Either Mr. Dudley is ignorant of the following two audio terms or, he deliberately avoided using them in his review.
1.Controlled directivity (CD) & 2.waveguide
If the former is the unfortunate case, then I recommend he read up on CD. It's apparent to me from Mr. Ryan's "Manufacturer's Comments" and teachings at the lean simplifiaudio web site that CD was a major design objective of the Gradient and that the designers had read the teachings of Toole, Olive and Geddes.
If the latter is the case, then would Mr. Dudley kindly explain himself in a response post here.
CD technology in loudspeaker design is gradually gaining a foothold in commercial audio. Many DIY'rs, on the other hand, have alrady embraced it. Another fad? Perhaps. However, according to the above guru's writings, years of comparing loudspeaker measurements with listener preferences have shown this type of design to offer some advantages.
Forums
Just got my 8/10 issue and read Art's Gradient Helsinki 1.5 review.
Having owned the 1.5s, I think Art did an excellent job.
I don't think there was any need for Art to going into a long discussion of Controlled Directivity or Waveguides.
Gradient has changed US Distributors twice since introducing the 1.5s and lowered the price by $1000. Their website still shows Fidelis AV as the US Distributor.
Obviously, REG's rave review in the TAS 3/09 issue didn't do anything to help sales. Maybe he should have included some measurements.;-)
Based on Art's difficulties with positioning of the 5.1's, he would have solved his problem sooner if he understood how the speakers worked. I'm also surprised JA didn't mention CD in his testing column.
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Just got my 8/10 issue and read Art's Gradient Helsinki 1.5 review.
Having owned the 1.5s, I think Art did an excellent job.
I don't think there was any need for Art to going into a long discussion of Controlled Directivity or Waveguides.
Gradient has changed US Distributors twice since introducing the 1.5s and lowered the price by $1000. Their website still shows Fidelis AV as the US Distributor.
Obviously, REG's rave review in the TAS 3/09 issue didn't do anything to help sales. Maybe he should have included some measurements.;-)
I think you do AD a great disservice. I think he made every attempt to find a postion in his listening room to make the Gradients work. I would think it would be wise for the dealer to do the install on these to insure returns are not in the offing.
All I got from this review is that if you like real bass, you might look into running a subwoofer with these speakers, nothing more, nothing less.
I think AD outlined some special properties that the Gradients bring to the party. He also clearly stated it may take time and speaker movement to make THAT magic happen in a new owner's home. Without that investment in trial and error one may not be satisfied.
i thought it was a great review of a very interesting speaker concept. in our cookie-cutter world, how often do you now see a product that is clearly inspired by the vision of one man. the car world is probably the closest example with but a few old-guard european makes, primarily from italy carrying that banner. everything else is committee-think.
the only negative thing i took from the review was in the bass area. yes, it is difficult to set up, but not impossible. a good sub may be required for full range, but you can say that about many speakers in that price range. my wife thought they were cool, but she also likes old saabs and gallo speakers so what can i say.
after all of that, they are not to my taste, but i am glad they exist and that the magazine took a listen to them as i had been curious for a long time and live in a barren wasteland for stereo gear.
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Obviously, REG's rave review in the TAS 3/09 issue didn't do anything to help sales. Maybe he should have included some measurements.;-)
:-)
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Based on Art's difficulties with positioning of the 5.1's, he would have solved his problem sooner if he understood how the speakers worked.
He did. The problem is that the room position and toe-in angle that are optimal for the dipole woofer are not necessarily optimal for the tweeter and midrange unit, and vice versa.
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I'm also surprised JA didn't mention CD in his testing column.
I tend not to be swayed by manufacturer's marketing speak. A tweeter mounted within a waveguide is hardly rare or even new. I am currently testing the Gradient Helsinki 1.5s in my own room, for a follow-up to appear in our November issue; see http://forum.stereophile.com/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/2281/size/big .
John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile
Nice view into "the boys' room"!
JA-
Look forward to your 1.5 follow up report.
Posted a picture of my 1.5 set up here:
http://forum.stereophile.com/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/2285/password//sort/1/cat/500/page/1
Beautiful setup! What are the speakers in the corners?
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Beautiful setup! What are the speakers in the corners?
Mahalo.
They're custom subs I had made here on Maui. Used them in a TacT 2+2
set up.
No longer have the 1.5s or the TacT gear.
I read this review (in fact, I don't know why the OP just didn't add on to my eariler thread below, but, oh well) and it seems like AD did everything but follow the instructions he was given. I heard these at CA Audio, and they sounded reasonably good, and actually had bass. Interestingly, they were positioned how the nstructions from Gradient said to position them in, but apparently AD never positioned them this way, at least from what I can gather from reading his article. It's still never clear if he got decent bass out of them. They were a lot smaller than I thought they would be, and they still look like a toilet, even in real life.
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