So, I have decided to wait a few days before posting about my brand new SongTower -RT option. I don’t have pics because I went with the standard Black satin finish (WAF said black only), with full front baffle (higher WAF).
Like somebody wrote it here already, there is nothing standard about it. They make my TV cabinet look crappy.
Now about the audio. Well, saying I am pleased with it does not even come close to it. The first thing that hit me is the width and depth of the soundstage. That alone changes a lot of thing.
I had to remove very quickly the demo CD, I am sorry. Wife didn’t like the first few tracks. I’ll give it another trial later on.
I started with Eddie Vedder - Ukulele album. I have been listening to it for a couple of weeks now. and just love it. It might sound awful to use such good speakers to listen to a singer and a uke but it is very well produced, most of the tracks have a couple of Uke’s playing, background vocals...but still far from a full orchestra. And I pick up the depth of the soundstage with that record. One of the song has also a Cello in it. Everything sounded just so natural. The voice also add more subtleties.
On the second night, my wife told me that even though the sound was much better she didn’t think it was worth 5x times the price of my 15 years old B&W. Well, that’s partly because she was used to the smoother ‘British sound’, and because she did not heard the Salk without the Grills (6 and 2 y old kids) as I have done. So after the kids were asleep, I remove the Grill, put her in the sweet spot and put on a song she listened to a million times: Out of Love from Toto (album Past to Present). It took her 47 seconds to say ‘worth every penny’. We just never heard that song like this. The backgrounds vocals were so clean and detailed, the soundstage just incredible, every instrument was so easily discernible, tight bass, powerful drum (RIP Jeff Porcaro).
And for those who wonder about the ribbon tweeter, only for the cymbals its totally worth it.
It will take me months to revisit my CD collection. My setup consist of Creek Evolution 2 CDP and Integrated amplifier. Creek is more on the “musical” side and I think it goes very well with the ST. I am happy not to have gone the Squeezebox/DAC way now. I’ll enjoy my system like this for several months and I’ll do the transition to discless music when I can afford a significant step up from this.
Thank you Jim, sorry I did not talk that much about the speakers. Quick summary: I have done my duty before buying and went listen to speakers from Totem, Vandersteen and PSB and then you put me in contact with a ST owner and when I auditioned them, I knew I’d never find so good at this price through a dealer.
All, sorry if this post was too long and didn’t give enough info on all the speakers qualities but all I could hear was music...and in the end that’s what matter most.
PS: I am using a Roku player to watch movie, it goes through a cheap Beresford TC7510 and into the Creek. Even though that media does not come close to my CDP in sound definition, there is a definitive improvement with the ST for both dialogue and action scenes. Clearer, cleaner and fuller all at the same time.
