I decided to try a Gershman speaker out of Canada that has been on my mind for a while. It was a pleasure to deal with Gershman and a few other people who had heard them from this site, so I purchased them. One speaker came, followed by the second one that I found on my porch with box beat up and soot blackened. I unpacked the second speaker to find that it was moderately scratched up but more unfortunately the bass driver starts to squeak when played with some songs. I did all the audiophile switching cable tests and believe the voice coil of the speaker was damaged in transit.
I contacted the company and within a few emails back and forth was assured that the quickest way to handle this would be to pay for a second pair and get refunded for the damaged pair upon shipment back.
I was thrilled that Gershman stood behind the process and made it so simple. From what little I listened, I could tell that this speaker will be a welcome addition to collection and look forward to writing more about them when they get 150 or so hours on them. Very excited and will post a follow up shortly.
I sold these a while back. Like someone said above they are musical and easy to listen to. I wouldn’t argue that.
I liked that ease of listening quality at first, but got bored with them. The midrange was far from stellar, particularly in the presence region, which is that fatiguing spot for way too many speakers. These weren't fatiguing at all but I think they lacked too much in that frequency range for me.
I think the mid/woofer driver is a subwoofer driver. The bass was incredible on these. Like having 2 subs with a decent midrange and smooth treble.
Do you still own the studio II's. Final thoughts on these speakers? I am very impressed with my suits II's so much that I am considering moving up to the Avant garden.
@rawlitim not sure what to give for a power recommendation but I'll tell you that I had the Cornwall 4 in my house at the same time as the Studio 2. I had a Coda CSIB 150 wpc. With the Cornwall I would have the set the digital volume at 18 for early morning/eve, 24 while working and in the high 30's for really loud listening. With the 2's I would start in around 60 and never really pushed in beyond the 80's. I don't know what that wattage would be but they never got loud. I'd gues you want over 200-250 if you want to turn them up. Feel free to PM me if you want to chat.
Thinking of buying a pair of Gershman Studio ii, reading and watching reviews, seems these Gershman are quite sensitive to amp matching
What's your recommendation on an amp to bring more air into the highs, more speed in timing and recreate an holographic soundstage?
I'm currently considering, AVM30 MA 30.3, Van Alstine DVA M225, Denafrips Thallo as class A/AB, and have yet to find a class A in this class category to consider
I've always liked Gershman. Very musical and easy to listen to. Too many audiophiles spend a fortune on hyper-detailed speakers and amps and then spend thousands on cables, platforms and tweaks to tame the brightness.
@jitterbug I found the lack of midrange to be a mixed bag. Great with aggressive music that not well recorded but lacking with nicely recorded music. Didn’t go back to any speaker yet, still considering a direction.
Hi bjesien Not sure I fully understood your last post. So does that mean you ultimately did not like the Studio2 and sold/returned them and have gone back to Verity/DeVore?
The midrange came along some but I found that the longer I had them the less I listened to music. They are easy to listen to and fun to play most music on. Like I said earlier they take the edge off of bright recording but didn’t quite make the best music sound as good as it could. I always tend to gravitate back to two brands in the end- Verity and Devore for better of worse seem mostly to my liking the majority of the time.
I've been enjoying these speakers more than I anticipated. If anyone reads this, can you post some electronics preferences with Gershman. I appreiciate Jabs impressions of the VAC. I've had a few VAC amps over the years and they've been great.
Jab that’s a good point about the VAC combo. I A/B’d them in my house with Spendor D7’s and Devore O/93’s to come to that conclusion, same amp and cables. The tubes and wattage of the VAC would be a great combination. I did hook up the Leben briefly and they sounded good but they like more power.
They make a very surprising product. After coming off of some much more expensive speakers that perform all kind of gymnastics, it's nice to have something on the more relaxing side that I can leave on and enjoy the music for many hours. The dynamics are great, imaging is great, bass is very deep and solid down below 30hz. Very surprising that these little speakers load the room the way they do. The midrange is opening up over time. My suspicion is that a razor clear midrange I will not find in this speaker, but I'm prone to fatigue so that's part of the reason why I bought them. I'm liking the small unobtrusive footprint too.
I have them on loaded stands driven by a Coda integrated. I came close to a pair of Harbeth's with a sub or two but I've always had difficulty blending monitors with subs (even dual to my ear). I decided on a different direction for a while.
The adjustment for me is that they are not the most transparent speakers I've owned. I can tell there are speakers playing in front of me- even though they do the disappearing act. Being that there are speakers playing in front of me, I think that's okay. What I sought for a long time was that "in the room" transparency, but that really became an Achilles heel because no matter how much I tried, spent, and how close I got, there was a little nuance missing here or there. You guys know- the tube, interconnect, speaker cable chase. The whole- maybe if I upgrade this or that or spend $3k on a power conditioner the the highs will settle some and I'll be golden. I've had some nice systems, some $30k that I didn't want to listen to from fatigue, or I became pigeonholed to certain kinds of music.
Over time I tend to gravitate towards music that sounds best on a speaker but so far haven't noticed a conscious preference. These only have about 30 hours on them so I'll report back on the midrange as it changes. The pair that went back lost a glossy character that this new pair will shed soon too. One last impression is that these for me might blend something of an older speaker characteristic in regards to speed and detail, with more modern characteristic in image and frequency response.
Hope you like it. I'd like to hear more about it. Gershman may never be appreciated by large audience since it is a small company. I really like my Grand Avant Garde.
Thanks for sharing and nice to hear Gershman did the right thing. I’ve always liked what I’ve heard from Gershman speakers and think it’s a shame they fly so low on the radar at least here in the US. Look forward to hearing your impressions.
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