[jsalk]

Tom has quite a few of our speakers already.  When he placed an order for SoundScape 8's, he wanted something dark brown with some character.  The spalted bees wing makore we recently acquired seemed like the ticket.  Tom did not want anything too red, so we shot a light coat of green dye over the top to kill some of the natural reddish tones in the wood.

Here are some pictures...



And a close-up...



Happy listening, Tom!

- Jim

[ArthurDent]

Sweet Jim. You lucky dog Tom. I'd say enjoy, but that's a given. 

[rohrej]

Those look great!  I like the makore with the red toned down.

[OgOgilby]

Congrats Tom, that is a great veneer selection and toning down the red was a nice call 

[JerryLove]

That is a truly beautiful finish.

[audio1246]

They look awesome!

[Chromisdesigns]

That figure makes for an awesome bookmatched panel!  Nice find.

[Nuance]

Incredible!  Tom, welcome to the Salk family...again!

[Bigload]

Hi guys.  I'm Tom and I'm a Salkaholic.  I am so pumped waiting for these things to show up in my driveway, lug them in the house, and plug in my AVA FetValve.     I can't quit staring at the picture long enough to go to do anything else tonight!  I have invested in a set of SongTowers, a set of HT1TL's, a set of HT2TL's, a set of custom made wall mount rear surrounds, a center channel, and now these beauties.  Every set has amazed me.  Jim Salk is a real pleasure to do business with..... skilled craftsman, patient advisor and consultant, excellent customer service provider,  and I could go on.   I think his products are just an amazing value considering the cost/quality ratio.  But I guess most of you guys on this forum section already know that stuff. 

Thanks for the nice compliments.  I will let you know how they look in person, and.... how they sound.  I do not expect to be disappointed in any way whatsoever. 

[fridays]

I'm looking forward to hearing me some Salks next month....I'm a Salk virgin

[Bikeratl]

I think those may be the nicest looking SS8s I have seen yet.  Congrats!   Awesome HT room as well.  I need to find a local owner so I can here more Salks In their native habitat. 

[FloridaBear]

Heard the SS8's recently (and spoke with Jim). I'm sure you'll be blown away by their sound. There were simply no weaknesses that I could hear. Awesome speakers!

[audiotom]

Another gorgeous finish by Jim, congrats Tom - nice choice

I see various gods of India on the side view, sort of a Rorschach test

Interested to hear what your final configuration of speakers / systems will be and your comments moving up from the HT2 TLs.

What is your room size Tom?

Enjoy

[benguin]

Beautiful batch of makore!  Jim and his crew did an excellent job as usual with the match and finish- they look gorgeous.

I know you'll enjoy these immensely!
  -Ben

[funkmonkey]

  these sure are pretty!  Congrats Tom! 

[Bigload]

The speakers finally arrived!  I am simply astounded.  I have never seen a more beautiful piece of wood so meticulously finished to absolute perfection.  The pictures did not do them justice.  What a nice, rich brown and the figuring rivals that of a $50,000 shotgun stock.  I am thankful that Jim lead me in this direction when I described what I was looking for.   And then the sound.  Oh my.  This is a whole different deal.  I never thought anything could upstage my HT2TL's, but....  the Soundscapes are truly amazing.  I am setting here tonight listening to a Chris Botti recording and I am truly 3rd row, center stage.  Perfection.

I am using all AVA power equipment for the Salks.  I have a Fet Valve 400 running the SS8's right now and it is a very pleasing match.  I am using a Synergy 450 on my HT2TL's in my theater room.  So when the weekend rolls around, I plan to do some swapping and see which amp sounds best with which speakers. 

As usual with Salk speakers, there is never one single disappointment in any part of the process..... but these things take the prize as far as I am concerned.  Thanks Jim.  We certainly appreciate what you do.

[ricardojoa]

There is something special about Jim cabinet, they are indeed truly amazing even with the veneer that i dont like.
Anyway, looking forward to your compara of AVA amps.
And Congrats to these beauties you have.

[Bigload]

I tried the SS8's in two different set ups.  The first was in a family room with high ceilings, very little room treatment and using an AVA Fet Valve 400 amp and a Vision DAC/preamp with an Oppo BDP 95 as a disk player.  Everything about the speaker performance was excellent and I was amazed since the room config was really pretty poor.  Then I swapped the SS8's into my theater room and moved my HT2TL's to the family room.  This HT room is very well treated with acoustic paneling and has average ceiling height.  The amp is an AVA Synergy 450 with a AVA Star Hybrid preamp and an Oppo BDP-105 disk player and a VPI Classic TT/Benz micro glider.  Wow.  Now we are really talking, especially with the vinyl.  This set up brought such a honest representation of live voices and instruments it was just a little freaky.  Needless to say, they are staying right where they are.  And.... they also now have a companion center channel on order.  I think I will keep chipping away at this until I have the entire HT room set up with SoundScapes.   I have been looking for a long time, but I think I may have finally found audio nirvana!