Yep, one of those "I got it too!" threads again
Finally the end of a longish journey for me. I had been using a very basic pair of Polk R300 speakers for a while. After purchasing Polk RTiA7 speakers a few months back and comparing them to the much renowned Monitor Audio RS6 I borrowed from a dealer for a week, I ended up returning both. I had found the Polks bright for my taste, and while the RS6 were better, I was not impressed by its soundstage. The Polks had a much wider soundstage. I was at a loss of where to turn to get the perfect speakers for me. Listened to several more - PSB, B&W, Quad, Klipsch, etc but still found myself searching for more. Somehow the Salks kept cropping up in my quest, and after some initial hesitation in going with a brand that did not have any dealers around and reading all available forum threads from the start to end I decided to take a chance on SongTowers + Song Center + Song Sub without even listening to them. And the wait proved well worth it when I finally received these the week before
Needless to say, the purchase experience was as everyone had mentioned. Excellent communication by Jim, who answered all my basic questions very patiently. I went with a Santos Rosewood veneer with a bit of red. As several people here know, the finish is BEAUTIFUL, the grain is stunning, and the sound that emanates from these boxes is nothing short of amazing. Looks wise, I do not remember seeing a better finish during all my search. They are truly furniture-grade and gorgeous to look at! Sound-wise, I find the Songs to be extremely detailed without being bright at all. To me, this is one of the key things, as I have mostly heard speakers either get muddy or too bright, but don't remember hearing such a balanced sound that gives me the best of both worlds.
Not to be satisfied yet, and having heard of big claims that these can compete with speakers much more expensive I decided to test that statement. Got a pair of B&W CM9 from Best Buy to do an in-home comparison. And I am so delighted that all claims stand validated, and more! The Song Towers walked all over the CM9, except for just 1 category. First the plusses - the biggest differences were amount of detail, vocals and separation of instruments. HUGE difference to me. Where the CM7 seemed like a wool of sound coming from the center for most part, the ST had every different sound clearly defined and the instruments placed around ready to be spatially picked. The vocals that were so subdued in CM9 were crystal clear and very natural in the ST. The soundstage is wider with the ST as well (but still placed within the speakers). The only area where CM9 had an edge was bass. Their sound felt much fuller than the ST. Listening to that made me realize what I was still missing, and have since turned to listening even to music with the sub which now sounds much better. I am guessing that CM9 advantage would disappear if it were the HT2-TL, and left me wondering if I should have gone with that in the first place. Still, this was a huge leap for me from $100 Polks to $2000+ ST (even more total as I got the Center and Sub as well), and I have absolutely no regrets. Of course, if money was no object, I would already have called Jim to upgrade to HT2-TL.
And this is all with 'just' an Onkyo receiver and Sonos system (another outstanding product btw) in a large echo-filled untreated room. I am sure there is much more to extract from the speakers whenever I decide to upgrade the electronics.
A big thanks to Jim, Dennis and the whole Salk team!! And also to Nuance, funkmonkey, floresjc and several others on this forum who helped me decide knowingly / unknowingly!
I do have one question though - at least a few times in the last week itself I have found myself deciding to sit down for a song or two, and then find myself unable to get up even after an hour. Considering all the time I am 'losing' because of these speakers, shouldn't Jim be paying ME?!
