[ccotenj]

well, at least you are getting a pair of the "big boys"... 

still struggling with technology, huh? 

[sujupravin]

 :)Beautiful speakers.  One of my favorite finishes

[pstrisik]

Chris,

If you are willing, I have a favor to ask of you.  A couple of photos of one of your beautiful HT2-TLs with the grill on.  Maybe one shot of the full speaker one of the top half?  I'd appreciate the effort.  I'm very close in decision to getting these speakers.  So further decisions about whether to go full baffle or hardwood baffle (among others).

Thanks........Peter

[ccotenj]

^^^

sure no problem...   here is a few, and theres a bunch more at this link...

http://gallery.me.com/ccotenj1#100409&view=grid&bgcolor=black&sel=35

[pstrisik]

Thanks!  A bit blurry (must be all the excitement of the new babies!).  I'm trying to get a sense of the grill on top of the baffle.  I would think there would be a bit of stacked or layered appearance with speaker/baffle/grill, where the full front baffle would have the grill flush with the speaker surface.  There is the potential, and it is the case with yours, to make that part of the appeal with color contrast.  Either dark speaker, lighter baffle and black grill or lighter speaker, darker baffle, black grill.  I see the outline of the baffle around the grill which looks nice.  And, of course, speaker, black baffle, black grill to make less of a contrast with grills on.

Does it look natural with the grill on to your eyes?  And, if you don't mind me asking, what was the up charge for the crotch mahogany veneer for the mains?

[ccotenj]

you are welcome...      nah, i'm just a lousy photographer and my camera is of playskool quality...   

lol...   all of us who have bought jim's speakers went through what you are going through now...   

as far as "looks natural" goes...   not to me, but i'm biased there...   i had to hunt for the grills to put them on to take the pics...   i like to see the baffle and the drivers...   i never use the grills...  plus i paid for that mahogany baffle...   

yea...  there's no labor upcharge...  the only cost is the materials...   iirc, the veneer was around 650...   the solid mahogany baffles were 150..    mahogany plinth trim another 150...  so a bit less than 10 franklins, total...

[pstrisik]

you are welcome...      nah, i'm just a lousy photographer and my camera is of playskool quality...   

lol...   all of us who have bought jim's speakers went through what you are going through now...   

as far as "looks natural" goes...   not to me, but i'm biased there...   i had to hunt for the grills to put them on to take the pics...   i like to see the baffle and the drivers...   i never use the grills...  plus i paid for that mahogany baffle...   

yea...  there's no labor upcharge...  the only cost is the materials...   iirc, the veneer was around 650...   the solid mahogany baffles were 150..    mahogany plinth trim another 150...  so a bit less than 10 franklins, total...

I understand about the grills.  I'm not sure if I will have them on or off, but want to make it work best either way.  That hardwood is expensive stuff! 

I've done this obsession/detail thing many times over the years, but never about wood choice and finish with speakers.  Never had the option!

While I have you, would you post the length and width of the plinths?

Mucho Gracias...... 

.....Peter

[Big Red Machine]

I understand about the grills.  I'm not sure if I will have them on or off, but want to make it work best either way. 

You're not going to want to listen with grills on!!

[won ton on]

I've never had the grills on mine. So i wouldn't know what they sound like with them on

[pstrisik]

You're not going to want to listen with grills on!!

That may be true.  I'm sure I will try with and without, then with, then without, then....   until I settled down! 

I currently have Paradigms.  They say they are designed to be played with grills for proper dispersion.  My sense is that the grills just help moderate the brightness!

[won ton on]

pstrisik........there is no brightness with the raal tweeter,provided your stereo is up to it.

[coke]

Mine look better with grills, but I never use them 

sorry, no pics

[pstrisik]

pstrisik........there is no brightness with the raal tweeter,provided your stereo is up to it.

Yes, that is the primary reason I am upgrading and choosing Salks with RT!

[Big Red Machine]

Yes, that is the primary reason I am upgrading and choosing Salks with RT!

So where are you leaning Peter?  My room is 13.5 x 19 x 8 and the SS8's work, so did the HT2's and HT3's.

[pstrisik]

So where are you leaning Peter?  My room is 13.5 x 19 x 8 and the SS8's work, so did the HT2's and HT3's.

