[Boybees]

You stole my thunder! OK I'll take back ownership of this photo, and will add others in upcoming posts.

Extra for experts: can anyone guess what genre of music is housed in the CD rack to the left of the SongTower? Extra Credit: name some of the CDs in the rack . .

[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. 

Maybe a bigger photo....

Thanks Chris, you the man! A closeup of the drivers is just what i was hoping for.  

[fiveoclockfriday]

As for genre, I'm guessing jazz. I see some Impsule labels there. As for what albums...well I'd need some CSI style "enhancing" to read those labels!

[Boybees]

As for genre, I'm guessing jazz. I see some Impsule labels there. As for what albums...well I'd need some CSI style "enhancing" to read those labels!

You are correct sir. 

[Boybees]

Thanks Chris, you the man! A closeup of the drivers is just what i was hoping for. 

I'll try to post an even bigger pic of the drivers this weekend, and some good ones of the veneer too if I can catch it in the right light.

[Boybees]

As promised, here are some more photos of my SongTowers:



This one shows the the three drivers that comprise the SongTowers' MTM design. The The Hiquphon 0WII tweeter is straddled by two Seas CA15 5" mid-woofers.



Here is a shot of the cherry veneer taken with flash. This one is true to the color of the veneer and shows the beauty of the veneer pattern.



I included this one (shot without flash) to show that in natural light there are actually two patterns that emerge in the veneer: the grain of the wood and also a separate kind of quilting overlaid on top of it. It appears as light slashes parallel to the floor. Very nice. The color on this shot is washed out - the true color of the wood is much closer to the first photo above.

[JTEE]

I have owned a pair of Cherry SongTowers for one week.  They were purchased after conducting listening tests of the following speakers:  the Definitive Technology BP 7006, B&W 683, and Paradigm Studio 100 v.4.  I was reluctant to buy speakers I had not auditioned, but the pictures of the SongTowers, and the favorable reviews on line, were just too tempting.

When I received the SongTowers I was immediately struck by their beauty.  The pictures I had seen on the Salk website simply didn't convey the true quality of the craftsmanship or furniture grade nature of the speaker cabinets  After quickly connecting them to my receiver, I began listening to a variety of music.  This consisted of the demo CD included with the speakers, as well as music from the following artists: Alison Krauss, Mindy Smith, Sara Bareilles, James Taylor, Jamie Cullum, Kelly Clarkson and India Arie.  I was stunned from the moment I heard the first note.  The clarity of the human voice when played on these speakers is nothing like I have ever heard.  "Pure" is the best word I can use to describe the sound.  The other quality that quickly became evident was the width and depth of the sound stage.  The speakers literally seem to disappear.  They are positioned about 9 feet apart and a 30 year old Epicure Model 10 is positioned between them and serves as a center channel in my HT setup.  My wife, a classically trained pianist and a vocalist in a band, listened to the SongTowers and commented on how well the sound of the center channel complemented the Songtowers.  She didn't believe me when I told her the music we were listening to was not being played through the Epicure.  Only after she walked forward and placed her ear next to the center channel did she realize that I was telling her the truth. Vocalists sound as if they are a holograph being projected directly in front of you.

The piano, guitar, and brass also are reproduced in a first-rate manner.  There is nothing harsh about the horns, and the piano has a bell-like quality to it.  Acoustic guitars sound nimble and uncolored.

The most surprising aspect of the Songtowers is the bass.  I cannot believe a speaker with such small drivers can deliver bass that you not only hear, but feel.  I'm not talking about booming bass that is just loud.  I'm talking about tight musical bass.

In comparing the Songtowers to the other speakers I auditioned, I have just a few thoughts.  The B&W's are the second best in my opinion.  They come close to matching the SongTowers in the treble area and in accurately reproducing male voices.  The cannot match the Songtower's reproduction of the female voice, and the low end of the B&W's sounds "muddy" to me.  The Paradigm and Def Tech speakers are a distant third and fourth.  The Paradigms sound like the Bose system in my car when I listen to XM radio on my way to work.  "Flat" and "dull" are the words that come to mind.  The Def Techs have plenty of bass, but it is non-musical to my ears, and I find the highs to be too forward and harsh.

