Salk Veracity HT-3s arrived!

avahifi · « **on:** 17 Feb 2006, 04:15 pm »

Evaluation pair of Salk Signature HT03 speakers arrived this morning!!!

Only one problem:

Its really cold here today and they came in with a little woman driver in the express company van and I only had another little woman here to help today and of course my hip is done for (will be replaced the end of March) so I am worthless. So it was a major operation for the two small gals to unload a couple of 120 pound cartons and get them into my garage. They will have to wait for some "muscle" to be here to get them unboxed and set up in my sound room.

Watch this space as the saga unfolds.

Thanks so much Jim.

Frank Van Alstine

zybar · « **Reply #1 on:** 17 Feb 2006, 04:54 pm »

Frank,

Not that it imapcts the sound, but what finish are the speakers?

Did you get a stock pair or one with options?

Should be interesting to see what your thoughts are.

George

CornellAlum · « **Reply #2 on:** 17 Feb 2006, 05:07 pm »

Picture Please

DMurphy · « **Reply #3 on:** 17 Feb 2006, 06:06 pm »

Quote from: avahifi

Evaluation pair of Salk Signature HT03 speakers arrived this morning!!!

Hi I hope you like them. But your comments on the crossover would be most welcome in any event. One thing I can say--I'm running a Hafler that you modified, and I certainly like that.

Dennis Murphy

avahifi · « **Reply #4 on:** 17 Feb 2006, 06:11 pm »

As mentioned above, I have not unpacked and set up the speakers yet. The finish is burled walnut, and they have all the current options Jim says.

I will post photos and listening impressions as soon we have had a very good opportunity to evaluate them thoroughly.

Frank Van Alstine

ajzepp · « **Reply #5 on:** 17 Feb 2006, 08:19 pm »

Like the rest of you, I'm really looking forward to hearing Frank's thoughts....I've pretty much decided to go with his amps, and the Salk HT-3 is one of the speakers on my short list. So this will be a great way to gather some info about the Salk/Van Alstine synergy.

Gordy · « **Reply #6 on:** 18 Feb 2006, 05:23 am »

Did someone mention Burled Walnut???

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #7 on:** 18 Feb 2006, 05:33 am »

Wow!

Those are seriously gorgeous speakers.

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #8 on:** 18 Feb 2006, 05:44 am »

How come we only see the front and sides....how's the back look ?

Gordy · « **Reply #9 on:** 18 Feb 2006, 05:48 am »

Yes they are, but then... I've fallen in love with every example of Jim's work I've ever seen!

Gordy · « **Reply #10 on:** 18 Feb 2006, 06:01 am »

Quote from: lonewolfny42

How come we only see the front and sides....how's the back look ?

After 6-8 shots the batteries died... and now the camera is in Florida...

The backs of the cabinets are most amazing, the veneer is perfectly bookmatched (is that the term?) with the sides

jsalk · « **Reply #11 on:** 18 Feb 2006, 01:19 pm »

One slight correction - the cabinets are curly walnut (not burled walnut). And they were seconds.

I had some "distressed" walnut I thought would look real nice. But when the cabinets were veneered I wasn't thrilled with them. In addition, the customer ordered additional speakers and I didn't have enough of the same veneer to complete the entire set.

So I built replacement cabinets for that particular customer. I never took the time to fcomplete the finishing process on these cabinets. Of course, none of that affects the sound.

When Frank asked if I had any "B stock" speakers he could demo, I recalled having these cabinets laying around. So I used them for this demonstration (since it will be quite a while before I'll have time to build another "extra" pair of cabinets).

I did install the Sonicap upgrade and the "contour" switch.

- Jim

jermmd · « **Reply #12 on:** 18 Feb 2006, 01:30 pm »

Gordy,

Those are some seriously gorgeous speakers. Is the box next to the speaker the external crossover?

