What speakers did you replace?

ramsey86 · « **Reply #20 on:** 25 Sep 2008, 08:29 pm »

Acoustat 2+2 electrostats, I really only wanted to replace them because they are so big and imposing, but after a week with the ST's I don't miss them sound wise and especially compared to the Koa veneer.

KevinK · « **Reply #21 on:** 23 Jan 2009, 06:47 pm »

SongTower QWT's and SongCenter replaced AV123 xMTM and X-CS. A slight step up in price and magnitude difference in performance. My wife was amazed at the sound from the ST's. She said it sounded like there was a blanket over the old speakers and it was removed with the ST's.
nuff said.

adydula · « **Reply #22 on:** 24 Jan 2009, 01:32 am »

Holy Cow!!

Ramsey86, I had a pair of Acoustat 2+2 electrostatic speakers back in 1986 or so...I had them for a week and took them back...I never could get them to play well at all.

I went to a pair of Magnapans and enjoyed them for years.

I have never run into anyone else aorund our area that even knew what Acoustats are!!

I will be replacing a pair of Dahalquist QX10's, which are still very good speakers that play very well..

These arent mine but a pix of them:
http://www.canuckaudiomart.com/view_images.php?cat=Speakers&catnick=speakers&cfid=107706&image_id=777614

So I am going out on a limb buying the SongTowers unheard, but i did it with the QX10's based on the same type of owner loyalty and reviews...

But I know there is better and for the size / price I think the QWTs' will be the best in this category!!

I am hoping the wood elves are working hard on my pair!!

I will post our experince in a few weeks!

Alex

DMurphy · « **Reply #23 on:** 24 Jan 2009, 02:48 am »

Quote from: adydula on 24 Jan 2009, 01:32 am

I have never run into anyone else aorund our area that even knew what Acoustats are!!

I remember auditioning them back in the day. They were one of those "head-in-a-vice" speakers. If you moved up 3 inches, the highs did a disappearing act. And even in the sweet spot, they sounded kind of constipated to me. Definitely a specialty item.

adydula · « **Reply #24 on:** 24 Jan 2009, 05:18 pm »

DMurphy...

I auditioned these at an Audio Store in Asheville, NC and was floored how well they played in the store..

I was not in the market to buy speakers, but these were so awesome to me at the time I sprung for a set..

But when we got them home it was an extreme dissapointment...there wasnt any low end..or even mid low end .....this sucked big time.....the highs were there but very directional etc yes head in a vice describes it.

The mystique of a full panel electrostatic speaker was really intriguing, it just didnt work out at all for me!

Alex

adydula · « **Reply #25 on:** 17 Mar 2009, 11:13 pm »

My Dahlquist QX10 floor standing speakers are FOR SALE in the for sale circle...if anyone is interested.

Alex

bryede · « **Reply #26 on:** 25 Jul 2009, 08:43 pm »

My SongTowers replaced a new pair of PSB Imagine Towers.

I had been using Polk RT38i's with Dennis Murphy's xover mods for a while and I was itching for something more engaging and transparent. I admire Dennis' work so I decided to start on a pair of MBOW1 3-ways and even managed to track down the discontinued woofers. While I was amassing all the various things I'd need to set up a semi-competent workshop I noticed a new speaker that was getting a lot of press.

The new PSB Imagine line was on the cover of every magazine and getting rave reviews. In addition, they had sexy curvilinear enclosures so I knew it would be easy to convince the wife. I took chance and ordered a pair of the towers. They had great dynamics and revealed a ton of detail, but the tweeter seemed overly zingy and occasionally harsh. At first I thought I would just need to adjust to the PSB's audiophile sound, but I found myself avoiding recordings that brought out the worst in them.

Over the past months I have become too busy to resume work on the MBOW1's but I discovered the SongTowers. Now I've had them a little over 24 hours and I was instantly blown away by how coherent they are from top to bottom. My dad heard them and is now considering a pair. I don't want to say much more until I've spent more time with them, but they have a rightness about them that the PSB's didn't.