At the moment, I'm leaning strongly towards the HT2-TL.  Jim was very generous with his time on the phone Tuesday and we hammered out my concerns against the pros and cons of the HT2-TL and SS8.  I think the former will be such a dramatic improvement from what I have now that I will be very happy.  I've mentioned before, around here somewhere, that I have some hearing loss and use digital hearing aids.  It makes assessment and choice very difficult.  I likely hear some things differently than others; not so much in freq response, but in sensitivity to irritation and fatigue.  This is all in the mid to highs.  The tweeter will be the biggest factor with mids next.  Jim was confident that, for my purposes, the difference in upper mids would not be so significant between the models.  I use a pair of Rythmik F12 subs with Audyssey MultiEQ XT32 room compensation, (strongest benefit in bass calibration for dual subs), so the low end is not my highest priority.  (If I ever move away from calibrated sound, to a pre-amp with HT bypass for example, I can still use a bass eq system or even tune the Rythmiks as they have quite the flexibility in controls including a single band PEQ, three position damping, rumble filter, etc.).

Finally, the difference in weight and general practically factors in.  I live in Alaska.  Shipping a pair of HT2-TLs will be about $600 plus whatever the HT2 center will add, SS8s I didn't even quote after that.  And we will be moving in 5 years or so back to the lower 48, so more concern about moving them and not knowing what the next room will allow for equipment.

They would be great in my current room which is ~ 25 x 20 x 8.  But Jim said they really work in any room sound wise. 

Given that you've now had both models (though I don't recall if your HT2-TLs had the RAAL), how does all of this reasoning sound to you (putting aside if you can your feelings about about subs and EQ!  )?

.....Peter

[Big Red Machine]

Given that you've now had both models (though I don't recall if your HT2-TLs had the RAAL), how does all of this reasoning sound to you (putting aside if you can your feelings about about subs and EQ!  )?

.....Peter

I would say with the subs and moving them, this is sound reasoning.  The HT2 is truly enjoyable.  I had LCY's because they were demo speakers Jim built prior to working with RAAL's and bought them from him to tide me over.  The RAAL's are very special.  No more squinting to some high freq sounds.

[pstrisik]

Thanks for the reassurance!  Waiting on Jim to email about a question on the center and am about to do the deed.

.....Peter

[pstrisik]

........
yea...  there's no labor upcharge...  the only cost is the materials...   iirc, the veneer was around 650...   the solid mahogany baffles were 150..    mahogany plinth trim another 150...  so a bit less than 10 franklins, total...

Looking at certainlywood.com, crotch mahogany runs $5.50 - $6.95 sf which is midrange, but higher than most choices. 
http://www.certainlywood.com/woodmenulist.cfm?c=27

Tineo, for example, is $3.95
http://www.certainlywood.com/woodmenulist.cfm?c=61

Black Limba is $1.95 - $2.50
http://www.certainlywood.com/woodmenulist.cfm?c=543

So these choices would probably be a much smaller hardwood charge.

Just posting this a point of reference - might be helpful to others deciding.

[ccotenj]

yea, iirc, it was around 7 bucks a sf for the crotch...   since each side of the speaker gets it's own piece, it took 8 pieces...

[jsalk]

The price for a sq. ft. of veneer can be a bit misleading.

With crotch mahogany, for example, you normally want the "rooster tail" running down the center of each panel.  So the pieces have to be at least as tall as the speakers.  And many times, they are quite a bit taller.  If they are not twice as tall, you can only get one panel out of each sheet.  So they are not only more pricey per sq. ft., but there can be a lot of waste as well, further increasing the cost.  Most of the time, you will need 8 - 10 sheets (regardless of the length) to use this type of veneer.

Some burls and crotches are only available in very small sheets.  So you need many of them and there is a lot of labor involved stitching them all together.

Some trees are small, so sheets are very narrow and you need quite a few for each panel.  Others are large and there is a good deal of waste.

The only way you can tell for certain is to know the exact size of each sheet.  From there, you can determine how many sheets are required and how many sq. ft. it comes out to.

You normally want about 20% extra as well, just in case the veneering process goes south and you need to re-veneer a panel or two.  You certainly wouldn't want to run into a problem and find that that particular batch of veneer is no longer available.

As you can see, it is a little tricky...

- Jim