[jw87c]

I had the opportunity to listen to both the ST (dome tweeter) and HT2-TL this weekend, and are struggling at which pair to buy. Below are some of my takes on the speakers. I’m not an audio expert, so I do not have all the fancy words to express my feelings. I will just try to articulate how I feel as straightforward as I can. What I stated below is just my personal opinions, and they might be quite different from other’s experience given the subjective nature of audio audition. Please feel free to disagree if you feel otherwise.

I called Jim last Tues. and expressed my interests in auditioning the STs. Jim quickly hooked me up with Bigload, who happens to live just 30 mins from me. I feel really fortunate to have a Salk owner living close by, and greatly appreciate the generosity and hospitality of Bigload and his wife for allowing us (me and my wife) in their beautiful house for a serious listening of his gears.

Bigload has a pair of STs in his living room for pure stereo audio, and a whole set of Veracity (HT2-TL fronts, HT1-TL surrounds, HT2C center) in his “mancave”. All are driven by AVA pre-amps and amps (“the marriage in audio heaven” ). His setup can be found here: http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=82850.0

Auditioning of the Song Towers

We started our listening session downstairs in the living room with the STs, which are finished in dark curly cherry. The speakers look extremely elegant and are visually satisfying. They blend in very well with the surrounding furniture. I have been looking forward to the auditioning ever since I discovered the Salk speakers, and couldn’t wait to hear the magic sound coming out of the speakers in person. When the music starts, I was immediately enveloped in the beautiful music notes. I was surprised at how upfront the sound stage is. It feels like that I am on stage with the musicians. Sometimes it feels like there are surround and rear speakers. Pretty soon I found out that not all the music pieces have such an upfront image. Some other pieces create a feeling of “depth”, e.g., the instruments and the singer are positioned behind the speakers. I think the best word to describe the sound stage is “3D”, and the actual sound stage rendering depends on the source materials. At the mean time, I find that the width of the sound stage is just a little bit over the area defined by the two speakers. But again, it might depend on the source materials. A side note is the living room has a vaulted high ceiling without acoustic treatment. I’m not sure how this will affect the listening experience.

The middles and highs are every bit as good as I expected from reading the reviews here. One music piece that left me a deep impression is a guitar solo (I think it’s from the Salk demo disc, but I might be wrong). The artist is right in front of me and I can “see” the kiss between the guitar strings and guitar pick. I feel that the sound is extremely transparent, and I don’t know how much more transparent it can be, even though I read a lot of reviews stating that the ribbon tweeters are more transparent than the dome tweeter. We listened to a large variety of music, including classic, rock, pop, jazz, electrical, etc. There are female vocal, male vocal, and pure instruments. Most of the music are from Bigload’s personal CD collection. I also brought some lossless pieces with my iPod. The STs handled all genres with ease and eloquence. There is a Chinese violin piece I brought with me: the butterfly lovers, which has a pretty demanding middle-high end. It sounds pretty harsh on my current speakers, but warm and clean on the STs. I feel that the strongest aspects of the STs are the middle to the middle-high range, and the string instruments sound extremely well.

The bass goes pretty deep even though the size of the woofer is just 5’’. We listened to some pieces with strong bass presence, and for most part the bass is accurately reproduced and well integrated. The drum feels punchy and prompt; the bass in the string instruments feels “clean” (I know clean is usually used to describe highs, but I couldn’t find a better word to describe the smooth transition from the middle to the low in the string instruments). At the mean time, I have to admit that the ST is not perfect in the bass department. When I listened to the prelude of Eagle’s live performance on “Hotel California”, I feel that the bass can benefit from reaching a bit lower. Of course it is clearly stated in the spec that the 3dB point of the speakers is 42Hz, so a subwoofer is more appropriate to finish the job below the 42 Hz. I would say that the STs can meet 90% of the bass needs. For the remaining 10%, the STs might not be able to go deep enough to throw the bass right into your body. An analogy is when you stand right next to a huge diameter drum, you can feel that the drum beats are all over you and are affecting your heart beats. The STs might not have the “heart beat affection” capability, but I also doubt if there are any speaker in this price range can achieve such a feat. This of course can be easily compensated with a subwoofer.

