-it took me a while to figure it out. Mark Gilmore had told me several times on the phone that the speakers need 50 hours of breakin to sound right, and this was proven at the show. When the speakers arrived, they had 10 hours on them. Shipping damage of the Fed Ex variety prevented the speakers from getting any more time before the show, and it was a miracle that they had even the ten hours on them.
So the first day of the show, using our MA-1s, the speakers did OK in the mids and highs, being as revealing as anything I had heard, but the bass did not make it. We also had a room problem- too much volume and the room came apart. It was easy to get too much volume, as close to the speaker you could not tell how loud you were playing the system, since there were none of the usual loudness cues to clue you in. Further back it was obvious.
The second day the speaker was a little better, but still not doing it right until the end of the day. After hours, I played a musical project I had been working on for the last year at a serious but not mind-breaking volume. My Korg Mono/Poly can do some deep bass that easily rivals Moog Tauras pedals and I was interested to see how the Gilmores could shake the place up. I let the whole CD play. By the end of the CD, I had 6 companions that showed up and listened through the whole thing without complaint. It was also nice because it was helpful in getting reactions out of people with regards to the CD. It will be ready for release in a couple of months. The Gilmores played the bass line easily, BTW.
On the third day we used the MA-2s. Also Abraham graced us with his appearance. What a wonderful person to meet. He is very gracious, and quite learned. At this point the speakers finally were really playing the bass, but it was also apparent that there was a standing wave in the room that we were not going to be able to solve. So as a result there was no real bass in the center of the first two rows of chairs. The room continues to be a major influence in the system; no technology I have seen solves that.
Abraham was delighted with the way the speakers presented the sound. As a bass player myself, I can tell you that your location with respect to the speaker is a huge deal on how it sounds to you and how the amp interacts with the instrument. With a planar speaker, this no longer matters. All of a sudden Abraham was able to play the bass without worrying about where the bass amp was as the sound was the same anywhere he stood. This made it more about the music and less about the gear. What was a big deal as far as the speaker was concerned is that it was impossible to damage the speaker with the MA-2s while a very active and talented bass player provided the input. No chance of fried mid or treble drivers due to overdriving the amps- the ribbons handle more power then the MA-2 can generate.
On the fourth and fifth days of THE Show, the speaker was finally blending the bass with the same speed and agility that hallmarked the ribbon unit from the beginning. Despite the MSB CD player's phenomenal playback, it proved no match for the SOTA/Triplanar/Helicon combo. It was nice to play LPs that I have heard for years and note things in them I have not heard before. The highs (as long as we did not set the room off) were easy, relaxed, focused and coherent: a pleasing combination of speed and laid back character all at once. Nice for music.
Of course, shows are terrible places to audition gear. If it sounds good, that's OK, if it does not that really doesn't mean a thing. However I've been doing these shows for 15 years now, with a variety of speakers. Based on that experience the Gilmore proved an impressive debut.
I know what my amps and preamps sound like, and its not by chance that I use recordings that can shut most systems down in a heartbeat. I like to see what a system can do with demanding material. Although I am a two channel geek with all the tube recording and playback gear anyone could hope for, this does not mean that I am above using some serious rockin' stuff as reference. Better that then having to saw my leg off if forced to listen to Diana Krull once more. Frankly, I'm a bit of a snob (like most audiogeekphiles) about the music I listen to- some of which I have the advantage of having recorded myself.
I can't tell you how often people with duck in, look at things and leave. There's lots of tire kickers out there, which is fine. I've seen a lot of controversy about this speaker, lots of it aimed at Mark Gilmore, who has had a lot of things said about him by people on this and other forums who have had no communication with Mark at all. I call him on the phone, or email him if I have questions. Seems like the sporting thing to do. Anyway, my point is that at any room at a show, if you want to find out what a system does you'll have to do more then duck in. You'd better bring a recording you know very well, and if you only play 2 or 3 cuts I seriously doubt that you are going to learn much about any system. I find that seperate recordings should be used to determine things like depth, width, and imaging in the soundstage, still others for bass extension, more for bass impact, highs and so on. Oh yes (sigh) let's not forget the female vocals with light jazz. Whatever. King Crimson is more my style, but this, for the time being, is still America :)
What I am trying to say is that I have experience with the show conditions, the gear and the recordings that allowed me to satisfy my curiosity about the Gilmores. I really do feel that I am not going out on a limb in saying that time will demonstrate that the Gilmore raises the bar for all planar speakers. In addition to being musical and full range, it is also very easy to drive. During the entire show we never clipped the amps at any time. On the 3rd day, we had a guy come in after hours and play the system at 115 db! Despite our dismay, the amplifiers lounged through without a hint of stress. A planar speaker that is finally easy on tubes, *full range* yet capable of serious dynamic range. Not something you see everyday. In fact, its the only speaker like it.
