[bigbwb]

Is there a review of this GTG?

Hello Bob,

Nuance(Brandon) and i did meet up Saturday.  He brought his ST RT's down to my place giving me the opportunity to hear them in my home with my equipment.  My system consists of a new parasound 2100 preamp running into a proceed amp3(150WPC) with a oppo 980 & Squeezebox 3 as a source.  We also at times incorporated my Rythmik 15" sealed sub that was recently EQ'ed with my BFD & REW running flat.  For material I had put together a demo CD consisting of several Jack Johnson tracks, Daryl Stuermer, Fleetwood mac, Dire Straits(Brothers in arms), and Eagles.

We played several tracks over and over again first with my ascend sierrras then his Salks and listened for differences.  To me, both speakers offered excellent bass response and I was less interested in this area considering I run the Rythmik with my preamp anyway.  For the mids, the Salks seemed more detailed with better instrument seperation.  I think this may be in big part to having 2 drivers doing the work compared to one.  The imaging was very impressive with the salks also, everything so natural and never muddy sounding.  For the highs, this is where I was looking for the improvement.  The Ribbon tweet definitely was more natural and accurate sounding compared to the sierras especially when hearing basic cymbals/triangles & etc.  Overall, I felt the midrange clarity and extended highs of the Salks were a step above the sierras and should be considering the cost & size difference alone.

In the end I decided to place an order for the ST's with the dome tweeter only because Jim recommended the dome based on my listening habbits which include mostly rock only and never any Jazz or classical material.  The ribbon does probably have better extension and instrument timbre accuracy, but for the material I listen to, the difference would be very hard to notice.  I still love my sierras and plan to keep at least 3 of them for a theater room I have downstairs.  They are an excellent bookshelf especially for the price but the Salks are more expensive and have that extra bit of midrange & top end clarity that I seek hence the price jump.

This is probably the 3rd or 4th time nuance and I have got together with different gear and we have come to the conclusion we have very very similar tastes.  We truly enjoyed my new preamp which the more I listen to it, the more I realize just how accurate and neutral the thing is on all material!  The detail and imaging the parasound brings out is amazing especially when I flipped the HT bypass button and ran it through my yamaha RX-V2600 receiver.  He also got to experience my EQ'ed Rythmik sub running flat which blended very well with both speakers.

So, I am joing the Salk club and am very excited to do so!

Take care,
Brandon

[BoB/335]

Thanks Brandon and Brandon! (Will the "real" Brandon please stand up?)

I enjoyed the review. Doesn't seem like there was that great of a difference to warrant an upgrade. It must be nice to have the ability to get what you want when you want it. Good for you!

[bigbwb]

Thanks Brandon and Brandon! (Will the "real" Brandon please stand up?)

I enjoyed the review. Doesn't seem like there was that great of a difference to warrant an upgrade. It must be nice to have the ability to get what you want when you want it. Good for you!

Bob,

Thanks!  Were the differences noticeable, yes, where they night & day, no.  They were enough for me to upgrade and I think in my opinion(with my ears) I am slowly getting close to the point of diminishing returns.  Someday I could try getting into a different Salk tower with maybe the costly SEAS midrange(from the HT series) and maybe the Ribbon tweet and see what I think, maybe it would be worth it maybe not(again who knows).  This hobby is very subjective and I refuse to buy something if its not a large(noticeable) enough improvement in sound to warrant the cost difference.  Recently for example I tried the $2k Logitech Transporter(didnt pay that much) just to see how it compared to my $300 SB3 and guess what, I sold it already.  Its DAC's were not a noticeable enough gain for me to keep it.

I hope you find what you are searching for whether its keeping the Axioms or looking elsewhere!

Take care,
Brandon(the other one)

[Nuance]

Thanks Brandon and Brandon! (Will the "real" Brandon please stand up?)

I enjoyed the review. Doesn't seem like there was that great of a difference to warrant an upgrade. It must be nice to have the ability to get what you want when you want it. Good for you!

How'd you come to that conclusion?  I don't think B would have upgraded if there wasn't enough of a difference to warrant the price.  No one was forcing his hand.  What's with the comment?   

[bigbwb]

Thanks Brandon and Brandon! (Will the "real" Brandon please stand up?)

I enjoyed the review. Doesn't seem like there was that great of a difference to warrant an upgrade. It must be nice to have the ability to get what you want when you want it. Good for you!

How'd you come to that conclusion?  I don't think B would have upgraded if there wasn't enough of a difference to warrant the price.  No one was forcing his hand.  What's with the comment?   

