First impressions at California audio Show

[tube fan]

I spent quite a while in the Salk room and was very impressed with the SoundScapes and Van Alstine equipment. Unfortunately, their CD player - a Denon midfi unit - was downright bad and there was no vinyl. Music from the Squeezebox actually managed to sound good but when Jim put a CD of mine into the Denon the sound was just horrible. I think he knew it and stuck to the Squeezebox almost entirely.

As far as drivers, the speakers use a RAAL 70-20XR (OEM-only) ribbon tweeter, a 3" Accuton ceramic midrange and a 10" (optional 12") Acoustic Elegance woofer with dual passive radiators. The RAAL tweeter has extremely flat frequency response up to 30khz+ and excellent vertical dispersion which makes for a wide sound stage and lots of seperation and sparkle to the sound. The highs from that tweeter were without a doubt the best I heard from any room at the show. The midrange was equally as transparent and revealing with a holographic sound that seemed to float in the air. I was quite surprised at how much bass the 10" woofer was able to reproduce. The first couple tracks I heard were a little shy on the bass and then Jim played a track that had a nice acoustic bass recording and it was extremely tuneful, fast and deep. These are the kind of speakers where you forget you're listening to speakers and just hear the music.

I liked these speaker just as much as if not more than the Evolution Acoustics speaker that had similar drivers but cost $30k/pair instead of $10k. I wouldn't think twice about buying them if I were in the market.



Disclaimer : I have a pair of speakers being custom built using the RAAL tweeter with Accuton mids (albeit a different one). I think I'm still fairly objective however. Another Accuton system, the Conspiracy by Consensus Audio, which was at the show and has the same midrange driver being used in my speakers, sounded absolutely horrrrrible to me. I'm curious to hear how other people liked the Salks or Evolution Acoustics systems.

I heard exactly what you heard. I think the only significant limit to the sound was the CD player. I would LOVE to hear the Salk speakers with the Audio Note $5,500 CD player, or with a good vinyl system. The Evolution system with stand costs $22,000, so I'd spend the extra $5,000 and get the powered subwoofer if I went for an Evolution speaker. I think you can get the RAAL ribbon tweeter on the Songtower.

[PeruvianSkies]

There is no doubt that a speakers main priority is to bring music to life in the most realistic way possible, but there is also a fine art to the speaker and the aesthetic qualities of the cabinets, etc.

So with that in mind, what speakers have been the most impressive in both sound and looks?

[atomicAdam]

::: SORRY FOR CRAPPY PHOTOS :::

Also - disclaimer - all comments are based on the performance of the speaker w/in the room at the show and my short or long listening time - obviously a hotel room w/ little treatment can only show so much of a set ups performance.

This was the line at opening time Friday morning. It was a good chaotic start to the event. Friday morning was a great time to be at the show. Almost now one in the rooms - though a lot of rooms were still figuring out speaker position and room acoustics, so it was good to be able to come back to those rooms through out the weekend.

I have to say, many of the folks at the show were very nice, both attendees, staff, and manufacturers.

Electrocompaniet Room





I was very interested to hear the floorstanding speakers in the Prelude line, happily they were as I expected, fuller low end versions of the bookshelf speakers with the same sweet, slightly rolled off high (the harsher highs it seems to me are rolled off). (review of the bookshelf prelude speakers, PC-1 CDP, PI-2 Amp, to come on Dagogo.com)

I very much enjoyed these speakers, and for the sub $3000 price range, probably the best I heard at that price point. But you do have to like the sound.





The Classic Line was very good. It had a similar sound to the Prelude line Scanspeak tweeter but much more detail and a much faster and cleaner low end. I was able to listen to track 4 off of Dead Can Dance Toward the Within. Lisa Gerrard voice was captivating and the drum circle that gets going towards the end of the song was awesome. There was some issues with room acoustics - I mean, that much power in that small a room.

Peder from Electrocompaniet was very nice, and overall the sound from their systems was very pleasing to my ears, especially at the Prelude price point. Though, in that room, the floorstanding Prelude speakers were a big blurry and boomy at the lower mids and lows. I don't think that is all the fault of the room, the bookshelves I have in my house have had a bit of that issue as well.

MORE TO COME .... but imma gonna go throw done some music for the rest of the night. hommie just burned me his new CD and I can't wait to hear it!

