Munich High-End 2018 Ron Report: Goebel Divin Majestic
- Thread starter Ron Resnick
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I actually thought this didn't sound bad...a bit uninvolving tonally but I don't blame the speaker for this. The imaging and soundstaging were pretty good and it projected well when the music called for it (something that most of the "standard" cone speakers failed miserably at). It had some real presence, which was nice to hear. I did think it was a bit heavier at times than appropriate but this weight didn't smear the mids or overly warm the sound. There was another Goebel room with the bending wave driver that sounded just awful...I have never heard one of there quasi planar designs sound good...cannot understand what others are hearing there. This more conventional design was more successful, IMO. That said, the Zellaton system was much better if one wants to spend big coin on a big box of cones/domes.
That room, while very dynamic, was also quite bright sounding this year. I have heard much better Stenheim demos, unfortunately.
Did you hear the Italian designed, Spanish made planars at the Marriott?? Those are probably the best planars I have heard...if not ever then in a long time. They are 94db sensitive as well! Alsyvox or something like that was the name. They were there last year as well and sounding good then too.
I have similar experience.
Listened to Steinheims many times in Hong Kong.
Alumine Two and Alumine Five are very good.
But the Ref Ultime and the flagship 4-towers were consistantly bright, despite paired with a whole set of CH Precision.
Has any of you slightly turned your head while listening to the big Stenheim?
Due to the "strange" double tweeter array, one could easily notice a bad comb-filter effect
Did no one notice that
Has any of you slightly turned your head while listening to the big Stenheim?
Due to the "strange" double tweeter array, one could easily notice a bad comb-filter effect
Did no one notice that
it was too bright for me to get that far
That was not a “Gobel Room” but the Vitus room using the new Aeon Bending wave.
I heard it sucked as well.
Too bad as it’s amazing speaker as I, with the new Aeon Fine set up in my room, would thrill anyone listening to it. If you have never heard it sound good then you have never really heard the speaker properly setup.
Personally, since just about everyone judges the wares by shows, I would have preferred for Oliver to have shown his Ref and/or Fine under his control instead of that of Vitus in some slanted roof glass ceiling room that he had no control of while at the same time trying to show some new HUGE speaker that no show will ever demonstrate its full capabilities.
But everyone has to make their own decisions and live by them.
Glad to hear you love the speaker so much, and I have no doubt it sounds great in your set-up.
Your statement:"If you have never heard it sound good then you have never really heard the speaker properly setup",
can hold for many a speaker. As I said before elsewhere, if people have heard Magico speakers not sound great on 20 different occasions, then they have heard the speakers 20 different times improperly set-up and/or not with properly matching electronics. It means little.
Set-up is not trivial. Even though I have my new speakers since a few months now, I just recently made huge progress with changes in set-up that brought the sound to a new level. It was good before, but now substantially better.
I am starting to think that only good impressions count in the high-end. The reasons for a bad impression can be too many to count. Even Brad (Morricab) who loves horn speakers conceded that horn speakers generally sounded pretty bad at Munich 2018. None of these rooms made his top 5 list, if I remember correctly.
I don't disagree with a word you say. It's just a pity that in an effort to demo the Divin in as good a setting as possible, the Gobel people obviously dropped the ball on their main line, the Aeon leaving it to Vitus, which based on the comments didn't come across so well; I think I am being kind with that, LOL. It seems that many comments here have talked about how much better last year's demo of the bending wave was; last year it was demoed and setup by Gobel whereas this year's newer version wasn't setup properly to show it's strengths. I do understand it is a show and even the best of best no matter how good don't sound as good as they can in better circumstances but for many this is the only venue they will ever get to hear most of the products on display.
Hopefully at RMAF people will get a very well focused demonstration at what these remarkable new speakers can do.
Even with a correct set up we tend to find differences in opinion on a given system anyway. Our ears have different preferences. I wouldn’t think Morricab and Ron has bad ears. In fact I think they walk around with golden ears. But yet Ron has a few horns in his list of favorite rooms at show while Morricab said horns presented there were generally not sounding good. What sounds right and natural to one might not sound good to another. Set up is part of it but I think our preferences and priorities drive our comments more.
Kind regards,
Tang
Not if they sounded the same/similar in those 20 different set ups. Especially if those 20 were in non hifi show conditions. Also, anyone who loves horns speakers will tell you there are many bad horn speakers. Your post is comparing a specific brand in 20 different non-hifi show conditions to a generic category of speakers at one hifi show.
Avantgarde with tube amps - the only horns at Munich i can ever listen to
Living voice OBX R3 biamped with Gakuoh
Constellation room
JBL4367...wish only they were not playing through the ML amps
Audiovector
Boenicke
Generally cheap stuff. It is perhaps easier to setup at a show.
actually 2 did: Living Voice Vox Olympian and Living Voice Vox Palladian. Both are true horn speakers.
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