GMA Europa owners, what amps do you use?

Roy...for current Europa owners...are there any future upgrade paths that can be performed without the need for shipping? thanks...

Thanks for the kind words Roy but Suits_me has it right. I love to listen loud as the evening wears on. With a first child on the way in two weeks I think the loud, alcohol induced, listening is going to simmer down and the quite listening/diaper changing will be the new thing. It's funny how you can tolerate ultra loud volumes after tieing one on. What's really funny is you listen at that level while sober and think "my God how did I stand it that loud!" No wonder I've destroyed three expnsive amps by touch wiring the speaker cables, moving speakers around while playing. Oh well, such is life as a Dead Head. (<:

Phasecorrect- I will be looking into that. If we were to change the tweeter, the circuit mods may be ones that you can't get your hands in to perform (nor could we). The woofer stays the same.

One would have to knock out the old crossover circuit (via a block and hammer), from which we could salvage maybe $25 of parts, with a half-hour to strip those out, and a few bucks credit for getting the old tweeters back. Two new circuits with tested, matched tweeters would be ~the price differential to the new speaker. Plus a fair amount of install work at your end. And it still wouldn't have all the improvements.

At the moment, it would seem selling `em to a buddy and getting the new ones would be the best way to have a comprehensive upgrade. But I will look into it.


Pete- congrats on the new baby! You'll be a great dad.
You are entirely right about listening "habits". We do what we need to do. Remember, the middle-ear bones are bridged by a small muscle that contracts to protect against loud sounds. This changes much of your hearing.

Listen loud and long with some good wine, and the muscle stays locked up, then relaxes some, as your mind eventually says "nothing here to worry about, ok?" But it still never relaxes completely.

During that contracted phase (like after a concert), several things happen:
Your threshold of hearing has been raised (friends need to yell at you),
the tone balance changes (for less bass and highs),
dynamic inflections are not as strong (less subtleties, and "big" changes need to be "bigger"),
the body takes over "feeling" the bass, because you are vibrating different parts of it more and more,
the pitch of the song rises (for psychoacoustic and/or mechanical/biological reasons).

So you are shocked the next day. Just don't do that every evening, and chances are your hearing won't suffer too much beyond what you lose with age, and by living in a city instead of in the country, in my experience.

But if you blow things up, we have parts. So proceed onwards, Mr. Whitley. Dad. Mr. Mom?

Just don't expose the little one to even a moderately loud TV program for extended periods (like an hour) if you can avoid it, ok? But you will expose him/her to music, right?

Have a good weekend y`all!

Best,
Roy

Hey Pete, a word of advice from the Dad of 2 very sound-sleeping kids: DON'T BE EXTRA QUIET for them. Listen to TV, stereo at normal volume (within reason), talk in normal voices. If you go around whispering "shhhhh, the kids are in bed", they will forever wake up at the slightest sound, and you might as well sell your speakers and buy headphones.......LOL. Further advice, avoid the basinette in your bedroom, put em in crib in own room from the first night home, or you WILL regret it. They will be just fine, and believe me, you will awaken from across the house at the slightest whimper anyway....
Roy, thanks for the advice, this little amp amazes me, even driving NHT VT2's for the time being (yeah, yeah, I know). Amazing little amp for my first venture into tubes, and for only $600!
OK, so the amp and the Osiris stands are waiting for the Europas. I guess the next purchase is the speakers themselves...........

Roy...thanks for the quick reply...for the moment...and probably well beyond...I am very content with my Europa purchase...every time someone hears the response is always the same:"where did you get those speakers!"...and this from folks who own Maggies,Vandies, and the like...I really dont want to monkey with the cabinet or crossover...so if there is every a time you could suggest a tweeter upgrade without the above mentioned hassles...let us Europa owners know...keep up the great work at GMA...just curious...what is the new price point for the Europas?