Overall, both my wife and I are very happy with the STs. I almost made up my mind on the STs right there on the spot, until we go upstairs to listen to the HT2-TLs … (to be continued)

Auditioning of the HT2-TLs

The HT2-TLs are the center pieces of  a complete 7.1 setup with HT2C center, HT1-TL surrounds, Polk rear surrounds, and a SVS PB13 Ultra subwoofer. My first impression is that the HT2-TLs look much bigger than the STs, and they stand grandly on both sides of a huge plasma TV. Bigload has done a fantastic job in building his mancave. The room is thoroughly treated with acoustic panels hanging on the walls and vaulted ceilings. All the speakers are in a uniform black color and they match the colors of the equipment and racks. A really fancy feature of the room is the colored backlight behind the plasma TV. When the light dims and the movie starts, the red or blue back lights projected on the wall behind the TV adds a nice touch and coolness of the room.

We started our audition with two movie clips from Lord of the Rings and the Dark Knight. Both clips involve intensive fight/chasing scenes with highly dynamic sound levels and awesome surround sound effects. The speakers handled the job effortlessly and create an extremely engaging 3D sound stage. All the details in the entire sound spectrum are clearly revealed. The bass were so powerful that I felt the chair was shaking. For a minute I even thought there was a butt kicker installed underneath my seat. Bigload told me after I left he found that part of the bass management was messed up so the system was not at its full capacity. I just couldn’t imagine how the system will sound at its full capacity, and Bigload described it as “breathless”. Since I didn’t audition the STs with movies, so other than the fact that HT2-TLs are also fantastic speakers, I had no idea how they would compare with the STs.

What distinguished the HT2-TLs from the STs was the two channel music. We switched the receiver to direct mode and started to play the music clips that we just listened on the STs. Immediately I found that the sound coming out of the HT2-TLs are more “full” compared to the STs, and the instruments and vocals are better “materialized”. Later all of us agreed that the STs are not in the same level as the HT2-TLs (they better be, given twice the price tag  ). At the low end, I just can’t believe the subwoofer has been turned off. At the high end, now I understand what is “more” transparent. The lows and highs are connected meticulously with the middle range. I was just completely lost in the music. On our way back, my wife told me that she almost cried (in joy) during one of the pieces. Granted she is a quite emotional person, but she is usually not crazy about speakers. I guess now she understands my craziness in this hobby  . If I haven’t listened to the HT2-TLs, I would be extremely happy with the STs. However, after listening to the HT2-TLs, I just couldn’t get it out of my mind. Bigload told me that he tried to listen to music with the subwoofer on, and found that leaving the subwoofer off actually renders a better result.

At the mean time, please note that the room in which the HT2-TLs are auditioned has full acoustic treatment, yet the ST  audition was in a vaulted high ceiling living room without any sound treatment. In addition, the STs are the dome tweeter version, while the ribbon tweeter is used in the HT2-TLs. I have read some comments stating that the only difference between the STs and HT2-TLs are the bass. I guess those statements were referring to the ribbon version of the STs. I agree that the biggest improvement of HT2-TL over the STs is in bass. However, I did notice a big improvement in the middle range and high range as well. Since my auditioning condition was not side by side, and the auditions were performed in completely different listening environments, I think we also need to take into consideration of these factors.

Overall, I think the STs are great speakers, but I like the HT2-TLs better. Now the question is: does the improvement worth twice the price? My original budget was $2K for fronts, and I stretched it to $2.6K for the ST RT, and I’m struggling with myself now whether I should stretch it further to the HT2-TL. Hopefully I can make up my mind soon …

[Nuance]

First of all, you say you don't know how to articulate what you heard, but I disagree; you did a great job.  In fact, you did such a good job I'm watering at the mouth waiting for your HT2-TL write-up.  Hurry up already!

