Okay, this pair of Veracity STs is my third pair of Salks. (Well, my fourth, actually; there was an issue with the finish of my first pair of SCSTs, and Jim replaced them, thus demonstrating superior customer service.) I started my journey with a pair of regular old SongTowers in late 2011. They were a test, you see: I went “cheap” to see if Salk could deliver. When I opened the box and saw the insanely beautiful bubinga finish, it was clear the visuals and build quality were more than up to snuff. The sound, well, that was good, too. So good, in fact, that I decided to get something better. I eyed the HT2-TL, but given their size, I thought twice, then thrice. My listening room – even though a dedicated stereo room – is small. Given how cramped the space is, I just didn’t know if they would work. Then the Supercharged SongTower came out. My “problem” was solved. I ordered a pair, again in bubinga. They arrived, I set them up, and the issue with the finish aside, I was super happy. Sonically, they improved in all areas over the SongTower. When my replacement set arrived, the super happiness seemed permanent.
Sort of. For, you see, as good as the SCSTs are, they lack two things: sufficient bass weight to completely satisfy when listening to big orchestral works, and an occasional sense that they may not have the headroom I want when listening to said big orchestral works – of Mahler, say. Don’t get me wrong, overall performance, and even bass performance, is astonishingly good for such a small speaker with such small drivers. In my small room, I could feel and as well as hear the bass, and some recordings would result in some rattles here and there. It’s not like I was suffering, but since my wife gave the all clear to buy another pair, I decided to go bigger. So there were the HT2-TLs to consider again, as well as the new-ish SoundScape 8s. I could have bought either, and I’m sure that most people would have advocated the SS8, but even a sealed box that bulky gave me pause, and then there’s the whole placement issue. I have literally only a few inches of leeway in placement. I’m pretty sure the SS8, even with less than optimal placement, would sound great. But I just couldn’t do it. (My no doubt silly fear of breaking ceramic drivers at some point in the distant future also played a role in not buying the speakers; what if they broke and neither Salk nor Accuton were still in business?)
But there was something else. What I also wanted was the best possible sound, in every area, from the smallest possible box. The SCST comes really close. I’ve heard speakers that cost more than ten times as much that don’t sound as good overall. (I won’t reveal any brands.) But what if, I wondered, I could get those few extra things I wanted in something not much larger than the SCST? What if I opted for a custom design using, oh, I don’t know, the Seas Excel W16s? The measurements on the Zaph site sure seemed to indicate they might work, and the Seas Delling kit and Joseph Audio Perspective also pointed in the same direction. I also considered the ScanSpeak Illuminators, but stayed with the Seas drivers because, frankly, I like the sound of metal drivers. They have been more or less a constant for me for the last fourteen or so years. So I decided to look into having Jim build a custom SongTower with W16s. I also inquired about a few other options, but there was just something attractive about this option. So, in late February, I ordered a pair.
I had high expectations when they arrived. I rather assumed they would look good, especially after seeing the pictures, and sure enough I wasn’t disappointed. For the fourth time, I opened a box and saw an extraordinarily fine looking pair of speakers from Salk Sound. And yes, they do look better in person. (Something web site visitors can’t see in the shots here is the back of the speaker; I opted for single wiring and hardwood trim even on the back, for purely aesthetic reasons. The speakers look extra sharp all the way around.) They are also quite heavy, and the W16s, well, I must confess that I think they look cooler than the W15s, what, with their honkin’ big copper phase plug, radial textured surround, and comparatively large surface area. The RAAL also looks a bit snazzier; this pair appears to use black anodized aluminum in all visible areas, even near the element, whereas before that was not the case.
After admiring the handiwork a bit, I schlepped them to my stereo room, and plopped them down exactly where the SCSTs had sat only a brief time before. I plugged in the speaker cables, and fired up the tuner, to make sure they worked. Sure enough, they did, and even before I could get any serious listening in – ie, listening to CDs – it was clear that these represented a step up in quality. But I had to skedaddle to do a few other things while the speakers cooked a bit.
Then I came back for a bit of serious listening. With speakers promising an improvement in bass, it seemed like I probably should go for something packing a wallop. Instead, I chose some flute sonatas by CPE Bach, played by Bob van Asperen and Barthold Kuijeken on Sony Vivarte. Why, you may be wondering? Two reasons. First, I listen to a good amount of small scale classical music, so I wanted to hear if the new speakers would work their magic without mid- and upper-bass bloat muddying anything up. Second, the measurements Jim provided show a very slight dip between 1 and 2 KHz compared to the SCST, and the flute is pretty active in that region. Suffice it to say, the speakers passed with flying colors. Next was an even more important test: solo piano. Probably half my listening is to solo piano music and piano concertos. I opted for a well known quantity in these parts, Ivo Pogorelich playing Chopin’s B Flat Scherzo on DG. The new speakers sounded just swell. Pogo’s tone sounded more beautiful and variegated than ever, the dynamic range was most impressive, the clarity of his playing as good as I’ve ever heard it, and the scale, well, the scale improved. More bass means more sense of space as well as more low register heft.
