I own a pair of German Physiks HRS-130 since 2 months (my audio components are McIntosh C28 and MC2105 and MCD201, i.e. older models). I stared using Qobuz streaming service with a Bluesound Node streamer that has received good recommendations . As speakers, I had Dynaudio Contour 1.3 for years (before they were bought and ruined by a Chinese company that bought them) and was quite happy with them. Our speaker „project“ started when our kids visited. They exclusively stream, and so we learned to discover a whole world of high-quality music beyond the (own old) CD collections and do listen much more attentively now. Consequently, this led to the question of new speakers.
It took me some time to listen to lots of speakers and hanging around HiFi shops etc… After listening to B&W 804D4 and 803D4, Sonus Faber Olympia Novica II and III, DAL Rubicon 8 and Epicon 6, I was ready to go with the 804D4 as the most reasonable choice for the money limit we set; very good, but there was a little nagging feeling left. They have a hard tweeter sound and they do loose a lot when listening at low volumes (although not as much as smaller B&W and the Sonus Faber). Then, roaming around in various forums brought Avantgarde Acoustics and German as alternative brands. The ZEROs were to harsh and bass-heavy with their active bass driver, and my wife liked the UNO better. But while the horn is very impressive in its dynamics (more than the speakers mentioned above, their bass somehow trails behind the higher frequencies (also, the sound is far from neutral; while this is fun first, it gets strenuous after a while). Impressive speaker though with their colorful 20“ horns.
In contrast, I knew after 10 min that it would be GP for me after listening to the HRS-130. Also, the technology is fascinating providing an audio stage not comparable with anything I have heard so far in any speaker (no need to sit fixed in the sweet spot in front of the speakers). The upper Carbon Cone chassis covers the frequencies between 190 and 22 kHz. To my knowledge, there is no coparable system to this chassis. Its DDD technology does not require a acoustic lenses like in the Duevel, which has an ordinary chassis facing down on the lens to disperse the sound. The 10 inch woofer in the base of the speaker faces down as well and almost functions like a subwoofer (for my living room of around 55 sqm the HRS-130 is ample (for larger rooms the larger Borderland would add more oomph to the bass, but it is not required). The sound is just rich, and together with the resolution and the incredible sound stage, it is the nicest mix I know. You can listen for hours on end without getting tired. Particularly, for the classical music it is impressive. An important aspect for us is that at low volumes, most of the music is still there and does not sound flat like in the other speakers I listened to. Also, try to sit behind or to the side of the speakers with any other brand. Here, hardly a difference in the sound experience. GP speakers are not too critical to place (approx.1,5m from either wall). I have experimented somewhat with the placement, but stopped after a while, because the differences did not seem significant at some point. Last comment on the sound: These speakers will reveal bad recordings merciless. You loose the incredible sound stage, to which you quickly get accustomed, and you will notice this more than with other speakers, I believe. So, you can tell, I converted to a fan.
It is also the incredible build quality: some examples: the speaker surface is not painted or foiled, but consists of an 8mm thick colored polyester coat (mine are black), which is then sanded and polished to generate a mirror-like finish similar to a Steinway grand piano. The case is appr. 40 kg, and a resonance building-up is compensated by a Helmholtz resonator in the body that neutralizes sound waves by converting them to heat. Some of the screws are machined for these speakers to meet the required specifications. Screws are fitted using a torque wrench. Look at the terminals and the Bi-wiring jumpers mounted; serious heavy duty stuff compared with the flimsy things you get with most of the other brands. GP gives a 20 year warranty on these things, and should you want to sell them (note that there is almost no second life market for GP products - that may tell you something, too), they offer to check them, repolish them and then issue you a factory certificate. Their service is exceptional, because Holger Müller, the founder of GP is a crazy enthusiast in the best sense, who hates compromises. Look at their Emperor line of amplifiers (incredible stuff).
These speakers are costly, but not expensive if compared to other brands in this price bracket - for me they are close to perfect. Now, that´s it! I usually do not write commentaries, but here is a great product that I thought audio enthusiasts may be interested in reading about, although everything is subjective, of course .
