[jsalk]

Cameron wanted SoundScape 8's with rose/red cherry front baffles, black satin everywhere else and rose/red cherry stringers.

We did something a little different this time around.  Rather than inserting cherry stringers and trying to dye these separately, we did the entire speaker in cherry, dyed it rose/red and then taped it off and sprayed black dye over the rest of the speaker.  The results are the same as inserting cherry stringers, but much less labor is involved and there is no possibility that the stringers will telegraph at a later date.

Here are some photos...



And a close-up...



Cameron also got a SoundScape 7C center channel to match.

Happy listening Cameron!

- Jim

[rockadanny]

Sweet 

[GlennDog]

If I'm not mistaken, there's a gi-normus matching center speaker? Please show your fans!!

[jsalk]

If I'm not mistaken, there's a gi-normus matching center speaker? Please show your fans!!

It has already been packed.  So Cameron will have to supply the photos when he gets them.

- Jim

[audiotom]

http://just gorgeous Jim! love the color and the accents


great choice Cameron!

do write up your listening experiences and don't forget the obligatory fedex truck photo
what amp are you running your HT with?

I've been toying with an SS8 SC with that color
it's pretty hot on SS10s

[PETE6737]

Very nice! Jim and the crew have been very busy in the SS8 department! Congrats to Cameron. Let's see some pics!!!!!!!!!

[JonnyFive]

Very cool color choice, Cameron.  Enjoy!!

[TheMCP]

Greetings,
Picture requests haha... you guys are killing me they're not even on the truck to get to me yet!  I will post back with pics etc. when I get them in, I'm assuming it won't be until next week sometime though as they are supposed to ship today.  For now just help me be patient haha.  The pictures do look great though.

Working through the options with Jim on these was a pretty cool experience for me.  I had a pretty good idea of what I was looking for, but for obvious reasons I was concerned about asking for something that would wind up looking weird or not as I intended.  On the other hand, as I'm not one to move through speakers very often, this was a long term investment for me so I wanted to make sure I got something interesting and unique.  In addition to answering my questions in depth, Jim was nice enough to do up a couple test panels and send them to me so I could see exactly what I was dealing with before making a final decision.  Jim has a reputation for making sure things are right, and it's well deserved.

I'll be driving these with an Emotiva XPA-5.  There is a matching 7C center channel on the way as well... I may be looking for a new way to hold up my center channel due to its size.  I have a wall mounted projection screen with the center channel mounted underneath.  I've been using two short, bookshelf style stands to hold my current speaker, which is similar in size to the 7C but there is no way its 86 lbs. as the 7C is listed.

I'm replacing my trusty Paradigm Studio 100 V3s, which I broke the bank on when I was just out of college... 13 or so years ago (?? crap!?).  The center I'm replacing is a CC590, which I picked up about 5 years ago off eBay and to be honest I've never been happy with it.  Not sure if there is something wrong with it, soon it won't be relevant.  The Paradigms will get moved out to living room detail, the speakers in the living room (Canton GLE470s) will move to the bedroom, and if that isn't a solid plan for replacing a blown woofer in the bedroom bookshelf system, I don't know what is.

[SCompRacer]

Another beautiful variation! High marks!

[Ace Deprave]

Very nice!

[mresseguie]

I'm suffering from a most horrible disease called 'speaker envy'. 

Congratulations.

[Saturn94]

I'm suffering from a most horrible disease called 'speaker envy'. 

Congratulations.

+1

[TheMCP]

Should be here Monday!

[floresjc]

Kind of reminds me of the color scheme of my old Onyx Rockets I had pre-salk, but good God these ones are amazing. Would definitely consider this look, might have beat out the bursts Jim was doing a couple years ago that were my personal favorites.

[TheMCP]

They're here, set up and look great as I know you'd all expect.  Everybody says "pictures don't do them justice", and that is my experience as well.  To describe them as just "speakers" is definitely selling them short, the level of detail and quality of the finish is a level above anything I've seen before.  They definitely command your attention in the room, and what is most impressive is that the closer you look, the better it gets.  The attention to detail is really something else.  Also, I thought the "birth certificate" signed by the people who worked on them is a really cool touch.  I'm considering finding a place to hang it in the room somewhere.

Unfortunately, apparently one of the ceramic midranges must have been damaged while in transit.  They sounded great for about 20 minutes or so, and all of a sudden I noticed serious distortion from the left side.  I removed the magnetic grill (which is super cool btw) to find a couple little holes in the midrange.  If you look really closely, you can see a circular crack around the center of the cone... it isn't all the way broken out but if left to its own devices I'm sure the center of the cone would come all the way apart.  I checked the cones in the other channel and in the center, and don't see any signs of cracks or damage, so hopefully they are fine.

Kind of disappointing, but what are you going to do?  They definitely couldn't have been packaged any better, and the boxes looked fine, so the pallet must have gotten knocked or dropped or something.  I think the speakers must be made of depleted uranium or something... I can't imagine trying to package something so delicate and yet so massively heavy.  I'm glad I own a hand truck, that's for sure.  A replacement is already on the way, so I should be back up and running shortly.  Obviously thanks to Jim for helping resolve the issue, I'm somewhat concerned about the other cones at this point, but what I was never concerned about was being able to get help / support.  Its kind of funny actually, this was a major, major purchase for me.  I waited a long time for the speakers to arrive, and I basically immediately had an issue.  One would think I might flip out or something, but I honestly was never really worried about it, not even for a second... I knew it'd get worked out.  I was more disappointed that my listening session was over, to be honest.

Anyway, I'll get some pictures of them set up in their new home soon enough and post them up here...

[Austin08]

The MCP,

Sorry to hear that you got the bad luck. Brighter side is you are in a good hand. Hope they are up and running soon. I hate when that happen but that is life, right?

[Big Red Machine]

It's an easy-cheesy change-out.  You'll be up and running again real soon.  They are delicate but most likely a unit that was damaged long ago at the factory and made it to the end in your parlor.  I have moved mine many times in the boxes and never had any issues.  You should be fine with the replacement driver.

[GlennDog]

I'm sure the issue is related to Polar Vortex freak'n Frigid weather . . . You'll be back in the saddle in no time!

[TheMCP]

So I had banished myself from thinking "maybe the replacement speaker will show up Friday, and I'll have the speakers for the weekend", and sure enough it shows up today!

Installation was easy, it took a little bit only due to an overabundance of caution on my part.  Speakers sound great, though I haven't had nearly enough time with them yet.  I haven't really had a chance to tidy things up, but I wanted to get some pics up of the speakers in their new home, so here goes... this room is dark so its kind of hard to photograph:










As you can see, my room is pretty heavily treated... I know this is a no-no for some 2 channel people, but my room is not ideal (I forget the exact dimensions, but its pretty close to square).

The things I have noticed right off the bat are the phenomenal punch in the bass (its way less "rumble shake" and way more "deep kick in the gut"), and the extreme clarity in the highs.  I forget which track, but on Daft Punk's "Random Access Memories" there is a series of chimes that just came out like magic.  I'm glad I have all weekend.

Thanks so much Jim, Dennis, and everybody else who worked on these for me.  Really special stuff.

[OgOgilby]

Sweet setup - congrats   

-Greg