[mirekti]

Hi all,

I hope this thread doesn't offend anyone. As I've been in a search for a new pair of speakers I just recently discovered Salk's products. As already stated in other thread, I am really delighted in what I read about them. I do plan to listen to them first, but from what I've read these cannot be a miss.

There is one problem though. My wife hates the way they look. She tells me, we won't put these in our living room as they look as if you made them in the basement. One cannot argue his wife The problem is even bigger as she saw Focal 1028 BE, and pointed out to me this is what a speaker should look like, modern.
I also told this to Jim, and he kindly responded that the performance of drivers was a main factor, not the looks. I fully understand this, but try to explain this to my wife.

Hence, I did a quick and dirty job in photoshop (sorry for the bad work), showed it to her and she was a bit softer. The goal was also to keep the performance as it is.

I will try to put in words what the face lifted one should look like per my wife, and a attach the quick and dirty photo with some adjustments applied (I'll also use my wife's words for more fun  ):

1. Bass drivers - Each has it's own grill. Due to the frequency range I believe these don't have to be removed at all. Ideally the driver holes would be carved out so the grill lines up to the surface.
2. Midrange - Uses the grill by default due to the sensitive ceramic design. The square face plate looks awful. If this could be round shaped as the bass it would look much better.
3. Tweeter - Not centered due to the diffraction control. I wonder how many people actually hear this e.g. blind test center vs off center. Also, a round face plate would be preferable (like Monitor Audio PL200) due to the shape of other drivers.

The box itself looks wonderful, but per my wife's comments only the finish looks so. She claims the shape is too industrial, and again points out to me Focal 1028 BE and the curves those speakers have, slightly curved, and no sharp edges. I told her, but SS8 doesn't have sharp edges, and she said yes, but only on the front. Oh... It's not easy to convince, believe me.
I am not sure if it is possible to modify the box in such a way without ruining the sound, and whether this is an easy task. I believe the shape shouldn't be a problem as SS10 has quite a few curves.

Please don't get me wrong. I love the concept of these speakers without even listening to them  but these cannot enter my living room before my wife says yes to them.


Any thoughts on all this?
vs

PS I wont leave my wife. She's quite tolerable person in genaral, but this time... 

[TF1216]

Please give the Exotica line a peek. https://salksound.com/exotica%203%20home.htm

Near the bottom of the page you can see the first Exotica speaker Mr. Salk designed. It's very sexy imo.  See what your wifey thinks of those.  The side panel adds a lot of character which could be an option on the SS8; you'd have to ask.

[ernest787]

Weird. I think Salk speakers are some of the nicest speakers I've ever seen. I constantly get compliment on both my HT3s and STRT.

[Gzerro]

If you use the grills you don't see any of the drivers.

Look at the pictures at www.salksound.com. The pictures there show what they look like both with and without grills. If your wife can be ok with a boxy shape, that should remove the issue of the mismatched look of the drivers. The grills don't effect the sound much, and can easily be removed as they just attach with magnets.

[Early B.]

Just tell your wife that prettier speakers cost a lot more money and ask her if you can spend an extra $5,000 to make the cabinet curvy. She'll quickly back off and let you buy whatever you want.

[WGH]

I'm always partial to mesquite so I did a mockup of the SS8 in mesquite




But Jim has huge catalog of exotic veneered speakers that should appease your wife. A Google Image search will find quite a few.



Wayne

[SCompRacer]

I wish I could crank out cabinet work like Salk does in my basement!

[RDavidson]

It doesn't sound like the problem (she has) is in the fit or finish of the speakers, despite her "basement" remark. That was likely just her way of trying to alleviate further discussion of the speakers. She already made up her mind.

With that said, regardless of how beautifully finished Salks are, most models still have the pretty common, tall, rectangular, form factor. I think we all can agree on that. They are about as pretty as a tall rectangular box can be, however.

I bet if you talk to Salk, he could possibly add curved side cheeks or something like that to "soften" the rectangle without altering performance in a negative way or having to re-engineer anything......and I doubt it'd cost another $5k to do it.

[Atlplasma]

I think you need to set aside the "how it looks" part and schedule a listening session. Have her listen to the Focus and the Salk speakers and see which she prefers. Checking out the Exoticas is also a great suggestion.

[WGH]

BRM's Exotica's are about as modern as it gets.

[RDavidson]

I think you need to set aside the "how it looks" part and schedule a listening session. Have her listen to the Focus and the Salk speakers and see which she prefers. Checking out the Exoticas is also a great suggestion.

