RMAF field report 10/3/09@11:10PM

oneinthepipe · « **on:** 4 Oct 2009, 05:10 am »

The Salk Signature Sound/Audio by Van Alstine room was extremely busy on Friday and Saturday. The expectation is that Sunday will also be busy.

The HT-4 are incredible. With this system, I think a listener will quickly become so involved in the music that he or she would "forget" about speakers and amplification. Most visitors' attention quickly shifted from the components to the music. In many other rooms, the visitors did not appear to be contently listening to music.

The entire line of speakers are being driven with two AVA UltraValve amplifiers, in mono, each producing 60 watts per channel. An AVA preamp and AVA DACs were behind a CDP (transport) and SB.

Dennis and I visited many other rooms today to listen to speakers, and while there were other excellent full-range speakers, they carried price tags from $28,000.00 to $45,000.00 (and beyond, I believe).

There was nothing displayed, in my opinion, in any room, that came anywhere near the SongTower at anywhere near the price. The sound in the Salk/AVA room, regardless what was playing, was inviting. There were some rooms where the blare and/or boom from the systems quickly drove me out.

Jim, Mary, Dennis, Frank, and Wayner have been great fun. There were many other AC'ers in attendance, including Ed, lonewolfny, and Paul (from NYAR), bpape, WGH, Ian (from NEAR), et al.

More later.

oneinthepipe. Over and out.

tcsubwoofer · « **Reply #1 on:** 4 Oct 2009, 01:43 pm »

I visited 30 rooms or so yesterday at RMAF and this is my third year attending (I live in Denver). I was able to listen to the HT4 and Song Towers. I also heard the HT4 and no doubt they were impressive looking and impressive sounding. But one finds at RMAF that you get impressed by the smaller things...the giant killers so to speak and I want to focus on the Song Towers.

I'm a big fan of Salk and Selah Audio products and again I was impressed by Jim's Song Towers. What an incredible speaker for the price. The Song Towers at the show were his personal speakers with every upgrade. Yes, these are very, very good. Also, I'm almost an evangelist when it comes to Jim's veneer work and I believe it stands nearly unmatched for any speaker at any price. His choice of veneers and the final finish on his products is spectacular and I can't think of any other speaker at the $2k mark that gives you equal finish. When you add up the excellent sound with world class craftsmanship you transcend to a new level in pride-of-ownership. The Song Tower should be in the top 3 if not number 1 of any person's audition list or recommendation list to friends/family.

The beauty of the RMAF is that the gap between the ultra expensive and the extreme value (such as Salks line of speakers) is very, very small if non-existent. Anybody serious about sound and wanting to avoid endless upgrade mania to their speakers should fly to RMAF next year and consider the $1000 to $2000 they spend as insignificant to the money they would save by hearing for themselves what some on-line companies like Salk can give compared to other high priced speakers.

Paul K. · « **Reply #2 on:** 4 Oct 2009, 02:05 pm »

I'm reading between the lines and it appears Jim didn't bring the HT1 TLs like he said he planned on? Or, if I'm wrong and he did bring them, how did they sound?
Paul

greenhouseman · « **Reply #3 on:** 4 Oct 2009, 02:28 pm »

+1 to the 2 posts above. Came to the show to hear the new HT1 TL's but due to the heavy traffic in the room have been unable to audition them to this point. Jim has mainly stayed with the HT4's and Song Towers. The 4's have beeen extremely impressive and are truly a flagship model while the Towers as mentioned above are plain and simple the best value in custom speakers period. Visited many,many rooms and i only wish i could swap some gear for comparrison purposes as in most rooms the speakers did not excite given the gear that was feeding them (ex. WYRED 4 SOUND, Odyssey & Peachtree audio)-----lots of fun----Eric

HerculePirate · « **Reply #4 on:** 4 Oct 2009, 03:20 pm »

Will really appreciate photographs from the show....
Anyone ???

Regards

HP

cujobob · « **Reply #5 on:** 4 Oct 2009, 05:32 pm »

At AKfest, it seemed a bit difficult to manage playing so many different speakers. Playing the budget STs and cost-no-object HT4s is probably the smartest idea.

zybar · « **Reply #6 on:** 4 Oct 2009, 05:38 pm »

How far apart are the HT4's?

In the picture below, they look very close together.

Thanks,

George

rlee8394 · « **Reply #7 on:** 4 Oct 2009, 06:13 pm »

How about an update on the new AVA electronics. It's day 3 and no mention of them yet?

Ron

zybar · « **Reply #8 on:** 4 Oct 2009, 06:16 pm »

Quote from: rlee8394 on 4 Oct 2009, 06:13 pm

How about an update on the new AVA electronics. It's day 3 and no mention of them yet?

Ron

If you don't know the speakers and room, how can you say what the electronics is doing?

The best you can really do at a show is say whether you like the sound of the room or not.

My comments are assuming that there isn't the ability to switch electronics and do an A/B.

George

MaxCast · « **Reply #9 on:** 4 Oct 2009, 07:33 pm »

Quote from: zybar on 4 Oct 2009, 06:16 pm

If you don't know the speakers and room, how can you say what the electronics is doing?

