I've just passed the 200 hour mark of the break in on a set of Europas and thought I'd post my impressions. The speakers that I was using before the Europas are the Triangle Titus, which I think are also a good bang for the buck.
I'm using a Wadia 830 cdp as a source; a Levinson ML-11(50w) amp powered the first portion of the break in then and then a 47 Labs Gaincard (25w) for the duration. All wiring including power cords is 47 Labs OTA.
Something unexpected happened to me during this break in period. I'd previously been getting away from listening to rock and listening to more acoustic jazz, finely detailed electronic recordings, and even classical music. This suited me fine as I was getting off on the detail and the complexity of the music that I was listening to. I just assumed that this was a natural progression in my musical tastes, which was only partially true. The truth was that rock sounded anemic on my system before the Europas and most of my listening to the rougher stuff would take place in my truck.
I was sitting in an adacent room about halfway through the break in period when I noticed the low frequency energy from the bass moving through the walls. It was this surprising bass response that made me get up and start pulling out discs like the Who, Thin Lizzy, Gentle Giant, Soundgarden, Van der Graaf Generator, the Pixies, Urge Overkill, Roxy Music (Viva), Tin Machine, Snakefinger, and well ,you get the idea. I'm not saying that all of this stuff suddenly sounded great, but I could actually listen to a lot of it and enjoy it. My collection is much more accessable now with the ability to play discs that got little play before. Of course I still own some recordings that are simply recorded horribly and will only be played in the truck where road noise and attitude make great equalizers.
I'm not sure how this time/phase aligned, marble encased 45 pound 2 way mini brute manages to sound so good, but it does. There is a natural ease to the presentation with the Europas that allows my brain to relax and enjoy listening to music not only the cerebral level, but also on the gut level. The experience is similar to the one that I had while listening to a friends Green Mountain 1.5's, which impressed me enough to purchase the Europas in the first place.
I was skeptical that a speaker that could play rock like this could actually pull off a lights out, late night listening session with the more intricate recordings, so I put it to the test. The soundstage is a very wide one, really remarkably so. All of the nuance, inner detail, depth and complexity that I've come to expect from familiar recordings were there along with a more authoritive delivery and even some detail that surprisingly I hadnt heard before. I have to say here that the life, liquidity, detail, transparency, and honesty that exist in my system are largely traits of the 47 Labs Gaincard and the 47 labs OTA. These qualities are not lost, but passed along nicely through the Europas. The Levinson was no slouch either and was an enjoyable listen, just not on the same level as the 47 Lab gear.
In a nutshell, yep, I like them a lot. These little speakers are built like a brick house (with the exception of the grill) and sound like they should cost a lot more.I think they're a great deal on a two way that's bound to leave a lot of others in the dust.
