[oneinthepipe]

Beautiful finish.  Too bad about the W18.  I am sure that Jim will get that to you forthwith, and you will be good-to-go.

[mathgeek97]

Beautiful finish.  Too bad about the W18.  I am sure that Jim will get that to you forthwith, and you will be good-to-go.

Jim said he'd send one out tomorrow.  He offered to overnight it, too.  Knowing I wouldn't have time to tinker tomorrow, I told him 2-day shipping would be fine. So, hopefully I'll have updates this weekend.
Jim also let me know that replacing the W18 will be so simple even I can do it without screwing it up!
-Kevin

[funkmonkey]

Kevin-  so sorry to hear about the bad driver, but Jim continues to impress with his customer service.   

and I couldn't help but note the irony of that big hack mark being so close to the "Fragile Handle with care" writing.

[Nuance]

Oh man...this totally bites.     

I am sorry, Mark.  You've been such a good sport, but you're handling it very well.  Kudos to you! 

If this was FedEx's fault I sure hope they are paying for the damage.  Hang in there, bud; it's almost go time. 

[mathgeek97]

Oh man...this totally bites.     

I am sorry, Mark.  You've been such a good sport, but you're handling it very well.  Kudos to you! 

If this was FedEx's fault I sure hope they are paying for the damage.  Hang in there, bud; it's almost go time.

Oh, I was being a great sport until you called me, "Mark!"   
At least I've got the Salk eye candy in my room!
-Kevin

[vintagebob]

That's just WRONG!   

If you see a report about FedEx trucks here in the Bay Area with flat tires...it wasn't me. 

[OgOgilby]

That is a shame Kevin.

On the bright side... replacing a driver is a bummer, but at least FedEx didn't mess up that beautiful wood finish - that would have taken a lot longer to repair!

[mathgeek97]

All will be good on Friday.  One thing FedEx is good for is tracking!   
Ya know, even with only one good speaker I could tell how nice the LCY tweeter is.  I'm dying to get the pair up and running and cranking!
-Kevin

[mathgeek97]

The new W18 arrived from FedEx this afternoon, still in its original Seas packaging.  Jim had told me it shouldn't be more than 5 or 10 minutes to switch out the drivers.  It was more like 3 minutes.
So, I once again turned everything on, put on Norah Jones and...
Instant Music Induced Coma!!!  What a wonderful, clear sound!  Just WOW!
Spent the better part of the night listening and now it's way too late to think.
Thanks Jim!!!!!  Wonderful speakers and great customer service!
-Kevin

[Nuance]

Glad to hear, Kevin!  That's makes my night...or is it morning now... 

I look forward to further impressions.  Enjoy!

[oneinthepipe]

The new W18 arrived from FedEx this afternoon, still in its original Seas packaging.  Jim had told me it shouldn't be more than 5 or 10 minutes to switch out the drivers.  It was more like 3 minutes.
So, I once again turned everything on, put on Norah Jones and...
Instant Music Induced Coma!!!  What a wonderful, clear sound!  Just WOW!
Spent the better part of the night listening and now it's way too late to think.
Thanks Jim!!!!!  Wonderful speakers and great customer service!
-Kevin

Kevin:

Happy to hear you received and installed the replacement driver and the speakers play well.  Look forward to tomorrow's report. 

[jazzcat1]

Great news Kevin! Let us know your impressions when you come out of that listening coma! 

[OgOgilby]

Congrats on the successful W18 replacement Kevin. Now the fun begins... 

[Rocket]

Hi Kevin,

Glad to hear that you replaced the speaker with no problems.  I'd be too damn scared to replace a driver because I would probably damage the finish of the speaker.  It looks like a very heavy object has been placed next to your speakers because Jim's packing is pretty good.  I had my HT2's (non TL) shipped by sea to Australia and there wasn't a mark on the packaging.

The HT2's are a great sounding speaker and everytime I improve my system my speakers rise to the occasion and I can hear improvements.  I recently replaced my N.E.W. P3 preamp (cary oem manufactured this preamp) with a bel cant pre1 that I bought for a bargain price.  When I inserted the preamp into my system I could immediately hear an improvement in transparency and the top end was extended.

Happy listening.

Regards

Rod

[mathgeek97]

Salk Family and Friends,
So far so good.  So very, very good.  I haven't have too much time to do critical listening, but have had a few moments.
I'll write up something later (I'm actually at work at 6pm on a Sunday, trying to complete a project.)

[Nuance]

^ I look forward to it.  And ah...how about some more PICS!!?? 

[mathgeek97]

I haven't had much critical listening time.  Lots o' kidlets at home, ya know.  My room sucks, but not nearly as bad as I would have guessed.  I need to play with placement a bit, but keeping the towers away from the walls seems to be the right thing.
I had two vocal musician friends over on Sunday for my baby's first birthday (I don't sing, btw).  I put on the following (after we ditched our wives):

Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody:  This was the first thing my buddies heard.  They mostly just sat there silent.  We were very impressed with the clarity and dynamics of the recording.  This is a song we all know pretty well.  One of my friends commented, "You can hear imperfections in the recording" and "Oh!  That's where the bass comes in.  Nice!"   Then we had a nice conversation about how revealing my HT2-TLs are.

Norah Jones - Don't Know Why:  We really enjoyed the vocals here.  One comment heard afterwards, "Really impressed with the midrange."  And, no, my friend doesn't hang out here nor at AVS.  We were all just that happy with what we heard.

S.M.V. - Lil' Victa: This is not a piece we all know, but it was a good way to show of how fast/tight/deep the bass is.  I thought this was a very good recording.  Friend commented, "I'm having speaker envy!"  (and I happily didn't hear any room nodes.)

It was good to get a few more (musically trained) ears to listen and comment.  Just on my own, I've had little time to listen at reasonable enough volume to really pick out details.

I can say that I was very impressed with the 2-channel layer of the SACD version of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon.  It almost seemed like I had on a vinyl LP, minus the dust and scratches.  I was really happy with the level of detail I could pick out here.

Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um.  A jazz album I've heard many times.  Now I'm thinking I need a better recording, if one exists.  I could distinctly hear tape hiss.  Are these towers going to turn me into a snobby audiophile?  Hope not.

That's all for now,
Kevin

[vintagebob]

Nice to hear that you're having fun with your HT2-TLs!

[jazzcat1]

Thanks for the review Kevin! Glad your friends were impressed. Hope you can get down to some serious one-on-one listening with them!