I didn't know speaker performance is dependent upon the interview surroundings and attire. I suspect we have some defensiveness/arrogance in play. That is how some people judge speakers, by their arrogant opinion, watching videos, or taking the pulse of the community, versus actual listening. The scary part is that others listen to them!
OH, NO! DID YOU HEAR WHAT THEY SAID?
"We prefer the chip amp to the 300B!" Danny, too!
OH, NO! THIS IS A DISASTER! LOL
My, oh, my, can it be that class D is in process of steamrolling tube amps? Heheheheh....
As for the speaker, it's a magnetic planar smallish version of what was done a decade ago with the King Sound ESL line. I have the King III, which I called in the review the Line Source ESL (LSESL). Could it be better holistically than the much hyped Tekton? Of course. But, only direct comparison would tell, and it's a waste to time to listen to anyone who would pretend to know apart from direct comparison. I see it needs subs to reach down in terms of LF.
Everyone wants their speaker (genre) to be the ultimate. It brings out the best and worst in the community, as so much pride is associated with it. We get some really stupid comments about mid-level speakers, and sometimes even budget speakers being all that. Foolish statements made by people with very little understanding of the spectrum of performance of speakers all inclusive.
Have these guys not heard that many great/big speaker systems? Seriously, a new reference for what they thought HiFi is? Have they not been to shows? Have they not heard such as the King III, or the big names in towers? If a person has familiarity with such arrays, the characteristics of the sound and the extreme resolution would be expected. I have no doubt the GR Research speakers in the video are much more resolving than typical dipoles with big sheet diaphragms, and similar ESLs too. I am sure, too, that it would be quite a bit cleaner than the Tekton design models. But, of course, that is initial opinion, and would have to be compared to reach final conclusion.
I would find it a very interesting comparison to hear this new model with the servo sub in comparison to the wonderfully fresh and scintillatingly beautiful new genre, the DLT (Disproportionately Large Tweeter; my phrase) of the Aspen Acoustics Lagrange L1 preproduction model. See my review of the smaller Lagrange L5 MkII at Dagogo.com. Disclosure: I own the L1 preproduction, and will own the production model of the L1, and will give it an owner's review. The L1 also has extreme precision; 3 hard core audiophile guests the other day all concluded the same about the L1, phenomenal precision, definition, etc. but tonally spot on. My guests were as blindsided by the abject beauty of the L1 as were these guys re: the GR Research.
There are some cool new speakers out there. It's always a changing game, thanks to inventive designers!
If you want to get up to speed on why a chip amp can be better than 300B, see my review of the Legacy Audio i.V4 Ultra Amplifier, also at Dagogo.com. The future will not be kind to tube amps.
