Munich High-End 2018 Ron Report: Goebel Divin Majestic

Ron Resnick

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Goebel High End refers to the brand new Divin Majestic as the company's "flagship product," which is interesting, among other reasons, because the speaker does not employ the flat, bending-wave driver, which is Goebel's original claim to fame.



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The speaker utilizes a D'Appolito array with a Mundorf air motion tweeter in the center.

Playing big and hefty music it sounded appropriately big and hefty, just like you would expect a giant, heavy, six foot or seven foot tall loudspeaker to sound.


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A top-of-the-line Kronos turntable system with outboard power supply and new phono stage played vinyl.


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Al M.

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It sounded big and hefty just like you would expect a giant, heavy, six foot or seven foot tall loudspeaker to sound.

Looks impressive, but I am wondering how a string quartet would sound on it. Hopefully not big and hefty.
 

Uk Paul

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Nice photo's Ron..
 

MadFloyd

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How did it sound?
 

heihei

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Sounded big and heavy, with no intimacy.
 

Al M.

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Sounded big and heavy, with no intimacy.

Oh crap.

I would welcome a speaker sounding big and heavy when the musical material demands it, but it should not always do so, certainly not when intimacy is called for. A great speaker should disappear from the music, on any material. It should not have an evident signature on its own. Hence my comment on string quartets.

I would also have appreciated if Ron would have described on which music the speaker sounded big and hefty, instead of just giving it as a general characteristic, because that, again, suggests a signature rather than a virtue.

Hopefully in a set-up better than under show conditions the speaker can exhibit much better sound quality than apparently was evident here. Perhaps it is a great speaker after all.
 

Priaptor

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Oh crap.

I would welcome a speaker sounding big and heavy when the musical material demands it, but it should not always do so, certainly not when intimacy is called for. A great speaker should disappear from the music, on any material. It should not have an evident signature on its own. Hence my comment on string quartets.

I would also have appreciated if Ron would have described on which music the speaker sounded big and hefty, instead of just giving it as a general characteristic, because that, again, suggests a signature rather than a virtue.

Hopefully in a set-up better than under show conditions the speaker can exhibit much better sound quality than apparently was evident here. Perhaps it is a great speaker after all.

Agree. As a "believer" in what Oliver can do as evidenced by what I am hearing in my sound room with his new Aeon and when looking at the size of those behemoths and chair location, I just can't imagine people are getting to hear the capabilities of what they can actually do, particularly "intimacy" and disappearing. Also, my understanding was these speakers were supposed to be super efficient and wondering why they weren't being demoed with some of the esoteric SET stuff. Whatever. These things are way over my budget, I have little interest and unfortunately, from what I understand his REF speakers were begin shown in the Vitus room, more of a Vitus showcase than a speaker showcase also not demonstrating what the speakers can do in the small room they are in.

Hopefully, when Elliot gets his studio up here in Ft. Lauderdale, people can hear the full capabilities of the Aeon. I can guarantee anyone in the area listening to the baby Aeon Fines I have in my room would be floored.
 

BMCG

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Find it curious that Gobel elects a very different topology/technology for their statement speakers....struggle to see how this meshes with their distinctive bending wave...
 

Priaptor

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Find it curious that Gobel elects a very different topology/technology for their statement speakers....struggle to see how this meshes with their distinctive bending wave...

I agree. Supposedly, he used some of the "technology" from the Bending Wave to incorporate in to this speaker with phase coherency,etc. Not sure about it. I should get Elliot to ask Oliver to explain these speakers on the forum.
 

Ron Resnick

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I didn’t listen very long, but I think it very likely that the Divin Majestic is a state-of-the-art type of speaker. On intimate music I would be happy to bet that it will recreate beautifully the sound of an intimate musical experience.

I’m just puzzled about the design strategy here. I don’t know why this very ambitious and impressive speaker wouldn’t have a Goebel bending wave driver in the center of it.

This speaker, as a tall, heavy, single-column, M-T-M design, competes directly with the Von Schweikert Ultra 11 and the Rockport Arrakis.

