The speakers have sold. There is a bit more to the story though.
The individual who purchased the HT3's lives out out of state. Jim apparently extended the offer to this individual, to go over the speakers and help package and ship them out, since I live in the area. I was quite surprised to hear this, as these speakers were being sold on the used market. Packing and shipping these beasts is no small task!
When I arrived at the Jims facility, two Salk employees unloaded the speakers from my minivan and brought them inside. The bottom plinths were removed and the base of the speakers were painted black, even though viewing the bottoms is only possible when the speakers are upside down. New plinth bolts were included, though they were not needed. Their finishing/woodworking expert began touching up the outsides of the cabinets. While Jims wife, Mary, was facilitating a refresh of the exterior on the speakers, Jim took me on a tour of the factory.
It has been a couple years since I have been to the Salk facility. Boy has he grown! From new computer controlled cutting hardware, to greatly expanded square footage, Salk has been very, very busy.
Some outfits sacrifice quality for a trade off in production volume. That is not the case with Jim. His work has always been top notch. The finish quality and veneer work I saw today were breathtaking. He has fine tuned all of the many processes comprised in woodworking and speaker production. His build process represents the work of a master craftsman with all the proper tools available. Wow. You had to be there!
I have to give a special thanks to Mary for helping me gift wrap these speakers for their new owner. I could not have matched this level of shipping expertise. Jim and Mary were treating the shipment of these speakers of mine as if they were sending a brand new pair out to a customer of theirs. That is true support that went well beyond.
Thank you.
