[lafish54]

Hi,
I'm an aged Washington state audiophile, rejoining Audio Circle after an absence of many years. I'm thinking about Song Towers or Song Tower 2s for our living room. It's a big room 25x25 with a vaulted ceiling, and the little Quad 12L active monitors I've been running there just get lost. (Im a big fan of the original Quad 57 ESLs, which are in another small room.) I like the looks, size and price of the Song Towers, and I've read all the favorable reviews over the years. My question is are they big enough for my room? I mostly listen to small group jazz, not terribly loud, and I like tube amplifiers, if that helps.
If not the Song Towers, which larger Salk?
Thanks,
Larry Fisher
Port Townsend WA

[R Swerdlow]

I'm thinking about Song Towers or Song Tower 2s for our living room. It's a big room 25x25 with a vaulted ceiling, and the little Quad 12L active monitors I've been running there just get lost. (Im a big fan of the original Quad 57 ESLs, which are in another small room.) I like the looks, size and price of the Song Towers, and I've read all the favorable reviews over the years. My question is are they big enough for my room? I mostly listen to small group jazz, not terribly loud, and I like tube amplifiers, if that helps.
If not the Song Towers, which larger Salk?
Thanks,
Larry Fisher
Port Townsend WA

When you listen, how far away from the speakers do you sit?  That's more important than the overall room dimensions.

My room is smaller than yours, about 15×23 overall.  I sit about 9-10 feet away from my speakers.

I've had SongTowers for nearly 10 years, and replaced them with Veracity ST speakers.  The VST speakers go lower in bass than the STs, have a crisper more clear sound, have the same footprint, but cost more.  Otherwise they sound like siblings.

I've heard SongTowers driven by 35 wpc tube amps.  I think they suffered from being under powered.  Their bass was weaker, muddy sounding.  With solid state amps in the range of at least 100 wpc, they sounded much better.

I wouldn't worry about the vaulted ceiling.  First, you can't do anything about it.  And second, flat ceilings that are parallel to the floor introduce plenty of problems of their own – that you don't have.

[WGH]

I loved the SongTowers when I first heard them at RMAF and immediately knew they would be my next speaker.... then on my next visit to the Salk room I heard the HT2-TL and loved them even more. The HT2-TL thrive on power, I don't think a tube amp would be the best pairing unless you have one of those monster McIntosh tube amps or something similar.

Even with the increased bass of the HT2-TL your room is too big. One of the other Salk speakers would be a better fit. My suggestion is the BePure2 and a pair of REL Carbon Special subwoofers (if you can swing it) or the S/812 because both subs are -6dB at 19 Hz. The combination would give you state-of-the-art room filling sound. Of the two sub models I think the Carbon Special will have the tighter, quicker, less distorted bass that will compliment the ultra low distortion of the Purifi woofers. My REL sub has a carbon fiber driver and it mates perfectly with the super fast and clean Seas W18 driver in the HT2-TL. The REL carbon fiber drivers can even keep up with the Magnepan 3.7i speaker it is that fast.

[zybar]

You should definitely talk to Jim, but given that I have owned multiple sets of SongTowers for the past 15 years, I'll take a crack...

I had a pair of SongTowers in a room bigger than what you described and with 20' ceilings and if that was my primary 2 channel listening environment, I wouldn't have been happy.

The SongTowers simply are too small for such a large space when listening from say 8-12 feet away. 

They might work if you sat closer and didn't have them that far apart, but even that setup wouldn't allow the speakers to perform at their best (IMHO).

As a few others have said, you probably need to move up the line and/or add in subwoofer reinforcement.

George

[lafish54]

Thank you all for your input on this topic. I guess they're not going to work for me. I sit fairly far from the speakers, which have to be pretty far apart themselves. And I'm kind of married to lower power tube amps, though a Threshold 400A I owned years ago showed me that powerful solid state amplifiers can be pretty fine too. Unfortunately, contemporary Pass amps are above my pay grade.

I'll have to give this some more thought.
Larry Fisher
Port Townsend WA

[Bingenito]

I have Song 3 Encores in an 18w x 30ft deep room that is open to a larger area and they easily fill the space with no subs. In fact you would probably have to spend some coin for subs to keep up with the bottom end of these speakers.

My Pass X250.8 has not left class A yet and I listen a moderate to loud levels sitting 12-13ft away.

[zybar]

I have Song 3 Encores in an 18w x 30ft deep room that is open to a larger area and they easily fill the space with no subs. In fact you would probably have to spend some coin for subs to keep up with the bottom end of these speakers.

My Pass X250.8 has not left class A yet and I listen a moderate to loud levels sitting 12-13ft away.

The Song 3 Encores area a very different speaker and at a price point 2.5x higher than the SongTowers. 

George

[Bingenito]

Not when you buy them "pre-loved"

[Rocket]

Hi,

That is a very large room... I"d talk to Jim Salk as he will provide you great advice. I've bought HT3's, HT2's and a subwoofer from him over the years.

Cheers Rod