For the record, my Songtowers are powered by a Yamaha RX-V1800 receiver and I utilize a HSU VTF=2mk3 sub.  My CD's are played via a Sony Playstation 3.

I simply don't think you will find a more accurate speaker in the $1500 range.  And I know you won't find a person who is easier to work with and more dedicated to his craft than Jim Salk.

[yooper]

Well said    Welcome to the forum, and welcome to SalkSound!  The only downside to purchasing such fine speakers, is you may find yourself wanting to upgrade some of your other equipment.  aa

Mark

[DMurphy]

"When I received the SongTowers I was immediately struck by their beauty...

This will sound self-serving, but it's really not, because I obviously have nothing to do with the build quality of the ST, and also don't have any financial interest in them.  But I know that when Jim first decided to take them on, and came up with the $1500 price (OK, $1495), the plan was to use cabinets pre-fabricated off-shore.  When that didn't work out, and Jim decided to offer his own cabinets in a few standard veneers, I assumed what you would get was garden-variety veneer with the typical flat grain and dull finish.  I went over to Rich Swerdlow's on Friday to sit in on a demo for a dude from Baltimore--Richard has the cherry veneer.  I was pretty much blown away by the furniture-grade finish and veneer.  All kinds of interesting grain patterns and not a fault to be seen.  Plus, you get solid plinths and spikes.  When's the last time you had a vacation, Jim?

[Big Red Machine]

We're gonna take him and Mary out to dinner.  He's working extremely hard.

[R Swerdlow]

JTEE - Welcome to the world of cherry SongTower owners!  I enjoyed reading your listening impressions and completely agree with them.  Very well said.

On the subject of Jim's wood finishing skills...

Last Friday, ptlurking from Baltimore, paid me a visit.  He was interested in hearing some SongTowers.  He owns B&W 602s, and brought them to do a direct comparison.  I'll leave it to him to tell us about his impressions of the SongTower's sound (I will say that the SongTowers were more sensitive that the 2-way bookshelf B&W speakers which are nominally 8 ohms).  But Pete did immediately comment on the beauty of the cherry finish.  He added that he is also considering B&W 683s, which for the same price as the SongTowers, come with a VINYL finish!

Over the weekend I was also talking to my brother, whose neighbor has recently bought a pair of SongTowers, finished in glossy black.  In addition to music, he also collects Indian art.  That's Asian Indian.  His large home office, where he also practices psychiatry, is strewn with numerous pictures, sculptures, and other objects - all from India.  It's extremely eclectic.  A patient of his recently told him that his office was a jumbled mess - full of elephants, monkeys and maharajas.  The only things in that room that looked good were his speakers.  So Jim, your work stands up well to classical Indian art, at least in the eyes of one person.

[jv8]

My first impressions of the SongTowers:

Audio:

I will echo pretty much everything said here.  I have never heard such detail along with such bass extension from a pair of smallish and relatively inexpensive speakers.  Probably the worst part of this purchase is that I now want to go off and upgrade all my recordings and equipment!  These speakers are very revealing.  I love being able to disconnect my sub for 2-channel and have completely tight and musical bass.

I can't wait for the SongCenter to arrive... and I will probably opt for the SongSurrounds at some point.

Build Quality:

From what I can tell on the outside, these are very stout cabinets and everything seems well built.

Finish:

I ordered black to match my HT.  I am more interested in sound quality than "fine furniture" wood grain finishes.  That being said, with all the gushing about the ST finish I guess my expectations were high.  The ST's sit next to a Velodyne sub that has a gloss piano black finish which I assume is some sort of vinyl.  To be honest, I like both equally - they both have pros and cons.  If the ST's could be made cheaper with a Velodyne vinyl type finish, I would have gone that route just to save the cash.

