[PETE6737]

Hello All,

I finally have a moment in my busy schedule to give a brief review of my listening experiences with the Salk Soundscape 8 speakers. Most of these observations will be compared to how the SS8s relate to my old speakers, 15 year old trusty B&W Matrix 803’s, that they replaced. The old system was quite good in a surround configuration, but I found myself gravitating more to stereo sound using just two speakers, and the 803’s were light in the low end and they tended to be a bit bright to my ears in stereo. So I upgraded to the Salk SS8, made a two channel system, and sold off the old speakers.

The speakers are connected to a Bryston 14BST amp, with MIT BiWires, Cary Audio SLP 03 Tube preamp, Cambridge Audio 840C CD and Oppo BDP 105 Bluray, with Harmonic Technologies cables. My room is well treated with two ASC 4 foot tube traps stacked on both sides of the screen and custom sized ASC corner traps in the corners, ASC sound planks on the ceiling and 1 inch fiberglass on the lower half of the side walls behind the GoM acoustic cloth on the walls.

I have had the speakers up and running for about a month. The build quality is amazing. They look great in Satin Black.  Using the suggestion from Audiocircle members, I purchased some inexpensive furniture gliders and put them under the spikes. I have moved the speakers around, out to the walls and in, with and without toe in, with and without the back open, and stuffed with polyfill. I finally settled in with the speakers away from the walls, into the room more and slightly toed in, with open back stuffed full of polyfill.

The ability to adjust the open back is a nice feature I never thought I’d like. I started out listening with the back closed, similar to a traditional speaker. I then opened the back, and noticed that there was a more diffuse front soundstage. I found it a bit too much with most recordings and filled the openings with the polyfill, reducing the rear output. That combination was just the right amount of sound to my liking. I probably won’t make any changes to the back. It seems just right.

The first thing I noticed when listening to the SS8s was the bottom end. It was obviously playing lower, clearer, and cleaner than the B&Ws, which rolled off in the 45DB range. There was no bloated bass, no boominess that I heard in my old system. I could hear bass notes better, with clearer definition that the B&Ws. With the bloat gone, I could distinguish notes better and hear subtle details. I am pretty happy to get some real flat low end. I am still finding new details in some familiar music due to the cleaner bottom end.

The second thing I noticed was the treble was more subdued than the old B&Ws. I was used to the sometimes bright sounding, harsh highs in the B&Ws, but the SS8s’ highs were definitely a treat to hear. I will admit, it took some getting used to, after 15 years of listening to a particular speaker. I recall an Audiocircle  post where the writer was asking where the treble was in the SS8s but later realized that it was there all along, just not overly exaggerated and harsh. I found it to be the same way. A month later, and the treble is very nice and pleasant, without ever being harsh or bright.

I noticed right away, that the SS8s provided a VERY wide soundstage. It was very surprising how wide it was. It was like extra speakers were on my side walls. Depending on the music, the width of the soundstage blew me away. Initially, I had the speakers placed facing straight to the front. I noticed that the center image was basically in line with the speakers, which was a little bothersome at first. I had been used to the center image on the B&Ws to be “in my face”, a presentation tad forward of the speakers and a very strong center image. I moved the speakers around a bit and finally located a spot that gave me the center image that pleased me. I like to use the Nora Jones SACD Come Away with me and Shelby Lynne’s Just a little Lovin’ SACD as references for a strong center image. I now found that spot. It required me to toe in the speakers just a bit.  Those ladies are singing right in front me now, and I can almost feel their breath on my face. It is that realism that I love with excellent gear and recordings. The strong center image, coupled with the wide soundstage, makes for a very nice experience with great recordings.

I say that, with the realization that some of my older CD music sounds lousy with such a great speaker. It has revealed the poor recordings in my collection. So a portion of my collection will be used less frequently, when compared to Hi Rez music and well recorded Cds. I am looking at buying new high quality music to enjoy in the system. 

The Soundscape 8 exceeds all my expectations. I am happy to be a Salk owner. Now I will get back to listening…..Pete

[fsimms]

Nice review. Thanks!  With me, my personal preference on how much stuffing to use on my SoundScape 10s has slowly changed over the more than two years that I have had them.  I imagine that your view will slightly evolve over time too.  Luckily it is so easy to change!

Bob

[RandyH]

Too bad that the Soundscapes make many of your older recordings sound lousy.  I had never heard that about them before.

[PETE6737]

Too bad that the Soundscapes make many of your older recordings sound lousy.  I had never heard that about them before.

Well, it's the reality that some recordings just can't compare with high resolution sound. When i start a listening session, I listen to my old stuff first. Then I move on to the better sounding stuff. The contrast from mediocre to great sounding music is not subtle.

[Bghead8che]

<< I say that, with the realization that some of my older CD music sounds lousy with such a great speaker. It has revealed the poor recordings in my collection. So a portion of my collection will be used less frequently, when compared to Hi Rez music and well recorded Cds. I am looking at buying new high quality music to enjoy in the system.  >>

I'm curious as well.  What do you mean by "lousy".  Do you mean the speakers are so detailed that older recordings are bright and harsh on the SS8s?  Did you listen to them before on the B&Ws?

I'm trying to decide on wither or not to get these speakers.  I am VERY sensitive to bright tweeters (all metal dome tweets are out) so I am trying to decide if the SS8s come across a bright to some people.

Thanks,

-Brian

[PETE6737]

All I meant was that the speakers reveal sonic deficiencies of those  recordings. They are not bright. In fact most of the old stuff is compressed and less musical, dull, compared to a well produced recording. It's not going to make a poor recording sound great.

