[Nuance]

  Jim did ship the HT4 cabinets out today.  Hopefully they'll arrive Friday and I can give you a proper demo. 

Wow - that's just awesome!  I am jealous! 

[zybar]

Wish I could demo some Hi Rez, but my receiver is old school. 

Come on up to Boston and I'll provide a few different demos for you Dennis.   

George

Be careful what you ask for.   I'll be in Boston on April 17 giving a lecture at the New England School of Medicine .........   But no--wait--I have to catch the 5:00 U.S. Air shuttle back to D.C., so you're off the hook.  Sorry to scare you like that. 

Dennis,

I absolutely was sincere in my offer.  In fact, I would be perfectly fine having you stay over at my house.

George

[DMurphy]

Hey--maybe we can get together.  I'll get back to you closer to the date.  There are a number of buildings in the medical school and Tufts University complex--I think I'm at the one on Taft St.  Does that sound like it's in the right area?

[TF1216]

Dennis,

It looks like you are already spoken for this time into New England.  I would like to take you to dinner next time, if I may.  I am still extremely grateful for your efforts in helping me in the past.

[DMurphy]

Wish I could demo some Hi Rez, but my receiver is old school. 

Come on up to Boston and I'll provide a few different demos for you Dennis.   

George

Be careful what you ask for.   I'll be in Boston on April 17 giving a lecture at the New England School of Medicine .........   But no--wait--I have to catch the 5:00 U.S. Air shuttle back to D.C., so you're off the hook.  Sorry to scare you like that. 

Dennis,

I absolutely was sincere in my offer.  In fact, I would be perfectly fine having you stay over at my house.

George

I hope we can work something out.  My plans are actually pretty flexible.  How far are you from China Town?

[TF1216]

floresjc,

How was your visit with Dennis?

[zybar]

Wish I could demo some Hi Rez, but my receiver is old school. 

Come on up to Boston and I'll provide a few different demos for you Dennis.   

George

Be careful what you ask for.   I'll be in Boston on April 17 giving a lecture at the New England School of Medicine .........   But no--wait--I have to catch the 5:00 U.S. Air shuttle back to D.C., so you're off the hook.  Sorry to scare you like that. 

Dennis,

I absolutely was sincere in my offer.  In fact, I would be perfectly fine having you stay over at my house.

George

I hope we can work something out.  My plans are actually pretty flexible.  How far are you from China Town?

Hmmm...not really sure.   

My guess is less than 1 hour.

George

[floresjc]

floresjc,

How was your visit with Dennis?

GREAT visit. I went over Saturday morning for a few hours and got to see the wizard's laboratory. I had my Rocket 760 in the backseat of my wife's car, so I had to go up first thing when I arrived and grab Dennis for a little help. He wasted no time, he had the SongTowers powered up and ready to roll in his living space upstairs. Nice big room, with wood floors and an adjacent room with his piano and so forth. He didn't start out slow either, he cranked those things way up and let fly with very aggressive orchestral pieces. Just floored me on two counts. One, he was very upfront with the fact that his were not production model ST, the cabinet was slightly smaller, and they hadn't been finished by Jim. So he said the bass response probably wouldn't be quite as good as the production model, but darn close. Two, I had heard people talking about ST in a big room and maybe they aren't loud enough. They are plenty loud, IMO. Bass response was excellent. I've played in a few orchestra's in my day, and I rarely have heard speakers capable of reproducing the experience, which the ST do in spades.

He pulled the power out of one of the ST and hooked up my Rocket, we did a few A/B tests with the mixed pair. The midrange on mine was quite recessed and he offered a few guesses as to where exactly it was messing up and what could be done to make it better. So we grabbed the Rocket and went down to his workspace. Hooked up the Rocket, did some testing, we had variations in the curve right where he thought it would and explained quite a bit about how he uses these tools and what he's aiming for.

The last part was the best. He has a pretty fancy switchbox set up to where he can A/B four speakers using a remote. He had an HT4, HT3, HT2, and ST hooked up to an AVA rebuild (I think 125wpc) and he demonstrated a few things, pointing out what differences there were to him, and I made a few comments as well. He started out with a tone generator and showed the comparable bass output of each speaker in the Salk line, we started at 30hz, and went up to 40Hz and down to 18Hz. So for about 15 mins, we listened to the variations of his house shaking. We pulled the HT2 out of the setup and plugged in my Rocket and played around with all them for quite some time on real tracks, I can't go back to the Rocket now that I have those beautiful sounds in my head.

