It's has taken me some time to get the point where I thought I could give the HT2-TL a fair review, mainly because first impressions aren't always accurate. I once commented to Jim that it takes me some time to gauge whether or not I really like a particular speaker, assuming they are at least reasonably high quality. Some speakers dazzle you with flash that becomes tiring over time while others may not immediately dazzle you, but over time you realize they are much more listenable and satisfying.
The last time I went speaker shopping was in 1986. I ended up purchasing a pair of ADS L1290 Series 2 from a great local shop (sadly, they are no longer in business). This shop had a great setup and allowed me to listen to speakers as much I wanted. I probably spent of total of 20 hours or more over several visits listening to the ADS before deciding they were for me. All that time auditioning was well spent as it resulted in a speaker purchase that I've enjoyed over 24 years.
I mention this because it points out the challenge I faced shopping for speakers this time. Unfortunately, great shops that offer such audition opportunities, including loaning me speakers to audition at home, are pretty much extinct in my area. Even online companies that offered money back guarantees required you eat the shipping cost if returned (not an insignificant amount when talking about heavy tower speakers). I had to rely heavily on online research to narrow my choices, then narrow it further to speakers that I could audition in person (that really narrowed it down). Even though I was able to audition about 8 different models from about 6 different manufacturers, including Salks, it was impossible to audition them for the number of hours I spent auditioning the ADS. The gracious owners who invited me for auditions would have called the police to have me removed! Speaking of which, I'm very grateful for the owners who invited this stranger into their homes to help in my speaker search.
This leads me to my purchase of the HT2-TL and how it performed in my room with my setup. Don't know if it makes any difference (Jim said he didn't think there would be an audible penalty compared to the 1" MDF version), but I bought the 3/4" MDF version (Jim's recommendation) to accomodate my space restrictions and maximize the space behind the speakers.
For reference some of the equipment in my system includes the following: Pioneer BDP320 BD player, Oppo 980H SACD/DVD-A/DVD player, Rotel RCD961 CD player, Anthem AVM20 processor, and Parasound Classic 5250 power amp (250wpc @ 8 ohms).
I have to admit that at the end of the first day I was left pretty confused about what I thought about them. I almost wanted to put my ADS back in the system and return the HT2-TL. After all, I had been listening to my ADS for over 24 years and probably perceived their sound as normal/accurate. The HT2-TL almost sounded dull with a bit too much midrange fullness compared to the ADS. I remembered that the first time I visited Dennis to directly A/B my ADS to the HT2-TL I initially liked my ADS better, but after a few hours started liking the HT2-TL better. By the end of that first audition at Dennis's, the ADS had a nasal quality, a thinner midrange, and brighter high end compared to the HT2-TL. The HT2-TL sounded more natural overall. Considering this I figured I needed more time with the HT2-TL in my setup. I sent an email to Jim explaining my initial impressions and he agreed I needed time to adjust to a different sound and get to the point where I'm listening to how the music sounds instead of critiqueing every little thing about the speaker. He suggested giving it a few weeks. This sounded reasonable to me and made sense that it would take some time to "recalibrate" my ears.
So the past few weeks I've been getting to know the HT2-TL better. It has taken longer than I initially expected due to time constraints and an amp that started malfunctioning. BTW, major kudos to Parasound for fixing and shipping my amp the same day they received it and to Sound & Image Design in Richmond VA for handling the shipping and giving me a loaner so I wouldn't be without music while my amp was away.
Setup was easier than I expected (BTW, if anyone wants any tips on unpacking and puting together the HT2-TL by yourself, I'd be happy to share what worked for me). I started with the same position as my ADS, and with tweeters to the outside (figured I'd maximize soundstage width and keep the tweeters as far from the TV as possible). The only adjustment I needed to make since was to toe in the HT2-TL a bit more than the ADS. Considering the ADS's wider dispersion, this makes sense. The distance from the center/front of the HT2-TL to the wall behind it ended up at 29" (this is as far out into the room as I could place them) with 2 1/2" of toe in. Distance between the speakers, center to center, is 86", and distance from speaker to listening position is 96". The left speaker is 4 feet from center to the left side wall, and the right speaker is 14 feet from the right side wall. So far I am quite happy with this setup. Integrating the HT2-TL with my SVS 16-46PC+ powered sub was a snap. As a matter of fact, the HT2-TL was easier to integrate with my SVS sub than the ADS and with better results (more on that later).
