AudioCircle
Industry Circles => Salk Signature Sound => Topic started by: jermmd on 29 Nov 2005, 07:57 pm
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I think I'm going to stand my HT3's directly on the bases without using the spikes. Any reason not to do this?
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Also, like VMPS, Jim Salk suggests toeing the speakers in so they cross about a foot in front of the listening position. This is a starting point for placement and should be adjusted as needed. What kind of toe in have HT3 owners found to be optimal?
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I have mine toed in a little bit, but nothing even remotely close to Xing in front of me.
You will want to play with this a lot.
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Marbles,
How about standing the speakers directly on the floor without using the spikes? Any reason not to?
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Try it both ways and see what works best for you.
Mine came with spikes in, so that's the way I've always had them.
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I listened both ways and preferred the spikes.
I have a little toe in, but it is definitely not crossing over in front of me like with the RM 40's.
Did you actually get the speakers Joe?
I will do my best to come over Saturday to help with setup.
George
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George,
I got one speaker delivered. :evil: G_d knows where the other one is.
I'm working Saturday and Sunday but I'm off the next weekend if you want to come over. I also have a few days during the week free.
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Joe,
How does the one speaker look? (I know, lonely without the other one!) Wayne says my modded SB2 will be done this week. I should have it next week. I also have two sets of Reality Cable interconnects.
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All right, here are some photos:
(http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=51210)
(http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=25792)
(http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=25793)
(http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=25794)
(http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/galleryimage.php/albuu24/IMG_2173.jpg)
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The speakers are actually darker looking in real life. And the sound...
fuhged aboud it!
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VERY NICE!! Congratulations.
What options did you get on yours?
Are you happy with the finish? Are you happy with the sound?
Your room looks wonderful for music reproduction from what I see of it.
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Rob,
Joe's pair is stock without any options.
George
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Marbles,
I'm totally ecstatic about my new speakers. I didn't get any options and I couldn't be happier. The finish speaks for itself. As George said, I haven't seen a Salk speaker that didn't look amazing.
I have acoustic foam behind the curtains at the corners and 1st reflection points. There's a 92" screen behind the front wall curtains for my projector. I wanted very dark speakers so they wouldn't distract from movie watching. If I had a dedicated 2 channel system in a well lit room, I think I would have gone for the Claro Walnut all around. At least that's how I feel this week. Every time I see something new by Jim Salk, I think "I want that one."
As for sound, I'm playing with placement and breaking them in. My initial impression is that these are very even speakers across the whole frequence range. The bass problem I had with my previous speakers is gone and the difference was immediately apparent. I started with the speakers crossed in front of me but the soundstage was too narrow that way. It seemed as though all the instruments and voices were coming from directly between the speakers. Now I have the speakers toed in so that they cross a few feet behind me and the soundstage is better. I'll keep playing with things and we'll see what's best.
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jermmd -
I was tracking your speakers and saw that you finally got both of them. I hope it was well worth the wait.
As for the amount of toe-in, I only suggest a starting point and that will be FAR too much for most situations. The correct amount for you and your room will be between that point and no toe-in at all. But you will have to experiment to find the optimum point.
The more toe-in, the more pin-point the imaging. The less, the wider the stereo spread. The optimum lies somewhere in between.
- Jim
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Marbles,
Every time I see something new by Jim Salk, I think "I want that one." ...
Me too... :lol:
Congrats again...
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[
"As for the amount of toe-in, I only suggest a starting point and that will be FAR too much for most situations. The correct amount for you and your room will be between that point and no toe-in at all. But you will have to experiment to find the optimum point."
I haven't had any experience with varous toe-ins for this speaker, so I can't recommend anything specific. All I would note is that a high degree of toe-in is usually called for only if the speaker has narrow dispersion and/or the on-axis response has been designed to provide true phase coherence, i.e. is transient perfect on-axis. Neither of those conditions holds for the HT-3. I suspect I would probably end up with little or no toe-in for music reproduction. HT might be another matter.
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Joe,
Those are very nice looking! Did you get the center channel, too? I think that the bass driver's being higher than most speakers (and certainly higher than VMPS) would help bass response at least from a floor-to-ceiling modal perspective. It's good that you're getting the bass response you want!
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I did order the center channel but I don't think it's been started yet. I'm prepared to be patient. The HT3's took more than 5 months to complete.
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... I think that the bass driver's being higher than most speakers (and certainly higher than VMPS) would help bass response at least from a floor-to-ceiling modal perspective. It's good that you're getting the bass response you want!
It is a lot more than the location of the bass driver...
Frankly, there is no comparison in this area in terms of impact, musicality, and measured response.
George
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I didn't say it wasn't. I'm currently reading the following:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1882580338/qid=1133454555/sr=2-3/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_3/104-4542441-5205539?s=books&v=glance&n=283155
Reading this, I now understand how much is involved in speaker design. It's incredibly complex. Nonetheless, the location of the bass driver on these speakers is one design aspect that does have an effect on bass modes for ceiling-to-floor base modes, as compared to a speaker where the bass driver is almost at ground level. I stand by my statement.
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Thanks for the link on the book.
Since I have no plans on building speakers, I don't think I will pay $40 for it, but I would be very interested to hear any tidbits or important facts that you find.
I wasn't disputing the claim that location matters, rather just pointing out at a very high level that it was more than that.
George
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I agree with you that the response of this speaker (or any speaker) is much more than the location of the drivers.
As an aside, I don't plan on building a speaker (though I may build a power suppy and/or amplifier), but I wanted more information as to speaker design (part of my engineering mind -- I always want to find out how things work). That book is very detailed but incredibly dense and really not for beginners. For instance, the very first chapter is a chapter on "how speakers work". Is there a description of how there are typically multiple drivers in a single cabinet and how a crossover is used to direct certain frequency ranges to certain drivers? No. Instead, there is an indepth discussion of how a driver itself works, including a ton of diagrams, curves, etc., for the various parameters of a driver and how a driver might be selected. One tidbit I've gained is that stuffing affects the Q and f3 of a speaker. That's both for amount (i.e., volume) and type of stuffing.
Anyway, I don't mean to hijack a thread about Joe's speakers, since he has been waiting for these a long time and is now happy -- and should be, at least judging by the photos.
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Anyway, I don't mean to hijack a thread about Joe's speakers, since he has been waiting for these a long time and is now happy -- and should be, at least judging by the photos.
And by his really short responses...
Me thinks he's finally out there re-listening to his entire music collection all over again. ^_^