2. speakers
  3. 1085683705

I need help from GMA Europa owners

I'm hoping one of the many Europa owners on this forum can help. After A/B-ing between between Thiel CS1.6's and Europa's, I've decided to keep the Europas -- but I'm having one problem with their sound.

While the Thiels have a remarkable clarity and purity with female voices, the Europas have a slight bit of a haze. The clarity seems to be missing a bit. I'm not sure if it's a bit of distortion, simply the nature of the speakers, or something else.

I'm feeding the speakers from a Musical Fidelity 3.2 CD and Musical Fidelity A308 integrated, through Virtual Dynamics Nite cables. The Europas are sitting atop homemade MDF stands with a sand-filled rectangular center column.

Maybe its the stands, maybe its just the sound of the Europas (they have a soft dome tweeter vs. the Thiel's hard dome). I don't know.

Any insights you Europa owners can offer would be much appreciated. I love the speakers with the exception of the slightly hazy top end. I hoping someone else may have had a similar experience.

Thanks in advance for your help.
richs

Showing 1 response by ewha

ewha
80 posts
 
Richs--

I used to own the Europa's, and would agree that the highs were not the most extended I had heard. Fantastic all-around speakers, though.

I used to have Virtual Dynamics Audition cables. While the Nite series is several steps up from the Auditions, I remember the Auditions as being somewhat of a darker, richer, fuller sounding cable. Roy recommends Audio Magic silver ribbon cables, which are very neutral and revealing, particularly for the high end. Nordost also comes to mind. Based on what I can recollect of the Virtual Dynamics cables, a cable change may help. To be clear, I think very highly of Rick Schulz's cables, the Nites just might not be the best match for the Europa's.

Other than that, I would also agree with Kclone... Give the Europa's around 200 hours of break-in, and you will find that both ends of the frequency range will open up. These speakers just continue to get better with time.

Those are some fine speakers you have, and a fine system as well! Hope you get to enjoy it fully.

Happy listening,
Eric
More to discover