I posted this on AVS Forum earlier today:
I bought The Speaker Company TST3 speakers about two weeks ago. I am at about the 29 hour mark. There has been plenty written about the packaging as of late...my packaging was TRASHED by FedEx, but it did its job as the speakers were in no danger of being harmed. They are much heavier than I thought.
I am using an Adcom GTP-400 II Pre amp and a Behringer EP4000 amp (with quiet fan mod) that sends 550 WPC downrange into 8 ohms.
The bass was overly tight when first turning them on. To the degree that it was disappointing. I played some Michael Buble (live album) and some test tones through the speakers at moderate volume (as well as some other X-mas albums) and this 'loosened up' the bass considerably. The midrange was always crsip and clean, with a wide soundstage...impressively wide, actually. The tweeters were pretty bright to begin with, but that smoothed considerably within the first 5-10 hours of break-in and the air has increased noticeably as well. After about20 hours of break-in, I threw in 'Terminator: Salvation', which has PLENTY of gratuitous bass at or below 30Hz. I turned off my eD A2-300 and let the speakers show me what they had. They had a LOT more than I thought.....the bass easily filled the room, with plenty of concussion during the explosions. Don't get me wrong, you won't wonder if the sub is on-or-off, but this is easily the equal of the JBL L890 dual 8" towers I heard earlier this year. I have not, as of yet, experienced any of the 'tweeter break up' that was mentioned in the audioholics review, tho I have not played them at ear-shattering volume yet. I have played them quite loud with no discernible distortion to my delicate ears (Live sound/concert sound engineer by trade/profession for several years at a major central FL theme park; this doesn't make me an expert, but I don't want to be lumped into the same group as BOSE fanboys...so please bear that in mind). I played 'A Knight's Tale' (w/ Heath Ledger) as well and was very pleased with the quality of the bass, as the boominess had almost completely subsided and I was starting to see the tight and deep bass that I felt these speakers were capable of.
Next came the warble tones. I played a 31.5Hz-centered warble tone and there was prodigious output with very little cone excursion. Same at 25Hz. Now, at 20 Hz there was decreased-but-usable output (and zero port noise), but cone excursion had GREATLY increased. I figure that the port is tuned somewhere between 22 and 25Hz. Playing the 40Hz warble tone showed no more output than at 31.5 or 25 (to my ears, my last SPL meter was broken in the move :/ ). Same with the 50Hz tone. Pretty happy with that for $360 shipped, IMHO.
As for the mids and highs, The soundstage is really wide....a lot wider than the cabinets. When playing M. Buble's live album, you could hear the stupid crowd noises between songs (like coughing) and could even place it in the stage in front of you. Are we talking B&W or Dynaudio levels of imaging and presence? Nope. But it's a LOT more than $360 worth of performance. I have personally paid a LOT more and gotten only-as-much or less. I'm sure that I could drive them loud enough to cause the tweeters to 'break up' or distort. However, I just sold my Klipsch RB-35 reference series bookshelf speakers...and they would sustain levels over 110 db for periods long enough to give even a young-buck a headache...I'm no stranger to LOUD (not to mention all the eardrum-destroying concerts I've been forced to mix) and these TST3's have been pretty loud for short periods with zero distortion from the tweeter. I wonder if a different (read: improved) crossover from the TST2 or a longer break-in period might have reduced or completely mitigated the 'break-up' described in the article? Who knows...either way...from death metal to Dave Brubeck...they play loud and clean for me. I have zero complaints.
Now, are there better sounding speakers out there? Hell yes there are! Are there better sounding speakers out there for $360 for the pair including shipping...maybe...but that becomes an extremely difficult question to answer after experiencing this level of balanced and decently-refined performance. I can't find a speaker at this price that equals this performance; this doesn't mean that speaker doesn't exist...it just means I haven't found them. I'm happy with the value I received...actually...I'm VERY HAPPY. I would definitely buy from TSC again and am VERY happy I bought these speakers when I did. The money I saved by their 40off promo bought me my eD A2-300 w/ the new driver and amp. THAT is value (and kept the wife quite happy).
