Salk Songbirds - impressions?

[ckus1275]

Hi folks:

I'm looking to upgrade my front speakers at around a $1500 budget and am intrigued by the Salk Songbirds. I've tried doing searches here and on Google, but I can't seem to find many reviews on them. I see a lot of positive reviews for the SongTowers and some on the SongSurrounds, but Songbird info is lacking (or I can't find it).

Wondering if there are any Songbird owners (or those whom have heard them) who can provide info on how they sounded (subjective, I know), or general impressions. I can see on the Salk website that the frequency response curve is pretty flat, which is encouraging, but I haven't found much else.

The other question I had was if the 84dB sensitivity is an issue - I would be driving them with a Rotel RMB-1075 (120W x5).

In case it helps, I am using an Anthem AVM-30 and Rotel RMB-1075, and will be purchasing a sub soon after the front speakers. My center is a B&W HTM4 (I'll just deal with any timbre matching issues for now). The room is an odd shape at 12' x 20' x 9' high and I'll be doing probably 60% movies/TV and 40% music.

Thanks very much for any help!

 

[Swerd]

Hi folks:

I'm looking to upgrade my front speakers at around a $1500 budget and am intrigued by the Salk Songbirds. I've tried doing searches here and on Google, but I can't seem to find many reviews on them. I see a lot of positive reviews for the SongTowers and some on the SongSurrounds, but Songbird info is lacking (or I can't find it).

Wondering if there are any Songbird owners (or those whom have heard them) who can provide info on how they sounded (subjective, I know), or general impressions. I can see on the Salk website that the frequency response curve is pretty flat, which is encouraging, but I haven't found much else.

The other question I had was if the 84dB sensitivity is an issue - I would be driving them with a Rotel RMB-1075 (120W x5).

In case it helps, I am using an Anthem AVM-30 and Rotel RMB-1075, and will be purchasing a sub soon after the front speakers. My center is a B&W HTM4 (I'll just deal with any timbre matching issues for now). The room is an odd shape at 12' x 20' x 9' high and I'll be doing probably 60% movies/TV and 40% music.

I don't own SongBirds, but I have heard them, and they sound very much like my SongTowers. I also own a pair of smaller 2-way bookshelf speakers, the CAOW1, that has the same woofer and tweeter. They are essentially SongBirds in small ported cabinets.

They all are recognizable as closely related siblings. The main difference between the ST and the SB, as you pointed out, is how sensitive they are. They share the clean & clear sounding midrange and no portion of the frequency range (with the exception of bass deeper than the lower 40 Hz range) is absent or exaggerated. They have excellent off-axis dispersion and in stereo they create a very wide sound stage.

Your Rotel amp is probably powerful enough to drive the SBs satisfyingly loud. I keep my CAOW1s in my bedroom, which is fairly large, and I power them with an old B&K 105 wpc amp. It drives them well. With a subwoofer, you should have a very good set up.

What finish are you thinking of?

 

[ckus1275]

They all are recognizable as closely related siblings. The main difference between the ST and the SB, as you pointed out, is how sensitive they are. They share the clean & clear sounding midrange and no portion of the frequency range (with the exception of bass deeper than the lower 40 Hz range) is absent or exaggerated. They have excellent off-axis dispersion and in stereo they create a very wide sound stage.

Your Rotel amp is probably powerful enough to drive the SBs satisfyingly loud. I keep my CAOW1s in my bedroom, which is fairly large, and I power them with an old B&K 105 wpc amp. It drives them well. With a subwoofer, you should have a very good set up.

What finish are you thinking of?

Thanks for the info! I am leaning towards the standard cherry or walnut finish, but will probably let the wife make the final call.

 

[oldgoalie33]

I've had a pair of Songbirds for a couple years now. For their size, they are really a wonderful speaker. Great imaging, a surprising amount of bass, and a wonderful midrange. Take a look over at AudioCircle for more info. There's a number of threads in the Salk Circle on them.

