speakers with Ebony finish

AV123 Rockets/Onix/Perpetual Technologies is Mark L. Schifter's company. Mark was with Genesis back in the Artie Nudell days. He was also part of the Acoustic Alchemy group. He is a descendant of the Marantz family. My understanding is that he went along with his partners wish to sell Acoustic Alchemy even though he did not want to. The subsequent heartbreak when the new owners of Acoustic Alchemy bankrupted it in a about a year is what lead him to go with the consumer direct sales model to give him complete control over everything thing. He also co-owns Sound Arts China which produces many of the high end cabinets used these days.

See these reviews-

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_11_2/onix-reference-speakers-5-2004.html

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_11_4/onix-reference-3-speakers-11-2004.html

Jphii, I hung out with Danny of GR Research at the Denver show, he and Gary Dodd of Dodd amplifier fame are fellow Texans.

I had Gary's Dodd's mono block tube amps here last week and they are extremely good. They use EL34 outputs, which are one of my favorites and likely why I adapted to them so easily.

Gary lives here in Dallas but Danny lives several hours drive from me, so I have not visited him yet.

Gary Dodd has a pair of the new Epiphany 20-21 speakers (retail $27K), and right beside them, a pair of GR Research Alpha Line Source. Personally I prefer the sound of the GR Research.

Danny's Alpha's image further outside of the box, the upper midrange and highs are smoother and sweeter and the bass has more impact.

There is a ringing sound from the Epiphany that seems to ride on top of the music. I heard this at HE in New York and again at the Denver show. Hearing it again in a home environment leads me to believe it is in the design rather than a one time thing.

Considering the price of the Alpha's, I am totally blown away by their performance. I actually considered buying them instead of my Dali Megaline's.

The Alpha's woofer/midranges are a larger driver than the Epiphany. The claim from Epiphany is that their smaller drivers are faster and therefore, integrate better with the ribbon top.

I hear no issues with the Alphas, so I will take the larger driver and along with it, the benefits. It is plenty fast, provides excellent deep bass impact and integrates perfectly in my experience.

Anyway, even if the Alpha were only 75% the Epiphany rather than the other way around, Alpha's are a fraction of the price and equal if not superior in appearance.

If this weren't enough, new Alpha's on the way which will surpass the current model. New custom built Peerless woofers (same size) with truncated frames, which will allow closer "center to center" alignment and Bolander-Graebner is completing new custom ribbon tweeters with 8 ohm impedance.

Estimates are about two months for this to all come together. I plan to give them a serious listen.

Albert, do you happen to have the approximate measurements for the Alpha S? Thanks.

Thanks for the info Albert. I think that new speakers are going to be the next "major" purchase. I'm having a hard time trying to sift through all of the possibles. I really want to build my own, and the GR's give me that option. Being the Audio Note fan that I am, the AN/E Kit 3's have been looking good, but now the GR's must be given some serious consideration. If you have heard the AN/E's, either kit or factory, I would appreciate a comparison.

Vnt001, also, the AN/E kit is something you might want to consider if you do go the DIY route. Then you can finish (or have them finished) as you desire.

Joe

Gaudio_eek,

70 inches high, 13.75 inches deep and 12.5 inches wide.