A few questions for Green Mountain Europa owners

Tc, I use the Europa's powered by a modified citation 24 power amp(100wpc)and a straight line pre-amp. They replaced ADS L-1290's in my system. I have heard many speakers over the years both as a consumer as well as a high end audio salesman. In my opinion, the Europa's do human voice as well as anything I have heard. I think thats the key to these speakers. Voice range. The top end is smooth and silky, and the bass is fast and well defined(down to 40-45hz) but the midrange these things produce is simply breathtaking. I have a friend here that listens to live, unamplified music 6 nights/week, and he says these speakers sound better than ANYthing he has heard....ever. And thats the point. The Europa's SOUND like MUSIC. Not like a recording of music. Does that make sense? Put on any live recording.......or any recording with a lot going on in it. You'll very quickly hear why these speakers are so highly touted. Imaging is top notch. I find myself listening to(and really enjoying) music that I never thought I would listen to since purchasing these speakers. I just didn't "connect" with the performance. I think thats the time/phase thing in a real world application. The ADS's were no slouch. But the Europa's made them sound boxy, slow, and to a point, unintelligable. I know the designer(Roy Johnson of GMA) well. Worked with him for a couple of years. Thats not why I bought the speakers. I bought them because they were better than anything I heard under $3K. Roy is one of the true good guys in the audio world. He validates that opinion each and everytime we speak on the phone. I'm honered to call him my friend, but make no mistake. I'm not recommending the Europa's based upon friendship with the designer. I'm recommending them based upon sound. Give him a call. Listen to the product. Make up your own mind. Fair enough?
Dale

Dale great post...like you stated...a quality recording "with alot going on" is really where the Europas excel...where other speakers can so flat and congested...the Europas have the ability to pick the best bits out

CHris...with your CJ amp and Europas...be prepared to have a sonic orgasm...and maybe a real one to boot! happy holidays...

Hi Tcbannon, Don't hesitate to get in touch with Anthony Perrotta in Brewster, NY, who will be a Connecticut yankee in Bethel next year. I have had a pleasant email communication with him. If it is not an imposition on your listening plans, please let me know if you would allow a fellow listener when you take your amp to audition the Europa's. Regards, Joel of Danbury, CT.

Thanks for the comments and compliments guys!

Lou- the parts we use are stated on our miniscule website, and as Tennis Junky said- an Aurasound woofer (not fancy looking- resembles an old ADS woofer), a Morel dome, a SonicCap capacitor for the tweeter and a Solen Litz-wire inductor for the woofer. There are a couple of high-voltage Solens in the drivers' voice-coil Zobel networks. That's it. And yes- resistors are high-power, non-inductive wirewounds in ceramic blocks.

These parts produce the best sound for our purposes. We have tried all the other parts you mentioned and more. While excellent choices, they had sonic flavors I could not balance against the rest of the variables in the Europa. We also keep listening, to take advantage of "better" parts asap.

Thanks again for all the feedback. Keep on listening!

Best regards,
Roy Johnson
Green Mountain Audio

PS:
Lou- the "ultimate SPL" really depends on the music. At ten feet away, on highly compressed rock, you would not want to exceed ~98dB (midband energies) on an average-reading SPL meter like Radio Shack's- so you don't burn them up.

Yet on the very best recordings, we have measured 105dB+ peak SPL on voice, piano, horns, snare drum whacks, picked notes on electric guitar and banjo, on decent peak-storing digital SPL meters. This was at 11-12 feet away in stereo, right at the transition from nearfield to farfield acoustics, in a moderately-dead room with a 9 foot suspended ceiling and cement slab floor under office carpet.

There was no apparent distortion, time and again, with professional classical musicians listening. Since our altitude is 6500 feet, that 105+dB becomes 108+dB at sea level. We also also talking about these peaks as being brief flickers of un-clipped, non-slew-rate-limited high power, and not the sustained notes from electric-guitar solos. We need 200W+ (8 Ohms) here to safely do this, and so at sea level, that would be an amp with 120W/channel (8 Ohm rating)- the Europa is a 4 Ohm speaker. And if you do that all afternoon- you'll soon need new tweeter diaphragms.
Of course, race your sports car- you'll buy new tires and race again!

Am I advocating high power for the Europas? No- just telling you the benefits. I have been plenty pleased spending most of the time well under 20W (8 Ohm) peak- as do most owners.

The point is to make a speaker that can deal with any music you want to play, with any recording quality, and which works well with most any electronics without exaggerating (distorting) their distortions.