Maybe the PSB's are terrific speakers in someone else's living room, but I suspect the SongTowers are the better value in this price range.

K Shep · « **Reply #27 on:** 6 Aug 2009, 05:55 pm »

I replaced PMC GB1's. Great little speakers, however ST RT's are in a different class, IMO.

Kirk

bryede · « **Reply #28 on:** 6 Aug 2009, 10:52 pm »

Quote from: KevinK on 23 Jan 2009, 06:47 pm

My wife was amazed at the sound from the ST's. She said it sounded like there was a blanket over the old speakers and it was removed with the ST's.
nuff said.

My wife will say she's not into hi-fi and can't hear things like I can, but when something is better she notices right away. It's like a drug-sniffing dog. It may find drugs whenever they're present, but it doesn't really want the drugs.

revrob · « **Reply #29 on:** 15 Aug 2009, 03:29 am »

My Legacy Classics of 12 years will soon be replaced by Salk HT3. While I have considered my Legacy's my reference speaker for years it simply does not compare to the Salks. I hope to have these for at least the next 5 to 10 years and so ends 1 year of upgrading my components.

Now I can just sit back and enjoy the music.

Peace,
Steve

Rocket · « **Reply #30 on:** 15 Aug 2009, 03:57 am »

Hi,

Sorry I should have posted to this thread last year when I purchased my Salk Sound Ht2's. I had a really nice pair of custom made speakers that used raven 1 ribbon tweeter and 2 x 7 inch focal kevlar mid/bass drivers in an mtm configuration. I really liked this speaker but after almost 10 years of listening to them in my home I was getting bored of them. I decided to go on a journey of discovery and along the way I built a pair of zalytron phenomenal speaker kit that used raven 2 and phl mid/bass drivers in a tmm confirguration.

I was very dissatisfied with this speaker because it had weak bass and it just didn't sound right. I bought a pair of nuforce s9 speakers for $5500US retail and they were quite good. Now I was getting closer to the sound of my raven/focal speakers but I still wasn't satisfied with the sound of the speakers. The top end and midrange was quite nice but lacked a bit of detail that I was used to but the main issue was the bass seemed to overpower the rest of the speaker.

Luckily for me I was able to sell the zalytron speakers and received a good price for them. The aussie dollar had risen in value compared with the US dollar and I decided to investigate purchase a pair of Salk sound speakers from Jim. I contacted Dennis and Jim for advice. Given the constraints of my budget and amplification that I used they recommended the HT2 speakers. I ordered a pair in bosse pommele and had them sent to Australia.

On arrival I noticed that they were packed very well and there was no damage at all. Given that they had been sent via ship to Australia I was surprised that they had no marks, scratches etc at all. After setting them up in my system and about 30 minutes later they warmed up really nicely and sounded superb in my system. Along the way I was able to upgrade me preamp and dac and on each occasion I was presented with an improvement in my system. Jim was a class act to deal with and was very helpful. If you look at the components that are offered with his speakers it really is a no brainer. The improvements that I noticed were added detail, beautifully presented top end and the bass was excellent imo.

Btw the nuforce s9's have been relegated to HT duties.

Regards

Rocket

newzooreview · « **Reply #31 on:** 13 Oct 2009, 12:06 am »

I have a pair of HT1-TL's on order. They replace a pair of LSA1 Statement monitors that I had for about a month before I returned them for a refund. The Statements sounded good in many ways but had two fatal flaws: 1) a resonance or distortion at certain frequencies typical of female vocals and b) poor quality control on the Chinese production that led to two sets delivered with manufacturing defects. They did give me an introduction to ribbon tweeters, however.