I also took a trip up to RSwerdlow's house afterwards, he only lives a short drive from Dennis. We took longer than expected, and I hope his wife didn't give him too much trouble, since he had plans that evening. He was also a great host. His setup was more indicative of mine, room was about the same size, and he had a production pair so I could see the satin finish in cherry. Beautiful speakers, I had been kind of wondering how the satin finish looks, and it has plenty enough shine and depth for me, the Rockets are finished pretty matte comparatively. First thing we checked out was Jim's demo cd, really amazing stuff. Bass response in his room was more than plenty as well, he put in a copy of Fanfare for the Common Man by Copland, and we about blew our ears out with gongs and bass drum. I had brought along a few CD's of things I was familiar with, and we messed with that for quite some time. One particulary impressive track was an old Grateful Dead live CD he had, amazing playback out of the ST and quite impressive recording quality for the era.

The Rocket is a fine enough speaker, and at the time, it was one of the best offerings in my price range. But now that I can go out and buy ST for the same price, it wouldn't have been even close had they come out 3 years ago. In general, at the end of the day, there are 3 notable differences between my Rocket and any of the Salks. One, the midrange is so clear on the Salks, there are no recessed instruments or voices. Two, the bass response of the Salks is musical and not boomy, and there's plent of it. The Rockets have good response, but its in no way near the same quality of bass extension. Three, the ribbon tweeter really opens up the top end. Cymbals, snare drum cracks, everything sounds so much more real. In short, the Rocket sounds like pop music EQ, artificial high end, boomy low end, recessed mids.

So after that, the real adventure begins. I want Salks, but I'm unsure what to get. I'm narrowing it down to HT2-TL and ST. I went in there very much hyped on the HT3. The HT3 is a great speaker no doubt, but the price differential is quite large, and would require quite a bit more investment in power to drive that huge woofer. I would be quite happy with HT2-TL or ST and put the rest towards a center/sub etc. for a really killer setup. The other thing about the HT3 is I don't have a lot of placement flexibility, and the TL designs will allow me much better use of my space.

And, as Jim will tell you, I am trying to figure out what I need to get for custom cabs. So many beautiful choices. I'm particular to the waterfall bubinga, and I found quite a bit of good choices out there on the market, some pricey, some not so much. I'm also leaning towards wooden baffles instead of satin black, so I'm hunting the web for that as well. It helps alot that the ST and HT2-TL are close in size, since I'll need about the same amount of veneer and wood for each.

[DMurphy]

Hi   Thanks for the post and dropping by on Saturday.  I'm always happy when people are so quick to pick up on differences in speaker sound.  That's not always the case (the golden retriever still doesn't get it).  I'm also glad you were able to see and hear the real deal ST at Richard's house.  One small correction (although maybe you didn't intend it the way it read)--neither of the ST's you heard had a ribbon tweeter.  Just a good dome (although probably not better than the tweeter used in the Rocket).  All the other Salks's you heard at my place did have a ribbon of some kind. 

[floresjc]

Yeah I didn't intend to be misleading. The ST did not have the ribbon. Sounded great anyway.

[R Swerdlow]

I also took a trip up to RSwerdlow's house afterwards, he only lives a short drive from Dennis. We took longer than expected, and I hope his wife didn't give him too much trouble, since he had plans that evening. He was also a great host. His setup was more indicative of mine, room was about the same size, and he had a production pair so I could see the satin finish in cherry. Beautiful speakers, I had been kind of wondering how the satin finish looks, and it has plenty enough shine and depth for me, the Rockets are finished pretty matte comparatively. First thing we checked out was Jim's demo cd, really amazing stuff. Bass response in his room was more than plenty as well, he put in a copy of Fanfare for the Common Man by Copland, and we about blew our ears out with gongs and bass drum. I had brought along a few CD's of things I was familiar with, and we messed with that for quite some time. One particulary impressive track was an old Grateful Dead live CD he had, amazing playback out of the ST and quite impressive recording quality for the era.

