Guarneri Homage: A question regarding longevity and room size.

paolo

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Nov 7, 2016
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Thank you LL21, I've ordered a set of jumpers from the fine fellow who makes my Virtue cables. At the moment I'm listening to Ornette Coleman and his group "Change of the Century" and it has never, ever sounded as good in any of my previous systems over the years. Bless Franco Serblin and may he rest in peace.
 

LL21

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Dec 26, 2010
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Awesome! Great to hear. Enjoy!
 

paolo

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Forgive me while I (continue) to gush. The Homages are the most musically and emotionally-rewarding speakers I've ever had in our home. My quest has ended. I could go on, but those who have heard them understand. I am awaiting the arrival of a REL T5 just for kicks, and will report back as soon as I've dialed it in.
 

microstrip

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(...) The Echole and Yter cables are fine alternatives also for the Speaker. (...)

I use Yter with my Guarneri Homage - although Franco Serblin developed it long ago after the Guarneri's, I think it was presented with the Stradivari, that was internally wired with this type of wire. I also tried and preferred two runs of Yter, but could not justify the expense with a pair of great speakers I got mainly because I was not able to say no ... :cool:
 

Blackmorec

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I spent more than 10 years of perfect satisfaction listening to a pair of Guarneris. I used them with a subwoofer but you need to be very careful with both room positioning and crossover set up. IMO what a sub contributes is more acoustic air and body. As soon as you go for ‘extention’ you end up subjectively slowing the whole pace of the music and robbing it of that naturaness the Guarneris have in spades. You don’t want Guarneries with deep bass!

In my room I used the sub firing into a corner, with the cross over turned down to the exact point I couldn’t hear the subs but could hear greater body and air. That way all the speaker’s great qualities were preserved (speed, transparency, musicality, emotion), with an added measure of ‘body’, acoustic air and ambience, which made images feel more solid, gave a better rendition of hall ambience and acoustics and improved vocals
 
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LL21

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I also used the Gs with a sub...the Velodyne DD18. And like Blackmorec, was very careful to ensure it created space and a sense of soundstage/power...but without it becoming a sledgehammer alongside a Swiss watch.
 

paolo

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Speaking of subs, I read an informative thread on this forum about using small REL subs (T5's) with Guarneri Homages, started by DaveyF, and was wondering if he might weigh in here. Has anyone heard from DaveyF recently?
I should have my T5 tomorrow, Friday , which will give me plenty of time over the weekend to dial it in. :)
 
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paolo

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Update: I now have a pristine REL T5 and have been having a lot of fun dialing it in. The guidelines in the REL manual get me very close to what sounds darn good. If anything I've dialed down the crossover and gain a few clicks from REL's suggested starting point of 15. Happy holidays to me! (and of course, to ya'll as well) I'm now enjoying the best-sounding reproduced music in my home in decades of pursuing this sometimes crazy hobby.
 
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Blackmorec

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Yes, that’s because you’ve got one of the finest speakers ever built to play it though. The Guarneri Homage have not been surpassed in some areas of their performance. They are a loudspeaker for the long haul, that you never really tire of.
Regarding your sub, its job is to enhance the performance of the Guarneries, not to give a performance in its own right, so running it with a little less gain sounds like you've got it serving your needs perfectly.
 
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wookie1

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Yes, that’s because you’ve got one of the finest speakers ever built to play it though. The Guarneri Homage have not been surpassed in some areas of their performance. They are a loudspeaker for the long haul, that you never really tire of.
Regarding your sub, its job is to enhance the performance of the Guarneries, not to give a performance in its own right, so running it with a little less gain sounds like you've got it serving your needs perfectly.

Blackmorec, of all of the stand mount speakers that I have heard, these are the best overall. A friend sold his Magico Minis to go for a pair of the GH's and never looked back. I agree with your sentiments about these speakers, Paolo has some of the best speakers ever made. I have been looking for a pair of these for a while...unfortunately with little success as they are super hard to source. Nice find Paolo!
 
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paolo

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Well, my goodness, here I am posting to this thread over one year later. The reason I decided to revisit is to share what I just (finally) confirmed about the GH speakers: they love tubes! For many months I'd be using a very fine solid-state integrated and while results were acceptable I kept feeling, thinking, that something was not quite right. My vintage tube gear had been in storage for many months after getting it back from upgrades and repairs. I finally opened the boxes and installed the tube preamp, and monoblocks. Even after a mere 10 minutes or so of warm-up, it was obvious to me that tubes were superior, at least for the kind of music I love, jazz combos, classical of all eras, world, acoustic of one kind or another, female vocalists, think Kraal, Billie, Ella, Linda, et all, some male vocalists, but not so much rock and roll. And, NEVER metal. In case anyone is curious, my tube gear is the MFA Luminescence pre and a pair of MFA M120 mono amps. Heaven right here on my few square feet of earth.

