Finally, my SongTower's!

Mr_Superstar · « **on:** 10 Jun 2009, 01:51 am »

So after a lot of waiting, my speakers finally came!!!! I ordered the Full SongSeries lineup. I opted for the QWT's to save a little money and because I had heard the QWT's and loved them. I figured there was no reason to buy something unheard when I liked the original dome tweeter so much.

As some of you know, randybes was nice enough to allow me to audition his SongTower's in my home for about 3 weeks. However, once I hooked my SongTower's up, I was shocked. They sounded better than I remembered! Perhaps it's because they are mine

.

I don't have the grills for the SongSub yet, as Jim ran out of offsets for the grill. It should arrive shortly. I also don't have the SongSurround's installed yet, as I'm waiting for my order from monoprice to ship as I forgot to order the wall plates until yesterday.

In any case, here are some photos. Everything is finished in Satin Black.

Art_Chicago · « **Reply #1 on:** 10 Jun 2009, 02:30 am »

congrats! very nice setup!

oneinthepipe · « **Reply #2 on:** 10 Jun 2009, 02:46 am »

Very nice.

Mr_Superstar · « **Reply #3 on:** 10 Jun 2009, 03:31 am »

i just want to comment that I just played track #5 off of the demo CD (Nils Lofgren - Keith Don't Go). Holy crap! It's absolutely amazing! These speakers are truly surprising. The level of performance for the price is amazing. I couldn't be happier.

JerryM · « **Reply #4 on:** 10 Jun 2009, 04:22 am »

Quote from: Mr_Superstar on 10 Jun 2009, 03:31 am

i just want to comment that I just played track #5 off of the demo CD (Nils Lofgren - Keith Don't Go). Holy crap! It's absolutely amazing! These speakers are truly surprising. The level of performance for the price is amazing. I couldn't be happier.

Superstar,

Sweet!!!

Great tune! Also, congrats!!!

Try "Three Wishes" from Roger Waters' Amused to Death album.

Have fun,
Jerry

Nuance · « **Reply #5 on:** 10 Jun 2009, 04:23 am »

Yay - they finally arrived. Congratulations! Thanks for the pics.

So what are your impressions of the SongSub?

Yeah, that Nils Lofgren song is the best one on Jim's CD. Good stuff!

vintagebob · « **Reply #6 on:** 10 Jun 2009, 05:30 am »

Yeah! There is light at the end of the tunnel and it sounds like the wait is well worth it.

Thanks for sharing the pictures. They look GREAT!

Mr_Superstar · « **Reply #7 on:** 10 Jun 2009, 01:14 pm »

Quote from: Nuance on 10 Jun 2009, 04:23 am

Yay - they finally arrived. Congratulations! Thanks for the pics.

So what are your impressions of the SongSub?

Yeah, that Nils Lofgren song is the best one on Jim's CD. Good stuff!

It's pretty early, so my impressions will probably change over time. First, I've never had a sub with a PEQ before, so there are more controls on this thing than I know what to do with. It might be currently degrading my sound, as I pretty much left it alone. I did have to turn the gain to about 12:30 or 1:00 o'clock for my room. The bass is still a little lean, but I think that's because I don't have have it in it's final position (closer to the wall). I'm waiting until I get the grills so I don't have to keep moving it around, it's REALLY heavy.

As far as the sound quality, it's amazing. I thought my previous sub was decent, but I know realize that it was boomy. This sub is so tight and fast. I'd say it's pretty seamless with the SongTower's. I'll give more details when I get things more dialed in.

Big Red Machine · « **Reply #8 on:** 10 Jun 2009, 04:43 pm »

I recommend you do not stick the sub in a corner. That will boost some frequencies and kill others and generally give you boomy.

Try it near the rack or on the side walls, midway.

Mr_Superstar · « **Reply #9 on:** 10 Jun 2009, 05:01 pm »

Quote from: Big Red Machine on 10 Jun 2009, 04:43 pm

I recommend you do not stick the sub in a corner. That will boost some frequencies and kill others and generally give you boomy.

Try it near the rack or on the side walls, midway.

I can probably put it on my side wall closer to the couch. That may help. I've thought about putting it closer to the rack, but then I'd have to move the speakers a little farther apart. This wouldn't necessarily be bad, but I think they sound really good in their current position.

haw1144 · « **Reply #10 on:** 10 Jun 2009, 05:23 pm »

What wall plates are you planning on using for your SongSurrounds? I thought about hanging the Surrounds off the wall but went with Jim building me some speaker stands for them... though hanging them off the wall is still a possibilty.

Also, I have my SongSub in the corner... and I don't feel that it's too boomy. But you might want to experiment and aim the driver in difference directions to see which sounds best to you. I don't know how many times I've changed the direction of the sub... since I'm pretty indecisive... right now the driver is aimed into the corner.

Mr_Superstar · « **Reply #11 on:** 10 Jun 2009, 05:41 pm »

Quote from: haw1144 on 10 Jun 2009, 05:23 pm

What wall plates are you planning on using for your SongSurrounds? I thought about hanging the Surrounds off the wall but went with Jim building me some speaker stands for them... though hanging them off the wall is still a possibilty.

I purchased these: http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10425&cs_id=1042503&p_id=3324&seq=1&format=2. They just allow me to use banana plugs for both ends of the cable. I'll be using the B-Tech BT77 wall mount to actually mount the speakers to the wall.