Brandon,

I was a bit surprised with the comment myself.  He had posted in another thread how he felt none of us in here had been very helpful too?  I felt my description of Saturday's events were accurate and clear enough, hmmm.  Plus this has to be one of the nicer more laid back forums I have been to.

I wish him the best and hope he finds what suits him best whether its the Axioms / Salks / or something different(BOSE maybe) 

[OgOgilby]

This is my first post... 

I heard a pair of ST RT's and they were by far the best sounding speakers I've heard.  Not that this statement means much from me, but the ST RT's made me start to dislike my current speakers very much after just one listen.  Until that one listen, my current B&W 805S's were my favorite speaker (that I could afford).  Now I'm just suffering with them until my new Salk's show up...

Rocket:  You will be happy to know that I went for the HT2's.  After researching quite a bit, I was still very torn between the ST RT's and the HT2's.  Even Jim's quote to me was "I could be happy with either speaker."  However, there were 2 factors that drove me to spend the extra money on the HT2's.  First, I have a very large room.  It's about 6,500cF and even though I run a sub (SVS PB13-Ultra), I've always felt my speakers were too small.  I sit over 15' from my speakers and they have to play relatively loud to get to my desired listening levels.  I didn't want to push them too hard as I can start to hear the 6.5" woofer start to compress a bit around 80db or so (at my listening position).  This always made me want a dual woofer speaker to make up for the necessary volume.  Second was a call to Jim.  He told me that he was working on a new HT2 that would utilize a transmission line design cabinet like the ST's.  He also said he'd be making them from 1" thick MDF.  This all added up to be too much for me and I pulled the trigger on them.

So 2 weeks ago, I purchased a pair of HT2 TL's with the 1" thick cabinets in "smokey silver guitar finish on English fiddleback sycamore".  They'll be very dark as I wanted near black with some life to it.  I expect they will be absolutely beautiful (to me anyway). 

As far as the differences between the ST RT's and the HT2's, from everything I've read to date (a lot), the main difference is that the HT2's will dig a little deeper.  The midrange may be somewhat "better", but it would be too close and too subjective to quantify.  I was told by fellow forum members from another forum to just get the ST's and Jim Salk told me that 2 of his recent customers listened to both speakers and both picked the HT2's.  See how confusing this is?  I still don't know if I made the right choice...

On a bright note, I only have about 4-6 more weeks to wait for my Salk's...  The wait is really starting to kill me...   

Wow TJHUB, this is weird. This is my first post here and I came this close to ordering the exact speakers. At the last minute I ended up ordering the HT2 TL's and the sealed HTC in Santos Rosewood instead of the fiddleback to make my wife happy. I agree that the waiting is tough and I also hope I made the right choice.

[Nuance]

Wow TJHUB, this is weird. This is my first post here and I came this close to ordering the exact speakers. At the last minute I ended up ordering the HT2 TL's and the sealed HTC in Santos Rosewood instead of the fiddleback to make my wife happy. I agree that the waiting is tough and I also hope I made the right choice.

Well, now you know who is getting the HT2 TL's here in WI, Og, as discussed in PM over at AVS. 

Terry, how long out are those badboys yet?  I think I might be as excited as you.  

[OgOgilby]

Wow TJHUB, this is weird. This is my first post here and I came this close to ordering the exact speakers. At the last minute I ended up ordering the HT2 TL's and the sealed HTC in Santos Rosewood instead of the fiddleback to make my wife happy. I agree that the waiting is tough and I also hope I made the right choice.

Well, now you know who is getting the HT2 TL's here in WI, Og, as discussed in PM over at AVS. 

Terry, how long out are those badboys yet?  I think I might be as excited as you.  

It's a "small world after all" Nuance! Hmmm... that is one song that can't be helped by good speakers. Now I know I must get off the computer... 

[TJHUB]

This is my first post... 

I heard a pair of ST RT's and they were by far the best sounding speakers I've heard.  Not that this statement means much from me, but the ST RT's made me start to dislike my current speakers very much after just one listen.  Until that one listen, my current B&W 805S's were my favorite speaker (that I could afford).  Now I'm just suffering with them until my new Salk's show up...

