Guarneri Homage: A question regarding longevity and room size.

[paolo]

I have an opportunity to purchase a pair of GH's. They are at least 22 years old. I'm concerned about the actual and potential deterioration of woofer surrounds and life of tweeter.

Also, I'm now enjoying Cremona Auditor M's in a small, dedicated listening room: 11x13x8. Rear wall opens to the living room and the inside wall opens to the kitchen. The GH's might overdrive the room and I cannot audition prior to purchase.

Your insights are greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Paul

 

[Blackmorec]

I have an opportunity to purchase a pair of GH's. They are at least 22 years old. I'm concerned about the actual and potential deterioration of woofer surrounds and life of tweeter.

Also, I'm now enjoying Cremona Auditor M's in a small, dedicated listening room: 11x13x8. Rear wall opens to the living room and the inside wall opens to the kitchen. The GH's might overdrive the room and I cannot audition prior to purchase.

Your insights are greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Paul

I don’t see why GHs would overdrive your room...its not as if they have really deep bass or a large woofer area And they’re miles off the floor.
From a deterioration standpoint, take a look at the loudspeakers overall condition. If the speaker wood is still dark and richly coloured, with no bleached areas and the drivers and elastic grills are still dark coloured rather than lighter grey and bleached, the chances are the speakers have plenty of life left in them.
Typically its sunshine and UV radiation that puts paid to materials like driver surrounds and tweeters and the giveaway that there’s been exposure is lightening and bleaching of materials. If the speaker’s cabinet, front baffle and driver colour is close to original then you should be good as there’ll be little if any denaturing of the materials, which is the enemy here.

 

[paolo]

@Blackmorec
Thank you for your helpful response. The photos of the speakers indicate that the wood is rich in color and that there is no "bleaching" of the front baffle. I will ask the seller if he has more historical information on them.
"And they’re miles off the floor."
Yes, almost as tall as my Magnepan .7's but a lot prettier!

The local SF dealer should be getting the latest Guarneri's sometime early 2020. Of course, they will be much more expensive.

 

[paolo]

The gods have smiled upon me, and my most wonderful wife loves them, too. I now have a stunning pair of Guarneri Homage in my home. They turned out to be much newer than I initially thought- 2004 production year. As good as the Cremona Auditor M's are, the GH's are a significant improvement in SQ.
A dream has come true.

Appropriately, the first album I played was this:

 

[Blackmorec]

Oh that’s a perfect first album....very good choice. The Guarneri Homage is an absolutely lovely loudspeaker....a genuine classic for its beautiful tone, clarity and emotional driving capabilities. It also looks gorgeous, sumptuous . Something beautifully crafted that met its design brief 100%
Congratulations....you’re going to enjoy those

 

[paolo]

@Blackmorec,

I have barely moved out of my listening chair for the past seven hours- and even then just to get another cup of coffee and to take my dog out a couple of times. I feel as if I'm in a wonderful dream, but it's a real as anything could be!
Thank you for your kind comments. Your choice of words is perfect.

 

[paolo]

I also would like to add that I'm quite pleasantly surprised and elated at how close to planars the GH's sound in my dedicated listening room. Of course ymmv.

@Blackmorec one of the qualities I treasure most about my Guarneris is, as you put it, "the emotional driving capabilities." Indeed they can and do. The visual of the gorgeous craftsmanship is, as the cliche' goes, icing on the cake.

 

[LL21]

Congratulations. They are tremendous speakers. I owned them, and they are absolute gems. Of all the speakers I have owned in the last 25 years, they are the ones I would have kept just to treasure and enjoy them if I could have (but I needed to trade them in as part of getting my larger speakers).

They are absolutely sublime, incredibly balanced, nuanced, emotive, clear, natural and fatigue free. A work of art that truly belongs in the pantheon of all-time great speakers.

 

[LL21]

I also would like to add that I'm quite pleasantly surprised and elated at how close to planars the GH's sound in my dedicated listening room. Of course ymmv.

@Blackmorec one of the qualities I treasure most about my Guarneris is, as you put it, "the emotional driving capabilities." Indeed they can and do. The visual of the gorgeous craftsmanship is, as the cliche' goes, icing on the cake.

It is very funny you should mention planars. When i owned the Guarneris, i was looking at options, and decided to do a shoot out between the Guarneri, Quad 2805 and Quad 2905. Your observation in my opinion is absolutely correct...that was exactly how i felt. I was shocked and really pleased to experience that. I also felt that the bigger 2905 were a more appropriate comparison than the 2805 which had a lighter weight presentation that day. I kept the Gs that day!

 

[paolo]

LL21 said:
"It is very funny you should mention planars. When i owned the Guarneris, i was looking at options, and decided to do a shoot out between the Guarneri, Quad 2805 and Quad 2905. Your observation in my opinion is absolutely correct...that was exactly how i felt. I was shocked and really pleased to experience that. I also felt that the bigger 2905 were a more appropriate comparison than the 2805 which had a lighter weight presentation that day. I kept the Gs that day!"

