The Official Salk Sound Owner's And Discussion Thread - Page 267

By "wash" I didn't mean they were identical. I think the 10's will throw a deeper soundstage. But some might prefer the slightly greater presence you get with the 8. It's not a big deal either way. I think the purchase decision would be based on bass needs way down under, and available amplifier power.

I have not heard the 10's, but the SS8's were phenomenal speakers.

I wouldn't count out SCST's paired with a sub either. You lose that ceramic center; and the bi-pole elements (not all bad as I can get closer to a wall); but the sound is still quite spectacular.

Well Dennis, i think unless the music content contains material in the 20hz, wouldnt the general music that both should sound pretty similar?

hey salk owners - is there anyone within an hour or so drive from 06401 that would be willing to demo them for me? I'm probably only able to afford the salk song towers
if you are please reply to my post or inbox me thanks!

Justin

You should email that question to Jim as well: He's usually good about helping people find owners willing to demo.

yes thank you - i already called him and left a message

Check the owners audition thread on the Salk page of Audiocircle:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=20721.0

I thought I'd ask so that others would get the info. Is shipping codt included in the price of Salk speakers or is it added based on model weight and distance?
I didn't see it mentioned on his site.

Shipping cost is added and varies with weight and distance.

Once the order is placed Jim generates an invoice. When 50% of the invoice is paid the build begins. The other 50% and shipping charges are then invoiced when the product is complete. The product is shipped when this second invoice is paid. As Swerdlow said, the actual shipping amount depends on weight and distance, as charged by FedEx.

Thanks, I did get to hear the Songtowers iwth the ribbon tweeters from a local owner last week. He bought the model demoed at the 2011 Rocky Mountain show. Also I saw in another forum that Salk will be at AXPONA (www.axpona.com) in March near O'Hare airport so I hope to see and hear more then.

I bought the pair from the 2012 show

So I got my SS8s (and HT2C) a week or so ago.
I posted a mini-review over on audiocircle, but wanted to add a few things here.

First off, I got this finish (pictures taken by Salk prior to shipping):



Here are some in-home pictures:




The ceiling mounted speakers in the last photo are Mirage OMD 5s used as surrounds/rears (there are 2 more not shown in the photo).
The subs (there is a 2nd one not shown in the pic) are Rythmik F15HPs

I am very happy with the finish on the Salks.

Installation of the plinth & spiked feet for the SS8s was painless.
For the HT2C, I got some vinyl bumpers and put 4 on the bottom, and it is sitting on my TV/HT shelving right under my TV (3rd picture above).

I'm running them with open backs for the time being.
I do have some absorption behind them, but haven't adjusted it yet to make sure its covering first reflection points.

I did play a LITTLE with the positioning and did some measurements (more on that below).

I'm powering them with a W4S MC3x500 (>1000W into 4 ohms per channel). This thing is a monster--after hours of operation, its cooler than my receiver, which is barely doing anything (preamp, and a bit of surround to the OMDs when we were watching TV).
Warm, but not hot. (The receiver, a Denon 4311CI, gets hot)

I did run Audyssey MultEQ XT32.


I'll get the HT2C out of the way: While doing some minor break-in last night I was running my fronts & center in multi-channel stereo. The center does subtract from the sound quality.
That said, it is still a great speaker. I can't fault it for not being able to keep up with the SS8s--I wouldn't expect it to.
My wife & I watched some TV on the system for a while, and I am very pleased with the center. Crisp and clear, great detail.

So, what about the SS8s?

- I forgot that I had set my receiver (used as a pre-amp) to custom settings in stereo mode (I haven't had any speakers for a while, as I blew one of my OMD 15s which I had been using, and waited it out while my SS8s were built).

It was set to treat the fronts as large (I have no idea why, I always ran the OMD 15s with my subs...)
I didn't really notice a difference (though it has been months since I heard my subs).
I only realized what was going on when I busted out REW and saw a very sharp falloff below 20hz (the subs generally are relatively flat in REW all the way down to 0 hz, though there are some dips between 8 & 14 hz depending on where I put the subs).
Before that falloff, they were as flat as my subs. (I have a room node around 22hz, which probably helped them stay in the game down to 20hz)
I hadn't been testing with seriously low bass though. I went back and did so--they did fine.