Rocket:  You will be happy to know that I went for the HT2's.  After researching quite a bit, I was still very torn between the ST RT's and the HT2's.  Even Jim's quote to me was "I could be happy with either speaker."  However, there were 2 factors that drove me to spend the extra money on the HT2's.  First, I have a very large room.  It's about 6,500cF and even though I run a sub (SVS PB13-Ultra), I've always felt my speakers were too small.  I sit over 15' from my speakers and they have to play relatively loud to get to my desired listening levels.  I didn't want to push them too hard as I can start to hear the 6.5" woofer start to compress a bit around 80db or so (at my listening position).  This always made me want a dual woofer speaker to make up for the necessary volume.  Second was a call to Jim.  He told me that he was working on a new HT2 that would utilize a transmission line design cabinet like the ST's.  He also said he'd be making them from 1" thick MDF.  This all added up to be too much for me and I pulled the trigger on them.

So 2 weeks ago, I purchased a pair of HT2 TL's with the 1" thick cabinets in "smokey silver guitar finish on English fiddleback sycamore".  They'll be very dark as I wanted near black with some life to it.  I expect they will be absolutely beautiful (to me anyway). 

As far as the differences between the ST RT's and the HT2's, from everything I've read to date (a lot), the main difference is that the HT2's will dig a little deeper.  The midrange may be somewhat "better", but it would be too close and too subjective to quantify.  I was told by fellow forum members from another forum to just get the ST's and Jim Salk told me that 2 of his recent customers listened to both speakers and both picked the HT2's.  See how confusing this is?  I still don't know if I made the right choice...

On a bright note, I only have about 4-6 more weeks to wait for my Salk's...  The wait is really starting to kill me...   

Wow TJHUB, this is weird. This is my first post here and I came this close to ordering the exact speakers. At the last minute I ended up ordering the HT2 TL's and the sealed HTC in Santos Rosewood instead of the fiddleback to make my wife happy. I agree that the waiting is tough and I also hope I made the right choice.

All I can say is that you obviously have good taste!    I struggled and struggled over what veneer to get.  I wanted something in the black family, but I wanted them to have some depth.  After all, this is my chance to get custom speakers, right?  I'm really sweating Jim getting them right.  I asked him to keep them pretty dark.  I gave him some pics and he's says he's got it.  I sure hope he does!  (I have confidence in him.  )

I hope the HT2 TL's will be magical for me.  I can't wait to find out...

Wow TJHUB, this is weird. This is my first post here and I came this close to ordering the exact speakers. At the last minute I ended up ordering the HT2 TL's and the sealed HTC in Santos Rosewood instead of the fiddleback to make my wife happy. I agree that the waiting is tough and I also hope I made the right choice.

Well, now you know who is getting the HT2 TL's here in WI, Og, as discussed in PM over at AVS. 

Terry, how long out are those badboys yet?  I think I might be as excited as you.   

I emailed back and forth with Jim this past weekend.  He let me know that my HT2's are veneered and have gone through their first sealing process.  If I remember right, Jim said there are 3 sealing sessions and then the finishing?  I don't know...  However, Jim did state this:  "They are pretty far along".  That's all I needed to read and I was happy.    This is my 5th week of my wait.  I'm hoping to see them within the next 3-4 weeks.

Trust me Nuance, you will be the first to know when they are on their way!!! 

[bigbwb]

Terry,

You mean you didn't get your Salks yet?

Mine came this week and I ordered them only two weeks ago.





















 

[Nuance]

^ LOL!  You are torturing the man. 

[bigbwb]

^ LOL!  You are torturing the man. 

So nows not a good time for my lengthy review of them

Just giving you a hard time Terry, I know the feeling, trust me

Later,

Brandon

[funkmonkey]

Sounds like your wait is cake...  

Try waiting for new woofers to be produced, and manufactured, crossovers adjusted, shipments of the new drivers, testing, and then getting to about where you are now...  plus, you guys ordered at a very good time of the year (pre-tax refund)...  

The time passes pretty quick if you can keep yourself busy.  Just wait until Jim tells you that they are ready to ship.  That was by far the longest few days.  

Can't wait to se the pics and read your thoughts when you guys get them.

Cheers,
Funk

[TJHUB]

Ok Brandon...that wasn't entirely cool...    

If I do get my Salks before you, I'm going to email you every day about how great they sound and how I can't believe I ever lived without them.  :insert evil laugh:

Funk:  Don't think for one minute that I didn't follow your adventure all the way.  I often wondered just how anyone could wait as long as you did.    I'm certainly happy for you that it was worth the wait. 

However, I don't think I can keep myself busy like you did.  I'd love to assemble the front end you have to drive my Salks.  I'm in the process of researching a few things, but I think it'll be best to listen to the HT2's for bit and decide what they *need*.  This should be a fun process.

Now...what was this thread about?

[BoB/335]

Thanks Brandon and Brandon! (Will the "real" Brandon please stand up?)

