Hi Pete. I just now revisited this thread after having first posted about the Mt Rainiers. Was quite surprised to see the flap between you and Alex...(!) I know, I know, we all want to keep this thread on track - I apologize in advance for bringing this back up. But, the whole reason I was motivated to repost here was that I have very recently tried out a pair of Grand Teton's that I bought from Alex that I've been listening to for about 3 weeks now. When I first hooked them up (to an amplifier that is ALSO brand new), the sound was rather glary. I recalled a post somewhere that said that goes away in about 3 days and after that "...all they did was make music". The glare did indeed go away. But, there was far from music thereafter. Alex told me in an email that they sound good out of the box, but continue to improve for up to a month or so. But, after the glare had faded, for me there was still a hardness to the sound...actually everything above 3khz was downright 'zippy' - detailed, but too hyper-detailed, the dynamics (macro & micro) still seemed restrained and there were audible tonal distortions in the midrange...almost like the beginnings of cone breakup, particularly at volume. Ok, so either the new amp or the new speakers were to blame...just a matter of giving it a few days to see in what direction things would begin to change if break-in was the factor. But, as it turns out, the break-in of these speakers proved to be so long and drawn out and so obstinate were they in showing even the slightest sign of coming out of their shells that it seems they had me fully convinced that I had made the wrong choice of amplifier from the start! 2 weeks of listening yielded what seemed like no appreciable change. After that (about 5 or 6 days ago) I quit listening and entered into full online research mode. I finally identified what was likely the best new amp candidate - more expensive than I wanted, but at least I had one nailed down (just not yet purchased). Then, yesterday I decided to reconfirm my listening impressions. Lo and behold, somehow things had decidedly begun to change...and very much for the better. There was now air, HF extension, separation (even very good signs of resolution), dynamics have greatly improved (still a little ways to go yet) and that hardness and zippiness? NOW these speakers finally sound to me like the word "lush" is indeed in their vocabulary. And, for me THAT was the moment the subjective impression of driver disintegration completely melted away. There is a fair amount of hype surrounding these speakers, but I can now honestly say that I'm fast becoming convinced of it for myself. The one aspect that grabbed me from the word go with these speakers is, hands down, their imaging - right out of the box. These things DO image like nobody's business - even with modest gear. They knocked a hole in my front wall big enough to drive a truck through. My previous speakers (3-way towers) had a just slightly wider stage, but not anywhere nearly this deep or layered! And placement within the stage is marvelous. It's uncanny how they do this.
I can't make out, from the above, exactly what Alex suspects that you did that made him so upset. In his dealings with me has never done anything like that, of course, and with me he has always gone the extra mile. I suspect he may simply have gotten his wires crossed somehow (I know myself it's easy enough to do online sometimes), but unless he posts further, it's unclear to me. (I myself could find no reason to not take everything that you, Pete, said back to him at face value, FWIW to anyone).
But, like I said, the fact that I've found the GT's to indeed image so incredibly well AND that they do (finally) seem to be so smooth and non-fatiguing (at least to me) is why I decided to post again. But, it seems to me, that if you ever audition a pair, you should try to ascertain if they are fully broken in. I suspect these things may need to be played just about every day and at levels loud enough to give them a good, solid workout for at least a month...possibly even longer. Just my 2 cents. Cheers to everybody and thanks to Alex!
