Looking for insight on the Green Mountain Europas

you should search the archives. Few speakers I know of have received more discussion here. Search on "Europa" - there will be pages of entries.

I had a pair, and for the money they're great. I had a pair of Totem Sttafs at the same time and preferred the Sttafs , though the Europa's had their strengths. For Rock and Jazz Fusion music I found they excelled. No so much for acoustic and voice, though I know there are those who may disagree with me there. You need a really heavy duty stand for them, and they can be a little finicky about set up from my experience.

I owned the Europas, replaced a pair of Epos M12's. Much more refined, fuller sound. Really, really liked them, not to mention Roy and Co. are the best.

Had to go to Merlin TSM-MX's to get better sound. For the money, the Europas are hard to beat.

I compared them with Spendor S3/5s and they destroyed the Spendors in every possible aspect, but most especially in imaging, an area in which the spendors are supposed to excel.

They are very transparent and image extremely well, but at the same time they remain quite listenable on poorly recorded material. They are not warm or romantic sounding, but neither are they very hifi. Overall I'd describe them as quite neutral.

They need to be well away from room boundaries, and although they sound good from anywhere in the room they have a definite sweet spot for imaging, and noticeable interference pattern if you move around while listening, most likely due to the wide overlap of the driver output.

Highly recommended.

I've owned a pair for a couple of years now. They have mainly been in my video system but have also spent a couple of stretches in my main system. It's a cliche, but these speakers have a "rightness" about them. If you have lived with a time- and phase-coherent speaker before, then you have an idea what to expect. If not, then you probably will be quite amazed by the Europas' coherence, clarity, imaging, and ability to make sense of complex musical passages. They have a full-throated, unrestrained quality about the way they play music -- many other speakers sound "choked" by comparison. As Sean noted above, they deliver the goods even with poorly recorded material. They also do very well at low volume, but they can rock (not a polite speaker).

Criticisms? To me, they sound a bit cold. Not sure how to expand on that observation except to say that they are not lean or thin at all, nor are they clinical or analytical. But they lack the "warm woodiness" of some other speakers I have. They are also a touch forward. For me, these characterisitcs make them less appealing for classical music, but very strong for jazz, rock, electronica and percussion. (They don't sound bad playing classical, mind you.)

So...highly recommended. Not sure what could be better at the price. And Roy & Co, are tremendous to deal with.

Let me just echo the responses re: Roy & GMA. Ultra-1st-class all the way.

I have two pairs of Europas on order for sides and rears for my HT room (being built).

My reference speakers are now the GMA C3s which are truly world-class stuff.

Not affiliated with the co. I came upon GMA at RMAF this year (by chance) and was drawn in & taken aback. Stand-out stuff all around.

WOW..another echo from a former owner. I liked the Europas a lot! The guys posted before me have described the sound very well..I can't add anything there.

I had to move to a single driver speaker in order to have the sound of Roy's time coherent speakers. I owned Maggies before the Europas and tried to go back after the Europas. I even had a pair of Paradigm 20v3s in between there some where..big mistake! Once I got a taste of that 1st order crossover done right..there was no going back. The tweeter on the Europas are simply fabulous!!

Since I still like the Maggie's midrange and the Europa's coherency. The most logical step for me was the MLTL single driver speaker. It's not perfect either..but it got me off the merry go round of speaker swapping.

I would give them a try..GMA makes some terrific speakers.
I would like to add if it was possible to get fullrange sound out of the Europas, I would still own them now. The cabinets are as solid as they come.

Hi,I own a pair with about 200 hours on them. A couple of things, they are not a warm speaker if that's your preference, and can be forward depending on the CD you're listening to. In general what is in your cdp is what you will hear. I had asked about the forwardness on agon and was told they take 300-400 hours to break in. Already they are sounding better. GMA is a great company to work with, very accessable and responsive to questions (no I'm not assoc with them in any way). I had them do a 100 hr burn in and was worth the $75.00. Speakers weigh 45lbs each so a strong stand is important. I would also recommend a sub woofer to extend the lower end. Primarily I listen to jazz,easy stuff, and old rock&roll and does a good job in all of these genres. Dave

With all of these comments, if I didn't already own Europas, I'd buy a pair!

Italian,
while 200 hours sounds like a lot of time, the Europa's become very seductive at around 1000 hours. Much smoother midrange. I echo the above statements with the exception of the comment about vocal quality....in my opinion, this is where the Europa's really shine. VERY realistic voices and instruments. The vast majority of my friends and associates are musicians and they all agree the Europa is a "scary real" sounding speaker. If they have any weakness, it's the lowest octave of bass. Having said that, on 90 plus percent of my music collection, the bass response was fine. Highly recommended, especially for the price. I lived with the Europa's for 2 years and now own the GMA Calypso's. The Europa's replaced a pair of ADS L-1290's, which the Europa destroyed. I agree with the others who say once you hear a true time/phase coherent speaker, you'll never go back. Enjoy

If someone prefers floorstanders, what's the next up from Europas in the gma lineup?