The SongTower finish PROs:  I like the fact that there is a solid layer of lacquer that forms a consistent finish around the entire cabinet.  There are no vinyl corners to start peeling up.  I would imagine the ST's can have a more organic shape (rounded corners, etc) since they don't have to deal with vinyl wrap.

ST finish CONs:  From 6-10ft away they look perfect.  However, close up, black is a very revealing color.  They have kind of a "hand crafted" look.  You can still see fine sanding lines.  The black base color is lighter along the top corner edges.  The Velodyne has a more consistent finish in this respect.  I imagine with a wood veneer the stuff I mention would not be noticeable.  All in all, the black ST finish is very acceptable at the price point - I don't expect Jim to be rubbing out show-car finishes on his low-end product.


So to summarize:  I'm neutral on the finish, build quality is great, audio blows me away!


Edit:  I forgot to mention: customer service was great!  I had a few concerns (before and after the sale) which Jim addressed promptly.  I've dealt with other speaker vendors that don't even answer my emails _before_ they have my cash... not to mention after the sale.

[Boybees]

I’m sitting in my living room, recovering from knee surgery, left leg elevated and heavily bandaged, listening to my SongTowers, and wondering – does Vicodin enhance aural perception? And then to my satisfaction I remember that the STs sound great even without opiates.

In their internet postings, Jim and Dennis make clear that perfecting the SongTower midrange was a central design goal. Did they get it right? To find out, I queued up my favorite recordings of acoustic guitar and female voice, two “instruments” that are emblematic of the midrange. Both recordings, as it turns out, can project quasi-holographic stereo images, but they require a system with transparent midrange to complete that illusion.



For acoustic guitar, my reference is “Krushevo”, a collection of Macedonian folk songs performed by guitarists Vlatko Stefanovki and Miroslav Tadic. The setting for their performance, an oddly-shaped cathedral-like monument in the former Yugoslavia, finds its way into the sound of the recording. Of the 10 songs, “More Cico Rece Da Me Zeni” best captures the interplay of the two guitars in this space. The SongTowers allow the guitars to bloom and render the interior of the building. The players exchange solos and melodies, and the tone resounds. My engagement deepens, and I wonder who crafted these guitars and what woods were used? How large is the interior of the monument, and where in it did the players sit? If there are clues in the recording, the SongTowers reveal them.

As I listen, I become aware of a shortcoming of my previous loudspeakers, the otherwise capable Von Schweikert VR-2s. On familiar records (and these comparisons are only from memory and thus subject to the usual biases) the STs seem more transparent in the midrange than the VR-2s. The VR-2s portrayed music with a pleasant warmth, but in the shadow of the SongTowers that warmth now seems a veil and a coloration.

Because of their transparency the SongTowers are a godsend for great recordings, but they are less forgiving to poor ones. The VR-2s were kinder to some of my compressed, poorly transferred rock CDs. Perhaps more listenable on these recordings, but ultimately less satisfying.

I’m also noticing that with the STs, the soundstage remains more stable from different listening positions than it did with the VR-2s. The latter imaged nicely from the sweet spot, but the soundstage shrank at other locations in the room. Not so much with the SongTowers: one of the upsides of using smaller mid-woofers is less “beaming” in the upper midrange.

How well do the SongTowers reproduce the female voice? To investigate, I dial up Diana Krall’s superbly recorded “Love Scenes”, focusing on the first track “All Or Nothing At All.”



A speaker given to sibilance will show it on this record. The balance struck in the SongTowers is the ability to capture the subtle rough edges, the “smokiness” of Diana’s voice, without devolving into unnatural sibilance. The dulcet heart of her singing is beautifully rendered, the humanity of her performance unconstrained. Credit the artistry of engineer Al Schmitt (as well as producer Tommy LiPuma) for crafting the aural illusion of a small jazz club with candlelit ambiance. The recording anchors the performers in a three-dimensional sound field. The backbeat hangs on Christian McBride’s bass lines - round notes expand from the wooden hollow of his instrument. Russell Malone’s guitar frames a counterpoint to Diana’s voice, its tone rich with melancholy. The SongTowers enable this recording to soar in the way that its makers intended.