Second, I'm very happy you like the Salk speakers.  I'm not a betting man, but I'd be willing to wager you'll be joining the Salk family real soon.

[Bigload]

Hey jw87c......

I just saw your post pop up.  We thoroughly enjoyed having you and your wife over and want to thank you for your kind words!  I hope we were able to help you get a good feel for what the Salks are all about.  Just let me know if I can help further. 

One thing I needed to mention to you...  after you left, I was messing around and discovered I had the bass management settings a little messed up on the HT2TL's/SVS.  When we were watching the Lord of the Rings clip, I thought it was not nearly as powerful as usual.   I was right.  The bass from that bridge scene usually leaves you breathless.  So if you want to take another listen, just give me a shout and we will do it.   

Again, glad to help.

[jw87c]

Thanks for the auditioning opportunity! Now I have a very good feel about the Salk speakers 

I felt the bass was pretty impressive during the movie demo. Even the chair is shaking. For a minute I thought there might be a butt kicker installed underneath. Can't imagine how it will feel when everything is right  . The SVS PB13 Ultra is certainly a fine piece of work considering the 750 Watts of power driving it

Hey jw87c......

I just saw your post pop up.  We thoroughly enjoyed having you and your wife over and want to thank you for your kind words!  I hope we were able to help you get a good feel for what the Salks are all about.  Just let me know if I can help further. 

One thing I needed to mention to you...  after you left, I was messing around and discovered I had the bass management settings a little messed up on the HT2TL's/SVS.  When we were watching the Lord of the Rings clip, I thought it was not nearly as powerful as usual.   I was right.  The bass from that bridge scene usually leaves you breathless.  So if you want to take another listen, just give me a shout and we will do it.   

Again, glad to help.

[fsimms]

Thanks for the write up!  I thought you did a great job.  I am looking forward to part II.

Bob

[wirey1]

jw87c,

I feel exactly the same you do.  I was fortunate enough to demo Big Red Machine's Songtowers and HT2-TL's a few months ago, and while the ST's were good, the HT2-TL's blew me out of the water.  Since then, my wallet has been trying to rationalize my brain back into the ST level budget I had in mind.

I still have a couple of obligatory demo's left, though, so I still have some time for the rationalizing to work...or fail completely.

[Big Red Machine]

jw87c,

I feel exactly the same you do.  I was fortunate enough to demo Big Red Machine's Songtowers and HT2-TL's a few months ago, and while the ST's were good, the HT2-TL's blew me out of the water.  Since then, my wallet has been trying to rationalize my brain back into the ST level budget I had in mind.

I still have a couple of obligatory demo's left, though, so I still have some time for the rationalizing to work...or fail completely.

Ha!  Get that Big dog off the porch!!!

I'm still tweaking and making acoustic treatment changes to my room.  Also had my cables burned in.  woof!!  woof!!

You'll have to come back and we'll try the ST's in the 2 ch room.

[jw87c]

My wallet is telling me to settle on ST, yet my heart is telling me otherwise 

Please keep us posted with your other demo results and how they fare with the Salk speakers 

jw87c,

I feel exactly the same you do.  I was fortunate enough to demo Big Red Machine's Songtowers and HT2-TL's a few months ago, and while the ST's were good, the HT2-TL's blew me out of the water.  Since then, my wallet has been trying to rationalize my brain back into the ST level budget I had in mind.

I still have a couple of obligatory demo's left, though, so I still have some time for the rationalizing to work...or fail completely.

[vintagebob]

I originally ordered SongTowers but 30 days into my wait I switched over to the HT2-TLs.  I'm happy with my choice.  ; )

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=68360.msg638941#msg638941

It was harder for me since I was putting together a 5.1 system and had to get an HT2-Center and HT-1s for the surrounds.  Ouch!

[jriggy]

Dont settle! dont settle! Follow your heart! 

Paying off the bigger purchase will take much less time than the time sitting around wishing you would of made the bigger purchase... It seems like most people keep their personal custom Salks for quite a long time. Think of it as an investment in your state of mind.

