[fsimms]

I spent a morning listening to some Soundscapes at Jim’s in an untreated room and powered by  AVA gear before giving him an order for a pair.   Since nobody has a pair yet, I thought I would post a few of my impressions.

I played several demo disks and without exception, each song sounded incredible.  The same songs on my HT1’s sound fantastic too, except for the Beatle song on my Salk demo disk.   The Beatle’s song sounded glorious and that was the first time I realized why Jim put the song on his demo disk.  I didn’t like the Beatle song on a pair of SongTowers either.  The songs in almost all cases sounded better than my HT1’s and a few at least as good.  I was listening to the music with the back midrange baffle off.  The Soundscapes are a definite step up.

I put on some of my disks that were not well recorded that sounded thin on my HT1’s.  They sounded much better on the Soundscapes.   I put the rear midrange baffle on and the songs sounded more like they did with my HT1’s.  Those made me think that the songs were probably recorded in a studio with no ambiance and needed the open baffle to add some life to the music.   This is probably the reason that speakers that add warmth to the songs make them sound better.

I put on Willie Nelson’s Super Hits on with the rear baffle off and it sounded much thinner than my HT1’s did.  That was the only disk that showed that issue.   I was very confused.   I played it with the back baffle on and all of a sudden they sounded as good, or better. as my HT1’s did.  What was going on?  This is just the reverse situation of the other disks.   I don’t know why that is so, but I remembered that there was a sticker on the cellophane when I bought that disk ten years ago that said that the disk had some special digital audio processing to “improve” the sound.  Maybe that had something to do with it.

[vintagebob]

What, no pictures?!  ; )

[fsimms]

Here is a picture of a Soundscape top module siting on a Songsub.  I took this picture to see what my Soundscape would look like with the same veneer.

[vintagebob]

Ha!  Thanks.   

Is that veneer going to work for you?  The sub looks great.

[fsimms]

Is that veneer going to work for you?  The sub looks great.

I thought the sub looked fantastic too, so that is the veneer I selected for my Soundscapes.

[fsimms]

Some detailed comments about the sound:

The Soundscapes soundstage was big and deep.  They imaged much better in Jim’s room than my HT1’s did in my condo.  Putting the back midrange baffle on made the Songscapes image in the lofty league of the Songtowers.  The image was good outside of the sweet spot but not of the quality described with the FAL midrange version.  The transparency and naturalness was better than any speaker that I have ever heard.

Different cymbals were easy to distinguish and sounded very natural.

The bass was as clear, clean and natural as I have ever heard.   They had no boom or bloat in the bass.  Deep bass notes sounded with great authority.  If the anvil of Thor is recorded then you will hear it in full force.  The bass was not boosted as in many other speakers so some may want to move the Soundscapes closer to the wall to get a bit of bass boost as some might prefer.  I have a big SVS sub and I don’t think that I will want to use it at all.  I will keep it a while first to see if I am wrong and movies can use it.


Edit: For people that have read some of my earlier posts, I did not cry.  I will keep tissues close to my chair when it is delivered though. LOL

[rahimlee54]

How could anyone want anymore bass than those put out they were rattling pictures off of Dennis' walls when I heard them.

[fsimms]

How could anyone want anymore bass than those put out they were rattling pictures off of Dennis' walls when I heard them.

I didn’t mean to indicate that the Soundscapes have weak bass.  My SVS sub has a 12” TC Sounds woofer in it and the Soundscape bass modules have an identical 10” TC Sounds designed woofer, yet the Soundscapes easily outperform my SVS sub.

[ArthurDent]

Nice preview, thanks for the info. Will look forward to the full blown review & pics when you get them. From what everyone else has noted about delivery of the HT2-TLs, you may want to think of something really nice for the delivery driver who carries them into your place. 

My STs were a handful by myself, but luckily I had my own hand-truck. The driver appreciated that.

[fsimms]

I think there is a better way for me to explain the bass issue.   If you had a brass band playing in your room then you might have a tough time reading a book.  On a well recorded CD the Soundscapes would sound fairly identical to the same situation.   The bass would be just as strong.   If you turn down the recording to a more modest level then according to the ways our ears hear music then the bass would sound like it had a lower level than the midrange.  That is due to your ears and not the system.   One might prefer to boost the bass a bit to make it sound more similar to full volume.

[Nuance]

Thanks for the write-up, fsimms.  I cannot wait to hear pair of those SoundScapes!  Great choice in veneer, by the way.

[charmerci]

I spent a morning listening to some Soundscapes at Jim’s in an untreated room and powered by  AVA gear before giving him an order for a pair.

Woooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

That's the sound of envy you hear coming to you from thousands of miles away!

I love good wood and though a lot of veneers have looked pretty nice, the veneer on that Songsub is the first photo that has made me say WOW!   The owner of that one is one fortunate dude.

[Nuance]

It looks even better in person, charmerci.  That pic makes the wood look washed out.  Its has a more rich and natural (colorful) look in person.  Its one of my favorite veneers.  Period. 

[fluke242]

Congrats, fsimms!  I totally enjoyed my time with the HT4's at the NW GTG.  I like your comments on the bass - the HT4 low-end is simply amazing and has set the bar high for any new subwoofer I get... 

John 

[charmerci]

It looks even better in person, charmerci.  That pic makes the wood look washed out.  Its has a more rich and natural (colorful) look in person. 

No doubt about that.

charlie

[Woolz]

So am I correct in understanding the top portion will be a painted molded enclosure and the bottom will be veneered and constructed like an HT-3? And that is beautiful veneer.  Congrats fsimms.

[fsimms]

ArthurDent:

Nice preview, thanks for the info. Will look forward to the full blown review & pics when you get them. From what everyone else has noted about delivery of the HT2-TLs, you may want to think of something really nice for the delivery driver who carries them into your place.

Thanks    I will try to get pictures when they are delivered, but I may be in shock!

Nuance:

Thanks for the write-up, fsimms.  I cannot wait to hear pair of those SoundScapes!

 

My pleasure.  They sound quite awesome.   

Great choice in veneer, by the way.

Thanks,  I looked at a lot of veneers and when I saw that one, I knew what to choose.

Fluke242:

Congrats, fsimms!  I totally enjoyed my time with the HT4's at the NW GTG.  I like your comments on the bass - the HT4 low-end is simply amazing and has set the bar high for any new subwoofer I get...

Thanks John. I appreciate your kind words.

Woolz:

So am I correct in understanding the top portion will be a painted molded enclosure and the bottom will be veneered and constructed like an HT-3? And that is beautiful veneer. 

That is the current plan.  Jim hopes to get production of the molded enclosures going.  He will still veneer the front of the top portion.  Yes, the bottom will be veneered MDF.   

Congrats fsimms.

 

Bob