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| Letters -- June 2005 Speakers for Gryphon electronics June 28, 2005 To Jeff Fritz, I read your column on the Gryphon Antileon Signature amplifier, and we were lucky enough to be able to buy one together with a Sonata Allegro preamp. Today we are using Wilson Benesch Discovery speakers. We are thinking about changing our speakers, and I was wondering if you could send me some ideas that would be the best possibilities in the range of $35,000. The room size we have today is 30 square meters. Csaba I have three speakers in mind that I know I'd audition for your system. The first is the Wilson Audio Specialties MAXX 2. It is slightly above your price range, but perhaps you can find a demo pair available for a slight discount. My experience tells me that Wilson speakers and Gryphon electronics pair well together and the newest MAXX would easily fill your room. It also sounds fantastic. I'd also listen to the Rockport Antares. We have a writer who is pairing this speaker with the same Gryphon electronics that you have and he seems to love the combination. I've heard and been impressed with Rockport speakers at various shows and know that the Gryphon folks themselves at one time used Rockport speakers at their factory. Lastly, how about the Gryphon Cantata? This is a smaller stand-mounted system, much more manageable than the other two systems listed, but the synergy would definitely be there. If you like the Gryphon sound, it seems only natural to try Gryphon speakers. Those three would be my first-round choices. Have a listen and let me know how you like them (and what you end up with)....Jeff Fritz Isoclean June 24, 2005 To Mike Silverton, Excellent review of a sensational product line. I own the 80A3 filter with the Super Focus power cord. I have all my components plugged into it, including my Reimyo CD player, Wyetech Opal preamp and Oasis monoblocks. Your article states that there was a real difference adding the Isolation transformer. I am considering that purchase as well. However, these products are expensive. Am I better off isolating my amps and making a different purchase? I have four dedicated lines (although only two on the wall with all my components). Brett Applebaum In my remarks I point out that Isoclean recommends a minimum of two transformers per filter and that I am using one transformer to good effect with only my digital component plugged into the filter. In optimal terms, the componentry you're running via an Isoclean ensemble would require more than a pair of transformers. In fact, you'd need more than one filter as well. As you say, it's expensive gear. The Bentley will have to wait, I fear....Mike Silverton Better speakers? June 10, 2005 To Ross Mantle, I've noticed that you have a state-of-the-art-digital front-end, cutting-edge amplification, and very good cables. Yet, you're using JMlab Electra loudspeakers. Why? Can't we do better? Or can't you fit anything larger in your room? Also, will you be reviewing any new speakers (like those Tannoys you heard in Montreal)? John Harnick Ouch, that's going to leave a mark. I've been thinking of upgrading the speakers for a long time, but each time I get close, a new component somewhere else in the system makes my humble Electras sound better than they have any right to. This just proves the wise old stereo adage that upstream improvements tend to be more important and more satisfying than downstream ones. I am going on a quest for top-notch speakers, and you'll likely get a chronicle of these efforts. Tannoy's products are on my list, as are some units that have impressed me from Triangle. There are also some very interesting but so far unheard products from Lansche in Germany....Ross Mantle Flawed logic? June 7, 2005 To Mike Silverton I enjoyed your article ["Wristwatches and Audio"], but your argument began to "part at the seams" before it got to digital disc players. Patek-Philippe owners may prefer the old Swiss watch mechanism along with their solid gold and diamonds, but it is definitely the gold and the diamonds they want, along with the status that accrues, when they buy a high-end watch. You can see them wearing it; it calls attention to itself like a big diamond ring. Nobody (or very few people, anyway) sees your stereo, and most who do don't care whether it's digital, analog, tubes or solid state. The analog guys insist it isn't nostalgia for old, time-honored craftsmanship that drives them to the turntable. Their argument is that analog is better. But even you admit that a high-end watch isn't better than a modern digital one. Yes, they do like to fuss with the stuff, which makes them feel they are contributing to the final result. I once read a turntable review that referred, amazingly, to "a properly played record," as if getting good sound actually required skill. If the analogy is to hold, tube amps and turntables would confer status, but their users would be just as disinterested in their alleged superiority as machines as the watch owner is. Sal D'Agostino True, many upmarket watches feature gemstone-encrusted gold cases, but a few -- chronometers, mostly -- sport no-nonsense steel cases, or platinum, a metal costlier than gold that looks a lot like steel. Let's stay for a moment with our hypothetical customer wearing that gold-and-diamond Patek-Philippe. Do you think he or she would be as proud were the movement within battery-powered? While I'm not all that familiar with the market, I don't believe I've ever seen an ad for a solid-gold watch with a quartz movement, no less one with diamonds and rubies similarly powered. The craftsmanship within has much to do with the appeal of upmarket watches. A similar level of craftsmanship accounts, I think, for analog playback's pride of ownership, even if civilians remain unimpressed. Most visitors to our home glance at the audio system in the living room, say "Oh" or remain mute, and turn to something else. If I had a thousand bucks for everyone who's said "Would you play something for me?" I'd be broke. "I once read a turntable review that referred, amazingly, to 'a properly played record,' as if getting good sound actually required skill." Nice one! A revealing quote, and funny too, but I have to cringe a little, inasmuch as I've been covering a good many outboard tweaks for Ultra Audio -- as if good sound requires skill in deciding what additives help. Anyway, happy listening....Mike Silverton Alexandria theater June 4, 2005 To Jeff Fritz, What are your thoughts on four Wilson Audio X-2 speakers for L and R channels and two for the center-channel, considering this is the most important channel for home theater? What would you use for surrounds then? Regardless of dealers, I've heard that there is a seven-month waiting list for these speakers. Any truth to that do you know? I wouldn't be buying for some time (months) as I'm having the room built from the ground up. Right now I'm looking at something like a 40' x 40' room, but I may go bigger. Limited size is not the issue for me fortunately. Thanks much for your extensive and very telling reviews of these magnificent speakers. Mike I know that at some point in the future Wilson Audio will be introducing a new, larger center-channel speaker. Supposedly this model will be a better match for the MAXX Series 2 and Alexandria X-2. I don't know a release date for that speaker, however. The ultimate solution would be to use a third X-2 behind an acoustically transparent screen. This would, of course, be a perfect match tonally to the left and right front speakers. As for a pair for center-channel duties, I don't know if that it would be preferable to a single speaker. You may want to check with Wilson Audio, your dealer, and even perhaps a good acoustics engineer for further advice....Jeff Fritz
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