I thought I would post a few impressions of the Song Birds before relegating them to surround duty. I spent several hours last night listening to them as mains since I couldn't setup the rest of the system yet.
Some background for starters:
1) My room is just shy of 6000cf considering the openings to the dining room and foyer with cathedrals ceilings. It is a big space for the Song Birds to fill so I kept things at a reasonable volume. I didn't want to push them too hard right out of the box.
2) I ran with no EQ or room correction, both crossed over to a sub (60Hz crossover sounded best to me) and by themselves in "Pure Audio" mode.
3) My speakers for the last couple of years were B&W CM5 and CMC2 center, so I have adapted to that sound which of course will color my opinions quite a bit as my brain hasn't had time to "break in" yet to the different voicing of the Salks.
The good:
1) The Song Birds look incredible, exceptional finish work and build quality that I wouldn't expect in this price range.
2) The bass extension is really astonishing for such a small cabinet. Once my system is setup they will be crossed over to the sub, but it is nice to have some room to experiment with crossover points. (I will 'fess up and admit I chose them vs. the Salk Surrounds primarily for looks).
3) The SongBirds have a really large sweet spot. If I closed my eyes it was difficult to localize them at all except for hard panned sources. They seem to just fill the room with sound without really calling attention to themselves at all. Even out of the sweet spot they sounded terrific.
4) Overall very nicely balanced. Nothing really stood out to distract from the music. Very transparent and clear.
The different (at least compared to the CM5s I am used to):
1) They seem to sound a bit thin at times, especially with the lower range of male vocals and lower-mid range of guitar. Maybe just the smaller woofer, or possibly a coloration of the "warm" CM5s I have adapted to. They may also just be struggling to move enough air to fill the large space.
2) They take a bit of power to run at a good volume, but that is understandable given the design objectives (extended bass response vs efficiency).
The bad:
Honestly nothing really struck me as a significant negative. A really well-balanced design.
Overall I was really impressed. If my room was a bit smaller, or I could live without the ability to occasionally "crank it up" beyond my normal listening volumes they are all the speaker I would ever want.
Thanks for putting up with my ramblings!
Now off to setup the Song Towers!
More later...
