Thanks to Jim, Mary, Dennis, and the rest of the Salk crew for turning out such wonderful products! Kudos to Jim, Pete (BigRedMachine), Brandon (Nuance), and Terry (TJHub) for putting up with my questions about the SoundScape 8's, RAAL tweeters, the Accuton midrange, etc.
Thanks for the compliments on the veneer choice. I wanted something a bit different and Jim went out of his way to match a Photoshop mock up image I sent him. I can attest to these speakers being difficult to photograph, but I gave it a shot. They SS8's a more of a grey color than it appears in the photos (the rear shot is probably the closest to the actual color). The sides look almost black in a dark room. This has been stated about Jim's speakers many times before, but pictures do not do these speakers justice.
As far as the sound of the SS8's compared to the HT2 TL's (with the LCY tweeter), what I am hearing so far is not a subtle difference from the HT2 TL’s - in a positive way. For testing purposes I tried to keep the playing field as level as possible by using the same speaker position, and even using my SMS-1 and sub which is crossed over at 80Hz. I was amazed at how much better/tighter the bass was with the SS8's, even with the same sub in the chain.
I used my standard demo playlist which starts with Sara K and Chris Jones’s live version of “Waterfall”. I immediately heard a noticeable improvement in clarity, tone/timbre, and weight. The soundstage ambiance was very natural sounding.
Avishai Cohen’s “Bass Suite #1” from “Adama” was much more coherent (not sure about the description) when he goes up and down the bass scale. With the HT2’s it seemed like the bass needed to be EQ’d a little bit (not sure what that is about) on that track. Cyril Lutzelschwab and Martin Hess's "Boxenkiller" (Focal demo CD #4) took another step towards the drum set being in the room. Christian McBride’s “Night Train” (Focal CD #7) sounded scary good, as did all of the Salk demo tracks! Both female and male vocals sound excellent.
I could go on, there wasn't single a track that I didn’t think sounded better than what I have been accustomed to - and I was trying to find one. Every track I listened to was more natural and realistic sounding, and yet more impactful when called for. Sibilants sound more normal and less pronounced. Tone is much more realistic. I was hearing more information in tracks – the old “never noticed that before” feeling was very common. This is saying something since I loved the HT2 TL's.
The soundstage seems better, but I’m not sure it is a big difference from my HT2’s (which in my house was very good) - at least with the closed back, which is all I have had time to test so far. It think the soundstage seems better due to the clarity and the improved tonal differences of instruments from each other.
I requested that Jim put magnets on the rear of the cabinet to hold the extra rear grill, but now that I have the speakers it has occurred to me that placing the rear grill on the back veneer multiple times will probably mess up the rear finish.
Anyway, I still have a lot of experimenting to do (no sub, open back, open back with poly fill, etc.) but I could easily live with things as they are right now and I don’t think I will be in a big rush to test anything new for awhile.
Update:
Tried the SS8's with no sub. Wow, I sure as heck don't need a sub for music anymore. Easily the best bass I have heard in my room. Tight and impactful. Haven't had the time to do measurements, but things sound so good that I don't want to mess with REW right now.
Update 2:
New attempt at pics. Unfortunately I can't get a photo that does these speakers justice. The satin finish is closer to a gloss finish than satin finish on the HT2's we had and the reflections look odd (like big smudges) in the pics. The veneer looks close to grey in our room, so these shots look closer to the actual color than the previous pics I took.
-Greg