[Byron4]

This is my very first post. First of all a big thank you to Constantine Soo and his staff for hosting this wonderful event. My wife and I stayed at the Hilton and really enjoyed the three days spent at the California Audio Show. This was an opportunity to listen to a number of different gear for the first time. We plan on attending next year.

I currently own the Acarian Alon 1 descended from the Dahlquist DQ-10's. I heard these were based on the original Quads. I also own a pair of Magnepan MMG's because I also enjoy listening to planar speakers. This may explain why my favorite rooms were the Audio Image Room with the King speakers and the Tone of Music room with the Quad speakers. My other favorite that I really enjoyed was the Legacy/Win room.

I wish I could have heard the High Altitude drum corps recording at the show as my kids were/are active in the activity.

[atomicAdam]

This is my very first post. First of all a big thank you to Constantine Soo and his staff for hosting this wonderful event. My wife and I stayed at the Hilton and really enjoyed the three days spent at the California Audio Show. This was an opportunity to listen to a number of different gear for the first time. We plan on attending next year.

I currently own the Acarian Alon 1 descended from the Dahlquist DQ-10's. I heard these were based on the original Quads. I also own a pair of Magnepan MMG's because I also enjoy listening to planar speakers. This may explain why my favorite rooms were the Audio Image Room with the King speakers and the Tone of Music room with the Quad speakers. My other favorite that I really enjoyed was the Legacy/Win room.

I wish I could have heard the High Altitude drum corps recording at the show as my kids were/are active in the activity.

Welcome Byron to AudioREVIEW. Glad to hear you and your wife had a good time at the show. Sounds like your ears are on a bit on an opposite side of spectrum of mine- but no worries.

Enjoy!

[frenchmon]

I spent quite a while in the Salk room and was very impressed with the SoundScapes and Van Alstine equipment. Unfortunately, their CD player - a Denon midfi unit - was downright bad and there was no vinyl. Music from the Squeezebox actually managed to sound good but when Jim put a CD of mine into the Denon the sound was just horrible. I think he knew it and stuck to the Squeezebox almost entirely.

As far as drivers, the speakers use a RAAL 70-20XR (OEM-only) ribbon tweeter, a 3" Accuton ceramic midrange and a 10" (optional 12") Acoustic Elegance woofer with dual passive radiators. The RAAL tweeter has extremely flat frequency response up to 30khz+ and excellent vertical dispersion which makes for a wide sound stage and lots of seperation and sparkle to the sound. The highs from that tweeter were without a doubt the best I heard from any room at the show. The midrange was equally as transparent and revealing with a holographic sound that seemed to float in the air. I was quite surprised at how much bass the 10" woofer was able to reproduce. The first couple tracks I heard were a little shy on the bass and then Jim played a track that had a nice acoustic bass recording and it was extremely tuneful, fast and deep. These are the kind of speakers where you forget you're listening to speakers and just hear the music.

I liked these speaker just as much as if not more than the Evolution Acoustics speaker that had similar drivers but cost $30k/pair instead of $10k. I wouldn't think twice about buying them if I were in the market.



Disclaimer : I have a pair of speakers being custom built using the RAAL tweeter with Accuton mids (albeit a different one). I think I'm still fairly objective however. Another Accuton system, the Conspiracy by Consensus Audio, which was at the show and has the same midrange driver being used in my speakers, sounded absolutely horrrrrible to me. I'm curious to hear how other people liked the Salks or Evolution Acoustics systems.

Thanks Brian K. All Salk speakers are just beautiful in my opinion. I only wish I could listen to a pair. Its too bad there are no audio shows in St. Louis or surrounding area.

[frenchmon]

Adam...thanks for the pictures...

[Brian K]

Thanks Brian K. All Salk speakers are just beautiful in my opinion. I only wish I could listen to a pair. Its too bad there are no audio shows in St. Louis or surrounding area.

Frenchmon, I agree wholeheartidly that the Salk speakers are gorgeous. The finish is truely impeccable. Have you seen his forum on AudioCircle.com? There are people who are willing to allow you to come to their homes for demos if you're interested. Jim Salk sells his speakers direct from the manufacturer so it will be very difficult to find them on display anywhere. It will be impossible to find a speaker that sounds that good for anywhere in that price range. You could also try to find a pair of Evolution Acoustics speakers since they do have a dealer network and listen to them. The tweeter and mid drivers are nearly the same and they sound very much like the Salks.

