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Teton monitors from Wavetouch Audio - A Must Hear

In the market for a pair of monitors recently, to gain more living spaces that being taken over by the growing LPs collection and the Wilson Sophia that I have put up for sale, I start doing some audition, googleing and look around. I know it's going to be a tough task finding any speakers that could produce the sound I have used to for many years from the Sophia.

To make sure I don't make a mistake and miss out on the big names, the likes of Harbert, Tannoy, B&W, psb, sonus....I start hitting the showrooms of LA. All of them are good, decent speakers but they don't strike me as possible replacements for the giant Wilson, three times their sizes. Then I found an unknown brand advertised, kevlar, horn tweeter and exotic rosewood in all. The rosewood always got me, I contacted the owner for a listen. A copy cat of B&W it turn-out and the speakers were bought in lots for testing and experiments by Alex Yoon of Wavetouch Audio in LA. Alex then let me take a peak listen to something he was 'putting together' as he said, and fine-tuning for review at StereoTimes. I hastily agreed. We headed for the studio where he does his work, the size of a four-car garage.

There I was introduced to a pair of tiny monitors, the 'Grand Teton', I later learned, in rich, exotic Russian birchwood that one can tell of top-notch quality, carefully and meticulously put together. We spent the next two hours listen to tracks after tracks of acoustic, instrumentals and vocals music. The monitors fill the huge studio with music as if a pair of 5-foot tall floor standing were in used. Soundstage were ceiling high and 6-foot deep. Vocals were in-your-face with each instrument precisely positioned as if we had attented a jazz rehearsal in a garage. I immidiately inquired about a pair for home audition. This could be the Wilson replacement, I said to myself with reservation. May be Alex had the room treated or using special equipments. But his gear is very mediocre.

Two week past and Alex deliver the monitors for audition. The same pair but has now been finely tuned. Personally position the monitors in my living room, Alex going over some adjustments tips, give me a week to test the monitors and head back to LA. Two day of comparison between the Grand Teton and the Sophia side-by-side, guitar, piano, vocals and everything in between. I contacted Alex and convinced him to leave the sample, don't come back for it and it was purchased with proceed from the Sophia sale. The Grand Teton is now in my living room replacing the giant Wilson for 1/10 the cost, 1/10 the size and not a note missing.

Quite a task for its size. Highly recommended and a must to audiition if you can arrange for one. It will be time well spent just to listen to it.

Music Fanatic,
Irvine, CA
connect400
audioman58's avatar
audioman58
1,219 posts
 
Hello Sutpen ,I like your Post. I used a bunch of Amps my latest is a very
Little know new amp from Van Alstine the Synergy300 MOSFET amp
Very valve - tube like but fast and detailed,the option double dye is a must
2x the exec on Mosfets. I also use A a Rogue Atlas Magnum 100 wpc that
Maybe over kill for these efficient speakers but tons of headroom.
The Pass labs 250 way too much power but fantastic control.
The Synergy is similsr in a lot of ways and over 170wpc for $1,600 a true
Hiend bargain. Any one of these is a great amp,also a Wyred4 sound st250mk2 it is a dual mono design that has a FET front end with the latest Ice amps 2- in one chassis. It sounds like a refined tube amp .
Very musical ,under Mamps that is the 2 box version in reviews .
Same sonic results. I may even have to sell one soon .to finance .the
New SE speaker Wave Touch is working on. The standard model
Sounds way way more expensive then the small price tag,a true best buy
If there ever was one. The new model have the a Xover 6 x the money
Will sound incredible.one thing I do know well is Xover parts. And having a peek Clarity caps better E series ,Mundorf silver oil,and supreme,
And world best Duelund resistors ,Jantzen Copper foil coils ,hard wired all WBT Silver solder.can't wait to hear em .only down side is these Huge caps inside can take well over 300 hours to settle in .one more thing the Xover will be in it's own little cabinet behind the Loudspeaker.
randyhat
138 posts
 
"To all the doubters and people that have an opinion without knowing
Anything about the product.if you have not listened to the Grand Tetons
Then you are just mindlessly ranting."

While this certainly makes sense I don't think it tells the entire story with regard to this speaker. In a related thread a poster reported on the sound of the Grand Teton after hearing it. Unlike the gushing reviews in this thread his comments were a bit less flattering. He was immediately set upon by company owner, who in embarrassing and somewhat ugly manner called the poster a liar.

So much for objectivity and free expression of opinions. The thing is, if you depend upon word of mouth internet reviews to get the word out about your product you have to be prepared for the negative comments. NO speaker is going to be universally praised.
wolf_garcia
4,650 posts
 
But the plywood...it's got SPECIAL plywood!
sutpen's avatar
sutpen
11 posts
 
Randyhat:
I agree with you. I cringed reading through those posts. I felt they were disrespectful. I want to improve the sounds playing in my house; I value posts that offer informed opinions and comparisons--positive or negative.

Audioman58:
Thanks for the response. I don't have any amp in 50-100 watt range, but I will keep your suggestions in mind as I crawl up the audio ladder.
ivan_nosnibor's avatar
ivan_nosnibor
782 posts
 
Hi Randyhat,

"The thing is, if you depend upon word of mouth
internet reviews to get the word out about your product you
have to be prepared for negative comments".

Agreed. It's not hard for me to feel that, if I were Alex, I
would've at least tried to handle that differently...even if
I thought Ctsooner was lying (which I don't). In that
instance I think it just would've made good business sense
to me. I don't think Alex necessarily always gets an A+ for
his business skills or his current level of understanding
how the American way works...or even always his engineering
explanations, for that matter. But, as much as I can
sympathize with Ctsooner (and have with him on this point
before), I can also do so with Alex otherwise, at least up
to a point. English just isn't his first language, plain and
simple. But, being that the company is basically just him on
the payroll (I think he farms out the CNC cabinet cuts), I
don't imagine he can realistically hire anybody to help him
with the language barrier without ultimately running the
risk of losing control of his company. And in truth I can
sympathize that he may feel he simply has no other choice,
as a result, but to try to fly his company by the seat of
his pants, like he does. At least he seems to have the
courage to take that much on the chin, so far. And, like you
suggest above, it might be too early for him to be
advertising by means other than forums. But, in my view, I
just can't help but feel that this business with Ctsooner,
anyway, has damaged his reputation. That to me is
unfortunate. But, if nothing else, I'm sincerely hoping Alex
will come to understand and appreciate our heritage of the
American sense of fair play as the rest of us generally
enjoy.

BTW, I do have a pair of GT's. I find they really are
uniquely amazing. And I'm also fully convinced they are the
last speakers I will ever need to own, FWIW.

Regards. John
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