 

[ckus1275]

Thanks everyone for your input. I've noticed that the 2 brands that are getting recommended the most to me in my budget range are the Salks and Ascend Acoustics. Philharmonics have been mentioned too, but I think I'm going to lose based on WAF on those.

I'm trying to figure out if I will be able to hold off for a while and up my budget to $2000 in order to decide between the Sierra Tower and Salk SongTowers. The upgrade bug never stops, I guess.

 

[Swerd]

You should make an effort to hear one or some of these speakers. Contact Jim Salk for owners near you who are willing to show off their speakers. If you're near enough to me (Gaithersburg, MD) you are welcome to come hear mine.

As I said above, I don't think it matters too much whether you hear SongTowers, SongBirds, SongSurrounds, or CAOW1s. They are all similar enough for you to get a good taste of what they're like.

Seeing these speakers up close also matters. The photos don't show the full visual impact of the veneer and finish quality. Did you click on the Photo link in my signature line below? My STs are unstained curly cherry.

 

[GranteedEV]

Thanks everyone for your input. I've noticed that the 2 brands that are getting recommended the most to me in my budget range are the Salks and Ascend Acoustics.

Aesthetically and in terms of SQ, they appear to pretty much lead the pack.

Philharmonics have been mentioned too, but I think I'm going to lose based on WAF on those.

Although some of us would rather have the Philharmonics than either of the above dollar for dollar despite the aesthetics...

If you can convince the wife that they're worth it, do it

 

[ckus1275]

You should make an effort to hear one or some of these speakers. Contact Jim Salk for owners near you who are willing to show off their speakers. If you're near enough to me (Gaithersburg, MD) you are welcome to come hear mine.

Thanks for the offer; I am unfortunately in Seattle. I will definitely seek out someone here to audition the speakers.

Seeing these speakers up close also matters. The photos don't show the full visual impact of the veneer and finish quality. Did you click on the Photo link in my signature line below? My STs are unstained curly cherry

The finish quality looks awesome! Love the grain pattern on the curly cherry too.


I had another thought looking at your SongSurrounds - I will be buying a sub shortly after getting new fronts; would it be worth it to spend the $1500 on a pair of SongSurrounds for use as front speakers to pair with the sub to gain the additional effeciency and extra 5" driver? Like you were saying, I'd imagine the sound quality will be the same between the SongBirds and SongSurrounds, but I'd presumably get better sensitivity and power handling going that route?

 

[Swerd]

I had another thought looking at your SongSurrounds - I will be buying a sub shortly after getting new fronts; would it be worth it to spend the $1500 on a pair of SongSurrounds for use as front speakers to pair with the sub to gain the additional effeciency and extra 5" driver? Like you were saying, I'd imagine the sound quality will be the same between the SongBirds and SongSurrounds, but I'd presumably get better sensitivity and power handling going that route?

I showed a SongCenter in my photos, but I don't have SongSurrounds. Maybe you were confused, because the SongCenter is essentially the same as the SongSurround II. The SongSurround I has one midwoofer and a tweeter (MT) and the SongSurround II is an MTM in a small ported cabinet. I've heard my SongCenter, but I've never heard a pair of SS IIs in action.

Your idea is not bad, but if it were me, I'd go for either of the floorstanding versions (SB or ST) because their transmission line cabinets do something very nice with bass that you won't get in the SongSurround I or II. That's something you have to hear. Words don't do it justice.

 

[yveletnik]

Same here on transmission line. I compared side by side STs to my ER0W2s (similar to CAOW1) the bass on SongTowers is much cleaner, tighter. With a regular ported cabinet bass kinda floats in a room, but you get an impression that you get more bass.

But not sure what will happen if you add a subwoofer to the equation...
I might be wrong but for front I think the CAOW1 would be a better candidate as it uses 2nd order crossover and Song Surrounds use 4th order to match SongTowers closely.

Another thing to look at is "Ellis 1801b" it uses Excel driver as in Verasity series, $2000 for bookshelf or $2200 for tower, not sure if it fits your budget.

 

[RichardinIdaho]

I love my "birds. Very good for the money. I spent an extra $160 on the veneer. Well worth it.