On another note, who here had a chance to listen to the JBL Everests? I've heard very different opinions on these speakers from people at the show.

[frenchmon]

Frenchmon, I agree wholeheartidly that the Salk speakers are gorgeous. The finish is truely impeccable. Have you seen his forum on AudioCircle.com? There are people who are willing to allow you to come to their homes for demos if you're interested. Jim Salk sells his speakers direct from the manufacturer so it will be very difficult to find them on display anywhere. It will be impossible to find a speaker that sounds that good for anywhere in that price range. You could also try to find a pair of Evolution Acoustics speakers since they do have a dealer network and listen to them. The tweeter and mid drivers are nearly the same and they sound very much like the Salks.

On another note, who here had a chance to listen to the JBL Everests? I've heard very different opinions on these speakers from people at the show.

Yeah I've been to audiocircle a few times...never registered. I'll check to see if any one is in my part of the world. Have you ever heard any Dynaudio Speakers? IF so how would you compare Salk's sound to them...cons and pros? Thanks.

[tube fan]

Frenchmon, I agree wholeheartidly that the Salk speakers are gorgeous. The finish is truely impeccable. Have you seen his forum on AudioCircle.com? There are people who are willing to allow you to come to their homes for demos if you're interested. Jim Salk sells his speakers direct from the manufacturer so it will be very difficult to find them on display anywhere. It will be impossible to find a speaker that sounds that good for anywhere in that price range. You could also try to find a pair of Evolution Acoustics speakers since they do have a dealer network and listen to them. The tweeter and mid drivers are nearly the same and they sound very much like the Salks.

On another note, who here had a chance to listen to the JBL Everests? I've heard very different opinions on these speakers from people at the show.

I heard the JBL Everests. They can put out more volume than the human ear can take, and the bass will shake the room. You need a HUGE room for these speakers. Driven by thousand watt ss amps, the sound was hard, and unlistenable to me. The smaller JBL speakers sounded smoother.

For my tastes, the Evolution Acoustics and the Teresonic speakers were, by far, the most beautiful, and, they both sounded great.

They were driving the Teresonic Ingenium Silver ($15,000) with a Teresonic Reference 2A3 ($15,000), a 2 1/2 watt SE class A amp, zero feedback, zero capacitors, with NOS tubes by RCA. The tt was the Clearaudio innovation Wood ($13,000 with arm). Cartridge was the Benz Micro Ruby Z ($4,000). I use the Benz Ruby 3 in my main system, so I am familiar with the sound. The phono preamp was the new Fosgate ($2,500, and a steal), with tube power supply. The Teresonic speaker, one driver, a Lowther DX4 unit, has, of course, no crossover and is extremely efficient. The sound on several of my vinyl records was extremely close to what I hear from my main system, but they would not turn up the volume, so they probably would sound even better played at realistic levels (to me, this means something close to the level you would hear live). The speakers did not go low enough to play my Gary Karr record, with all the low bass. All things considered, a very pure sound. I would like to hear them with something like the Audio Note Jinro, a 27 SE integrated amp ($22,000).

The Evolution Acoustics MM one ($22,000 with stand) and MM Two ($27,000) are also totally beautiful, both in looks and sound. Unfortunately, though they were playing tapes, close copies to masters, they had no tt, so I could not play my vinyl. Playing the tapes, the sound was as lifelike as anything I have ever heard: effortless on both micro and macro dynamics, clear, tonally saturated, and, just "real". W AY better than my system. Brian says the drivers in the Salk Soundscape (20-60KHz) are similar. I am not sure about the exact price of the soundscape speakers, but they would seem to be a steal.

[theaudiohobby]

I heard the JBL Everests. They can put out more volume than the human ear can take, and the bass will shake the room. You need a HUGE room for these speakers. Driven by thousand watt ss amps, the sound was hard, and unlistenable to me.

The dealer who brought these speakers to the show should be spanked.....wrong environment given it's prodigous bass output. Or if they must exhibit the speaker, an electronic LF filter to drastically cut its LF output. What amplifier was driving the speaker?

[frenchmon]

From reading the review of the Everests it was noted that they are not audiophile speakers.

"While possibly missing the audiophile cache of their sister brand, Revel or other brands like Wilson Audio, Bowers & Wilkins, JM Labs and Aerial Acoustics, the Project Everest hangs right in there with the big boys of audiophila, but they play extremely loud."