My guess is that she won't be participating in listening sessions nearly as much as he will, but since the speakers will presumably be in a shared living space, they have to appease her esthetic sensibilities. I'm a performance first guy too, but can understand her POV.
As alluded to earlier, performance + exotic looks = $$$$$

[mirekti]

It's not about the veneer. She is not fond of wood patterns so it would be a solid color. The only wood she liked was Tamoa Ash blue. My favorites at the moment are Mercedes and Red Matador mica if I'd have to go solid.

We kind of try to keep our finances healthy so there is an amount each of us puts aside on a monthly basis for "crazy" personal wishes. It took me some time to get where I am, and I am almost there. Of course, once I reach the goal of $8000, I could go a bit up earlier by taking a loan (from myself ), however, this is limited. I guess I will have to talk to Jim to see what are the available options and at what price.

Now back to the topic.

I talked to my wife again just to make sure I didn't miss her issue with the speakers.

If cabinets could look as similar in shape to Focal 1028 that would be the biggest plus. She likes the way sides curve to the front panel on the side and to the top, and not front panel on top of the sides. When sides melt towards the front panel it visually makes the speaker thinner. She also likes the way speakers are somehow inserted inside, and if one puts a grill on it, it will be flat with the front panel.
Also, three drives are the same in size and broken up with the silver line and the tweeter, this looks elegant. I explained her the last part is not possible in our case due to the different driver manufacturers and she understood.
The next question was: And, what about those squares, who puts squared and circled elements together other than kids in school. She claims one could even be ok, just to break up the concept, but two two is funny. (Don't ask me why). That was pretty much it, many single details she complains about.

I saw Accuton produces rounded midrange which don't use this "funny" square plate, but are 5" not those in Mr. Salk's (I will call him Mr. Salk, not Jim as I actually don't know the gentlemen who is behind this concept) cabinet. And, I already see the first catch in the whole "try to facellft" concept.

BTW I showed her exotica model from here http://ericptek.smugmug.com/Salk-HT2-TL/ and her response wasn't bad at all. She said: well, you see this is on the way to the elegance.The edges could be more refined, though and center speaker placed in center
What's would you give them? Her answer: 8+ (which is quite high, believe me).


Thanks for keeping up with me.
...and my wife

[Magnatest]

I don't know if these exotica's sold. Do these appeal to your wife?






Gregg

[Tomy2Tone]

If you can get Jim to start making curved cabinets then more power to ya!

I think that would be great to see so I'm curious if you get to hear the SS8's and like them enough to get serious with Jim if he can accommodate your wife... I mean you. 

As far as centering the drivers, I hope drumike don't mind but he posted this pic in another Salk thread and I thought it was pretty cool that Jim entertained someone's request to center the ribbon tweeter, so it can be done.

[WGH]

My favorites at the moment are Mercedes and Red Matador mica if I'd have to go solid.

A pair of red SS8's for are sale in the AC Trading Post, $5,800, too bad they are square.
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=131739.0

[EdRo]

From your rendering it looks to me that she has the biggest problem with the exposed speaker flange maybe? She doesn't like the look of the screws? Maybe all she needs to see are some nice grill covers?

[Big Red Machine]

I noticed that the Focal speaker weighs 72 lbs.  The SS8 weighs 135.  Just sayin'.

I like the look of the Focal but I'll take performance any day over a curved look.

[RDavidson]

Comparing the weight doesn't really say anything about performance here. The Salks have more drivers and are bigger speakers overall. One should expect the Salks to weigh more.
If you're alluding that the OP is getting MORE speaker for the money, then I can understand the idea of the weight comparison.

[SCompRacer]

Focal 1028 BE specs are 34Hz to 40kHz +-3dB. The SS8's do 25Hz to 20kHz +-1.5dB.  I'm no speaker builder but think heavier tends to indicate more robust drivers digging lower in a solidly built cabinet. The Focals sure are pretty. I think my SS8's are very handsome though.

[RDavidson]

Understood. But we all know weight and specifications are but aspects of a speaker's design, not necessarily indicators of performance. I'm not a Focal or Salk owner. Just saying that one should never judge the performance of a speaker based on weight or specs alone. One must listen and decide.
It's like judging how a car drives based on curb weight and horsepower. They're aspects of the car that affect performance, but aren't the only indicators. Test drive and decide.