Gilmore Audio planars revealed

the speakers sound interesting but some questions aren't answered.

the speakers are described as acting like a very tall line source. a 40 inch (model 3) or 60 inch (model 2) ribbon doesn't go anywhere near from floor to ceiling. you don't say anything about horizontal and vertical dispersion. tilting the speakers back looks like compensating for limited ribbon length and very little vertical dispersion. could be the model 3 can only be listened to sitting down because of vertical beaming. and how can four woofers in one row about a foot away from the ribbon be called a line source? the distance between them creates an acoustic timing anomaly that produces comb filter frequency response. someone asked about that, no reply. how about doppler distortion associated with such long excursions? funny that the photos show no binding posts or crossovers.

i guess the proof will be in the listening. is the center channel an available option?

in this message you wrote "We are able to attain big excursions, cleanly -- plus or minus 2 inches!" but then in your latest message you say "One clarification: Total excursion is 2 inches or plus or minus 1 inch."

clarification?

then you launch an all out attack, calling him "silly" and demanding an apology. yeah.

i'm looking forward to your response to my post, mr. "integrity".

you wrote "Vertical dispersion starts at 60 and 40 inches respectively and horizontal dispersion is 60 degrees."

60 degrees horizontal for what frequencies? what vertical angle from the line perpendicular from the panel? in other words, how much above and below the top and bottom of the ribbon?

i'm sure mrs. gilmore appreciates the mention.

Pricing info from website:

Model 2: $19,950

Special Introductory Price: $17,500 (for limited time)

Model 3: $14,950

Special Introductory Price: $12,500 (for limited time)

Plus shipping and applicable sales tax

No figures given on shipping and premium color charges.

merganser:
the only thing that is certain is that sellerwith has not responded to questions and challenges with technically complete answers and has offended many with his grandiose claims and condescending attitude.

sellerwith:
apparently you aren't a technical person. that's fine, but that's no excuse for not getting the correct and complete information from Gilmore and presenting it here. just because people ask questions and a few might make erroneous comments doesn't give you permission to grandstand, spindoctor, and insult. this isn't the place for self promotion either, since nobody asked about the other stuff you sell. you can consult the moderation guidelines or ask the moderators.

you haven't given factual answers to my questions, so i'll try again:

1. horizontal dispersion. you say -3dB at 60 degrees dispersion (plus or minus 30 degrees, for those reading). At what frequency?

2. vertical dispersion. since when is bass below 500 hz "pretty much omnidirectional"? that's one of the most preposterous statements i've ever heard! first of all, 500 hz is midrange, not bass. if somebody can't tell where a 440 hz tone is coming from, they're probably deaf. care to quantify "pretty much"? engineers don't use that phrase in specifications.

3. comb filtering. you said, "Whatever comb filtering effect is created by our topology, it is less than anyone elses -- not more because of it." the accuracy of that statement is dubious, but that's beside the point. a full range line source has its element(s) aligned without timing anomalies. remember the old beveridge electrostat? before my time and it's been quite a while since hearing a pair, but that's a full range line source. some people might consider the gilmore to be planar.

4. will post a followup on doppler distortion.

5. binding posts and crossovers. i still don't see the binding posts on the ribbons. with each woofer having binding posts, you need to run jumpers about 18" long between them, and since the posts aren't lined up you'll need to bend the wires. not to mention the possible need to buy more cabling for between the woofers, from the woofers to the crossover, and from the ribbon to the crossover. sounds unattractive and a hidden expense. the crossover should be in the pictures.

i agree with merganser's remarks. $20k, not $19k, plus shipping, and then more for other colors, plus the cost of all the jumpers, is a lot for kitchen countertops.

i mentioned 18" jumpers between woofers but that would be based upon a series configuration which may well not be the case. perhaps sellerwith or gilmore himself will say how they are wired.

it's four days later and no response to questions and comments. it makes you wonder why, and how they're going to react when people ask the same things.

if you want to feel sorry for sellerwith that's your choice but i don't, considering his self-assertiveness, his demeaning characterization of those who express doubts as "silly", and his lack of factual response to all technical questions and challenges. in my experience a customer is treated with kid gloves as a guest and is respected, and the seller is the one who has to earn respect. nobody "owes" the seller anything. quite to the contrary.

thanks for your responses, duke. where is sellerwith's reply about these and other questions?

vertical dispersion: they cut off above and below the ribbon. i wasn't sure but you just confirmed it. this may not be noticed by some on the model 2 but will be noticed on the smaller model 3.

i don't agree the horizontal comb filtering is of negligible significance when it approaches 1/4 wavelength. in the horizontal plane it's more perceivable. people go to lots of trouble to get phase coherency. http://www.linkwitzlab.com/frontiers.htm#J says a lot on the subject.

keeping it real, good idea. for starters, let's look at sellerwithanattitude's statement "Again, we make our own (as we do the ribbons)" last time i heard, Fernando Mack makes the ribbons. "we"? i see carveraudio.com has some interesting comments from people who've dealt with Fernando. maybe this time will be different, let's hope so.

the dates seem to be slipping. what happened? it was gonna be november and now it's late march for their dealers and april for customers, just in time for people to forget about audio till the fall.