One person said "They lack finesse, sibilants are emphasised, the high notes can be too sharp, the tempo is too fast and the images are much larger than life.But they can give you the sonic equivalent of a roller-coaster ride - the thrills and spills and sonic booms that only a pair of big, loud and fast speakers can create."


So...there you have it. While they are stunning to look at, they are more suited for an amusement park, dancing halls, big clubs or big concert hall where loudness is needed rather than in your two channel room.


I dont know about you, but I'll take a speaker that has finesse, emotion, and romance over a speaker that only plays loud.


http://hometheaterreview.com/jbl-pro...0-loudspeaker/
http://hi-fi-avenue.blogspot.com/201...-of-sound.html

[theaudiohobby]

From reading the review of the Everests it was noted that they are not audiophile speakers.

"While possibly missing the audiophile cache of their sister brand, Revel or other brands like Wilson Audio, Bowers & Wilkins, JM Labs and Aerial Acoustics, the Project Everest hangs right in there with the big boys of audiophila, but they play extremely loud."

One person said "They lack finesse, sibilants are emphasised, the high notes can be too sharp, the tempo is too fast and the images are much larger than life.But they can give you the sonic equivalent of a roller-coaster ride - the thrills and spills and sonic booms that only a pair of big, loud and fast speakers can create."


So...there you have it. While they are stunning to look at, they are more suited for an amusement park, dancing halls, big clubs or big concert hall where loudness is needed rather than in your two channel room.


I dont know about you, but I'll take a speaker that has finesse, emotion, and romance over a speaker that only plays loud.


http://hometheaterreview.com/jbl-pro...0-loudspeaker/
http://hi-fi-avenue.blogspot.com/201...-of-sound.html

I have never heard the JBL Everest nor seen any measurements so I'll reserve judgement. After listening to the JBL K2 9800, I find it hard to believe that JBL would build a flagship thats effectively unlistenable.

[E-Stat]

... but they play extremely loud."

That has always been JBL's credo.

rw

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

I have never heard the JBL Everest nor seen any measurements so I'll reserve judgement. After listening to the JBL K2 9800, I find it hard to believe that JBL would build a flagship thats effectively unlistenable.

They did, and trust me on that one.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

I heard the JBL Everests. They can put out more volume than the human ear can take, and the bass will shake the room. You need a HUGE room for these speakers. Driven by thousand watt ss amps, the sound was hard, and unlistenable to me. The smaller JBL speakers sounded smoother.

Tube fan, I told you that you spoke to soon. We do agree on something!

One person said "They lack finesse, sibilants are emphasised, the high notes can be too sharp, the tempo is too fast and the images are much larger than life.But they can give you the sonic equivalent of a roller-coaster ride - the thrills and spills and sonic booms that only a pair of big, loud and fast speakers can create."

This about sums it up perfectly.

The Teresonic speaker, one driver, a Lowther DX4 unit, has, of course, no crossover and is extremely efficient. The sound on several of my vinyl records was extremely close to what I hear from my main system, but they would not turn up the volume, so they probably would sound even better played at realistic levels (to me, this means something close to the level you would hear live).

They wouldn't turn up the sound because those speakers don't do loud that well - it cannot hold its composure. They also have issues when the mix is complex, dynamic, and touches on the frequency extreme's

When they played High Altitude Drums through it, it sounded good on the horn prelude at the beginning. But when the horns ALL came in along with the percussion, this speaker turned a very good but complex mix into a sonic mush that had zero definition. It is much like using you kitchen's drain to empty a large lake. It is very difficult to design a single driver that covers 10 octaves without giving up the ghost somewhere.

[blackraven]

Frenchie, I've heard the $6000pr base price, $8000pr well equipped, Salk HTR-3's and they are a very well balanced speaker with a 10" woofer, midrange and ribbon tweeter. Big open transparent sound with lots of air and strong tight bass. They have a slightly warm sound but I heard them on Van Alstine tube and hybrid gear. The sound is smooth, detailed and they move a lot of air. You can feel the deep bass hit you in the chest.

http://www.salksound.com/ht3%20-%20home.htm

http://www.salksound.com/ht3%20-%20images.htm

They would be my first choice for a speaker upgrade. I briefly heard the Song Towers with out the ribbon tweeter upgrade and they sounded just ok but Fank VA had some crappy music on so it was hard to get a handle on how good they actually are. I was over at Franks house waiting while he upgraded my op amps in my DAC which took him all of 5min. So I didnt; have much time with the Song Towers.