Cosmetically, the HT2-TL's cabinet is a significant upgrade from the ADS. Also, the way the HT2-TL sits on the plinth and the bullet shaped spikes I chose (same as the ones on the SoundScape I believe) give it a very "classy" look. There are only 2 things I like about the ADS's cosmetics better than the HT2-TL. First, the edges of the ADS are beveled which gives it a "softer" look. In comparison the HT2-TL's edges appear "hard". Second, the drivers on the ADS are completely invisible with the grills on whereas HT2-TL drivers are visible through the grill unless the lights are very low or off in the evening (the room gets lots of natural light during the day). Personally, I've never liked the look of exposed drivers. Seeing the drivers is distracting to me and negatively influences my perception of the sound (I know, sounds crazy!). But I'm learning to get over that (I've been closing my eyes alot when listening!). It would be nice if there was a grill option that completely concealed the drivers without negatively impacting performance.
There are two areas where the HT2-TL clearly excels over the ADS; resolution and imaging. With the HT2-TL I'm noticing details in recordings I've not noticed before. Also, details are not lost even with more complex music. The soundstage, when called for, is very wide and fairly deep. I suspect depth would greatly improve if I had the space to bring the HT2-TL further away from the wall behind them. Soundstage height seems a little less than the ADS and often seems restricted to the height of the speaker, and the "sweet spot" on the HT2-TL is a little smaller than the ADS. My guess is this has to do with the ADS wider dispersion characteristics at higher frequencies, especially in the vertical plane (at 8ft, stand up and high frequencies from the HT2-TL drop dramatically). Imaging within the soundstage is excellent, better than the ADS, and somewhat surprising to me considering my 60" plasma (ie wall of glass) between the speakers only sits 20" back from the speakers. Any movement of the performers or instruments within the soundstage is easily heard. Again, I think imaging would be even sharper if I could get them further from the TV and wall. The HT2-TL does an excellent job handling recordings, usually of the Pop genre, that include imaging "tricks" intended to greatly expand the apparent soundstage. It's quite stunning how sounds sometime appear to come from the sides, or even from behind my listening position. Sometimes I had to check to make sure I was listening in stereo and not a multichannel mode! One recording that comes to mind that demonstrates this is Madonna's "Immaculate Collection" which was processed in "QSound".
Dynamic range abilities seem to be equally impressive with both the ADS and HT2-TL. Neither seems to limit the dynamic range as long as plenty of clean power is available. Both are perfectly capable of filling the room with music at high volumes without sounding strained or compressed.
As others have reported, the HT2-TL is quite capable in the bass department. It extends a bit deeper than the ADS. In my room, however, there are issues with bass when running either speaker full range. With the ADS, there is a large bump in the response around 100hz that necessitated setting the high pass filter in my processor quite high (165hz) to smooth out the bass response (the low pass filter for the sub is set to 80hz). With the HT2-TL, the 100hz bump in response is much smaller, but lower frequencies are a bit too boomy. Setting the high pass filter to 125hz and low pass filter to 80hz smoothed out the bass nicely. While it might be ideal to be able to run the speakers full range without the sub for music, the fact is in my room using the sub significantly improves performance with either speaker. As I mentioned earlier, the HT2-TL blends extremely well with my SVS sub; even better than the ADS did. To my ears the HT2-TL/SVS combo performs like they were designed as a single system. Oddly enough, even lower bass frequencies from the sub sound cleaner with the SVS/HT2-TL combo than the ADS/SVS combo. In the end the result is smooth bass that is powerful when called for and remains strong down to about 16hz or so.
