First ever Salks (SongTower QWT) in India

[srinisundar]

Hi,Congratulations on the speakers. Hope to get reviewed completely by you and then our fellow members soon.

 

[godsdevil]

Thanks D(Gods) for inviting me. Let your house get fully ready and the Song Towers properly set up. I will come.

While selecting Power amp, please include 'Odyssey Kismet extreme' as one of the probables. I had listened it and it is a very good power amp.

Cheers

Absolutely sir. Do you by chance know where I can get them in or around Delhi?

 

[godsdevil]

Congrats on the Salks !!! The usual request. Pictures and prices please.

Pictures to come soon. Price I didn't reply yesterday as I wanted to check some details. The landed cost including everything was ~140k

godsdevil - you are godsend, as I am now going to land at your place to have a listen. You are truly devil as you will convince me to empty my wallet.

BTW, I am your friend too. Consider putting the speakers at my place for a few months

Congratulations, and waiting for an invite. Noida is cool for me, as I am here everyday.

anm

Absolutely...I am going out of town tomorrow to be back only Mon/Tue next week. After that you are welcome to come over to listen.

Just remember that it has to be late evening or a weekend.

And ofcourse you're more than welcome to have them till my house is complete. BUT u gotta fight it out with my friend now. hyeah: :yahoo:

 

[audiodelic]

Can you post complete detail of how DB Schenker 'door to airport' works.

how to avail this shipping option, do they also do calculate customs/duties before hand like borderlinx ?

 

[godsdevil]

Congrats on the acquisition of such a wonderful pair of speakers. If its ok with you, I would like to audition them on my next visit to the NCR (my second home). Kudos to you for the painstaking selection process and the write-up, too.

trittya

you are more than welcome to come and listen to these babies but only next week when I'm back in town.

Nevertheless, there's one aspect thats beyond my comprehension ie how can one be so sure that they are the first ever in India? Did they endorse it on the "birth certificate"? LOL. No offense meant mate, I do understand your pride of possession but you may just like to reconsider that statement of yours. Its better to do so now than after a FM walks up and posts that he has had a similar pair. Just friendly advice mate, please dont take it otherwise.

And it is not all that bold a statement. I know this for a FACT as, in the 1st of over 200 emails I exchanged with Jim Salk (Owner Salk Sound), he told me that he has never sent any of his speakers to India and mine will be the very first. And since he doesn't have any dealers or websites selling his product, the only way left to order them is through HIM directly...and he handles all sales personally...I would take his word for it.

And I don't have all the documentation with me right now, but I think there was a mention that these are his first in India somewhere in there. But will have to get back home to confirm it.

Oh yeah, AFAIK, those speakers have a nominal impedance of 4 ohms and the Marantz SR series of AVRs is designed only for 6/8 ohm loads. Pl check your AVR user manual and back panel. Now, that means that your AVR will have to work much harder and will run much hotter esp while pumping stereo music. If the AVR trips and comes into standby mode due to overload, dont go loud next time. The best part about these is that you can use them with a valve amp too but they will not do FULL justice to low powered SET amps due to limited sensitivity compared to whats needed for SET amps compared to push-pull valve amps.

The STs have a nominal impedance of 6ohm and a minimum of 4. They only drop to 4 ohms in 2 very short bands as is visible by the graph on Salk's site. I also discussed this with Jim and he confirmed that there will be no problem for sr7005 to handle them. Plus, as I will be using Marantz only as a Pre along with a separate power amp, it will give the receiver plenty of space to breathe. :yahoo:

Another thing unique about them is that they use RAAL tweeters, arguably one of the best around. Great, as you shall see but do give them at least 50 hrs to come into their element.

Congrats once again. Do get a good amp to do justice unto them and share the pics and your listening experience at your earliest convenience.
Regards

Thanks once again trittya. And I completely agree with you on the break-in time. I will give a proper review after about 100 hrs or so. And I am in the market looking for a good amp. Any suggestions

 

[godsdevil]

@Godsdevil, congratulations on the speakers.

Hi,Congratulations on the speakers. Hope to get reviewed completely by you and then our fellow members soon.

Thanks Captain & srinisundar

I will try to do my best and all of you are welcome to come, audition and review them.

 

[godsdevil]

Can you post complete detail of how DB Schenker 'door to airport' works.

how to avail this shipping option, do they also do calculate customs/duties before hand like borderlinx ?

audiodelic

DB Schenker is not like Borderlinx or Aramex. They are more on the lines of FedEx and DHL, just smaller. They are also big in commercial space rather than customer courier services.

They had both, 'door to door' and door to airport' services. I opted for door to airport service as it was ~$150 cheaper. I must say not the best decision. What I didn't know was that they charge another Rs.4800 for the Delivery Order once they land here. Add another 900 for customs, warehouse & handling charges. 700 admin fees. 2300 custom agent (CHA-you have to hire one...its mandatory as you don't have your IE code or CHA number). Plus the actual customs duty as was assessed by the customs officer on duty.

