[Boybees]

Happy Holidays to All! I’ve been meaning to post at some length about my experiences with Jim Salk and the SongTower QWTs. So here goes the first of several installments.

I ordered the speakers in the cherry veneer in early November 2007, to replace a pair of Von Schweikert VR-2s. I took delivery on the SongTowers about six weeks later. Jim has provided exceptional customer service since my first contact with him. He answered all my questions promptly and provided timely updates during the build process. He explained that the process consists of six steps: veneering, cutting, glue-up, sanding prep, finishing and assembly. Building my speakers from scratch took a bit longer than he’d originally estimated, but it was clear throughout that he would take as much time as was necessary to achieve his own standards for quality.

The speakers came via DHL in three boxes, one for each speaker, and a third box containing plinths, grilles, spikes, plinth-mounting hardware, and an envelope with instructions for installing the plinths, tips on speaker placement, and a CD with demo tracks. There is also a personalized birth certificate for the speakers. The spikes are solidly machined, with gently rounded points as opposed to needle-sharp points that stick in carpeting. This last feature makes it much easier to do the small positioning changes that are necessary to get ideal placement.

The boxes themselves sport no fancy labels, and they look like they were packed not by professional packers, but by the folks who built the speakers. If you have ever sold large speakers on Audiogon and had to ship them across the country, you know what I’m talking about. You over-spend on packing materials, over-tape everywhere, and generally obsess about making sure the speakers are secure enough to survive being dropped from a loading dock. This is the level of care that is put into packing the SongTowers.



As to the appearance of the SongTowers, my wife approved immediately (as did I). The cherry veneer qualifies as eye candy. The grain is beautifully positioned on the broad surfaces of the cabinet, and it is expertly matched around corners and edges. The clear coat is polished to a shiny reflective gloss. The magnetically attached grilles are attractive and easy to remove and replace (and they should be removed for critical listening, Jim notes).

I asked Jim for his advice about speaker wire and he said (in so many words) “good quality copper wire and good quality connectors will give you excellent results.” I asked him if he could make a pair of cables for me that would bring out the best in the SongTowers. Though he’s not in the cable business, he was more than willing to help. The result was a nicely finished 10 ft pair with spades at a reasonable price.



The SongTower cabinets have the warmth and organic appeal of wood furniture made singly by skilled human hands. If you look closely at the cabinets, you see microscopic details that speak to the personal touch of the craftspeople. I’ve owned furniture and speaker cabinets that are obviously made by machines on an assembly line. They have a “soulless” quality to them. In contrast, the SongTower cabinets are hand-made woodworking projects and the spirit of the craftsperson is evident in the details.

The sound is excellent out of the box – and that’s all I’m saying for now. (Need to build suspense for further installments of this mini-blog. ). Suffice it to say that I now have a new avatar at AudioCircle . . .

[Philistine]

I had to drop one of my HT3's into Chateau Salk for minor cosmetic repair just before Christmas, Jim did show me around his workshop but I couldn't figure out how it all came together - just bits of wood everywhere 
I did see a pair of Song Towers ready to go out, Jim explained how the baffle came together (I understood this at least), and they looked fantastic.  For the price point they're going to be very difficult to beat.   

[Boybees]

I wonder if someone could give me a quick tutorial on how to post images within my posts. I have some photos of that might interest folks. TIA.

Dave

[Philistine]

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=40968.0

[Boybees]

  Thanks! I was able to drop a couple o' pix into the original post. Next installment will deal with bass response!

[idiotec]

Great post, I can't wait to hear your impressions on the sound. 

I have been in contact with Jim and have made the decision to purchase a pair of SongTowers, just trying to hold off until I move (currently in the process of looking for a new house).  It is tough to wait!

/Ron

*Edit*  I just realized that this was my first post.  Hello everyone!   I have been lurking for so long that I didn't even think about it. 

[Boybees]

In this second installment of my SongTower mini-blog, I will cover two intertwined topics: speaker positioning and bass response.