The best you can really do at a show is say whether you like the sound of the room or not.

My comments are assuming that there isn't the ability to switch electronics and do an A/B.

George

Yeah, I have always found that interesting...comments about any component at a show.

DMurphy · « **Reply #10 on:** 4 Oct 2009, 08:01 pm »

Hi George They were just as pictured, which was too close. I suggested to Jim that he move them farther apart on Sunday. I don't know whether he did. Given the small room and close spacing, I think the ST's made the greater impressiion, since it appeared to be such a value compared with the other "budget" items at the show. I think it also did better with Frank's new tube amps, although those did amazingly well driving the big guys with only 60 watts a side. Salks aside, I guess my favorite speaker at the show was the new Vandy 7, although the electric blue and bronze finish is a little funky, and the $45 k price tag kinda up there.

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rlee8394 · « **Reply #11 on:** 4 Oct 2009, 08:06 pm »

Since the UltraValve amps are rated at 33 watts per side, bridged, they would yield 3 times the single channel power for about 99 watts per amp.

Ron

cujobob · « **Reply #12 on:** 4 Oct 2009, 08:15 pm »

I think tonality and detail are definitely two things to look for, but really, if it isn't your room, it won't tell you a bit about what it would actually sound like. I say report whatever you feel comfortable with and take it all with a grain of salt.

opnly bafld · « **Reply #13 on:** 4 Oct 2009, 08:40 pm »

Quote from: rlee8394 on 4 Oct 2009, 08:06 pm

Since the UltraValve amps are rated at 33 watts per side, bridged, they would yield 3 times the single channel power for about 99 watts per amp.

Ron

What if they are rated at 30w/ch into 4 or 8 ohms?

Lin

zybar · « **Reply #14 on:** 4 Oct 2009, 09:06 pm »

Quote from: DMurphy on 4 Oct 2009, 08:01 pm

Hi George They were just as pictured, which was too close. I suggested to Jim that he move them farther apart on Sunday. I don't know whether he did. Given the small room and close spacing, I think the ST's made the greater impressiion, since it appeared to be such a value compared with the other "budget" items at the show. I think it also did better with Frank's new tube amps, although those did amazingly well driving the big guys with only 60 watts a side. Salks aside, I guess my favorite speaker at the show was the new Vandy 7, although the electric blue and bronze finish is a little funky, and the $45 k price tag tag kinda up there.

Thanks for answering my qustion Dennis and providing some feedback on the Vandy 7's. I would love to hear the 7's or the HT4's in my room and see how they compared to the 5A's. Not likely either will happen, but one can dream.

While I can't say how things sounded (I didn't go to the show), I am a little baffled why Jim would bring his flagship speaker to the show and handicap it by setting it up in such a manner. I also wonder why you even bother setting up the HT4's in such a small room to begin with.

The HT3's had too much bass for the normal hotel sized room in past shows and negatively impacted the sound that they produced. Given that the HT4's are supposed to be more potent in this area, I am guessing this small sized room didn't allow the show goers to really get a good idea around what the speakers are capable of.

George

rlee8394 · « **Reply #15 on:** 4 Oct 2009, 09:33 pm »

Quote

What if they are rated at 30w/ch into 4 or 8 ohms?

A tube amp has output taps for 16, 8, and 4 ohms, so the power is the same. 30 Watts be yield about 90 watts when bridged.

Ron

WGH · « **Reply #16 on:** 4 Oct 2009, 10:12 pm »

Quote from: zybar on 4 Oct 2009, 09:06 pm

The HT3's had too much bass for the normal hotel sized room in past shows and negatively impacted the sound that they produced. Given that the HT4's are supposed to be more potent in this area, I am guessing this small sized room didn't allow the show goers to really get a good idea around what the speakers are capable of.

George

I'm sure others will comment but the HT4's did not overload the room. I believe Jim mentioned it was because the HT4's use a passive radiator instead of a port. I though the Salk room had some of the best bass in the rooms I visited.

Wayne

Nuance · « **Reply #17 on:** 4 Oct 2009, 11:03 pm »

I too have the same question Zybar does. I'd love to get Jim's, Dennis' and some more show-goers comments on the HT4's and the room they were in. From the picture I'd say they were doomed from the start, but from some of the comments it seems they performed well. I'm just curious which one is true, and what effects the room and little spacing between speakers had on the overall sound.

oneinthepipe · « **Reply #18 on:** 4 Oct 2009, 11:36 pm »

Regarding the rooms, while a few exhibitors had larger rooms, most exhibitors had similarly-sized rooms. While proper evaluation of components isn't arguably possible except in a listener's system, the exhibitors were 'in the same boat" with respect to room size, and some rooms sounded better than others, IMO.

DMurphy · « **Reply #19 on:** 5 Oct 2009, 01:16 am »

The bridged tubies put out 60 wpc according to Frank. I assume that's into 4 ohms, because that's what the HT4's are. The HT4-s were far from doomed in the room. The bass is actually less likely to overload a room than the HT3, which has more output in the 60 Hz region. It would have been nice to have them further apart, but I doubt that it would have made a major difference.