 

[godsdevil]

^^^^
And DB Schenker is Jim's preferred shipper as they are MUCH cheaper than FedEx or DHL. Shipping was arranged by him.

D

 

[anm]

Pictures to come soon. Price I didn't reply yesterday as I wanted to check some details. The landed cost including everything was ~140k




anm

Absolutely...I am going out of town tomorrow to be back only Mon/Tue next week. After that you are welcome to come over to listen.

Just remember that it has to be late evening or a weekend.

And ofcourse you're more than welcome to have them till my house is complete. BUT u gotta fight it out with my friend now. hyeah: :yahoo:

late evening works for me too, after office. Weekends are a little tough as I have difficulty finding time to come to noida from faridabad.

I am hoping your friend will get tired soon if so many people start showing up that would be the moment to grab the speakers

 

[ajay124]

godsdevil

Congratulations on having bought what seem to be an excellent pair of speakers! If you use the same foresight and research while buying the source and amplification, I am sure you will wind up with a superb system.

I was impressed with sarge_in's towers, which if I remember correctly are the Veracity HT2-TL. I went through the speaker options on the Salk website. There seems to be a comprehensive range of well built, custom made speakers. Personally I found both the HT2-TL and the V3 very interesting. But I guess both would work out far more expensive than the Song Towers.

Take your time with the rest of the stuff. If your interest is primarily in music, then look around for a powerful integrated amp. Bryston, Krell, Musical Fidelity immediately come to mind, if you are looking for a reasonably well built amp outputting 200-400WPC at 4 ohms. All of them would roughly be in the same price range as the landed cost of your speakers. You would probably need to spend that much to do justice to the Salk speakers. And you may need to spend a similar amount on the source, cables and interconnects

 

[trittya]

The STs have a nominal impedance of 6ohm and a minimum of 4. They only drop to 4 ohms in 2 very short bands as is visible by the graph on Salk's site. I also discussed this with Jim and he confirmed that there will be no problem for sr7005 to handle them. Plus, as I will be using Marantz only as a Pre along with a separate power amp, it will give the receiver plenty of space to breathe.

Jim or any speaker maker will never have any problems as nothings going to go wrong there. Its the AVR that'll bear the brunt. Not if you are using only the pre section but it always pays to be careful. Almost all AVRs run hot while pumping music.

About the amp suggestion, yes I do have a few suggestions but then it all depends on what you want. Very rarely does one get hi-end sound while paying for hi-end amps. There are exceptions and as of now only Bryston comes to mind. I am not a high-end kind of guy and always tend to guide people on the MORE-FOR-LESS route. Depends on your budget, one and two, on whether you want desi or videshi, ready-made or made-to-order but that via PM or tele only as I dont want to stir up a hornet's nest here. UGPM

 

[srinisundar]

Jim or any speaker maker will never have any problems as nothings going to go wrong there. Its the AVR that'll bear the brunt. Not if you are using only the pre section but it always pays to be careful. Almost all AVRs run hot while pumping music.

About the amp suggestion, yes I do have a few suggestions but then it all depends on what you want. Very rarely does one get hi-end sound while paying for hi-end amps. There are exceptions and as of now only Bryston comes to mind. I am not a high-end kind of guy and always tend to guide people on the MORE-FOR-LESS route. Depends on your budget, one and two, on whether you want desi or videshi, ready-made or made-to-order but that via PM or tele only as I dont want to stir up a hornet's nest here. UGPM

Trittya,

Please discussions can be here, at least low-profiles like me can learn something.. I am sure some stir will be there, but hope everything can be for good things.

 

[ASL]

Hi Everyone. Once again congrats Godsdevil. you know you know me. This onez for Trittya....Trittya, You really seem to know the ins and outs so wanted to share that even I was considering STs but not sure if they are a good match for Harmon Kardon AVR7550 (avr760 in India). Can you please share your expert opinion. Thanks in advance.

 

[godsdevil]

Hey guys

A promised, the pictures....

I have to say that the pictures don't do them justice. In reality they look much better.

 

[godsdevil]

Hi Everyone. Once again congrats Godsdevil. you know you know me. This onez for Trittya....Trittya, You really seem to know the ins and outs so wanted to share that even I was considering STs but not sure if they are a good match for Harmon Kardon AVR7550 (avr760 in India). Can you please share your expert opinion. Thanks in advance.

ASL

HK makes good receivers, but as you said your main use will be for music, I'd strongly recommend getting a proper pre/pro and amplifier setup. HK is good for movies but this particular model may be a little underpowered for STs as its rated only at 80wpc. You really need to feed them atleast 125-150watts for them to shine.

 

[sarge_in]

Sweeet!! Yeah you have to see - and hear - them live to really appreciate them!

 

[anm]

Mr Devil, are you in Noida today? I would like to come over for a listen, towards evening. don't want to ruin your sat evening though.

 

[godsdevil]

Thanks sarge_in.

@anm
Just saw your reply...
Will PM you my number. Call me anytime and we can arrange something.

Cheers