), then each is free to do whatever they want with their leftover funds. This has worked very well for us; I can count on one hand the number of times we have argued about money in the past 25+ years.

We're not talking about "partner"; we're talking about "wife". Big difference.

Now, now, be nice.

Jim, your speakers are like works of art that happen to play music, Simply amazing.

How come we don't see a pair of matching Rythmik subs?

His SS12's play to an F3 of 18Hz. Perhaps he doesn't feel the need for subs.

- Jim

I bought my pair of HTS-MTMs as fronts in 2004. I have now started looking to add a center to this pair.

1 - I was wondering if there is an opinion of whether the current MTMs are better than ones made 8 years ago? My point is that I would like to purchase a matched center but may be interested in purchasing two new fronts and a matched center.

2 - Is a new MTM center the only center that will match two 8 yr old MTM fronts?

Thanks for your help.

With the Salk HT3's, is a dedicated amp a must or would a mid-range (~105wpc) receiver be enough to power them to moderately loud (90 with close to 100db peak) levels?

You will get them to play, but they really are asking for more power then what a receiver is capable of giving to get the best out of them without clipping the amp in that receiver, which can induce distortion...

External amps are the key for this - I would be looking to get an amp that will provide at the minimum of 200wpc.