My listening room is L-shaped and large (roughly 450 sq. feet) and. That’s a lot of air for two 5 in. mid-woofers to move.

Here’s a crude diagram of the room with relevant dimensions. The listening position is represented by a circle, and the two speakers are the 4-point stars. The SongTowers are spaced about 8 feet apart. They are toed-in to face the listening position. The inside back edge of each speaker is about 18 inches from the back wall. The left speaker is about 3 feet from the left side wall, while the right speaker has the large open space of the room on its right side. The room has wall-to-wall carpeting. The left wall is all glass, but is covered completely by window shades during critical listening. There are no acoustical treatments per se, although the large plush L-shaped sectional couch that that the listener sits on certainly affects the sound, so much that I think of it as a “component” in my audio system.



Some details about that system: the source is a Red Wine Audio modified Squeezebox 3 with a battery power supply. It feeds a Plinius 8100 integrated amplifier though VH Audio Pulsar interconnects. The Plinius generates 100 watts/channel into 8 ohms (140 watts/channel into 4 ohms), and is connected directly to the wall using a VH Audio Flavor Flavor 2 power cord. The Plinius drives the SongTowers through custom copper speaker cables made by Jim Salk.

Low bass reproduction to me is about two instruments: electric bass guitar and kick drum. These don’t plumb the ultimate depths of a speaker’s bottom end in the way that, say, pipe organ does. But I don’t have a strong passion for pipe organ music. What I do have a passion for is trip-hop, dub, and other downtempo beats that feature visceral bass and drum sounds.

I primarily use two tracks to evaluate bass performance. The first is “Certainly (Flipped It),” a chilled-down remix of “Certainly” from the album “Baduizm” by Erykah Badu.



The second track is “Karmacoma (Bumper Ball Dub)” a remix of “Karmacoma” from Massive Attack’s second album, “Protection”. The Mad Professor does the remixing:



In my room, a good low end appears to emanate from the floor. It’s as if the speakers are pouring a thick liquid of bass onto the floor and it rolls and bounces like the surface of a water bed. When the bass is right, it connects with the body in a down-going motion. The bass guitar is thick and round and voluminous, the notes appear to take up a lot of airspace; yet they remain distinct and well-defined. The kick drum is all tight impact, like a punch in the gut (but much less painful ).

So what is the “bottom” line on the SongTowers? How well do they live up to the ideals defined in the previous paragraph? Pretty darn well: they exceed expectations for what two 5” drivers can deliver in terms of bass response. They do that “pouring bass into the floor” thing very nicely, to my ears. The bass seems tonally accurate, I detect no significant peaks or valleys in frequency response in my room. On my two test tracks, I hear the impact, slam and power that I want to hear.

My main standard of comparison at the moment is my previous speakers: Von Schweikert VR-2s. These floorstanders feature larger drivers and a larger cabinet than the SongTowers, and they use a transmission-line bass loading (as do the SongTowers). If memory serves, the SongTowers do not deliver quite the bass impact of the VR-2s, but they come very close. So close, in fact, that I don’t find myself missing the small additional “oomph” of the VR-2s. Especially because the SongTowers better the VR-2s in other respects, which I will detail in upcoming installments.

The moral of this story is that with smart design, many things are possible. Jim and Dennis selected excellent SEAS mid-woofers for the SongTowers. They designed a cabinet and a crossover for these drivers that would maximize their ability to deliver deep and accurate bass reproduction. With my room, my system, and my music, the goals have found a happy realization.

[DMurphy]

Howdy   I'm of course delighted that you like everything so far.   But I gotta say, my most immediate reaction relates to your prose.  I used to teach English composition back in the day, and you obviously didn't take any courses from me.  You write much too well.  Is writing part of your day job?

[JLM]

Curious as to why you moved from VR-2 to SongTowers and what makes you apparently happier with the SongTowers.  (As you state and I recall both are 2-way TL floorstanders for the same price.)

