The Salk SS8 Odyssey

PETE6737 · « **on:** 28 Oct 2012, 08:19 pm »

Hello All,

I would like to tell the true story of one man's speaker quest. On September 6, 2012 a friend emailed me some speaker manufacturers' websites, including Salk. A had a lot of time to kill and I surfed this and other sites for all I could find about Salk speakers. I located a thread where a black pair of SS8 speakers was made and there I became very intrigued. I looked at every thread containing Salk SS8s.

Within the next month, I had traveled to listen to Revel speakers, Focals, JBL 1400 Array, Paradigm S8, Triton Twos, and a few I forgot the names of. Although they were all good speakers, nothing struck me as something I had to buy. I emailed Jim Salk, who told me that he was going to be Florida for the Audioholics event. I dropped my plans for that weekend to be there to listen to the SS8 speakers.

Nothing could have prepared me for the experience I had yesterday at the event. I fell in love with the SS8's and placed an order for them in Satin black, the same finish I saw in the earlier thread. They were beautifully made, and sounded very refined and balanced from top to bottom. I listened in the room for hours, speaking with Jim and his wife. They were awesome. The two other speakers were also excellent, especially suprising were the unnamed monitor speakers that sounded way bigger than their stature. My 11 year old son, also enjoyed listening with me, patiently waiting for me to finish listening. My wife also liked them, but became bored and left to shop.

She returned a couple hours later to tell me that she spent a whopping 65 bucks and I was shocked at the "expensive" shopping spree that she had just been on. I scolded her jokingly and smiled when I told her that I placed an order for the SS8's. Yeah, she 's cool with it, I am a lucky guy to have her and to have a pair of SS8's coming in about 60 days. And the icing on the cake was when we won the big door prize. It was a good day all around.

Thanks to everyone who posted something about their experience with Salk, the company, the man and the speaker. I will quietly wait for them and I will post my personal experiences when I get them into my room. Thanks, Pete

Austin08 · « **Reply #1 on:** 28 Oct 2012, 08:51 pm »

Congratulation Pete on your fine purchase. Please, remmember Nuance wants pictures when they are at your house.

PETE6737 · « **Reply #2 on:** 28 Oct 2012, 11:39 pm »

Thanks Austin,
I will be happy to post pics...Man, it's been a day and I can hardly wait! Even though it's Sunday, I count this as day one!

Austin08 · « **Reply #3 on:** 29 Oct 2012, 02:36 am »

Oh well, 60 days is very short compare to more than 3 months that I had to wait for my SS8. on top of that my custom center speaker is still in the shop for nearly half of the year and no where near its finishing state

I know, waiting time is killing but trully rewarded at the end. You are better get use to the tracking project on the stickies thread now.

PETE6737 · « **Reply #4 on:** 29 Oct 2012, 04:02 am »

Oh you must be the customer with a modified SS8 as a center. Jim mentioned it. I may do that as well. But for now I am going from 5.1 to 2.0. Thanks for the advice. I will check in periodically. Pete

Austin08 · « **Reply #5 on:** 29 Oct 2012, 05:33 am »

Quote from: PETE6737 on 29 Oct 2012, 04:02 am

Oh you must be the customer with a modified SS8 as a center. Jim mentioned it. I may do that as well. But for now I am going from 5.1 to 2.0. Thanks for the advice. I will check in periodically. Pete

Hey...hey... It is good to know that Jim did not completely forgot about it. You are taking a rock out of my head. Thanks, Pete

audiotom · « **Reply #6 on:** 29 Oct 2012, 04:13 pm »

Pete

nice to hear your insights, glad you were able to hear the Salks
you will not be dissappointed.

welcome to the family and please share your insights when you get them in your home

PETE6737 · « **Reply #7 on:** 29 Oct 2012, 11:10 pm »

Austin, I am sure it's frustrating to wait so long but you'll have a custom, one of a kind speaker. That's pretty cool! Audiotom, thanks. I just checked my status and I'm at"invoice"! Progress!!!

Big Red Machine · « **Reply #8 on:** 30 Oct 2012, 12:16 am »

Quote from: Austin08 on 29 Oct 2012, 05:33 am

Hey...hey... It is good to know that Jim did not completely forgot about it. You are taking a rock out of my head. Thanks, Pete

Think this through. The present SS center does not replicate the true nature of the speakers themselves, but more closely the surrounds like the M7's. The new center will have all the same drivers as the 8 including passives and just about match its performance. It should become the more popular center in my opinion. And unfortunately, more expensive as well.