Nuance · « **Reply #12 on:** 10 Jun 2009, 09:20 pm »

Mr_Superstar,

How far away do you sit from the SongTower's. If you sit further away than they are apart, moving them apart could actually give you better sound quality (ie a larger soundstage and a more enveloping sound). Then you'll be able to experiment with subwoofer placement more. However, you generally don't want them further apart than you sit from them, if that makes sense.

Just a thought. I am happy you love your system. I know I would.

Mr_Superstar · « **Reply #13 on:** 10 Jun 2009, 11:57 pm »

Quote from: Nuance on 10 Jun 2009, 09:20 pm

Mr_Superstar,

How far away do you sit from the SongTower's. If you sit further away than they are apart, moving them apart could actually give you better sound quality (ie a larger soundstage and a more enveloping sound). Then you'll be able to experiment with subwoofer placement more. However, you generally don't want them further apart than you sit from them, if that makes sense.

Just a thought. I am happy you love your system. I know I would.

I sit around 10' away from the speakers, so technically, I can move the speakers a little further apart. I suppose I could always mark the "I like" location with tape and experiment with placement. I'll just need a crane to help me move the SongSub around my room

. I believe the box it was shipped in said it was 105lb. So minus a little for packing materials... still really heavy.

Nuance · « **Reply #14 on:** 11 Jun 2009, 05:15 am »

Let us know what your findings are. Tinkering with Salk speakers is always fun.

Mr_Superstar · « **Reply #15 on:** 12 Jun 2009, 02:00 pm »

I moved the SongSub a little closer to the wall and a about 6" further away from the side wall. It made a HUGE difference. My bass performance increased dramatically. When playing a test tone from my receiver, something is rattling. I don't think it's the SongSub, as I couldn't feel the rattle on any external portion (and I don't think there is much to rattle on the inside). I also didn't hear it when it was more in the middle of my room, with the same gain, so I'm pretty sure the sub itself is fine.

As far as the performance goes, the SongSub is amazing. My wife made me watch Twilight last night, so I didn't get a chance to do any critical listening. But there were a few scenes in the movie where the SongSub let it's presence be known. The bass was just so tight. No boom what-so-ever and DEEP. This Sub feels like it goes low.. I don't know how low... but I could feel the bass. (I'm using the 25hz setting).

I considered purchasing a sub for over 2x the cost of the SongSub and now I'm EXTREMELY happy that I saved that money instead. Now if I could only get my wife to approve a pre-amp + amp with those "saved" funds. I don't think it'll happen, but it's fun to think about

.

charmerci · « **Reply #16 on:** 12 Jun 2009, 06:39 pm »

I noticed your subwoofer in the corner. When I used to have a subwoofer, I found that having it centered between the speakers improved the realism of the soundstage.

Nuance · « **Reply #17 on:** 12 Jun 2009, 10:07 pm »

Quote from: Mr_Superstar on 12 Jun 2009, 02:00 pm

I moved the SongSub a little closer to the wall and a about 6" further away from the side wall. It made a HUGE difference. My bass performance increased dramatically. When playing a test tone from my receiver, something is rattling. I don't think it's the SongSub, as I couldn't feel the rattle on any external portion (and I don't think there is much to rattle on the inside). I also didn't hear it when it was more in the middle of my room, with the same gain, so I'm pretty sure the sub itself is fine.

As far as the performance goes, the SongSub is amazing. My wife made me watch Twilight last night, so I didn't get a chance to do any critical listening. But there were a few scenes in the movie where the SongSub let it's presence be known. The bass was just so tight. No boom what-so-ever and DEEP. This Sub feels like it goes low.. I don't know how low... but I could feel the bass. (I'm using the 25hz setting).

I considered purchasing a sub for over 2x the cost of the SongSub and now I'm EXTREMELY happy that I saved that money instead. Now if I could only get my wife to approve a pre-amp + amp with those "saved" funds. I don't think it'll happen, but it's fun to think about .

Heeeeeeeeey, that's great! I am happy to hear everything falling into place nicely.

Good luck with the preamp/amp situation. I say keep pushing, because it will definitely help IMO. Enjoy!

Mr_Superstar · « **Reply #18 on:** 17 Jun 2009, 01:18 pm »

*Sigh*. Bad news. So we had a really bad storm the other night that woke both me and my wife up at midnight. I realized the power was out and the rain was really coming down. So we decided to check to make sure the house was OK. We've had a few leaky windows when it rains really bad, so we decided to check (btw, our house is 2 years old...). One window in our kitchen was leaking, so we cleaned that up. I then checked the basement. There was one window leaking in the basement. This window is right above an electrical outlet. So I decided to turn off the breaker for the basement plugs so when the electricity comes back on the outlet doesn't short. When I opened the breaker box, there was water in there!!!

To top it off, when we finished our basement, we had the plumbers install a battery-backup sump pump. This way, if our power went out, our basement wouldn't flood. Well, either the battery was dead or the pump doesn't work, because we had water coming into our basement. So it was emergency time to unhook all of my gear as fast as possible and move it to higher ground. I moved my SongTower's and SongSub to the landing on the stairway leading down to the basement. I moved everything else to the top of the couch.

Luckily, only a few spots of our carpet got wet, but it might be ruined.

The only thing I'm nervous about now is the humidity in my basement with my speakers down there. It's not that humid down there, but I didn't even think to cover the drivers as their paper. The speakers still have the grill on, so that should provide some amount of protection.

What a crazy day.

vintagebob · « **Reply #19 on:** 17 Jun 2009, 03:58 pm »

Wow, what a crazy day! I hope everything turns out alright.