Be well, stay safe, and may 2021 be much brighter for all of us.
 
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petzzz

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Dec 3, 2020
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Well, my goodness, here I am posting to this thread over one year later. The reason I decided to revisit is to share what I just (finally) confirmed about the GH speakers: they love tubes! For many months I'd be using a very fine solid-state integrated and while results were acceptable I kept feeling, thinking, that something was not quite right. My vintage tube gear had been in storage for many months after getting it back from upgrades and repairs. I finally opened the boxes and installed the tube preamp, and monoblocks. Even after a mere 10 minutes or so of warm-up, it was obvious to me that tubes were superior, at least for the kind of music I love, jazz combos, classical of all eras, world, acoustic of one kind or another, female vocalists, think Kraal, Billie, Ella, Linda, et all, some male vocalists, but not so much rock and roll. And, NEVER metal. In case anyone is curious, my tube gear is the MFA Luminescence pre and a pair of MFA M120 mono amps. Heaven right here on my few square feet of earth.

Be well, stay safe, and may 2021 be much brighter for all of us.
I've been following this for a while and have finally gotten myself a pair of Guarneri Homage (04 vintage) 2 days ago after years of hunting locally for my second system. It already sounds good driven by my 20 year old Accuphase E450 and after reading your comments on tubes, I'm really tempted to bring out my old Quad II to try it out... I also have an Audionote 300B (8 watts) but I guess that would be pushing it :D My music selection is similar to your except I don't listen to classical much.

Should be fun experimenting...
 

BruceD

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I've been following this for a while and have finally gotten myself a pair of Guarneri Homage (04 vintage) 2 days ago after years of hunting locally for my second system. It already sounds good driven by my 20 year old Accuphase E450 and after reading your comments on tubes, I'm really tempted to bring out my old Quad II to try it out... I also have an Audionote 300B (8 watts) but I guess that would be pushing it :D My music selection is similar to your except I don't listen to classical much.

Should be fun experimenting...
Kudos! -04's are late versions alright-

With your amps-dear old Quad II's!--smooth pipe and slippers sonics--possibly too much so for some Italian flair the GH's will muster if fed properly!

Definitely not I'd fear the ANote 8 Watter--the Speaker is a real world 86db.

I use a 23W Tube ClassA and it just gets by in my small Dorm--I'd maybe rule it out in any bigger environment.

Re a Proviso on the above line--only with the Takatsukis installed --with E Harmonixs--the dynamics and output were diminished noticeably.

My own observations would be for 40/50W Tube minimum to get the best from the Speakers.

Good listening,

BruceD
 
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petzzz

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Dec 3, 2020
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Kudos! -04's are late versions alright-

With your amps-dear old Quad II's!--smooth pipe and slippers sonics--possibly too much so for some Italian flair the GH's will muster if fed properly!

Definitely not I'd fear the ANote 8 Watter--the Speaker is a real world 86db.

I use a 23W Tube ClassA and it just gets by in my small Dorm--I'd maybe rule it out in any bigger environment.

Re a Proviso on the above line--only with the Takatsukis installed --with E Harmonixs--the dynamics and output were diminished noticeably.

My own observations would be for 40/50W Tube minimum to get the best from the Speakers.

Good listening,

BruceD
Thanks for the heads up Bruce... I still have a pair of Consonance 800 Monoblocks (el34 80watts) but it needs to be repaired...

Meantime, the Accuphase is doing a good job with the GRs... the speakers just dissapears and the imaging is clear and precise. Just love it and its really as good as its reputation.
 
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paolo

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Nov 7, 2016
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Congratulations, petzzz! After over a year of ownership, I continue to marvel at how lovely the GH's are. My 100 WPC mono tube amps are more than adequate and yield great synergy. Although I have a few ASC tube traps, I suspect that additional, possibly different sound treatment would be a good investment. I'll likely go DIY panels in that department. But now that we're finally enjoying good weather, I've got many other outdoor projects to finish first.
 
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petzzz

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Dec 3, 2020
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Congratulations, petzzz! After over a year of ownership, I continue to marvel at how lovely the GH's are. My 100 WPC mono tube amps are more than adequate and yield great synergy. Although I have a few ASC tube traps, I suspect that additional, possibly different sound treatment would be a good investment. I'll likely go DIY panels in that department. But now that we're finally enjoying good weather, I've got many other outdoor projects to finish first.
Thanks Paolo.
I‘m quite happy with the GHs being driven by the Accuphase for the time being and will take my time fixing my EL34 monoblocks (80watts)... I did some experimenting by connecting them to my audionote 300B (8watts) and they were doing surprisingly well. Not much bass to speak off on its own however, I have an old REL strata hooked up and resulting from that, vocals and trio or quartet jazz sounds wonderful with this combi without playing it loud of course!
 
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