Salk or Selah or ?

I heard several Salks and Selahs at RMAF, Oct., '06. In fact the several of them had the best-sounding treble I heard at the show, as they all had Fountek or Aurum Cantus ribbon tweeters. My favorite of all of them was the Selah Audio 3D... http://www.selahaudio.com/id134.html .

I'm a sucker for ( = I LOVE) the spacious sounds of dipole speakers, and the 3D has dipole MR. Also, the speaker is gorgeous, at least IMO.

One negative--its low sensitivity of 84dB. In a big room and/or if you often listen at higher levels (say, higher than maybe 95dBA peaks at the listening position), I think you'd need MORE power than indicated by Selah's 50 - 200 Watts of power. But they're 4 Ohms, so about any SS 200WPC amp (except a receiver) will deliver 300 or so into 4 Ohms.

Let us know what you find.
.

I, too, heard the Selah 3D speakers at RMAF. I loved them. They sound very much like my Andra IIs with a bit more air and spaciousness. I liked them so much I am considering purchasing a pair in the near future.
My only concern is exactly as Jeff has written - I suspect they need powerful SS amplification to sound their best. But I could be mistaken.

I like the Salks too, especially the HT3 and the HT2, but I find them on the bright side of neutral. In the right room with the right amplification they would be excellent, lifelike and very dynamic. The 3Ds were, to my ears, just more neutral. They also prduced a very convincing soundstage with great imaging.

The Salks at RMAF were run with Van Alstine amps - SS/hybrid and tubes. The Selah's were powered by Blue Circle gear.

The Salks are beautiful looking. The veneers are gorgeous. The 3D not so gorgeous but still very attractive.

Jim Salk and Rick Craig are both great people to deal with, you cannot go wrong there.

I think too there may be a demo pair of 3Ds available for a good price now. You might check.

Demo 3D's are sold. Was looking at them myself and pulled the trigger about 5 minutes too late.

Can't go wrong with either Salk or Selah, both excellent.

Brian - a couple of benefits for you with Selah is Rick sells kits and is a bit more of a mad scientist. If you are able to source a cabinet maker it could save you some money. And since Rick is very talented with playing with different drivers you may have some that you'd like in a design? Rick can throw them together and make magic from it.

Not sure if Devore is available there, but the 9's would be about the only speaker I would be interested in besides what Jim and Rick can make.

Good luck in your hunt.

Hi

Thanks for the respond.

From what you write, the Selah 3D sounds like a real winner. Any idea of how this compare to lets say the Peridot?

Jghall>Devore is also interesting allthough a bit more expensive than Salk and Selah. And it is not in Denmark so I think I will stick with Selah and Salk.

I am not going to buy anything within the next few days, so any info is still greatly appriciated.

Brgds,
Brian

Another great design from Selah, also sold in kit form, is the XT8 line array. This is a recent review in The Stereo Times.

You might also wanna check out GR Research's LS-6 in kitform for $1995 or their OB-7 for $1295 or you can get the LS-6 fully finished for $2995 from av123 for $2995 its a linesource or you can also check out the Mini Strata for $1995 its a monster value.You may also check out Raw Acoustics their HT-3,HT-8,and Apex II all come in kit form or finished form,all of these guys along with Jim Salk and Rick Craig are all on the www.audiocircle.com and they are all friends and communicate with each other and do projects with each other.

Can't go wrong with either. Both Jim and Rick are true gentlemen who will work with you to get what you are looking for. Both not only have excellent products, but even better service backing it up.

I thought the Selah 3D sounded better than the Salk HT3 at RMAF, but I know (since I have owned the HT3's for the past two years) that the HT3's didn't sound anywhere near what they are capable of.

These two speakers are different designs and take different approaches. The 3D as its name implies will give a very spacious and holographic sound at the expense of ultimate dynamics. The HT3's are better balanced from top to bottom and seemed to have a little more detail.

What type of music do you listen to?

What is important to you?

What is the rest of your system composed of?

With a little more info, maybe we can help a little more.

George