GRAND CRUEssentiel Reference MonitorusedGRAND CRU Essentiel Reference Monitor - RMAF show "DEMO" - save > 50%The critically acclaimed Grand Cru “Essentiel” Reference Monitor is an extraordinary design that delivers accuracy and music in a contemporary & superbly designed cabinet. The customized ribbo...4000.00

GRAND CRU Essentiel Reference Monitor - RMAF show "DEMO" - save > 50%

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10/10
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Ships fromFairborn, OH, 45324
Ships toWorldwide
Package dimensions15.0" × 10.0" × 20.0" (25.0 lbs.)
Shipping carriersUPS or FedEx
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The critically acclaimed Grand Cru “Essentiel” Reference Monitor is an extraordinary design that delivers accuracy and music in a contemporary & superbly designed cabinet.

The customized ribbon tweeter and 7” mid-bass matched to an advanced crossover design that optimizes time and phase coherency provides performance far above their price point.

French designed & superbly crafted in Italy.

We are making our "2014 RMAF" demo available at > 50% savings – retail $8200…DEMO $4000.

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Soundstage’s founder & Publisher, Doug Schneider, wrote an accurate and in-depth review of the Essentiel here:

http://www.soundstagehifi.com/index.php/equipment-reviews/595-grand-cru-audio-essentiel-loudspeakers


A few excerpts from Soundstage review: (Demos are the exact units reviewed)

The first word that came to mind was clean. The next word was seamless. After that came coherent. The sound was extremely smooth and clear throughout the audioband, with no obvious indicators of where the midrange-woofer passed off to the tweeter.

Listening directly on the (ribbon) tweeter axes, my preferred way to listen to them, the Essentiels sounded pretty neutral and natural right up through the top. If anything, they teetered ever so slightly toward the polite, yet also sounded as sweet as the best soft-dome tweeters I’ve heard, and as airy and fast as the top metal domes, including those used in my reference speaker, the Revel Salon2 (approx. $22,000/pair),…

Overall, the Essentiel had some of the most exquisite highs I’d heard in a long, long time -- the sound of the cymbals 2:51 into Lou Reed’s “Sweet Jane,” from the Cowboy Junkies’ The Trinity Session (16/44.1 FLAC, RCA), sounded extraordinarily clean and extremely realistic. It really sounded like metal being struck.

The Essentiels reproduced with terrific clarity Seu Jorge’s very close-miked voice and guitar in “Changes” (yes, the Bowie song), from The Life Aquatic Studio Sessions (16/44.1 FLAC, Hollywood).

What was also impressive was how the meat of Jorge’s voice was handled -- very rich, highly textured, and superbly detailed, but not at all chesty or resonant, as it can sound through speakers that have serious cabinet resonances or too much emphasis around 400Hz. I also heard quite a bit more space around Jorge’s voice than I’m accustomed to, as well as more-than-impressive soundstage depth. These indicated that the Essentiels’ ability to reproduce spatial cues was high, which is crucial to the re-creation of a credible soundstage.

Cohen’s Old Ideas was also quite revealing of the Essentiel’s bass: more-than-decent output to around 40Hz, if not a touch lower. With “Sweet Jane,” I didn’t hear the ultradeep whoomp, whoomp that I hear through a full-range floorstander that can reach down to 20Hz -- to be fair, I haven’t heard that through any stand-mounted speaker -- but I did get a sense of some energy in that region, which leads me to believe that the Essentiel’s rolloff in the low end is reasonably slow, and doesn’t drop off a cliff at a certain frequency, as it does with most stand-mounted designs. As a result, the Essentiels sounded remarkably fleshed out for their modest size. I can’t imagine any music lover who uses these speakers in an appropriately sized room wanting a subwoofer.

Conclusions

The strengths of Grand Cru Audio’s Essential include: a seamless-sounding integration of the ribbon and midrange-woofer outputs; smoothness and clarity through the upper midrange, the likes of which I haven’t heard from other ribbon-based designs; and very deep bass, given the modest sizes of the speaker’s cabinet and midrange-woofer.

I was taken aback by the Essentiels’ topflight soundstaging and imaging, as well as by their high resolution, particularly their ability to convey spatial cues. And Grand Cru has created an attractive, distinctive, uniquely finished design -- things that don’t hurt in setting this speaker apart from its competition.

Of the ribbon speakers I’ve heard in my room over the years, the Grand Cru Essentiel is one of the highest priced. It’s also the best sounding, for the reasons just listed, and proof that the propensity of the French to do things differently can pay off when the result is something like this -- a speaker that’s not just unique, but a cut or two above the rest.

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Specifications

•Sensitivity: 90db

•Bandwidth: 45 ~ 30Khz

•Impedance: 4Ω (Stable & easy to drive)

•Dimensions: 400 - 220 - 290 mm (HWD)

Features

•MDF construction

•Reinforced & stiffened in all 3-axis for no cabinet resonance or coloration

•Eichmann binding posts (Australia) – simply the highest quality connector available

•Front façade is milled digitally for accurate precision

•The front profile was chosen to eliminate edge distortions and ensure coherence with tuning port

•Tuning port on bottom of front panel for time/phase coherence and eliminate problems of rear wall

•Magnetic grille covers - no holes/pins

Shipping additional

PayPal adds 3.5%

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More info: http://tmhaudio.com/GrandCruAudio.htm

Contact: tmh audio

[email protected]

937-439-2667

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