[Boybees]

Howdy   I'm of course delighted that you like everything so far.   But I gotta say, my most immediate reaction relates to your prose.  I used to teach English composition back in the day, and you obviously didn't take any courses from me.  You write much too well.  Is writing part of your day job?

Thanks. I reckon you left some pretty darn good wordsmiths in your wake!

Music and books are the two things I love most in this world.

[Boybees]

Curious as to why you moved from VR-2 to SongTowers and what makes you apparently happier with the SongTowers.  (As you state and I recall both are 2-way TL floorstanders for the same price.)

Funny story. I was happy enough with the VR-2s. But then we got a cat and she started to attack the grilles mercilessly (ignoring the scratching post placed strategically nearby). It doesn't take much in this audio game to provoke an upgrade, and I'd been following Jim's forum for a while. One of my criteria for new speakers were: grilles high off the ground. Jim's SongTowers made that short list.

As for how in particular they better the VR-2s, you'll have to wait for the next installment . . . 

[AliG]

I thought the VR-2 was retailed for around $3k?? Hence almost double the price of SongTower?

Curious as to why you moved from VR-2 to SongTowers and what makes you apparently happier with the SongTowers.  (As you state and I recall both are 2-way TL floorstanders for the same price.)

[Boybees]

I thought the VR-2 was retailed for around $3k?? Hence almost double the price of SongTower?

I think you are right (I bought my pair for $1500 in as-new condition, but the retail is in the $2.5-3K ballpark). But if Jim sold his speakers thru dealers and spent money on advertising, you'd see the retail price of the SongTowers climb into that neighborhood.

[WGH]

I thought the VR-2 was retailed for around $3k?? Hence almost double the price of SongTower? :scratch

They did retail for $3000, they were/are a box with four speakers and a lot of stuffing inside, not much bracing but a pretty good veneering. I bet Von Schweikert made a pretty good profit on each one once he eliminated all his dealers. I bought mine new from a pissed off dealer for $1500, probably close to his cost, $1500 for Von Schweikert, $1500 for the dealer, sweet, but some dealers started selling for less on the internet so Von Schweikert yanked everyone's authorization.

At $1500 a pair the Songtower's are a terrific deal. The VR2's have some faults which you will probably read about in the next installment, I will be interested in what Boybees says about the comparison.

Wayne

[R Swerdlow]

Boybees - I'm really enjoying reading your SongTower impressions.  Keep entertaining us with more.  It's really nice to hear an enthusiastic audio junkie, who happens to write very well, tell us why he likes his new speakers.  This is especially true when I happen to own similar speakers .

Dennis - you are the only speaker geek I've ever known who can use the terms "prose" and "baffle step compensation" correctly.

[Boybees]

Boybees - I'm really enjoying reading your SongTower impressions.  Keep entertaining us with more.  It's really nice to hear an enthusiastic audio junkie, who happens to write very well, tell us why he likes his new speakers.  This is especially true when I happen to own similar speakers .

Thanks! I'm just glad there are others out there besides me who care about this stuff. I'll try to get out a new installment as soon as I can.

[satfrat]

Just a thought but are we gonna see these speakers or are the boxes all there is? Two pages now and reading about your impresssion is good n'all and still no speakers,,,, geesh. 

How's about throwing this thread a bone?     


Cheers,
Robin

[Boybees]

Just a thought but are we gonna see these speakers or are the boxes all there is?

Your wish is my command. Check out my avatar for a sneak peak . . . 

[satfrat]

Just a thought but are we gonna see these speakers or are the boxes all there is?

Your wish is my command. Check out my avatar for a sneak peak . . . 

Thanks,,,,,,, looks like I'll just settle for boxes. 

[lonewolfny42]

Just a thought but are we gonna see these speakers or are the boxes all there is?

Your wish is my command. Check out my avatar for a sneak peak . . . 

Thanks,,,,,,, looks like I'll just settle for boxes. 

Maybe a bigger photo....