Gordy · « **Reply #13 on:** 18 Feb 2006, 04:34 pm »

Hi Joe,

I'm using the passive x-overs, those boxes are diy UcD amplifiers in prefab veneer. I blew my chance at having Jim build me matching boxes

Jason Buccellato · « **Reply #14 on:** 25 Feb 2006, 08:28 pm »

Gordy,

Beautiful speakers!

avahifi · « **Reply #15 on:** 16 Mar 2006, 01:10 pm »

One other thing I forgot to mention about the HT-3s that impress me and that is the "spikes" on the plinth are rounded on the bottom so that they do not damage floors. That is a really thoughtful touch.

I wonder if any other makers of big speakers do this. Most all I have seen seem to use sharp pointy railroad spikes or similar and I do not like that.

Frank

audiojerry · « **Reply #16 on:** 16 Mar 2006, 01:23 pm »

I believe the point

of pointed spikes is to couple the speaker to the floor and to lock the speaker into positon, which in theory will produce a tighter bass and less smearing. In most situations, pointed spikes are used with carpeted floors where damage to flooring is not a concern. On hard floors I've found that dense pads between floor and speaker are effective because they prevent the speaker from creating sympathetic vibrations with the floor.

skrivis · « **Reply #17 on:** 16 Mar 2006, 03:46 pm »

Quote from: audiojerry

I believe the point of pointed spikes is to couple the speaker to the floor and to lock the speaker into positon, which in theory will produce a tighter bass and less smearing. In most situations, pointed spikes are used with carpeted floors where damage to flooring is not a concern. On hard floors I've found that dense pads between floor and speaker are effective because they prevent the speaker from creating sympathetic vibrations with the floor.

At the resonant frequency of the floor, decoupling isn't going to mean much. At other frequencies, the mass and associated inertia of the floor will dominate things. You'd need some pretty powerful speakers to overcome that.

IMO, pointed spikes and cones are good for chewing up your flooring or subfloor, and not much else.

Meniscus Audio sells some nice brass cones with a rounded tip, and they're not very expensive. They work well on carpet. I think they should be ok for oak flooring too, although I don't see that you need cones or spikes for hard surface floors.

audiojerry · « **Reply #18 on:** 16 Mar 2006, 11:07 pm »

Quote from: skrivis

At the resonant frequency of the floor, decoupling isn't going to mean much. At other frequencies, the mass and associated inertia of the floor will dominate things. You'd need some pretty powerful speakers to overcome that.

IMO, pointed spikes and cones are good for chewing up your flooring or subfloor, and not much else.

Meniscus Audio sells some nice brass cones with a rounded tip, and they're not very expensive. They work well on carpet. I think they should be ok for oak flooring too, although I don't see that you need cones or spikes for hard surface floors.

What is the resonant frequency of the floor?
Wouldn't it be dependent on a number of variables?
So, the only frequency that could be induced by a speaker's vibrations is the floor's resonant frequency?
Couldn't a wood floor amplify vibrations tranmitted to it from the speaker?
If a speaker is sitting with rounded spikes on a wood floor, should there be any concerns that spikes are acting as conductors of vibrations?
Why use any spikes at all when placing speakers on a wood floor?
Wouldn't it be better to have as much surface area as possible in contact with the floor?
I believe it makes more sense to use a dense, not absorptive pad between a speaker and a wood floor.

Curly Woods · « **Reply #19 on:** 16 Mar 2006, 11:41 pm »

Quote from: audiojerry

Couldn't a wood floor amplify vibrations tranmitted to it from the speaker?
If a speaker is sitting with rounded spikes on a wood floor, should there be any concerns that spikes are acting as conductors of vibrations?
Why use any spikes at all when placing speakers on a wood floor?
Wouldn't it be be ...

The spikes act as a mechanical diode. The spikes act as a filter to limit low frequency energy being transfered from the speaker to the floor, yet provide a very rigid coupling to the floor and minimize movement of the speaker cabinet.