As far as comparisons to Dynaudio's, I think the Salks have them beat although I am a fan of the dyn's. The Salks have a larger sound stage and great transparency and depth which is hard to find in a speaker. Unfortunately the electronics used for listening to each was different so its not a fair comaprison.

[tube fan]

Tube fan, I told you that you spoke to soon. We do agree on something!



This about sums it up perfectly.



They wouldn't turn up the sound because those speakers don't do loud that well - it cannot hold its composure. They also have issues when the mix is complex, dynamic, and touches on the frequency extreme's

When they played High Altitude Drums through it, it sounded good on the horn prelude at the beginning. But when the horns ALL came in along with the percussion, this speaker turned a very good but complex mix into a sonic mush that had zero definition. It is much like using you kitchen's drain to empty a large lake. It is very difficult to design a single driver that covers 10 octaves without giving up the ghost somewhere.

I was afraid of exactly this. Almost all rooms seemed to play their systems at lower than live levels. Only in the Audio Note room, and only with one of the salesmen, did I hear realistic, live levels. Turning up the volume can stress a system, and the Audio Notes were totally effortless in producing live volume levels. Despite playing their speakers at live volume (something I have found that women usually hate), of the 4 women who I asked what was their favorite room, 3 stated "the Audio Note room". Once, when I was in their room, a woman turned to her husband and said: "honey, you HAVE to buy those speakers". I suspect that, despite the high volume levels, the tonal saturation won them over. Of course, critics call that euphonic coloration. I know if my wife was there, she would have also told me that I "had" to buy the AN speakers. BTW, some say that the $7,500 AN AN-E HE speaker is BETTER that the $15,000 one at the show.

[theaudiohobby]

They did, and trust me on that one.

That's a pity

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

That's a pity

Dang, I got the evil eye!!! LOLOL

[Brian K]

They wouldn't turn up the sound because those speakers don't do loud that well - it cannot hold its composure. They also have issues when the mix is complex, dynamic, and touches on the frequency extreme's

When they played High Altitude Drums through it, it sounded good on the horn prelude at the beginning. But when the horns ALL came in along with the percussion, this speaker turned a very good but complex mix into a sonic mush that had zero definition. It is much like using you kitchen's drain to empty a large lake. It is very difficult to design a single driver that covers 10 octaves without giving up the ghost somewhere.

Although I think they make a nice piece of sculpture, the Teresonic speaker didn't really do it for me sonically. I had never heard a Lowther driver before and was very eager to hear what some people rave about. There's definitely a nice sound to them but it had a slight coloration and dullness to the sound. It reminded me a bit of the Bose stereo my old Infiniti came with that used a single full range paper cone. Being that there's no crossover you do get a nice uniform sound across the frequency spectrum but it lacked the depth and detail of other speakers. I didn't get to hear any complex passages on it but it did seem like giving it too much volume or a very dynamic range would push it outside of its comfort zone.

[Brian K]

I heard the JBL Everests. They can put out more volume than the human ear can take, and the bass will shake the room. You need a HUGE room for these speakers. Driven by thousand watt ss amps, the sound was hard, and unlistenable to me. The smaller JBL speakers sounded smoother.

Interesting response. I spent more time in the JBL/Revel room than any other at the show, mostly because they had 3 different systems setup and rotated so it was a nice comparison versus 'room hopping'. I think the presenters actually did a good job of playing loud enough to get a sense of realism but without going overboard. The room they were displayed in was very large (roughly 60ft x 30 ft with 12 foot ceilings) so I think it was a reasonable choice to bring the Everests. The amplification for the Everests was monoblock Pass XA30.5 (30watt class A) on the top and some discontinued Levinson 400watt monoblocks on the bass with a Pass active crossover. The Revels and JBL Project Arrays were powered by some Levinson amp as well, but not actively crossed and bi-amped like the bigger system.