Hope I helped 

[fsimms]

I bought my HT1’s about 6 years ago for $2,150.  They have almost been playing 24/7 since then.   That works out to about $0.04 per hour, although, I was asleep for some of time.   I use them for TV and I fall asleep with them on.

Bob

[HoosierInOhio]

My wallet is telling me to settle on ST, yet my heart is telling me otherwise 

Please keep us posted with your other demo results and how they fare with the Salk speakers 

I was doing the same thing.  First said ST RTs, then thought HT1-TLs, yet all along I wanted the 2-TLs.  Once I realized I would always second guess it, i just went with the HT2-TL's.  Now I know I will pretty much never buy another set of 2 ch speakers again.

[jw87c]

I'm also setting up a 5.1 (possibly 7.1) system so the cost of the other pieces in the system are also part of my considerations. I guess if I go with HT2-TL, I will definitely get the HT2C because the importance of the center channel, but I might use some less speakers for the surrounds, e.g. Song Surround I, Sierra-1, SWAN surrounds, or even some Polk bookshelves. My feeling is these speakers should be far more than sufficient to handle the sound effects in the surround channels, and the tone matching between the fronts and surrounds are not that critical considering most of them are just sound effects.

Of course it will be a completely different matter for multi-channel music. For now I guess two channel should be sufficient for my music needs.

I originally ordered SongTowers but 30 days into my wait I switched over to the HT2-TLs.  I'm happy with my choice.  ; )

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=68360.msg638941#msg638941

It was harder for me since I was putting together a 5.1 system and had to get an HT2-Center and HT-1s for the surrounds.  Ouch!

[jw87c]

Paying off the bigger purchase will take much less time than the time sitting around wishing you would of made the bigger purchase... It seems like most people keep their personal custom Salks for quite a long time. Think of it as an investment in your state of mind.

Once somebody asked whether it's worth it to drive 120 miles to watch Avatar in IMAX 3D. One of the answers was: if you go to watch Avatar in IMAX, worst case scenario, you regret it once; if you do not watch Avatar in IMAX, you might regret for the rest of your life. I guess the same argument applies here, it's just the price at stake here is higher. But on the other hand, I don't think anybody would regret buying the HT2-TLs ...

[sarge_in]

I went through a similar decision process.  As mine were also going to share in HT and music duties, I figured the capabilities of HT2-TL may not be used to its full extent all the time. I may still have gone with it, but considered that the the price of HT2C alone (and change) could give me a whole different set of basic SongTowers for the family room (or some other upgrades)!

Of course, if its not a huge stretch financially - or if its for pure 2 ch, I am sure HT2-TL is more than worth its price.

[MaxCast]

I agree with most others.  Go for the ht2s.  Otherwise you will be wondering and wishing and upgrading in two years. 

[martyo]

Hi. My brother got his HT2-TL RAAL a few weeks back. I have owned HT3's for close to 3 years. I've also heard the SongTowers. All of Jim's speakers are excellent values at their price points. After listening to my brothers Ht2's, MY opinion is that the HT2-TL RAAL is closer to the HT3 than it is to the SongTowers. They are that good. The bass/mid drivers are better speakers(and bigger, more woof) than the very good ones in the SongTowers, and then the RAAL!! There is a significant upgrade going from a dome to a ribbon. When you add that into the base price of Songtowers, that spread in price between HT2 and ST shrinks. If you can afford it, HT2's and no looking back.
 

[Nuance]

jw87c,

Forgive me, as I don't recall: will you be using a subwoofer with your Salk purchase?  Also, what will be the HT/Music ratio for the speakers?

[jw87c]

Yes I'll be using a subwoofer. The HT/Music ratio is about 80/20. Thanks!

jw87c,

Forgive me, as I don't recall: will you be using a subwoofer with your Salk purchase?  Also, what will be the HT/Music ratio for the speakers?

[Bigload]

I used to be about 90/10 HT to music.  Then I got Salk speakers and that all changed.  Now I am about 40/60.  The movies are great but the music is compelling.