I enjoyed the review. Doesn't seem like there was that great of a difference to warrant an upgrade. It must be nice to have the ability to get what you want when you want it. Good for you!

How'd you come to that conclusion?  I don't think B would have upgraded if there wasn't enough of a difference to warrant the price.  No one was forcing his hand.  What's with the comment?   

Hey Guys,

Maybe some misunderstandings here. I read:
"In the end I decided to place an order for the ST's with the dome tweeter only because Jim recommended the dome based on my listening habbits which include mostly rock only and never any Jazz or classical material."
What was the upgrade? Was it the ribbon tweeter?

The other misunderstanding had already been addressed. Initially in my thread someone suggested I posted in the wrong area. I felt it was exactly where I wanted to be. It felt like an un-welcome in this area of the forum. It was just a misunderstanding.

Hope you guys aren't throwing me under the bus. I'm not that bad of a guy. (Or at least I keep telling myself that and I'm pretty convinced.)

The HT2 looks like a great speaker. I'm already over budget BEFORE considering the ST's (with the dome tweeter). I would think people in my position might consider the upgrade to the RT but the extra for the HT2 would just be too much so the price is probably the driving factor for the initial question. (Thought I'd try to keep on topic) 

[TJHUB]

There will soon be an opportunity for the WAC group to have a Salk Speaker GTG.  ST's, ST RT's, and HT2 TL's could all be in one room.  If the group could convince Jesse to purchase HT3's, then we could really have something special.  (Nuance:  time for you to help Jim sell another pair of speakers.  )  Then this thread could get some solid opinions on why ST's or HT2's...

Oh yeah...the guy with the biggest Salk's hosts the GTG...

 

[OgOgilby]

All I can say is that you obviously have good taste!    I struggled and struggled over what veneer to get.  I wanted something in the black family, but I wanted them to have some depth.  After all, this is my chance to get custom speakers, right?  I'm really sweating Jim getting them right.  I asked him to keep them pretty dark.  I gave him some pics and he's says he's got it.  I sure hope he does!  (I have confidence in him.  )

I hope the HT2 TL's will be magical for me.  I can't wait to find out...

I have to say the same thing about your taste! Sounds like you ordered exactly like what I was looking for, almost black (Jim suggested the fiddleback). They should look great. It was my decision on the speakers and finish and it came down to a very dark fiddleback vs Santos Rosewood. I wanted almost black speakers but I could tell my wife really liked the Santos Rosewood. I am still tempted to change the order to the dark fiddleback, but sometimes you just need to sacrifice for the greater good - I still want to upgrade the amp and surrounds down the road

Sounds like you should get yours before long. Looking forward to lots of photos and a review when you get them

[bigbwb]

Bob,

You are correct.  I could have upgraded to the Ribbon tweeter for $700 but Jim felt based on the music I listen to, the advantages of the RT would be very difficult to discern.

I am a "get the best bang for my buck" type of person, so I took his advice:)

Terry----

I probably deserve those emails once yours arrive

The Salk GTG sounds like fun....I would love to see how noticebale (to me) the differences are between each version.  I believe Jesse may be hearing nuances ST RT's against my other sierras this week possibly.  Maybe we will have another member on board.....and if so he has no other choice but to get the HT3's

We are terrible influences.......


B

[Nuance]

Bob - No one is throwing you under the bus.  You're well liked here. 

There will soon be an opportunity for the WAC group to have a Salk Speaker GTG.  ST's, ST RT's, and HT2 TL's could all be in one room.  If the group could convince Jesse to purchase HT3's, then we could really have something special.  (Nuance:  time for you to help Jim sell another pair of speakers.  )  Then this thread could get some solid opinions on why ST's or HT2's...

Oh yeah...the guy with the biggest Salk's hosts the GTG...

 

According to Jesse the HT3 is well above his budget, but he will be coming over early Saturday before the subwoofer GTG to audition my SongTower RT's.  I foresee another ST dome owner in Wisconsin.  

[DMurphy]

There will soon be an opportunity for the WAC group to have a Salk Speaker GTG.  ST's, ST RT's, and HT2 TL's could all be in one room.  If the group could convince Jesse to purchase HT3's, then we could really have something special.  (Nuance:  time for you to help Jim sell another pair of speakers.  )  Then this thread could get some solid opinions on why ST's or HT2's...

Oh yeah...the guy with the biggest Salk's hosts the GTG...


That's WAC as in Wisconsin?  Not Washington D.C.    I'd kind of like to hear the HT2 TL's.