I've had some Klipsch horn speakers in the past that were really obnoxious sounding when turned up and I was a bit scared the JBL's would do the same thing. It was quite the opposite with the Everests. I thought they sounded very clean and detailed and never sounded harsh. They played alot of acoustic recordings and it was very easy to seperate out the instruments. Each one seemed to have its own distinct location in the soundstage. Having the massive room definitely helped in this respect since most systems at the show in the smaller rooms were really limited in their imaging by the close proximity of the side walls. I would definitely rate the Everest in my top 5 of the show.

Also in the room was the Revel Ultima Salon II system. These speakers have some serious 'bling' factor to them. Big shiny toweres stacked with metallic cones galore. They certainly have a very hi-fi look to them. The sound was equally as hi-fi. They have a very clean and somewhat forward presentation. Whereas some systems seem to disappear and you hear the music coming from behind them, these speakers do the opposite. There was no mistaking this system for a live perfomance. The midrange was a bit overwhelming for me. It was a bit too in-your-face than I like to hear and had a somewhat unnatural tone to it. The bass was very deep and had nice impact and presence. They certainly have a distinct sound that wasn't quite like anything else I heard at the show. It may seem like I hated these speakers but that's not really the case. I can see how some people would like them but they weren't my cup of tea.

Then there were the JBL Project Arrays... They just didn't do it for me. They were clearly a step down from either of the other systems in the room they seemed out of place. I can't think of anyything that really stood out to me about these speakers. except that when these were playing I got restless and wanted them to turn on the Everests or the Revels again.

[tube fan]

I did not like the Everests at all. Just horrible IMO. Nothing like live music. Tonal purity and tonal saturation at around 0! They can play loud.

[theaudiohobby]

Interesting response. I spent more time in the JBL/Revel room than any other at the show, mostly because they had 3 different systems setup and rotated so it was a nice comparison versus 'room hopping'. I think the presenters actually did a good job of playing loud enough to get a sense of realism but without going overboard. The room they were displayed in was very large (roughly 60ft x 30 ft with 12 foot ceilings) so I think it was a reasonable choice to bring the Everests. The amplification for the Everests was monoblock Pass XA30.5 (30watt class A) on the top and some discontinued Levinson 400watt monoblocks on the bass with a Pass active crossover. The Revels and JBL Project Arrays were powered by some Levinson amp as well, but not actively crossed and bi-amped like the bigger system.

I've had some Klipsch horn speakers in the past that were really obnoxious sounding when turned up and I was a bit scared the JBL's would do the same thing. It was quite the opposite with the Everests. I thought they sounded very clean and detailed and never sounded harsh. They played alot of acoustic recordings and it was very easy to seperate out the instruments. Each one seemed to have its own distinct location in the soundstage. Having the massive room definitely helped in this respect since most systems at the show in the smaller rooms were really limited in their imaging by the close proximity of the side walls. I would definitely rate the Everest in my top 5 of the show.

Thanks Brian for writing up a different perspective as previous show reports had led me to believe that JBL made a total cock-up of the K2 Everest Demo.

[atomicAdam]

more...

again sorry about the crappy photos

Legacy Audio / Win Analog / MIT Cables






Some big speakers and amps. The tubes in those WIN amps are big enough to choke an elephant - sound awesome when playing larger classical pieces - but a solo guitar just isn't 50ft big. Either I'm not used to this large a speaker or just not my thing because I was pretty bored listening to these except when classical was playing. They also still had that speaker in the room feel. Maybe there was a volume issue, they never played them that loud and the sound never really felt solid. Maybe to thin and dispersed. anyways - other people seem to lov'm so maybe just me.

Salk and Van Alstine

my lord does my crappy photo not do these beauties justice

Salk speakers are probably the best looking in the show. The finish on these is seductively glossy and entrancing. Sound wise, with the AVA gear, it is as I expected. I have noticed the sound out of my AVA OmegaStar250EX amplifier is a little laid back and warm. And at CAS 2010 with the 550 W Hybrid amp the sound was the same. It is very pleasing and easy on the ears. The Soundscape speakers won a lot of affection from people at the show and apparently here at the AR forums. Jim is also a nice guy, easy to talk to and very down to earth. Hearing the Soundscape speakers has rekindled my desire to get the a pair of V-3 speakers from Salk. The soft by present highs and nice clear mids and fast bass made them very enjoyable to listen to.

Salk seemed to be the only one to using a squeezebox and from what I understand that put a lot of people off. Not really sure why. The data was being feed into a new AVA DAC, the transport shouldn't really matter.