The Official Salk Sound Owner's And Discussion Thread - Page 264

Has anyone replaced B&W 703 or 704s with SongTowers? How significant was the change?
thanks

Hard to say. Send Jim an email and see if there is anybody close by you for an audition

You could make the trip to Jim's shop and have a listen for yourself. Jim is in Pontiac MI. A little bit of a hike for you but not really that bad

thanks! I appreciate the offer. I'll have to think about making the jump. Wanted to hear what people thought . I know I would get no where near what I paid for the 703s and their center and then to also get the salks on top of it, I'll let you know if I decide to do a trip. Not really on the way but my sister is in Marshfield.

What opti ons (tweeter)do you have? I saw that you trialed first version of the RAAL tweeters? Also curious on your amp. I have a NAD 785 with the latesr cards. thanks again

I replaced the prevoius version CDM9NT with SS8's. An awesome difference. It is noticible across the range but vocals are so clear and easy to listen to. You will not go wrong on making the change. Down here in NZ it was not possible to to a listening test but went ahead anyway. No regrets whatsoever. Just waiting for the new house to be finished with proper listening room - 3 months to go!

Yes. I had the opportunity to spend quality hours listening to the SS8's back in October. Only cost kept me from going that route (ended up with the SCST's for now)

After having my SCSTs for a couple of weeks, you didn't really have to 'settle for less', they are fantastic in their own right. Although, I haven't had the pleasure of hearing the SS8s, I'm sure they are audio nirvana, given what I know of the SCSTs.

I've heard them both side-by-side. The biggest difference is that the SS8 is "fuller", having a larger frequency response. The tweeters are identical and the midrange is (in my opinion at least) very similar.

That doesn't really surprise me. After all, the mids on the SCST are being provided by one of the best midwoofers in the business, and it only has to extend to around 2 kHz. At that low a frequency, there's not much difference in the dispersion pattern of a 5" woofer and a 3.5" midrange unit like the Accuton. I suspect that on really complex music, the advantage would still go to the Accuton, but I wouldn't anticipate a big difference. The BIG difference will be in bass reach and power handling.

This is terrifying!

Not to a dental hygienist. But back to the midrange of the SCST and the SS8. There is is the issue of an open back midrange (SS8) vs. closed back (SCST). I'm pretty sure that the SS8 would throw a deeper, more spacious sound stage on material that contains a good bit of natural ambiance. On simple studio vocal mixes, there might not be much difference.

+1

Bob

Let's say that my listening environment was less than ideal.

I would love to hear the SS8s. Yes the SS8s definitely have more to add in terms of FR for sure. My only point was you aren't losing alot with SCST in the mid and upper ranges.

I listened to the SCSTs and SS8s side by side, also, at the Audioholics event in October. The speakers and the speaker switcher were so good, that you really needed to pay attention when the speakers were switched or you may not have noticed that it went from SCST or SS8s, unless there was bass energy at the exact moment of the switch. Glangford, you are right that SCSTs don't give up much to the SS8s execpt for the extra low end. To me there is a tiny bit of difference in mids. There is no "settling for SCSTs" because there are exceptional. I'd say that the SCSTs midrange was a tad forward than the SS8s, but both were excellent. I was interested in the SS8s, which is why I went to the event to listen to them. I was very impressed by the SCSTs and the tiny bookshelves without a name at the time...All three were so good that I pondered whether I needed to spend more money on the SS8s, since I thought the SCSTs had plenty of bass. For me, I opted to order SS8s, because I am planning to use them in a 2.0 set up and I wanted that lower extension...I hope to get delivery of the SS8s in late December/ early January. I'll be replacing B&W 803 Matrix speakers. When they come in I will post impressions and pics. Pete

I plan to eventually move to something like the SS8's. I currently own the SCSTs from that Audioholics GTG.

I thought those SCST speakers were awesome and I liked the color. For my room, I need black to match the decor I have going in there, If the SS8s were black, I would have put them in the van, and put my kid on the roof! J/K

...I would have liked to meet you at the GTG, I'm sure we were in there at the same time. I was in the room for like, 4 hours. I had my 11 year old boy with me. You probably saw us there. He was so good., listening with me..Young audiophile..for sure! He is excited that we are going to have those SS8s soon!

You were in the front row IIRC. By then, I was in the back talking to Jim and his wife. I was the guy who kept taking Jim's remote from him

Yes, I spent a lot of time there in the front. It's roughly the same seating distance in my room. The GTG work out well for both of us! I would have liked to have a little quality time with that remote!

Do any of you guys know if the SongSurround-2 can be made to order with the RAAL tweeter? I would absolutely love to have something like the SCST or HT2-TL, but due to having to take off work for 6 months in order to take my treatments, I can not afford them at the moment.

Anyone in the DMV area have any Salk setup's they would be willing to demo?

I've listened to Klipsch RF-7 II and RC-64 II setup, a B&W CM9 and CMC2 setup, and I'm also contemplating some JTR Triple 12's. So I am looking for Salk setup's that are comparable to those.

My primary use is going to be for movies, tv, and games, with music listening a pretty distant last.

I was told by someone that before I make a purchase I should give Salk a try. I had never heard of this brand until he told me so now I'm trying to find some to listen to

I like listening to stuff pretty loud when watching movies. The room is about 20x26, however the "theater" area is in a corner area that is probably 14x15 or so, but is open to the rest of the room.

I'd also be curious if anyone has heard any of the speaker setups I mentioned above vs. a Salk setup they've heard.

I'm leaning towards the JTR for time being but I have yet to personally hear them. Part of the reason is simply based on what others have said in comparison to the other speakers, and the fact that they are more dynamic than the Klipsch and B&W ones.

But I still would like to weigh all options before I spend $5k+ on speakers.