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
Roy take a visit to Audiopoints.com I have been using their products since 93' and have recently become a dealer.The points and platforms truly make a profound audible improvement. Brent Riehl of Starsound designs products that seem to present a direction for vibration to flow to and thru..My words..What results is a much cleaner sound,more natural more dynamic with greater focus and a much larger stage ,again my words..Unlike the use of lead or rubber materials which seem to kill the dynamics soften the focus and reduce the stage. My words and my personal experiments. An Apcd disc is shown on the Audiopoints web page/Starsound page and is a surface protective device and much more. I have found the discs in some cases improve the coupling and the sound when using Audiopoints or a Sistrum platform on some surfaces or with very light weight components, 5 lbs or so.. my Melos preamp is a prime example. Tom
Thanks to all the responses to my humble request for help.

Roy, thanks for all your thoughtful posts. The fact that you are taking so much time to help a customer speaks loads about your commitment.

As to a few of your thoughts. My connections are clean; not only used Deoxit, but also treated all connection with that SST silver stuff from Walker Audio. Tweeters are not loose. I did move the speakers from my MDF stand to a 50 lb cement pedestal and noticed some slight improvement. Tried some brass cones I had lying around with no improvement (these weren't Audiopoints -- which have worked for me under other speakers.) I don't think the tweeters are damaged, unless damage could manifest itself very subtly.

It may well be that the sound of the Europas are just a bit softer than the Thiels. While I do like the resolution of the Thiels, on many recordings they are just too hard and thin sounding. Hence, my switch to the Europas. I may still try some metal stands (several folks have suggested Osiris), though I am loath to drop a bunch of money and not see improvement.

Then again, maybe I will just sit back and relax, and wait for those new speakers of yours.

One note for Songwriter. I just don't get it. I don't see Warren as condesending in slightest. I see "audiophool" as a partly self-depricating joke -- a way to poke fun at this somewhat foolish hobby. As someone said a few posts ago, your comments put the spotlight on the attacker. Let it go and enjoy your speakers.
I've always considered the top end of Thiel models I've heard (casually) to be a problem. The first thing I'd look for in a prospective speaker is something softer at the top, so this quality in the Europas compared to the Thiels would be a selling point. But that's just my preference.
Richs. of course you don't get it. You've come in to pitch the 9th inning......but you weren't here for the previous 8 innings. Warren is a guy who e-mailed me time after time until he got enough "ammo", if you will, to attack the product this thread is about in this forum. How could you understand? As time goes on, you'll know and understand the "real" Warren.