I have listened to more than a few Martin Logans, came very close to purchasing a pair of Quad 2805's, and own a pair of Maggie .7's. The Maggies are now relegated to my audio storage closet. They have their charms to be sure, and I very much enjoy them, but they offer me no romance. I'll likely use them in a second system with solid-state amplification once my tube gear is back from servicing. I'm beyond eager to hear the GH's with all-tubes!

 

[astrotoy]

I heard a single Guarneri (del Gesu) this summer at J&A Beare's this summer in London. It was definitely used, around 280 years old. We also heard a golden age Strad (from around 1730's). Both were magnificent (as demonstrated by British violinist Jennifer Pike), though I liked the Guarneri just a bit better (a little darker and richer in tone). Asking price for each was 20M GBP (I think there may be some room for bargaining, especially if you buy both).

Larry

 

[paolo]

@astrotoy

I would have loved to have been there. Congratulations on your good fortune, sir.

 

[BruceD]

Agree superb speakers-If you are using Jumpers with single run cables you may like to try switching the inputs
at the Speaker end thus--
+ input connect the main cable BOTTOM--jumper to TOP.
- input connect the main cable TOP-jumper to BOTTOM.

You may find subtle improvement in sonics--try reversing the above also.

Good Listening ,

BruceD

 

[ashandger]

Congratulations. They are tremendous speakers. I owned them, and they are absolute gems. Of all the speakers I have owned in the last 25 years, they are the ones I would have kept just to treasure and enjoy them if I could have (but I needed to trade them in as part of getting my larger speakers).

They are absolutely sublime, incredibly balanced, nuanced, emotive, clear, natural and fatigue free. A work of art that truly belongs in the pantheon of all-time great speakers.

I had a pair of the original as well and feel exactly the same as you about them. I actually preferred them to Srads.

 

[paolo]

Thank you all for your enthusiasm and kind words. In so many ways "What's Best Forum" is THE best audiophile forum I've come across. I'm happy to be here.

To BruceD, thanks for the suggestion, AND the photo. At the moment there are two thin jumper wires, one from the + and the other from the - tweeter terminals, to the woofer terminals. Speaker cable bananas are plugged into the woofer terminals. Can you kindly explain the configuration of the jumpers you're employing and where I might find a pair? Thanks again-
Paolo

 

[BruceD]

I 've tried many Jumpers -decided could not afford full Bi Wire speaker run but very pleased with this setup.
OK, you read how to connect the single run + and -- the jumpers placed as shown.--I use Stereolab Reference -
they gave more body and detail to the otherwise smooth "velvet" presentation of the SFG's most other jumpers I tried sorta went the other way and flattened out the dynamics and laid back presentation albeit incredibly listenable still but not the emotion of the Speaker
-it is one of the few domestic speakers that just doesn't do much wrong- just gets outa the way and lets one savour the moods/etc. The Stereolab Loom --I use all Chris Sommovigos Cables source to the speakers give me the best sounds I've experienced -. My search is over untill he makes something better!

The Echole and Yter cables are fine alternatives also for the Speaker.

Good Listening,

BruceD

 

[paolo]

@BruceD
Are the jumpers you picture a pair or a three-wire configuration? The photo is a bit confusing for my "mature" eyes or maybe it's an optical illusion. In other words is there a plus jumper from tweet to woof and another negative jumper from tweet to woof or does one of the tweet jumper cables go into the other plus connector?

I suspect what I'm seeing is an optical issue and there is a pair, one red one black.

One reason I'm confused is that I just realized that the "jumpers" which came with my GH's are not the original, merely a thin red and black wire. I'm not complaining, mind you, it's a minor "issue" and easily-rectified.

Thanks,
paolo

 

[LL21]

HI Paolo,

I did the same as Bruce D as I recall. It is actually pretty simple:

1. Your speaker has 2 sets of terminals on the back...treble and bass
2. You need to connect treble and bass via either a busbar (metal bar) or a jumper cable
3. THEN, when you hook up your speaker cables, the question you will realize you face is do you connect the 2 spades from your speaker cables to:
- the 2 BASS terminals
- ...or 2 TREBLE terminals
- ...OR 1 BASS and 1 TREBLE each

Bruce D has shown 1 BASS and 1 TREBLE. I definitely noticed a difference between the configurations and cannot recall which i preferred in the end. Hope that makes sense.

 

[paolo]

@LL21
Thank you. I understand now. I need a pair of high-quality jumpers for each speaker and then I can experiment with which configuration sounds best. Onward!

 

[LL21]

Hi Paolo,

Yes, that is correct. I found some very nice Transparent Jumpers which had been recommended as i was using Transparent speaker cables at the time. They made a nice improvement over the metal bars that came with the Guarneris. Overall a 'denser, more powerful' signal...almost as if 'more music' was being carried along the Transparent jumpers compared with the very thin bars that came with the speakers. This was the impression i recall.