I am becoming very interested in these speakers. Have not heard them as it is impossible to audition so just going off reviews. Now that I am trying to build a new system, pairing an amp with speakers is of course my first concern. I currently have no components so its a fresh start. If folks have any input if either of these speakers pair well with the M700, M1200 it is much appreciated. Thank you
Either will drive them just fine but I would expect you’ll appreciate the refinement of the M1200 or BHK more so than the M700.
Their 182mm bass driver promises 22Hz without stating the +/- dB Also, they’re rated 87dB W/M but no impedance is stated. How much do they cost, if I may ask?
Very little to no info on their website. Found this in a review. Sure is a different aesthetic.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Type: Three and a half way dynamic loudspeaker
Loading: BCT composite enclosure with resistive venting
Driver Complement:1Ă— 25mm modified dual chamber soft-dome tweeter
1Ă— 90mm carbon-fibre mid-range unit
1Ă— 200mm dual-magnet aluminium bass unit
Bandwidth: 22Hz to 20kHz
Sensitivity: 89dB
Load Impedance: 6 Ohms
Price: ÂŁ12,500
Manufacturer: Gershman Acoustics
8707 Dufferin St, Thornhill, Ontario L4J 0A6 Canada
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I would never in a million years buy a pair of speakers without listening to them. I’ve just been through the process of buying speakers and had some world class speakers at home with amazing reviews that I hated. The first 10 minutes were great and after an hour my ears hurt and I had to switch the system off. The different presentation of speakers is as personal as different tastes in music. So if a reviewer gives glowing review of the latest Taylor Swift album, that’s not much use if you only like Bach. Think of it that way.
These speakers have an off-the shelf $95 midrange driver and a proprietary 8" aluminium bass driver. That scares me. It’s really rather unusual.
The reviewer was using amplifiers up to 200w/8ohms, which seems plenty for a speaker of this sensitivity. If you are starting from scratch, for less than the price of M1200 you could get the Hegel H390, which is universally acclaimed, that is a complete audio system and 250w/8ohms and will drive just about any speaker. That said, amplifier choice is entirely secondary to speakers.
If you are desperate to listen to music and cannot get to a dealer because of Covid-19, get a good pair of headphones and possibly a headphone amplifier and wait till you can get to a dealer and listen. Otherwise, I suggest it is just a pure gambol, however many good reviews there are.
p.s. It can be difficult to get to listen to speakers long enough to make an informed decision. I was assisted as I use a dealer who does manufacturer evenings and you get to listen to a pair of speakers for 2 hours or more. The speakers I bought were from a brand I heard at such an evening, more than once. I’ve also had speakers on home demo. I went to one dealer evening and the speakers were so unpleasant I lasted less than 15 minutes before I had to leave the room. They were well reviewed and cost $100,000.
That said, you can hear some speakers like Harbeth for a few minutes and it is obvious that they have a remarkable tonal accuracy. It still took me 5 years to finally buy a pair.
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Yes, the dealer experience followed by an in home trial is the preferred path. Partnering of amplifier, speaker cables and in room acoustics are paramount. Unfortunately the dealer experience is becoming less of an option. I am fortunate as I have some very good options within a two hour drive, which I consider reasonable. Everyone hears differently, call it preference.
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Years ago I was put in touch with a guy in Australia who had a turntable I was interested in buying, which I did. He told me that in Australia it was quite normal to drive 8 to 10 hours to go to an audio dealer. I had a chap from Paris come to London to check out an amplifier I was selling. He didn’t buy it. People travel long distances to go to hear their favourite performer for a few hours, my wife and I do, I don’t understand the reluctance to make the same effort to hear speakers that will be listened to for many thousands of hours. Of course you can buy direct and strike lucky. I’m risk averse, but people do and dealers I’ve spoken to have said trade has been as good or better during lockdown. We had one in-store demo, one customer per room at a time, with appropriate headgear.
Understand, I too am risk adverse. Recently purchased speakers. The dealers were very accommodating. Limiting access to listening rooms. To a point COVID worked to my favor as store foot traffic was significantly diminished. In most instances I was the sole customer in the store. The proprietor(s) were great with regards to COVID guideline adherence. One shop had a suspected COVID exposure in a customer’s home. The customer revealed the potential exposure following an in home speaker installation. He chose to shut down the shop per CDC guidelines to eliminate customer/staff exposure.
For the right demo I’ve been known to travel up to 1800 miles. Should PSA release a new speaker I’d most likely consider a demo in Boulder, for curiosity’s sake as well as for purchase consideration. That’s about a 1,000 mile drive one way.
The review says the LF driver is 200mm, the manufacturer website says it is 182mm at the top of the page, then says it is 180mm at the bottom of the page. No dB is set for the frequency response, so you could be getting -6dB or -12dB at 22 Hz! We need Paul Miller or John Atkinson do the measurements in the lab to confirm what is being said on paper 
My browser must not render the website correctly or completely as I was unable to see any of this info.
Too many unknowns for me to ever consider these. I also would not purchase without a in home trial.
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I am amazed by the lack of audio shops/dealers now. It seems not that long ago (ok, probably decades) when I could just drive 10-20 miles and have looked in several hifi stores. Now, I can count only 3 which are on complete sides of town and I live in a very large city. Even those are not just dedicated to audio, they are your home entertainment salons I call them.
Just like a car I could not buy without a test drive even though some folks do. You know, I read all the reviews and one thing I find in common is that one day a reviewer says “these are the best speakers I have ever heard” and a couple months later that same person reviews different speakers saying the same thing. It’s a different world now.
Unfortunately your experience of a lack of audio dealers is shared by many of us. And they continue to disappear.
I do not know about these specific speakers. Gershman’s $130,000 “Posh” loudspeakers are wonderful, truly wonderful. I heard a demo of them at Axpona and was blown away by how clean and musical they sounded. They were driven by a VAC tube preamp and VAC tube amp (cannot remember if monoblocks or stereo amp) They had a small stand-mounted 2-way speaker system set up the next time I was in the room and they were not impressive like “Posh”. I would try to get in contact with Gershman and see if a demo or something similar can be worked out.
Follow with this old topic in 2023, I just bought Gershman GAG after local Audio show. Their showroom was the only one of there I’m interested of the whole within my budget.
My impression of GAG its simply the upgrade/extension on my 1st gen Electra Amator on each sonic aspect. Love it.
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Congrats! They are an awesome speaker. I have a set and cant get over what a bargain they are.
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