I have had the Europas about 10 months and have probably 75 hours on them. I realize from the reviews of other owners I may be 150 hours from Nirvana, but they don't seem to be getting better and if so, only in small insignificant increments. Don't get me wrong, this is a very good speaker that almost always gets the timbres and harmonics right. Though, I wish they had more bass; the bass I have heard is not bad but not very deep and seems slow and farther behind the mids than it should be. I am sure some of this is my room which is 22X12 and has 13 ft almost cathedral ceilings. Nevertheless, I followed Roy's recommended setup to the tee. My crticism of the speaker beside the bass, is that it tends to shelve back the upper midrange to the point that it sounds flat, that is, not dynamic.And I don't mean volume because these cans get loud. I previously had a pair of B&W Matrix3MKII columns which were very good, but a little bit forward and bright, NOT metallic or hard either. So, I may have gotten used to the sound. Finally, I am hoping to downsize but upgrade my electronics. I have an Aragon 4004 MKII amp and modified CJ PV-8 pre-amp. Nice with plenty of watts. But both are 15 years old whose sound might now belong to another era of electronic achievement--I am sure there are better and reasonably priced sounding units out there that can best what I currently have. I am now considering the Plinius 8200MkII integrated.( discontinued but gets great reviews) That might make a difference in the mysterious flux of sound.... Comments welcomed!!
Review: Green Mountain Audio Europa Monitor
Category: Speakers
They finally arrived and the fear that I just sold a great sounding pair of Legacy Studios for speakers I have never heard, is beginning to fade. I know I still have 200+ hours of brake-in ahead of me to really know...but some things I can tell already. There is a sense of 'more power', and less effort for the speakers to produce more sound. I descibe it like this: let's say you have a Honda Civic that you have been working on making it faster, with the latest electronics and turbo and all the trick stuff..and its really fast. Then Larry the mechanic moves next door and comes over and says "Let's put a Chevy V-8 in that bugger and see what it does". So we cram this V-8 into it, change the suspension etc. so its driveable. Now remember, Larry isn't soffisticated and has grease under his finger nails and the instalation isn't all pretty and color coordinated....but when you turn the key to turn it on you get goose bumps and your heart rate increases...and it now does stuff your pretty little sooped up Honda engine could never do. The Europas aren't pretty and they are very hand made and come in a plain box; but wait till you turn the key! More after 200 hours.
Associated gear
B&K avr202, Denon DVD-2800, Signal Cable cabling.
Similar products
Legacy Studios
They finally arrived and the fear that I just sold a great sounding pair of Legacy Studios for speakers I have never heard, is beginning to fade. I know I still have 200+ hours of brake-in ahead of me to really know...but some things I can tell already. There is a sense of 'more power', and less effort for the speakers to produce more sound. I descibe it like this: let's say you have a Honda Civic that you have been working on making it faster, with the latest electronics and turbo and all the trick stuff..and its really fast. Then Larry the mechanic moves next door and comes over and says "Let's put a Chevy V-8 in that bugger and see what it does". So we cram this V-8 into it, change the suspension etc. so its driveable. Now remember, Larry isn't soffisticated and has grease under his finger nails and the instalation isn't all pretty and color coordinated....but when you turn the key to turn it on you get goose bumps and your heart rate increases...and it now does stuff your pretty little sooped up Honda engine could never do. The Europas aren't pretty and they are very hand made and come in a plain box; but wait till you turn the key! More after 200 hours.
Associated gear
B&K avr202, Denon DVD-2800, Signal Cable cabling.
Similar products
Legacy Studios