I am the proud owner of a Salk HT 7.1 surround set-up. I have HT-3's up front with HT-1's for center and surrounds. This system has served me well, but when Jim announced the SongTowers, I was intrigued. I immediately told him I was interested as soon as they were available. As it turns out, Jim was gracious enough to sell me the SongTowers that were his prototype (with the beautiful walnut finish). With all the Salk speakers in the house, I guess you would have to classify me as a Salkaholic!
I have been on somewhat of a speaker audition marathon lately. Most of them are bookshelves so it would be somewhat unfair to make a comparision to a full range speaker however, I will mention that I have been listening to a variety of speakers either owned or loaned including the Ascend Sierra, Aerial 5b, JBL 6325 pro monitor, Mackie HR824 pro speakers. Each of them have strengths and weaknesses in my opinion. No perfect speaker.
So what do I think of the SongTowers-I think they are a steal at $1500. They do so many things well. They play as loud as you would ever need. They are extremely well balanced tonally-acoustic instruments sound like they do live. The soundstage is wide and deep. I have a test CD from a well known reviewer that I have been using and one of the selections is just running the scale on a piano. It is interesting because it is quite revealing of tone and also whether any notes are either too loud or too soft. The SongTowers sound balanced to these ears.
So what strengths do the HT-3's have over the SongTowers. Well, the SongTowers have deep bass and will play all but the lowest notes. For that you need the woofers in the HT3's. The Ht-3's may have a tad more refinement in the treble most likely do to the ribbon in the HT-3's, but it is close.
How does the midrange and treble compare to the other speakers that I have been auditioning. Very well, thank you. The Sierras do a great job in reproducing bass for a bookshelf. They also are very detailed. The treble may be just a tad too hot for some (although I didn't find them to be). They measure remarkably well and my only reservation is that the bass seems to stand out a little. That may be just bias thousgh because it is coming from such a small enclosure. A very good speaker for the money. I do feel that overall the SongTowers are more balanced but again I am comparing a bookshelf to a tower. What I can say is that for 1500 the SongTower gives you get a full range speaker (except for the very lowest 20-30Hz). The Aerial 5bs are a very nice sounding bookshelf. They seem to have very nice cabinets, but 2k plus is quite alot to pay for a bookshelf and they will not play very deep.
The JBL's are a favorite of Tom Nousaine. They seem to be very accurate and must be considered a bargain at the normal selling price of 700 a pair (they are active) but you must have a sub and then you have the problem of dialing in the sub in a critical 80-100 HZ range. Also, they are a pro monitor so they are not very high in the WAF and they really probably are not appropriate except for surround duties unless they are used in a smaller room.
The Mackies are a favorite of Irritateguy over at the Sound and Vision forum and on first listen they sounded bright. They do have some adjustments on the back and after tilting the treble down, they sounded less edgy and quite pleasant. They are a pro model though and they are powered. They would not pass WAF factor and I will have to do more listening (and some measuring) to get a better bead on them. They do play fairly deep for their size.
So what is the bottom line. Everyone should at least try to audition the SongTowers. I think many will find that 1500 is the steal of a century.
My system is composed of a Lexicon MC12 for preamp duties, an ATI3007 for the amp, and a Denon 965 (I think that is the model) for a source. Cables are adequate but nothing terribly special.
