Audioholics reviews HT2-TL

R Swerdlow · « **on:** 1 Mar 2010, 08:12 pm »

Tom Andry of Audioholics reviewed the HT2-TL. He loved them.

http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/speakers/floorstanding/salk-sound-veracity-ht2-tl

Jim, Dennis, and Paul - congratulations on yet another out-of-the-park home run!

Nuance · « **Reply #1 on:** 1 Mar 2010, 08:35 pm »

Awesome, just awesome! Congrats to Jim, Dennis, Paul and the rest of the Salk team. And thanks to Audioholics for putting in the time.

coke · « **Reply #2 on:** 1 Mar 2010, 09:00 pm »

I enjoyed reading the review and agreed with pretty much everything that was written, except for his issues with the feet and weight of the speakers.

The review mentioned the bass of the speakers several times. The quality and quantity of bass from the HT2-TLs is one of the things I can't stress enough. It amazes everyone that hears my speakers.

Kinger · « **Reply #3 on:** 1 Mar 2010, 09:01 pm »

Definitely a good read. As a person who is a HUGE fan of his SongTowers, I gotta admit, I'm jealous of the HT2-TL owners out there

Maybe someday.........

Nuance · « **Reply #4 on:** 1 Mar 2010, 09:02 pm »

I always told people that it sounds like they get into the 20's with authority. Looks like I was right. Oh the glorious bass of the HT2-TL's! Sweet!

greenhouseman · « **Reply #5 on:** 1 Mar 2010, 09:03 pm »

Plain and simple a great review -- for myself however it might be the last straw, as i have been fighting the upgradis virus for awhile clinging on to my HT2's, but it now appears all rational thought processes will have disappeared. Congrats to the entire Salk family

rahimlee54 · « **Reply #6 on:** 1 Mar 2010, 09:09 pm »

He should go to Jim's or Dennis's and hear the HT4s those things bring imaging to a whole different level for me.

Glad of the great review place your order before the rush starts and you gotta wait a few months to get your pair.

Thanks
Jared

jamesgarvin · « **Reply #7 on:** 1 Mar 2010, 09:12 pm »

Did he take apart the speakers before he listened? Funny things can happen, and I would think listening first, forming the listening impressions, then writing that portion of the review would be better than taking the speakers apart, only to find that you dislodged something, or something fell out that cannot be easily replaced would be the better method. That is a lot of speaker and shipping expense with a note that says "whoops, I took apart the speaker, and now I can't find a part. Please send another."

coke · « **Reply #8 on:** 1 Mar 2010, 09:15 pm »

Quote from: jamesgarvin on 1 Mar 2010, 09:12 pm

Did he take apart the speakers before he listened? Funny things can happen, and I would think listening first, forming the listening impressions, then writing that portion of the review would be better than taking the speakers apart, only to find that you dislodged something, or something fell out that cannot be easily replaced would be the better method. That is a lot of speaker and shipping expense with a note that says "whoops, I took apart the speaker, and now I can't find a part. Please send another."

Drivers are easily removed and replaced. It didn't look like he did much more than that, although I would hesistate before doing this with $4000 speakers unless you needed to replace a driver.

vintagebob · « **Reply #9 on:** 1 Mar 2010, 09:18 pm »

Great clarity, bass response and imaging. That just about sums it up.

"Again, I was impressed by the definition I was hearing. Separation between the notes was clear and clean. There seemed to be very little "extra" sound coming from the Veracitys. In addition, I've rarely found a speaker that I felt was as non-fatiguing as the HT2-TLs."

"I was floored by the bass."

"Out of all the speakers I've ever heard in this room, the Salk Veracity HT2-TLs probably imaged the best. Sounds were clearly place behind, next to, and in front of me. Side to side movement was well defined and quick."

JoshK · « **Reply #10 on:** 1 Mar 2010, 09:20 pm »

Just heard these for the first time at nyc_paramedics' place on Saturday. Wow! Nick has his setup setup very well with plenty of room treatments.

Some of the best imaging, I've heard to date. Bass was plenty low and voices were very toneful. I was impressed.

evan1 · « **Reply #11 on:** 1 Mar 2010, 09:48 pm »

Quote from: JoshK on 1 Mar 2010, 09:20 pm

Just heard these for the first time at nyc_paramedics' place on Saturday. Wow! Nick has his setup setup very well with plenty of room treatments.

Some of the best imaging, I've heard to date. Bass was plenty low and voices were very toneful. I was impressed.