Before the LSA monitors, I had Omega Loudspeakers Aperiodic 8" single driver speakers. They came with Visaton B200 drivers, and those sounded good for a couple of years until one gave out. Louis at Omega said that he had had a number of returns on those, and he recommended that I get his new hemp drivers installed instead. Unfortunately the speakers just didn't sound as good to me after that, and I had already noticed that some little two-way speakers I had bought for my bedroom (Ascend CMT-340 SE) were doing some things better than my big Omegas. So, I sold the Omegas and began my recent search.

Before the Omegas I had a pair of Tyler Acoustics Taylo Reference monitors. I sold them to move to the single driver/low watt amp setup, but I liked them and was thinking of getting another Tyler pair until I came across Salk speakers.

floresjc · « **Reply #32 on:** 13 Oct 2009, 09:06 pm »

Thought I would throw this in there since Jim indicated my system is going into final assembly and will be ready to pack up in a few days. My current setup is an Outlaw 1070 receiver (65wpc) with AV123 "Rocket" speakers. I have the 760's for the front mains, a "Bigfoot" RSC 200 center, and the 250 MKII for rears in 5.0 (no sub) setup. Pretty awesome sounding coming from mainly home theater in a box in college.

The entire setup with be replaced with a Salk/AVA 5.1 home theater system and Salk/AVA dedicated 2-channel rig. For the 2-channel system, I selected HT2-TL's, standard curly walnut finish with a touch of dark dye and upgraded the front baffle to solid claro walnut, also with a hint of the dark dye. AVA Insight EC preamp, Insight DAC and Insight double 440 will drive this rig (~250wpc).

The 5.1 system will have SongTowers (dome) as the front and rear channels, and a SongCenter. Jim is also building a custom Rythmik servo sub, using the 15" Rythmik driver and two 15" passive radiators. I believe this is the first sub of this type Jim has produced and according to Jeff Bagby, should be a real beast. The entire 5.1 system is done in an extraordinary waterfall bubinga I found online, but no other upgrades in finish or functionality (black plinths and baffle, dome tweeter). System will be driven by AVA Insight double 240 and 240/3 (~125wpc) and an Outlaw 990 processor. I also have a PS2100 2-channel preamp with home theater passthrough on this setup. Source is the new Oppo Blu Ray player, Xbox 360 and TivoHD.

oneinthepipe · « **Reply #33 on:** 13 Oct 2009, 11:02 pm »

Quote from: floresjc on 13 Oct 2009, 09:06 pm

Thought I would throw this in there since Jim indicated my system is going into final assembly and will be ready to pack up in a few days. My current setup is an Outlaw 1070 receiver (65wpc) with AV123 "Rocket" speakers. I have the 760's for the front mains, a "Bigfoot" RSC 200 center, and the 250 MKII for rears in 5.0 (no sub) setup. Pretty awesome sounding coming from mainly home theater in a box in college.

The entire setup with be replaced with a Salk/AVA 5.1 home theater system and Salk/AVA dedicated 2-channel rig. For the 2-channel system, I selected HT2-TL's, standard curly walnut finish with a touch of dark dye and upgraded the front baffle to solid claro walnut, also with a hint of the dark dye. AVA Insight EC preamp, Insight DAC and Insight double 440 will drive this rig (~250wpc).

The 5.1 system will have SongTowers (dome) as the front and rear channels, and a SongCenter. Jim is also building a custom Rythmik servo sub, using the 15" Rythmik driver and two 15" passive radiators. I believe this is the first sub of this type Jim has produced and according to Jeff Bagby, should be a real beast. The entire 5.1 system is done in an extraordinary waterfall bubinga I found online, but no other upgrades in finish or functionality (black plinths and baffle, dome tweeter). System will be driven by AVA Insight double 240 and 240/3 (~125wpc) and an Outlaw 990 processor. I also have a PS2100 2-channel preamp with home theater passthrough on this setup. Source is the new Oppo Blu Ray player, Xbox 360 and TivoHD.

That folks, IMO, is the final word for two dedicated Salk/AVA systems (HT and 2 channel) in the same home.