Bghead8che · « **Reply #9 on:** 30 Oct 2012, 02:24 am »

More about this new center that matches the SS8. Is is it custom or a new model?

Price? Specs?

And to the guy that waited 6 months for a center. That's a ridicilous wait time IMHO, regardless of wither the center is custom or not. I hope they told you upfront about the wait time.

-Brian

PETE6737 · « **Reply #10 on:** 30 Oct 2012, 02:51 am »

Based solely on my conversation with Jim Salk, it was an SS8 on its side with passives on the side. Half of a pair is 4k my guess is it would be around there. Custom made I believe.

Big Red Machine · « **Reply #11 on:** 30 Oct 2012, 10:10 am »

Quote from: Bghead8che on 30 Oct 2012, 02:24 am

More about this new center that matches the SS8. Is is it custom or a new model?

Price? Specs?

And to the guy that waited 6 months for a center. That's a ridicilous wait time IMHO, regardless of wither the center is custom or not. I hope they told you upfront about the wait time.

-Brian

Slow down. Six months for a brand new design with quite a few technical difficulties to overcome that first has to be prototyped and then manufactured for a customer is NOT a long time. In fact, it is pretty good time considering it was not the only new speaker being designed at the time by the crew.

It is not in the standard line up yet. Give them some time to catch their breath after 2 shows in a row and keeping their business running remotely for 3 weeks.

Austin08 · « **Reply #12 on:** 30 Oct 2012, 12:21 pm »

The waiting time is longer than I expected. I understand that it is the new design and jim is very busy at the shop and DM area got power outage for 2 weeks so he got a ton of back log, too. In addition, there were several trade shows in between. That is ok, I am in no rush. My SS8 keeps me compamy a long the way fine. l

audiotom · « **Reply #13 on:** 30 Oct 2012, 02:51 pm »

And to the guy that waited 6 months for a center. That's a ridicilous wait time IMHO, regardless of wither the center is custom or not. I hope they told you upfront about the wait time.

-Brian

Sometimes - having to wait for a batch of drivers from the suppliers has quite a bit to do with the build times

patience is a virtue and well rewarded

jd3 · « **Reply #14 on:** 30 Oct 2012, 03:07 pm »

Quote from: Big Red Machine on 30 Oct 2012, 12:16 am

The new center will have all the same drivers as the 8 including passives and just about match its performance. It should become the more popular center in my opinion. And unfortunately, more expensive as well.

Hmm. I'd never even considered using my SS8's for HT duty, but the house we're looking at doesn't have a room I can use as a HT. I may be 'forced' to at least get a center to use with it. If so, I'll be selling my whole HT setup to finance a new center. Uggh.

fsimms · « **Reply #15 on:** 30 Oct 2012, 03:31 pm »

Quote from: jd3 on 30 Oct 2012, 03:07 pm

Hmm. I'd never even considered using my SS8's for HT duty, but the house we're looking at doesn't have a room I can use as a HT. I may be 'forced' to at least get a center to use with it. If so, I'll be selling my whole HT setup to finance a new center. Uggh.

I would at least try it without a center first. I only listen to music with the back off on my SoundScapes, but always put the solid back on when I do TV and Movies. The dialog is much clearer. If I am not WOW'd by music then I check to see if I left the solid back on.

Bob

jd3 · « **Reply #16 on:** 31 Oct 2012, 09:06 am »

Bob,
I'd definitely try it first without one. I set up a few of my HT systems with a 'phantom center' in the past with decent results. My wife and I are deciding between 2 houses, one which has a media room and one that doesn't (leaning toward the one that doesn't for a number of reasons though). We'll see.

John

audiotom · « **Reply #17 on:** 31 Oct 2012, 01:35 pm »

Jim may be able to put aside a little extra veneer from the batch his is doing your speakers in should you want to order the center later

yetis · « **Reply #18 on:** 31 Oct 2012, 06:35 pm »

I am going to need a much larger apt, before I get this center. Meridian does the same thing with its DSP's. While they recommend vertical centers, their horizontal centers are simply vertical versions of their primary designs. I am interested in seeing how this works out.

PETE6737 · « **Reply #19 on:** 11 Nov 2012, 11:07 am »

A check of my build status shows they are at "cabinets veneered" stage. Progress!

Edit 11-18-12
My status is at " Finish Sanding". Moving along!