IMHO, the star of the show is the RAAL tweeter; clean, clear, smooth, extended response. This is one great tweeter. I remember reading a post that described the RAAL tweeter as "not there". I would say that's a good description. High frequencies are just "there" as they should be and don't sound like they are coming from a driver. It would be nice if vertical dispersion was better (perhaps this might improve image height?) but I guess you can't have everything. When standing up at my relatively close listening distance of 8ft, high fequencies really drop off. However, when I first heard the HT2-TL at Dennis's, at a greater distance, this effect wasn't nearly as noticable. The limited vertical dispursion might actually be a benefit if you have a lower ceiling (my room has a sloping cathedral ceiling). Despite this minor criticism, I love the RAAL tweeter. As a matter of fact, for those considering the SongTowers, I would encourage you to stretch that budget to upgrade to the RAAL tweeter if possible. In comparison to my ADS, and in my room, the HT2-TL sounded just a little dull in the high frequencies for my tastes, and perhaps my own hearing deficiencies in high frequencies. Boosting the treble in my processor by 1.5db seemed to strike a perfect balance and now sounds very natural to me.
With most recordings, midrange comes across as very clean, delivering a very realistic sound. However, with some recordings, even some high rez recordings, there seems to be a little too much emphasis in the lower midrange. This tended to sometimes make voices somewhat muddied or sounding like they are singing in a box. I've never heard this with my ADS. This was the main source of my confusion I mentioned earlier in this review and I don't remember hearing this at Dennis's. After much listening to many recordings and doing some measuring, I think I've identified what's going on. My midrange measurements of the HT2-TL in my room show a rise in response of about 2db from about 300hz to about 600hz. In the same frequency range my ADS actually had a dip in response of about 2db. This amounts to about a 4db difference across a full octave. So it would seem that speaker/room interactions are at play here and explains what I was hearing. Also, if the recording has any emphasis in this frequency range, it's a bit exaggerated by the HT2-TL's response in my room whereas the ADS tended to deemphasize the same range.
Remember that I've had my ADS for so long that this dip in response in my room sounded "right" to me, so the HT2-TL's response sounded "wrong" at first. It took some time to acclimate to the different sound of the HT2-TL, but after awhile it began to sound more "right" to me on most recordings. Even so, I decided to put my old Audio Control equalizer back into my system and lowered the 250hz and 500hz sliders down a few db. For most of my recordings, this is unnecessary so I bypass the EQ, but for some recordings this dip is really necessary to make them sound more natural to my ears.
For home theater applications, the HT2-TL is great. It easily handles wide dyamics and its imaging/resolution abilities make for a great HT audio experience. Also, the HT2-TL works well with my NHT center and surrounds (my poor wallet is VERY happy about that!).
One thing is clear about the HT2-TL, it's not going to gloss over or hide the shortcomings of the recording. A bad recording is going to sound, well, bad. At the other end of the spectrum a fantastic recording sounds fantastic. While some recordings have me reaching to turn on the EQ to improve the sound, other recordings have given me chills or even brought tears to my eyes (Telarc's original 1981 release of Carmina Burana comes to mind). This speaker really thrives on high quality recordings. In comparison my ADS are a little more forgiving with lesser recordings, but not quite up to the level of the HT2-TL with very high quality recordings.
In the end I'm happy with the HT2-TL overall. While they certainly don't trounce the ADS, I do enjoy the improvements in imaging, resolution, tweeter performance, and bass integration with my sub.
Although not related to sound quality, I would like to mention how great it's been dealing with Jim Salk. He always took the time to answer my many, many emails in a straightforward and honest way. He was very generous with his knowledge and seemed genuinely interested in making sure I got the right speaker for my situation and budget. I also liked the nice little touches like the "birth certificate", the demo CD, and being able to customize some options to my needs/tastes. Just as important is the help Dennis Murphy provided. Like Jim, he patiently answered my numerous emails. He also was very generous with his time, allowing me to come over to personally audition the Salks and pick his brain. There were also generous Salk owners who were willing to have a stranger come over to their house to audition their Salks. While I didn't get to visit most of them, I did get to visit R. Swerdlow. This visit was great as I was able to see the finish quality in person and hear how the Salks worked with an NHT center and surrounds (I also use NHT speakers for center and surrounds). And of course there is the great Salk community on AudioCircle; always willing to help and generous with feedback.