You must really rate

rahimlee54 · « **Reply #12 on:** 1 Mar 2010, 09:57 pm »

Quote from: vintagebob on 1 Mar 2010, 09:18 pm

I missed that? He did say:

"Out of all the speakers I've ever heard in this room, the Salk Veracity HT2-TLs probably imaged the best. Sounds were clearly place behind, next to, and in front of me. Side to side movement was well defined and quick."

Maybe you're thinking about his comments on "soundstage"?

Thanks for the correction, I misread that. See what happens when you are trying to sneak a quick read at wor.

ArthurDent · « **Reply #13 on:** 1 Mar 2010, 10:19 pm »

Congrats Jim, Dennis, Paul, & company. More well deserved recognition for the quality & TLC that goes into each of your offerings.

Paul K. · « **Reply #14 on:** 1 Mar 2010, 11:13 pm »

It's marvelous to read how much Tom Andry liked the HT2-TLs and I'm pleased to have been able to contribute to their design and great performance.
Paul Kittinger

OgOgilby · « **Reply #15 on:** 2 Mar 2010, 05:08 pm »

Congrats to Jim, Dennis, Paul, Mary, and the Salk team

Thanks to Tom Andry for the very nice review. I agree with a lot of Tom Andry's impressions about the HT2 TL's but...

Listing weight as a con? Funky non-spikes is another listed con but then Tom mentions in his review "at around ~87lbs a piece, they probably don't need carpet spikes".

He also lists "pricy" in the cons but in his review he states: "In the direct comparison, on every metric I could think of, the HT2-TLs were superior to the Songs. Bass, midrange, highs… everything. My jaw literally hit the ground. I A/B'ed the speakers over and over thinking that there must be something wrong with the wires or configuration. Sure, the Veracity's cost a bit more than 2x's the SongTowers, but to my ear, the differences were dramatic. Very dramatic. Are they worth the money…? Well, to my ear, yes."

I seems to me that Tom Andry really likes the Salk HT2 TL's and doesn't want to come across as a fan boy, hence the odd (to me at least) nit picks.

To me, the sound stage width (SSW) issue is the most intriguing part of Tom's review since I struggled with that "problem" with the HT2 TL's for awhile. I have plenty of SSW now, but placement, acoustic treatments, amount of toe in (or none), electronics, and most importantly the recordings seem to effect the speakers SSW more than other speakers I have tried. At one point while tweaking room acoustic treatments I absolutely killed the SSW when I placed acoustic panels directly behind the HT2's on the front wall - but didn't realize it at the time. When I moved the panels off the front wall my SSW widened to an amazing degree. Now I find that the SSW is pretty much dependent on the recording and can vary from narrow to very wide (David Gilmour's "On an Island" is like surround sound it is so wide). Seems to me that the HT2 TL's SSW is a great example of how accurate the HT2 TL's are to the recordings.

ckunstadt · « **Reply #16 on:** 2 Mar 2010, 06:37 pm »

I gotta say, I'm a little bummed / concerned about the Salk banner ads that appear all over the Audioholics site. Does that bug anyone else?
note: my raised-eyebrow is regarding the review, not the speakers.

divisionbell77 · « **Reply #17 on:** 2 Mar 2010, 07:04 pm »

I don't see anything wrong with the review. Nothing is perfect, except for me of course.

Big Red Machine · « **Reply #18 on:** 2 Mar 2010, 07:31 pm »

Quote from: ckunstadt on 2 Mar 2010, 06:37 pm

I gotta say, I'm a little bummed / concerned about the Salk banner ads that appear all over the Audioholics site. Does that bug anyone else?
note: my raised-eyebrow is regarding the review, not the speakers.

Marketing is crucial for small businesses. And expensive.

R Swerdlow · « **Reply #19 on:** 2 Mar 2010, 07:40 pm »

Quote from: ckunstadt on 2 Mar 2010, 06:37 pm

I gotta say, I'm a little bummed / concerned about the Salk banner ads that appear all over the Audioholics site. Does that bug anyone else?
note: my raised-eyebrow is regarding the review, not the speakers.

I don't see anything wrong - per se - with a favorable speaker review published by a firm that also runs ads from the maker of the product.

It's when that website or magazine only publishes favorable reviews if the company runs ads that it becomes questionable.

I think the AH reviewer, Tom Andry, takes pains to show that he is a tough critic. It's a problem to be convincing at that when the speakers being reviewed are as good as Salk HT2-TLs.

And as BRM pointed out, marketing is essential for small businesses. That includes Salk and Audioholics. Making a living and being honest about it at the same time are not universal, but also not mutually exclusive.