That’s all for now, but I’ll return soon with one more installment. Stay tuned . . .

(Note: all listening trials were done sans Vicodin, just to make sure. Indeed, the SongTowers are a pain killer in their own right . . . )
 

[R Swerdlow]

SongTowers sound great even without opiates!  That sounds like a great commercial jingle.  Kind of reminds me of the old Miller Lite beer commercials - tastes great - less filling.

Sorry to hear about your knee.  I hope it heals quickly.  Keep doing your physical therapy.

I really enjoy reading what you have to say about your STs.

[Legendlime]

Hey Guys,
 I got my new SongTowers set up today!
The first song to come out of them was a Beatles song and the first thing I noticed was the distinct left / right separation. I took my place in my listening chair and  Daydream came on and the room filled with music. The sound stage and imaging were remarkable, I acually said Holy S_ _t out loud. I played around with placement and tried all kinds of different music and I was never dissapointed. I think the best part was when I started spinning vinyl, it really is like having a whole new music collection. Just amazing.

I know I've still got a long way to go with my system but this was a very good day.

[PhishPhan]

Are you a Jethro Tull fan? I see you've got Stand Up stood up on your countertop. I'm a big Tull fan, and Stand Up is one of my favorites; there are some real underrated songs on that album.

I think I see Quadrophenia, too. Another great album.

[Boybees]

Hey Guys,
 I got my new SongTowers set up today!
The first song to come out of them was a Beatles song and the first thing I noticed was the distinct left / right separation. I took my place in my listening chair and  Daydream came on and the room filled with music. The sound stage and imaging were remarkable, I acually said Holy S_ _t out loud. I played around with placement and tried all kinds of different music and I was never dissapointed. I think the best part was when I started spinning vinyl, it really is like having a whole new music collection. Just amazing.

Nice looking setup. I like the way the Salk nameplates look on your STs. Jim built mine without the name plates, but he has subsequently sent me a pair, and I plan to put 'em on this weekend.

After that I'll post some nameplate photos  along with the final installment of my SongTower mini-blog.

One thing I notice about your set-up is that you appear to have the tweeters on the outside edges of the speakers. The set-up instructions I received from Jim said to assign right and left so that the tweets were on the inside edges of the speakers.

[Legendlime]

Thanks I switched the speakers this afternoon. I remember reading that but I may have been a little anxious to get them playing and I forgot.

 Yes, I am a huge Tull fan and Stand Up is one of my favorites also.

On the floor in front is The Yes Album. One of the songs on there is The Clap and when played through the ST's a very distacting rythmic thump (I think it's Steve Howe's foot tapping) is heard. I don't remember it bothering me before. It says something about the base response and the accuracy of the speakers. Maybe that's why they included a studio version of this song (without thumping) at the end of this CD issue. In the studio version I could hear lots of string noise, like stings vibrating against frets or fingernails and that was a little distracting. I'm going to have to get used to these subtleties.

[BrianM]

I could hear lots of string noise, like stings vibrating against frets or fingernails and that was a little distracting. I'm going to have to get used to these subtleties.

Heh.  The worst is when (on acoustic recordings) you get a loud breather, or someone who can't avoid humming along with his playing.  Pianists are sometimes the worst culprits.  I have an entire Schubert sonata cycle that's now best heard in my car - great player, not so great vocalist.

[bkatbamna]

Reminds me of the time I first put on Gould's Goldberg Variations('80s) version on the record player.  I thought there was something wrong with the system.  Finally after closely listening, I realized that the hum and noise was Gould himself humming along with the music.