It was a lot of fun meeting you and talking about speakers.  I was glad we spent so much time.

No my wife didn't give me any trouble, but I did have to eat and get dressed in a hurry.  We had concert tickets that night for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in Rockville.  They played Mahler's 9th symphony that night.  OK, it may not be fair to knock dead composers (some of my favorites are also dead) but my overall reaction was .  So I would have been better off listening to more Copeland or Grateful Dead at home.

Just so you know what else was in operation in addition to the SongTowers, the receiver was a B&K AVR507 (bought used, 150 wpc), the center channel speaker is a NHT SuperZero, and the two rear speakers were NHT SuperZero XTs.  And an old Sony DVD player and older Sony CD player.  My cables are 12 g zip cord made of fine aged copper.

Good luck with your upcoming "summer camp" adventure and I hope you can decide between the STs or the HT2-TLs.  What a dilemma .

Richard

[Nuance]

floresjc,

Great writeup man - thanks!  I am happy that you liked the SongTower's.  You've now met to of the coolest guys in the Salk community, and I am glad you enjoyed your time with them. One day, I hope to meet you all.  Salk get together anyone? 

Richard - sounds like you are still liking that receiver, eh?  Awesome!

P.S.  HOW DID THE HT4 SOUND?????  :D:D

[R Swerdlow]

Richard - sounds like you are still liking that receiver, eh?  Awesome!

Nuance

Yes, that new used receiver is real fine.  Yesterday, I re-installed my 2-channel external amp, after my brother returned it.  He had accidentally fried his own and borrowed mine while his was in the shop.  I'm still listening closely, but so far I cannot hear a difference between the receiver's amps, said to be 150 wpc and the external amp at 200 wpc with the receiver as a preamp.  I think B&K exaggerated the receiver's power.  Based on its specs it closely resembles one of their other external amps which is 125 wpc.

A nice bonus is the FM radio.  It is noticeably better than my old Denon's FM, and I thought that was more than decent.  Admittedly there are many strong radio stations in this area, and I hadn't expected a difference.
Richard (whom experts agree is one of the two coolest guys in the Salk community )

P.S.  HOW DID THE HT4 SOUND?????  :D:D

As a visitor to the Secret Salk Labs, floresjc had to sign a confidentiality agreement that in effect requires him to turn over his spleen, kidneys, and first born if he reveals any details of the HT4, or any other yet-to-be named speaker in development .

[drab]

As a visitor to the Secret Salk Labs, floresjc had to sign a confidentiality agreement that in effect requires him to turn over his spleen, kidneys, and first born if he reveals any details of the HT4, or any other yet-to-be named speaker in development .

Sounds like a small price to pay, lets hear it!

[floresjc]

Well, I'm not exactly sure what Jim and Dennis want out about the speaker, but on the other hand, if you live in the area, its not squirreled away so you can't see it. So its out there. I can give semi-detailed impressions based on my time with the prototype and the others in the Salk line, but so I don't cause any trouble, I'll wait for an ok from Jim/Dennis.

Just talking with Dennis about it Saturday, there are still challenges. As he stated to me, the HT3 is a darn fine speaker, and you'd be hard pressed to beat it without quite a bit of effort. That said, based on what I saw, they are making good cut at it (I was impressed). I think Dennis will be receiving the new cabinet this week, so he'll be busy integrating that, and perhaps I'll be lucky enough to see the HT4 a little further along.

[DMurphy]

Thanks for the appropriately circumspect comments about the HT4.  One of the main objectives of the design is to improve on sound staging, and that can't be evaluated until there are two of them running.  Fed Ex seems to be doing their best to delay that test--I've given up on checking which circuitous route the truck decided to take on any particular day. 

[Zero]

One day I gotta roll up to the Murphy dig's and get my ears on some of dem ribbon's!  It's great to see ya had a good time floresjc!

 

[Nuance]

^ Haha - I love the new avatar, Zero.  Great stuff man!  

[Zero]

Thanks Naunce. That's Pen Pen..  my security guard around these parts.  I can't tell ya how many times he's saved my ass..