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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
mattybumpkin
590 posts
 
I would question the hours you have on them as well.

I went from Epos M12's to Europa's. When I went to the Europa's I had the same impression as you. As they only had about 75 hours on them, I continued burning them in and getting to know their characteristics. I don't know exactly when it happened but any reservations I initially had completely disappeared, leaving me with a pair of wonderfully musical speakers.

Give them some time (200-300 hours), I think you will be suprised like I was.

Regards,
ewha
80 posts
 
Richs--

I used to own the Europa's, and would agree that the highs were not the most extended I had heard. Fantastic all-around speakers, though.

I used to have Virtual Dynamics Audition cables. While the Nite series is several steps up from the Auditions, I remember the Auditions as being somewhat of a darker, richer, fuller sounding cable. Roy recommends Audio Magic silver ribbon cables, which are very neutral and revealing, particularly for the high end. Nordost also comes to mind. Based on what I can recollect of the Virtual Dynamics cables, a cable change may help. To be clear, I think very highly of Rick Schulz's cables, the Nites just might not be the best match for the Europa's.

Other than that, I would also agree with Kclone... Give the Europa's around 200 hours of break-in, and you will find that both ends of the frequency range will open up. These speakers just continue to get better with time.

Those are some fine speakers you have, and a fine system as well! Hope you get to enjoy it fully.

Happy listening,
Eric
richs OP
14 posts
 
Thanks for the responses so far. I put about 150 hours on them before I began listening. Roy says he put about 90 on them before sending them to me. If he really did, then there's over 200.

Ewha, you may be right about the cables. But I have found the nites to very revealing with the Thiels, so I was assuming they weren't the issue. Maybe, what I'm hearing is just in the nature of the speaker, but since I like them in so many other ways, I'm hoping I can clear it up.

Any thoughs about stands, could this be the issue?

Thanks again for the feedback.

Rich
mijknarf
266 posts
 
You'll get many different suggestions on stands, I've tried only one, so I'm not claiming it to be the best... I use the Osiris stand, super sturdy, heavy one piece construction (not "bolt together"), fillable, great looking and reasonably priced. They seem to match dimensionally perfect with the Europas. Mine are filled with steel shot. Stand + speaker weigh over 125 pounds each. E-mail me for a good source.
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drubin
3,275 posts
 
I have experience both with the Europas, which I currently use for HT, and the 1.6's, which I had in my main system for a while nearly two years ago. They are both great speakers, no question. I might describe the Europas as having a "rounder" sound than the Thiels, which I might describe as more "incisive." Is this what you are hearing?
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