I have had these speakers now for a couple of weeks and have logged quite a bit of time listening and decided to post now rather than wait. Why? Because these speakers do not require the 200+ hour break in time to sound great. Do I believe the cones will continue to relax with continued play? You bet…
I believe these speakers will fall under the $1700 mark, fully assembled. GR Research will also sell these in various kit forms from parts to boards and in between.
My room is the basement, with an asymmetrical layout due to the stairs coming down on one side. The back speaker wall has some absorption with JM Theater Shield randomly placed. I have 1 ASC Tube trap in each corner with the reflective side to the room. I also have 1 wall absorber at the 1st reflection points outside my speakers about 3’ away. Speakers are roughly 3’ from back wall and 2’ from the closest wall toed in directly at the listener. Speakers are 7’ apart and 9’ from my ears. Back wall has a book case with 2 foam base triangular absorbers where the wall meets the ceiling. The room has the usual junk along with a comfy 7’ leather couch, well worn I might add.
Equipment consists of AVA Transcendence SL-7 Preamp, and AVA Fet Valve 350EX amp. I have changed out the stock AVA tubes with Mullard CV 4024 tubes, a much more midrange friendly tube than stock. Transport is Sony DVP 7700, and DAC is the Channel Islands VAC-1 and VPP Power supply. Interconnects are Bolder Nitros, and Silver Lace. Subwoofer is the Rel Stratos III. Speaker wire is Bolder Nitro. Wall outlets have been changed to a PS 20 amp unit for my amp and the Pre is running into a 15 amp ACME outlet.
My music runs from acoustic to female vocal, male vocal, rock, and whatever my son wants to try on me. Notable changes heard from specific albums include the James Taylor October Road album, Narada Guitar 2, Pat Metheny, Secret Story, Cassandra Wilson, Belly of the Sun, and Crosby, Stilles & Nash, CSN. I have listened to a ton of other stuff including Kodo to Sting. So O.K. already, how did it sound.
Great! Fabulous! Are we done yet? The best complement I can give these speakers is that they have provided me with a non-fatiguing sound that I have not heard since my Meadowlark Hotrod Kestrels, but with far greater detail, and dynamics. Speakers I have owned include Thiel 3.5’s, Dynaudio 1.3 SE’s, Dynaudio 52’s, and the GR Diluceo’s. It does me no good to try and compare against other speakers because of room, electronic gear changes, interconnect swaps and the like. The dual 5” midwoofers really allow for clear tight mid/lower base to occur. Sub is crossed over now at 40 hz, with no hump between sub and speakers. The width of the stage I am guessing is more a function of my room rather than the speakers, but extends about 2’ past in each direction. Depth goes waaaaay back, and is really juicy, but again, that may be a function of tube decay as opposed to my previous solid state gear. When listening to the James Taylor album, I heard several different instruments that were previously indistinguishable to me. (Note to self, get Jason over here, because he really does have a great set of ears to help me know what the heck I was hearing). These speakers really excel at allowing the detail to come through, and the ribbon, in my opinion, is very smooth and detailed without any harshness. How loud do they play? Plenty loud for me (95 db+), but for some, this may not be enough. They get plenty of juice from the AVA amp, and my Preamp is set at 9 o’clock for normal listening (85+ db),
I love the detail without the headache, and for me, that is the bottom line. I would encourage those of you looking for a great monitor to give these a listen as they go lower than 55 hz down 3db in my room. If you have a good sub to slip up under these you are set for a full range fun time! Give Danny a call, he has been great to deal with.
Brad
