I visited Dennis earlier today to hear the final HT4 prototype. They will be publicly shown very soon at the AK Fest (
http://www.akfest.com/index.html) on the first weekend in May. Dennis says that Jim has a large showroom (
http://www.akfest.com/floor_main.html) on the main floor of the hotel so he can properly display it.
It is a 3-way speaker, larger and heavier than the HT3 and with a number of very interesting or perhaps innovative features. It has a custom ribbon tweeter, different than those in the HT2 or HT3, and a most unusual midrange driver - unlike anything I've seen. The woofer is a 12" aluminum driver made by the same manufacturer of the HT3 woofer.
Each speaker has two separate cabinets, one housing the tweeter and midrange, and sitting beneath, is a much larger cabinet containing the woofer in front and two 12" passive radiators, one on each side. The cabinets I saw are test mules, prototypes made of MDF. Dennis tells me the final design will be made of a material other than MDF, and the mid/tweeter cabinets will be somewhat more complex in shape than the test mules I saw. Instead of being constructed as boxes assembled from flat panels, they are made of numerous individually cut cross-sectional pieces that, when stacked together, create a uniquely shaped curved compartment for the midrange and tweeters. The tweeter mounts with little or no extra front baffle around it, and the midrange section opens in the back
.
The woofer is in its own similarly constructed cabinet. Although the bass test modules I saw were made from MDF panels, Dennis says the final version will share the machined cross-section construction of the upper cabinet. It is the most rigid and heavy cabinetry I've ever seen. The way these cabinets are designed and constructed, I can't imagine them suffering from panel resonance. I can't wait to see photos of the real thing from AK Fest.
The HT4 is definitely more sensitive than the HT3 and is likely an easier load to drive. Dennis used a 200 wpc amp that seemed to do well with it. This the same amp that suffers and groans (and at least once crapped out) driving HT3s to a loud level.
How does it sound? I've heard the HT2 (standard reflex cabinet, not the TL design) and the HT3. Both of these do sound better than the SongTower, but as a happy SongTower owner, I'm not jealous of them. The HT4 is another story - I loved them. Yes, of course, they go deep and are as clean and undistorted sounding as any speaker I've known. But that is hardly what makes these so wonderful. There is a soundstage depth, a 3-dimensional quality, to these that I've never experienced before. It really captivated me. I know I'll probably never have the money burning a hole in my pocket to pay for them (unless I hit the lottery), but a guy can always dream! I wish I could describe them better, but maybe you can see and hear them at AK Fest, or other audio trade shows later this year.
Dennis has outdone himself on the design of these speakers. If they get Jim's usual stunning cabinetry details and finish, I think they are going to be truly worthy Flagship speakers for the Salk line
.
Richard