[cstory]

At AKfest 2009 there was a room from SAS audio that had a pair of Selah Phast Jr. Speakers. I couldn't find anything about them in searching the threads here, or on the Selah Website.

They sounded pretty good, with surprising output for a small format speaker. I was not familiar with the music that was played, and I was seated a bit off center, but still they sounded better to me than 1/2 the stuff I heard.

I was curious about the design, and if it's an older design, are there current models avaliable as kits that give similar performance.

Regards,

Chuck

[kip_]

This looks like the big brother:

http://www.salksound.com/phast.html

Scan Speak tweeter
Morel MD55 midrange driver
Seas W18

[Rick Craig]

At AKfest 2009 there was a room from SAS audio that had a pair of Selah Phast Jr. Speakers. I couldn't find anything about them in searching the threads here, or on the Selah Website.

They sounded pretty good, with surprising output for a small format speaker. I was not familiar with the music that was played, and I was seated a bit off center, but still they sounded better to me than 1/2 the stuff I heard.

I was curious about the design, and if it's an older design, are there current models avaliable as kits that give similar performance.

Regards,

Chuck

That pair was built about seven years ago when we were using another cabinetmaker. When Steve told me that he was taking the speakers to the show it kind of caught me off guard. Other positive reports are coming from the show and I'm glad you enjoyed hearing them.

We can still supply a kit or assembled speaker but I would need to put together the pricing. You should also consider the TRT kit which is based on some of the same design theory as the Phast Jr. in terms of room interface and bass response.

[MaxCast]

I agree with you, Chuck.  I really enjoyed the SAS room.  It really sounded nice and I could not tell it was all tubes save the CD player.  The Phast Jr's were perfect for that room.  They put out good bass, the mids were not over bearing and the treble was spot on.  Steve's 25w mono's powered them real good.

I went back there twice because I had to hear the room again.  Plus it was nice talking to Steve and his helper (forgot his name)....good guys.

[Steve]

I agree with you, Chuck.  I really enjoyed the SAS room.  It really sounded nice and I could not tell it was all tubes save the CD player.  The Phast Jr's were perfect for that room.  They put out good bass, the mids were not over bearing and the treble was spot on.  Steve's 25w mono's powered them real good.

I went back there twice because I had to hear the room again.  Plus it was nice talking to Steve and his helper (forgot his name)....good guys.

Hi Max,

Nice to meet and talk to you as well. Barry was my assistant and I loved the performance of the speakers. The room was basically 13 feet by 16 feet and the speakers fit right in.

I really liked the Phast Jr. in several ways. I was able to place the upper enclosures, with the midrange and tweeter, exactly where I wanted them. Very versatile. The Phast Jr are clean/clear so one can adjust the perception with minute placement changes. No treatments were used, so it could have sounded even better.

The bass drivers use the famous Scanspeak and Seas aluminum woofers, and is a 3.5 way design. Not sure about the dome mid and tweeter brands.

As for sound, those familiar with Stereophile's CD3 track 10, soundstage recording will "see" the individual well off to the left, then right, then way behind the wall (gent is 50 feet back/away from the mic). One can easily follow him as he walks towards the mic, so truly accurate depth. In otherwards, close mic recordings will sound at the mic while instruments away from the mic will sound away. Great front to back and side to side, accurate placement.

We also played Eric Clapton's "Unplugged". Very open, nice soundstaging, just very natural sounding, like being there.

To test bass I played the CD "Pictures at the Exhibition" by Mussorgsky, performed by Jean Guillou at the Great Organ of the Tonhalle, Zurich. The pipe organ reaches down to 16 hz. Even at very moderate spl levels, one could feel the carpet (concrete floor), one's feet, vibrate. Yet the bass did not "invade" the midrange too much (no bass treatments used), so the mids were pretty clean and natural.

Another thing is that the entire crossover was in the lower cabinet. This meant the mid and tweeter jacks (upper cabinet) were after the crossover so one could tweek the sound to the room. As I stated earlier, great versatility.

That is about it for now. Any questions, let me or Rick know. Hope to be there next year to audition again.

Take care and great job Rick.

Steve Sammet