First things first. Thanks to Jim Salk, Dennis Murphy, and everyone at Salk Sound for creating some amazing products! Thanks to Mary who did a nice packaging job. Thanks to Nuance/Brandon for your help and sound advice, and kudos to the AudioCircle / Salk Signature Sound forum members for creating a great atmosphere to discuss Salk Speakers and audio in general. I have learned a lot about audio over the last couple months (and have a lot more to learn).
This won't really be a review since I am not an audio expert, so just some quick impressions, and I won't attempt to be technical like many Salk owners are able to do here...
At long last our HT2 TL's arrived (we have a matching Center coming also but that is a week or two behind). FedEx managed to split up the shipment so one speaker arrived a day after the first. Unfortunately, I just managed to get a shot of one of the trucks as it was leaving... should have had the camera ready
The speakers were packaged quite well and it took some time to get both large boxes open. FedEx had dinged the packages up a bit - but the speakers arrived without a scratch, which might have something to do with the fact that they were surrounded by 4-5 inches of foam padding! The included "Birth Certificate" and cleaning cloth are nice touches. It was easy to install the plinths and the spikes (BTW, the silver spikes are being replaced with black ones).
The Santos Rosewood satin finish is amazing! Too bad the pics I shot don't do the speakers justice.
How do they sound? Well, this is where I wish I was more of an audio expert. At the moment I have a Denon 4308ci receiver (140 watts for surround, 155 for stereo), OPPO DV-983H for DVD's and SACD's using HDMI, Sony NS999ES I use for CD's using analog outputs, and a PS3 using HDMI for Blu-Ray. I am sure that I will revise this setup, but I am not sure what direction I should head. I wasn't sure the Denon would have enough power for the HT2's, but so far it seems OK. The HT2 TL's appear to be as efficient as the Rocket 750's they replaced, possibly even more efficient judging by the volume settings I was using.
I decide to save Jim's Cd for later - I though it would probably have better recordings than most of our Cd's and I wanted to hear the Salk's with middle of the road recordings. I was able to throw a few Cd's in before my wife got home and play a few tracks that I am very familiar with. The first tracks I played were "released" and "gather" from Glen Phillips "Winter pays for summer" CD. Any question that the Salk's were a big improvement over the Rocket 750's vanished immediately. The song "released" that I always thought had one accoustic guitar playing now clearly had two, it surprised me to the point that I checked the album info - yup, two guitars. Both songs sounded better than I have ever heard them.
Then I played some tracks from Supertramps' "Crime of the Century". It's a fun album/CD to listen to with lots of stuff happening, and it's an OK to good recording depending on which of the 3 CD versions you have. Unfortunately non of the CD versions are as good as the original LP, which I sold years ago
Even so, the HT2's out performed my favorite speakers of old in most, if not all areas (Dahlquist DQ10's, which I sold due to low WAF - again
). My 54 year old ears might be a factor here but I am pretty sure I was hearing thing I never noticed before. The decay on the piano and on cymbals is amazing.
Then my wife arrived. I had stopped listening to music to go feed the dogs. Her first comment was that they were "pretty" speakers. WAF, check, and the grills were off at the time (they still are). I was sure she would ask about the grills, but she never did. Way to go Jim!
We sat down to listen to our new "toys" and I put in Jim's CD. I wasn't sure what to expect and we weren't familiar with any of the tracks. OMG, what an experience, I was blown away and my wife "really liked them and the music" - pretty good, since she isn't an audio buff at all. Music is tight with great imaging, which is exactly what I was hoping for. In our room (17 wide x 22 with 8' ceilings) there is plenty of bass. The guitar on Nils Loftgren's "Keith Don't Go" was breathtaking. I actually called Jim and thanked him right after listening to the song - and probably sounded like an freaking idiot at the time!
It is going to be a lot of fun going through our music library, and expanding it. I'm sure I can improve our room setup and electronics, and it won't surprise me if the Salk's break in and improve a bit. As it stands right now, the HT2 TL's are a joy to listen to.
