Hello All,
I finally have a moment in my busy schedule to give a brief review of my listening experiences with the Salk Soundscape 8 speakers. Most of these observations will be compared to how the SS8s relate to my old speakers, 15 year old trusty B&W Matrix 803’s, that they replaced. The old system was quite good in a surround configuration, but I found myself gravitating more to stereo sound using just two speakers, and the 803’s were light in the low end and they tended to be a bit bright to my ears in stereo. So I upgraded to the Salk SS8, made a two channel system, and sold off the old speakers.
The speakers are connected to a Bryston 14BST amp, with MIT BiWires, Cary Audio SLP 03 Tube preamp, Cambridge Audio 840C CD and Oppo BDP 105 Bluray, with Harmonic Technologies cables. My room is well treated with two ASC 4 foot tube traps stacked on both sides of the screen and custom sized ASC corner traps in the corners, ASC sound planks on the ceiling and 1 inch fiberglass on the lower half of the side walls behind the GoM acoustic cloth on the walls.
I have had the speakers up and running for about a month. The build quality is amazing. They look great in Satin Black. Using the suggestion from Audiocircle members, I purchased some inexpensive furniture gliders and put them under the spikes. I have moved the speakers around, out to the walls and in, with and without toe in, with and without the back open, and stuffed with polyfill. I finally settled in with the speakers away from the walls, into the room more and slightly toed in, with open back stuffed full of polyfill.
The ability to adjust the open back is a nice feature I never thought I’d like. I started out listening with the back closed, similar to a traditional speaker. I then opened the back, and noticed that there was a more diffuse front soundstage. I found it a bit too much with most recordings and filled the openings with the polyfill, reducing the rear output. That combination was just the right amount of sound to my liking. I probably won’t make any changes to the back. It seems just right.
The first thing I noticed when listening to the SS8s was the bottom end. It was obviously playing lower, clearer, and cleaner than the B&Ws, which rolled off in the 45DB range. There was no bloated bass, no boominess that I heard in my old system. I could hear bass notes better, with clearer definition that the B&Ws. With the bloat gone, I could distinguish notes better and hear subtle details. I am pretty happy to get some real flat low end. I am still finding new details in some familiar music due to the cleaner bottom end.
The second thing I noticed was the treble was more subdued than the old B&Ws. I was used to the sometimes bright sounding, harsh highs in the B&Ws, but the SS8s’ highs were definitely a treat to hear. I will admit, it took some getting used to, after 15 years of listening to a particular speaker. I recall an Audiocircle post where the writer was asking where the treble was in the SS8s but later realized that it was there all along, just not overly exaggerated and harsh. I found it to be the same way. A month later, and the treble is very nice and pleasant, without ever being harsh or bright.
I noticed right away, that the SS8s provided a VERY wide soundstage. It was very surprising how wide it was. It was like extra speakers were on my side walls. Depending on the music, the width of the soundstage blew me away. Initially, I had the speakers placed facing straight to the front. I noticed that the center image was basically in line with the speakers, which was a little bothersome at first. I had been used to the center image on the B&Ws to be “in my face”, a presentation tad forward of the speakers and a very strong center image. I moved the speakers around a bit and finally located a spot that gave me the center image that pleased me. I like to use the Nora Jones SACD Come Away with me and Shelby Lynne’s Just a little Lovin’ SACD as references for a strong center image. I now found that spot. It required me to toe in the speakers just a bit. Those ladies are singing right in front me now, and I can almost feel their breath on my face. It is that realism that I love with excellent gear and recordings. The strong center image, coupled with the wide soundstage, makes for a very nice experience with great recordings.
I say that, with the realization that some of my older CD music sounds lousy with such a great speaker. It has revealed the poor recordings in my collection. So a portion of my collection will be used less frequently, when compared to Hi Rez music and well recorded Cds. I am looking at buying new high quality music to enjoy in the system.
The Soundscape 8 exceeds all my expectations. I am happy to be a Salk owner. Now I will get back to listening…..Pete
