Hi All,
This is my first post here, but I have been a long time lurker.
Anyhow, about 2 years ago I first heard about Salk speakers. They were getting a ridiculous amount of praise all over internet forum and professional review sites. I thought to myself "no way, not at these prices." After a LOOONG time spent looking around for speakers to improve over my PSB Image T5s, last year I pulled the trigger on a pair of SongSurrounds for my 2-channel system. I got them in curly cherry with matching front baffle. They were gorgeous!
I remember at first thinking they were a little "dark" sounding. Then, after about a month of break-in, they opened up and WOW! Incredible mid-range detail and "listen all day" presentation. Turns out, the PSBs were actually just really bright. I really loved those speakers.
Last year, I got laid off from my job, my business that I had been running at night for 7 years failed, and my wife and I had to relocate. This is relevant because my brother helped me out tremendously by letting me stay with him for three months while I found a job where we are currently living - and as a thank you, I gave him the Song Surrounds because he loved them so much.
Thus, I was without speakers.
A couple of months ago, my wife and I finally were able to start getting our feet under us and I had enough cash to get another pair of speakers - so naturally, I called Jim and placed an order.
The short story is that business taxes are due at the end of this week (March 15th), coincidentally right as Jim was about to ship me the speakers. Well, suffice it to say, my wife and I were shocked when the accountant delivered our tax return and we saw we owed a HUGE amount to Uncle Sam for the final year of our business. My option was to pay Jim the final 50% balance for the speakers and short the IRS that amount (which is only a fraction of what we owe, btw) or pay the IRS in full.
So I called Jim today and told him that I had to bail on the speakers. I was really expecting him to be furious, but he was absolutely gracious and understood as we agreed on the terms of a refund for the 50% deposit. He basically just said "well, things happen."
Jim - if you read this, thank you so much for your understanding during a pretty lame situation.
-Matt