[PETE6737]

Too bad that the Soundscapes make many of your older recordings sound lousy.  I had never heard that about them before.
[/quote

[PETE6737]

Pretty sure I wrote " some" not many

[martyo]

<< I say that, with the realization that some of my older CD music sounds lousy with such a great speaker. It has revealed the poor recordings in my collection. So a portion of my collection will be used less frequently, when compared to Hi Rez music and well recorded Cds. I am looking at buying new high quality music to enjoy in the system.  >>

I'm curious as well.  What do you mean by "lousy".  Do you mean the speakers are so detailed that older recordings are bright and harsh on the SS8s?  Did you listen to them before on the B&Ws?

I'm trying to decide on wither or not to get these speakers.  I am VERY sensitive to bright tweeters (all metal dome tweets are out) so I am trying to decide if the SS8s come across a bright to some people.

Thanks,

-Brian

There is NOTHING bright about the RAAL tweeter. 

[PETE6737]

There is NOTHING bright about the RAAL tweeter. 

Amen

[Mudslide]

<< I say that, with the realization that some of my older CD music sounds lousy with such a great speaker. It has revealed the poor recordings in my collection. So a portion of my collection will be used less frequently, when compared to Hi Rez music and well recorded Cds. I am looking at buying new high quality music to enjoy in the system.  >>

I'm curious as well.  What do you mean by "lousy".  Do you mean the speakers are so detailed that older recordings are bright and harsh on the SS8s?  Did you listen to them before on the B&Ws?

I'm trying to decide on wither or not to get these speakers.  I am VERY sensitive to bright tweeters (all metal dome tweets are out) so I am trying to decide if the SS8s come across a bright to some people.

Thanks,

-Brian

Brian, I'm like you and sensitive to bright, in-your-face speakers.  As stated, there is nothing 'bright' about the RAAL tweeters.  Nor are they reserved in any way.  They just produce what is in the recording.  They are the most natural sounding tweeters you'll likely ever hear...and all with a very effortless presentation that sounds as though they could go from 2500 Hz to heaven.

[Nuance]

There is NOTHING bright about the RAAL tweeter. 

^ This.  The RAAL is the most realistic sounding ribbon tweeter I've heard.  Period.  There is nothing bright or shrill sounding about it.  It's "smooth" but misses no details.

[Nuance]

Whoops - double post.  Sorry. 

Pete,

Thanks for the review!  I love reading other people's impressions.

[OgOgilby]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review Pete. Very nice setup and it sounds like you are very happy with the SS8's 

I do understand the concern by some posters about your "some of my older CD music sounds lousy" comment. Your mentioning that "All I meant was that the speakers reveal sonic deficiencies of those recordings" is a much better description. Jim's speakers clearly reveal what is in the recording, good or bad. I found that our HT2-TL's made it very apparent which recordings were sub-par and that is not exclusive to "old" CD's, plenty of new music is recorded poorly. Of course Jim's speakers make good recordings sound very good, and great recordings sound breathtaking.

Looking at your room pics it looks like you could improve the sound even more by adding acoustic panels at the first reflection points.

-Greg

[Saturn94]

....that is not exclusive to "old" CD's, plenty of new music is recorded poorly. ....

-Greg

+1!

I've ready many a post about bad older CDs/recordings, but in my experience older recordings are no more likely to be bad than newer ones.  As a matter of fact, especially when talking about pop/rock, todays recordings are more likely to be bad (I blame the loudness wars/portable mp3 player generation). 

[Gzerro]

When I first got my Salks, I really noticed bad recordings and would avoid them. This was while using just a Denon AVR.

An odd thing happened when I took the next steps to improve my system. As I upgraded to Parasound electronics and added some modest treatments to the room, the bad recordings became much more enjoyable and I no longer avoid them -assuming the music is good. The great recordings got even better.

Has anybody else noticed that?

Sorry if this is getting off topic. Thanks to the OP for the SS8 listening impressions!

[Austin08]

When I first got my Salks, I really noticed bad recordings and would avoid them. This was while using just a Denon AVR.

An odd thing happened when I took the next steps to improve my system. As I upgraded to Parasound electronics and added some modest treatments to the room, the bad recordings became much more enjoyable and I no longer avoid them -assuming the music is good. The great recordings got even better.

Has anybody else noticed that?

Sorry if this is getting off topic. Thanks to the OP for the SS8 listening impressions!

Help me fine tune my system much easier. Everything are on table, subtracting and adding nothing to the original. It take me several weeks to get my system sing the way I want it to be.

[fsimms]

When I got my SoundScapes, I noticed that early rock recordings sounded different than the way that I remembered them.  I think some of them wouldn’t have been released if they had modern equipment then.  I got a tube preamp and the old recordings sounded much more like I remembered them. 

Bob

[Frans]

Truly revealing speakers will set the bar much higher for better recordings and thus perceptibly widen the gap with poorer recordings. Lesser speakers might not exhibit quite the same gap. That's why I have been on a quality kick since getting my Salks.

The truth is that there are way more poor recordings out there than good ones. This goes equally for CDs and Vinyl. I don't necessarily see a correlation between the age/era of the recording and the quality (I.e. older is not necessarily worse).

I have, however, noticed differences between pressings - especially back in the day of Columbia House when I was able to directly compare the CH recordings to the "same" CDs I had bought in Europe which typically sounded much better, and were also physically thicker/heavier. No idea if they came off the same masters, but it was the first time I realized that not all CDs were created the same. Just my 2c worth.

[Saturn94]

.....The truth is that there are way more poor recordings out there than good ones. This goes equally for CDs and Vinyl. I don't necessarily see a correlation between the age/era of the recording and the quality (I.e. older is not necessarily worse)......

+1!!!