Last week, my wife and I drove from St Louis to Salk Sound to be formally introduced to and adopt the newest members of our family.
-Twins: SongTowers RT
-Plus One: SongCenter RT
Veneer: Straight Mahogany/Satin Finish
All I can say is WOW! What an enjoyable experience! Jim Salk was a great host – he gave us a tour of the shop where we observed production at various stages. We were introduced to the entire Salk team – and they patiently answered our many questions. My wife and I really enjoyed being able to spend time with both Jim and his wife Mary – discussing all things audio but also just day to day life experiences.
After the production tour, Jim showed us our STs in the front part of the shop. (Now this is a really large room – I’m just guessing at 50’ by 30’ with 12-15’ ceilings – all concrete wall, floors and ceiling.) My wife had not seen nor heard the STs before while I had a chance to listen to STs with the Lcy ribbon at a Wisconsin Audio Club GTG back in April.
The finish is just gorgeous – we had requested that the straight mahogany be a deep rich reddish brown – we wanted to the speakers to blend into our décor - Jim and his team just nailed the finish! It is clear that the craftspeople at Salk take a great deal of pride in their work and the Salk product.
Jim then offered to queue up some tunes and the moment of truth had arrived. I don’t recall what track he played – it really did not matter – because the expression on my wife’s face said it all! She had this really happy – pleasantly surprised look – you know the look, the one that tells you that you did good!
Needless to say - they sounded wonderful in Jim’s shop and now that we are getting them settled in here at home – they sound really sweet! I have not done much setup work – I have just level matched. I am playing digital source (Flac) thru a Squeezebox Touch, digital coax to a PS Audio DLIII thru a Yamaha Rx-v2400 along with Rythmik D15SE sub, EQ’d with REW and Behringer DSP 1124P. I have not re-integrated the sub and have not made any adjustments to the Yamaha. I am alternating between running 2.0 with all processing off using Yamaha Direct Stereo mode (this defeats Yamaha’s YPAO room correction) and running 2.1 using the 2 Channel Stereo mode (which enables YPAO – run when using my retired Boston VR2 mains). Things sound so good that I am just going to enjoy for a few days or weeks! I am half afraid I will muck things up if I go tweaking!
We had a chance to show off the STs to some friends yesterday – we played “Dream On” by Kelly Sweet, “Keith Don’t Go” by Nils Lofgren and “Safari” by Keiko Matsui. Afterward, they commented: “This sound better than the Sheldon!” This is quite a complement because The Sheldon Concert Hall has been St Louis’ premier musical venue since 1912 and is known as St Louis’s Carnegie Hall!
I am just so pleased! The width and depth of the soundstage and the imaging are great but for me there is just something engaging in the smoothness of the upper mid-range and highs. All of the instruments and vocals just sound “right” and more importantly – nothing sounds wrong! There is a level of refinement that is magical and on some songs it almost brings tears. Alright, you get the idea – I am really happy.
Jay
