[revrob]

Can anyone enlighten me on the history of the HT3? I am mostly concern with when the first were introduced, the (standard) price point at that time and the changes over the years including upgrade to the design and the reason for the price increases, if any.

I am looking at a pair that is about 3 years old and I wonder if anything significant has changed included the price as opposed to the HT3's being made today.

Thanks.

[Big Red Machine]

If you have the photos send them to Jim and he may be able to recognize them and ID their content.  No real revision history exists as far as I know. 

[oneinthepipe]

Dennis modified the crossover last year or earlier this year.  Maybe because of the new woofer, I am not sure.

[zybar]

Dennis modified the crossover last year or earlier this year.  Maybe because of the new woofer, I am not sure.

"I think" that was because of switching to the new woofer.  I believe the new woofer was only introduced due to the old one no longer being made.

I bought one the earliest pairs of HT3's back at the start of 2005 and I believe they are pretty much the same today.  It was only later on that Jim started offering the upgrades that are available today.

As for price...what it cost back 3 years ago is somewhat irrelevant to what they are worth today.  So, I'll let Jim tackle the reason for the price increases over the years.

George

[funkmonkey]

I think they are essentially unchanged.  True they now contain a woofer that is made by a different company.  This happened because the original company(TC-Sounds) dissolved.  The woofers now being used are very near to the originals with some very small design changes, and are being custom built for SalkSound.  The new woofers started going into HT3s at the very end of 2008, in fact only a few pair made it out of the shop with an '08 birthdate.  Dennis made some minor adjustments to the crossovers because of the new woofer, and also a slight revision of the upper section.  I am sure he will tell you exactly what changes where made if you ask him.  Price wise I have no idea, but I do know that Jim operates with a very low profit margin, and he has a real shop now (the first pairs of HT3s were built in his garage).  If you start piling on the extras, the HT3 can get expensive very fast, but a flat black base model has got to be the absolute best deal in audio.

[DMurphy]

I think they are essentially unchanged.  True they now contain a woofer that is made by a different company.  This happened because the original company(TC-Sounds) dissolved.  The woofers now being used are very near to the originals with some very small design changes, and are being custom built for SalkSound.  The new woofers started going into HT3s at the very end of 2008, in fact only a few pair made it out of the shop with an '08 birthdate.  Dennis made some minor adjustments to the crossovers because of the new woofer, and also a slight revision of the upper section.  I am sure he will tell you exactly what changes where made if you ask him.  Price wise I have no idea, but I do know that Jim operates with a very low profit margin, and he has a real shop now (the first pairs of HT3s were built in his garage).  If you start piling on the extras, the HT3 can get expensive very fast, but a flat black base model has got to be the absolute best deal in audio.

I can't add much to the pricing issue, other than to say Jim might actually have decided to at least try and break even.  And Jim has never pushed any of the optional extras.  They are offered because some people want them.  I've twiddled with the crossover a couple of times.  I made an early change to switch the acoustic slopes of the woofer-mid cross to second order from fourth order.  When Jim had to change woofer suppliers,  I was able to boost the impedance slightly in the 200 Hz region, and futzed some more with the remaining crossover values.  I'm pretty sure the current HT3 measures a little flatter than the original, but I really have no idea whether an original owner would hear any difference.  And the mods were not sufficient to change model designations or float any "new and improved" hype.

[Nuance]

revrob,

Based on the info above, I'd say snatch up those HT3's quick before someone else does.  Oh, and don't forget to post picks of your new babies if you do. 

[jsalk]

Here's a little background on the HT3's.

This design was originally a personal experiment Dennis and I worked on.  At the time we began work on it, I was building speakers as a hobby.  The HT3's were the speakers I wanted personally.  I had no idea we would ever sell any.

It took about a year to find the right woofer and when we did, TC Sounds wanted a minimum order of 50 units.  Of course, this design was for my personal use and I had no idea what I'd do with the other 48 woofers.  But it was the perfect driver for this application so I went ahead and placed an order.

At that time, I was building speakers in my back yard.  This meant that during the winter, I had to shovel snow to get to the saw.  And I did all the cutting and routing outdoors - sometimes not fun.

When we finished the design, we posted pictures of the first pair of HT3's and immediately started getting inquiries.  People asked if I would be willing to build a pair for them.  Of course, I said yes.  I based the price on what basically covered the materials with not much to spare.  After all, it was a hobby.

But soon, we started getting too many orders and I enlisted the help of my son-in-law.  Of course, he didn't work as cheaply as I did.  So we had to raise the price so I could pay him for his work.

As time went on, we received more and more orders.  It was becoming painfully evident that we couldn't continue to build speakers in my back yard.  We needed a shop.  This was the point where the hobby started turning into a business.

The shop meant more overhead and we had to increase pricing to cover it.  But it also greatly expanded our production capacity, which of course was immediately taken up with even more orders.

That meant more tools.  We were burning through routers, sanders and other tools.  So we had to increase pricing to cover those as well.

Of course, we continued to improve our methods and processes and gained quite a bit of efficiency in the process.

Early HT3 cabinets were built with butt joints.  Now, they are all mitered joints and dado'd braces.  So the quality of the cabinets has increased quite a bit.

The same was true for our finishing capabilities.  We now use some of the finest finishing materials around.   Of course, they are expensive, but well worth it in terms of results.

As Dennis alluded to earlier, we have had three or four generations of the basic crossover design, the last of which was required to incorporate the new AE-built custom 10" woofer.  This is a superior driver to the TC driver we started out with.

So today's cabinets are better, the drivers are improved (including the W18) and the crossovers are more refined.  That said, there is nothing really sub-standard about the HT3's we built in the early days.

We are constantly looking for ways to improve everything we do.  Today, the HT3's sell for quite a bit more than the prices we charged when speaker building was a hobby.  Many of the improvements we made did increase our manufacturing costs.  But in the end, we feel the HT3's still represent a great value.

The closest retail speaker to the HT3's sells for $20,000 per pair.  And we feel strongly that the HT3's are a superior speaker.  So as far as we're concerned, they are a bargain even at today's pricing and will continue to be among our most popular designs.

Now, we just have to finish the final work on our new flagship model and we'll take things to an entirely new level.  Real soon now...

- Jim

[zybar]

Jim,

Those early HT3's looked darn good and sounded even better!

Here are a few pictures from my pair:







Hard to believe that was from 4+ years ago...

George

[revrob]

Everyone thank you for your insight and experience. Jim thanks for the history. If I am fortunate enough I will be in the club this week.

Peace

[HerculePirate]

I was introduced to Salk Sound through a friend who had heard of it from a friend.....so on....
I was pouring over the pics in the gallery for over a year and a half....PORN at its best....

Finally decided to get myself a speaker in Mexican Ziricote.....6 month wait....
Got it shipped to the Middle East...??????

Perfect finish.....Wait till you see a B&W speaker finish and you will puke on it....
Also a Dynaudio video of them speakers being made line after line ....
This I knew was made with special attention....

PRICELESS tone...

Regards

HP