My conclusion? They have really good bass.
When I did a direct compare, there is a slight difference (crossing them at 60 or 80, not really when crossing at 40) in some material (with a slight preference to subs, but it wasn't a blind test, so that is suspect) , but I don't think I'd notice it without a direct comparison.
And though I did run Audyssey and it set trims for everything, there is likely a slight difference in the volume level.
On really low bass (e.g., LMFAO), the subs sounded better, but on most other material, I wouldn't be able to indicate whether it was the SS8s or the subs.
I didn't crank the volume to incredible levels, but at 80-90 db, i wasn't noticing any significant difference on most material.


- The detail of these speakers is crazy good. Vocals sound really good, though with a slight echoing quality (very slight), almost as if the recording was made in a large room. This was more noticeable with some songs than others.
This will likely clean up when I get my sound panels into the right positions. I may also play with the acoustic foam. I briefly tried completely blocking off the rear chamber, but preferred it open.

- They have good imaging as well.

- They really do fade into the background

- My neighbor (who is not an audio enthusiast per se, but has listened to a lot of different speakers) says they are the most musical speakers he has ever heard.
Prior to my getting these, he was telling me I should go for electrostatic speakers because they are so incredible on the high end. He thinks these are better now.
He always thought my bass was the best he had heard (the Rythmiks really are fantastic), and now he thinks my whole system matches that quality.

I agree.
Edited by Morik - 1/4/13 at 2:03pm

Measurements for my SS8s.


I seem to have a lot of trouble around 60hz with my fronts. Adjusting them forward/back by up to 3 feet or so does change it a little, but there is still a null no matter what.
The subs fill it in pretty well though when crossed at 60.

For the below:
- xover is 60hz when using subs
- measuring both L + R at same time

Here are my current measurements. The waterfall graphs are with subs & Audyssey.











I realize 2hz is useless, but this shows some under 20hz stuff:








At one point I had my subs set up running really hot (probably around 8db hot) with some PEQ thrown in... got it pretty flat (xover was 60. This was with my Mirage OMD 15 fronts):


But, in order to get that flatness, I have to run the subs hot... so I am not doing that now.

Ok, I measured L/R separately, both with and without subs.

Unfortunately, the capture button in REW isn't working for me anymore (it does depress when I click it, but no dialog pops up).

So, I had to resort to screenshots.

These first two are averages of the L/R without any subs:
20-200 (no smoothing)


20-20000 (1/3 octave smoothing)


This is averaged L/R with subs. 20-20k, 1/3rd smoothing. The gold line is the averaged measurement, the purple line is from measuring both running at the same time.




Here is 20-200 no smoothing, gold is averaged L/R, purple is from measuring both at the same time. (With subs)




And, to answer my curiosity, here are 4 graphs.

The first is 2-200hz with no smoothing. Again, gold line is averaged L/R (with subs), purple is from measuring both L/R together.



Not sure how the low end (2-5 hz) got averaged up like that... how does the averaging algorithm work? Doesn't seem to be the average of the SPL.
These are the individual L/R measurements that were averaged to produce the above gold line:





Here is 2-20hz with just left, just right, and averaged.

Edited by Morik - 1/6/13 at 7:10am

Wow, Morik, those are the most beautiful speakers that I have ever laid eyes on! I absolutely love the dark finish and if I was in a position to order a pair of SoundScapes, that is the finish that I would choose!

Is there anyone in the CT area that I can audition a pair of the Salk st?

If you don't hear from anyone, send Jim Salk an email and he will check his customer list and if there's anypne close, he will ask them. He did it for me.

What is the turnaroud time from payment to arrival?

I contacted Jim and so far he can't find anyone in my area. Has anyone bought these speakers without hearing them?

There are several pairs in NYC if you can get down there for a listen.

By "these speakers" do you mean Salk speakers in general?
If so, I'd have to say that yes, the vast majority of people buying Salk Sound speakers pay for them without hearing them.
I'm not privy to Salk's return numbers but I'm betting it's an insignificant number.

I'm interested in the ST is there any speaker u can compare them to? I currently listen to magnapan's MG|| and recently auditioned a pair of Paradigms studio 60.

From my conversations with him: it's all but non existent. I do love mine