A couple more tests were in store. Esa Pekka Salonen’s DG recording of Mussorgky’s Night on Bald Mountain, Bartok’s suite of The Miraculous Mandarin, and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring got its turn. The sound quality of this recording is spectacular, and it has some massive bass drum thwacks to let the listener know how good low bass is reproduced. With the volume pumped up suitably, the low frequency output was startlingly good – as in feel the bass in the small of one’s back and in one’s neck good. As in rattle the windows and surrounding CD cases good. As in jar the door open good. Simon Rattle’s recording of Karol Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater got a spin for a few reasons. That it is great music played exceedingly well helps, but the sonics are fine, too. When the organ appears with full chorus, there was heft and clarity. When the soloists sing with small sections of the chorus, it is almost possible to count the number of supporting singers. Voices, too, sound great, with no excess chestiness from baritones (which I’ve heard in some 2.5 way designs), and sopranos sound smooth ‘n’ pretty.
At this point, disc pulling became almost indiscriminate: James Levine conducting Brahms’ Second; Steven Osborne playing Ravel; Anton Kuerti playing Beethoven’s C Minor Concerto; Esteban Sanchez playing Albeniz (chosen for its poor sound coupled to great playing); Andrea Lucchesini playing Beethoven piano sonatas; Jordi Savall and crew playing Luigi Boccherini’s Fandango (possibly the best sounding recording I own or have heard): all sounded better than I recall hearing before, even the Sanchez. Massed strings sounded weightier, more substantial, while retaining the sheen I first got to hear in my room with the SCST. (Must be the RAAL.) Pianos sounded like pianos, with differing degrees of weight and bite, depending on instrument and recording technique.
But man cannot live by classical music alone. (Well, I suppose it is possible.) How about some Lana Del Rey from her EP Paradise? The electronic bass lines have punch and substance aplenty, the layered instrumentation and effects peek out without unduly calling attention to themselves, and Ms Del Rey’s studio-sculpted voice sounds rich, dark, and alluring. Massive Attack’s Mezzanine surely needed to be heard. The opening bass notes in Angel shook the room with pulverizing power at 100+ dB peaks. All throughout the tracks I listened to, the entire sonic spectrum was reproduced better than ever in my listening room.
I think it makes sense to compare all three types of SongTowers, which is easy enough for me since I own all of them. (Alas, I have not heard the ST RT.) The regular old SongTower, which is now in my two channel home theater, is a great bargain that does everything well. It sounds, perhaps, a tad warm compared to the other two models, but offers great, unforced detail, a beautiful midrange, and very airy highs. The Supercharged SongTower, now seeing service in my bedroom system, ratchets up the performance in all areas, with the biggest improvement coming in areas of overall clarity and detail presentation, but it also has notably improved bass performance. One can hear everything in a recording with ease. The Veracity ST, well, it just improves everything just that little bit more. The most obvious improvement comes in bass. It is weightier, tighter, cleaner, and more detailed, all at once. Mids sound fuller, more substantial, and both mids and highs sound more relaxed and smoother than the already decidedly easy to listen to SCST. The new design takes an extraordinary sounding speaker and makes it sound extraordinary-er.
So, yes, I do like the speakers. Quite a lot. It is fair to say that they exceeded expectations. But surely they must have shortcomings, or at least limitations. Oh, they do. As impressive as the bass is, it is still limited. Six inch drivers simply cannot put out bass like ten inch or twelve inch drivers. That’s fine by me. I knew this limitation going in, and in fact if the speakers put out any more bass, they would overload my room. For me, the bass quantity is just right. Higher up the spectrum, it is possible that some listeners may find the speaker too laid back. There is no bright, or at least bright-ish, “hi-fi” type sound that some speakers produce (again, no brands will be named), and that exaggerate certain frequencies and create a false sense of greater clarity and detail. No, the Veracity STs sound smooth, smooth, smooth and easy on the ear while laying bare all details in recordings. Listening fatigue simply does not occur, and the sound makes the listener, or at least this listener, just want to listen to recording after recording. It hits all the right notes, as it were.
A big thanks to Jim, Dennis, and Paul in coming up with this design, as well as all the folks at Salk who had a hand in building these. They are not cheap by any stretch of the imagination, but other Salk models aside (and presumably also Philharmonic Audio models), they do not compete with speakers in the $4000-$6000 range. These are five figure speakers, and can be compared to the biggest names in the business.
[EDIT: Corrected a couple typos.]