When you upgrade, you don't mess around.

floresjc · « **Reply #34 on:** 15 Oct 2009, 09:37 pm »

Quote from: oneinthepipe on 13 Oct 2009, 11:02 pm

When you upgrade, you don't mess around.

No I didn't mess around on this one. Originally, I was going to buy just a pair of speakers (ST or HT2-TL's) and replace my mains. That eventually waded into replacing the 5.0 and adding the .1 with the SongSub, which further moved into custom sub. And at the end I kind of wanted the best of both (5.1 and 2 channel) I could get, so I added the HT2-TL's. And then in the end, I spent a bunch more for electronics which were never in the picture to begin with because I didn't have enough for 2 systems. But I reasoned to myself that I would never have this kind of money again, and these items are all top quality, with many decades of quality use to come for me. I only have the AVA stuff in home (and the Oppo and other source equipment) and am thrilled at the difference they have made in my old gear. Can't wait to get the Salk's into play very soon.

Caustic Casey · « **Reply #35 on:** 18 Nov 2009, 09:31 pm »

After doing extensive reading here I am almost afraid to say this...

I bought the BOSE AM 5 system many years ago. I then added the VS-10 center and the 161 rears. I don't recall what I paid, but it was certainly too much.
I have been renting apartments all of my life until I reailized a dream, we got a home of our own.
I have to say I was always content with the BOSE speakers, knowing now that it was probably because I could never really push them.
Now in my new listening room, I started to really question the sound of the speakers in general. That is when I started educating myself, and ended up here.
I am very excited about being a new owner of SALK Song Towers. The waiting is the hardest part.
I want to thank Jim and everyone else for the valuable information provided that helped me make my decision.
See you on the boards....
Casey

bryede · « **Reply #36 on:** 21 Nov 2009, 01:32 pm »

Quote from: Caustic Casey on 18 Nov 2009, 09:31 pm

After doing extensive reading here I am almost afraid to say this...

I bought the BOSE AM 5 system many years ago. I then added the VS-10 center and the 161 rears. I don't recall what I paid, but it was certainly too much.
I have been renting apartments all of my life until I reailized a dream, we got a home of our own.
I have to say I was always content with the BOSE speakers, knowing now that it was probably because I could never really push them.
Now in my new listening room, I started to really question the sound of the speakers in general. That is when I started educating myself, and ended up here.
I am very excited about being a new owner of SALK Song Towers. The waiting is the hardest part.
I want to thank Jim and everyone else for the valuable information provided that helped me make my decision.
See you on the boards....
Casey

That's okay, some of the most ardent hi-fi fans I know are people who upgraded from Bose. With all the money they rake in I'm still unpleasantly surprised every time I hear their latest offerings. IMO, their speakers are merely designed to be very inexpensive to manufacture and to sound different from anything else in a store line-up. I am confident you will be very pleased with the Salks. Please keep us updated!

avahifi · « **Reply #37 on:** 7 Dec 2009, 01:18 pm »

You guys might be interested in reviewing again the long thread herein that goes through the process I made in discovering Salk loudspeakers a few years ago.

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=23787.0

Regards,

Frank Van Alstine

Dangerman · « **Reply #38 on:** 14 Dec 2009, 10:02 pm »

I replaced a pair of Soliloquy 5.0 monitors with Salk HT1s. They are now serving as rear surround speakers in my HT setup, with the Salk's as mains. The HT1s were a huge step up in performance and price.

Mudslide · « **Reply #39 on:** 4 Mar 2010, 05:34 pm »

Quote from: avahifi on 7 Dec 2009, 01:18 pm

You guys might be interested in reviewing again the long thread herein that goes through the process I made in discovering Salk loudspeakers a few years ago.

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=23787.0

Regards,

Frank Van Alstine

This was a really good thread, Frank, and it then directed my first interest in and impressions of Salk loudspeakers. I was one of the many that hoped for a shootout, though. It looks like a great association with Jim began with your search.