Now that we’re talking about this I really would love to play the same track tomorrow on both the Divin Majestic and the Ultra 11!
 

LL21

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I had asked this question in this thread: http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showt...credible-speakers&highlight=LL21+Goebel+Divin

Folsom suggested "the bending wave driver can't give you the kind of SPL that a monster like that would produce otherwise. It's physically impossible while retaining improved phase (not perfect)."

From Oliver later in that thread:

Hello all together,

many thanks for your discussions, questions and interests in our products. I’m happy to share with you a few insides in our products and our product philosophy.

Generally, all our products are statement products in their fields with the highest demand for quality. Our goal is to really bring music alive. That is, and always was the passion behind all our efforts, researches, technologies, … to manufacture real statement products which bring the ultimate real music experience!


The basic thinkings behind our Epoque Aeon and Divin loudspeaker lines are:

The Epoque Aeon line is of course fully based on our patented and world wide unique Carbon Excellence Bending Wave drivers, with all their unique and outstanding advantages which you could find listed on our website. (Many thanks Elliot for posting the link to the technology site on our website.) A perfect phase and time behavior / coherence are only a few advantages. This Epoque Aeon loudspeaker line with it’s sensitivity of around 86 dB / 1 W is perfect for normal listening distances.
Technology like, this loudspeaker series is extremely special and for the real ultra high end connoisseurs.
Maybe it is also interesting for you to know, until now we are developing bending stiff bending wave drivers since around 20 years. Around 14 years ago I founded my company Göbel High End and simultaneously unveiled and offered our first bending wave loudspeaker series.

The Divin line is only on the very first sight a traditional dynamic loudspeaker. With enormous 2 x 18inch bass chassis, 2 x 8inch midrange chassis and one wave guided tweeter in one loudspeaker. All chassis are especially developed and designed for this Divin line. Additionally we massively used and applied our bending wave knowledge and technologies in order to perfectly control the membrane break up (because every normal piston loudspeaker also produce sound over in this case undesired bending waves), reaching a perfect phase and time behavior and avoiding resonances in the enclosure materials and crossovers.
This Divin loudspeaker has a sensitivity of around 98dB / 1W and in terms of max. sound preasure level and listening distances there are no real limitation.
The thinking behind this additional Divin loudspeaker line is to also offer a high sensitivity and highest power loudspeaker line that is the ultimate choice for real ultra high end connoisseurs, which for example prefer low wattage amps or tube amps and to show what is possible with traditional dynamic loudspeakers, which are enhanced by our bending wave technology.

Please let me know when you have any further questions.

All the best,
Oliver
 

Ron Resnick

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OK, well that makes perfect sense. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having two different design lines to cater to aficionados of two different types of amplifiers.

I like very much the Goebel bending wave driver. As a fan of unconventional drivers I would have liked to see the bending wave driver in the Divin Majestic somewhere, but I guess it simply was not possible from the sensitivity objective point of view. And that’s totally fine.

I think it’s very admirable and ambitious for Goebel to aim a second time for the state of the art using a different design.
 

Priaptor

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OK, well that makes perfect sense. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having two different design lines to cater to aficionados of two different types of amplifiers.

I like very much the Goebel bending wave driver. As a fan of unconventional drivers I would have liked to see the bending wave driver in the Divin Majestic somewhere, but I guess it simply was not possible from the sensitivity objective point of view. And that’s totally fine.

I think it’s very admirable and ambitious for Goebel to aim a second time for the state of the art using a different design.

Ron that is exactly right. There was no way to match sensitivities of the bending wave to the Divin.
 

wisnon

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I would go for the Stenheim Ref Statement over this just based on looks and reputation alone.
 

Priaptor

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I would go for the Stenheim Ref Statement over this just based on looks and reputation alone.

Hard to say. At those prices and size #1 I would have to be worth much more than I am, #2 I would have to hear them properly setup with gear I would be using on the front end and #3, I would have to have a BIG room able to handle their massive air movement.

Of course I would need to own a crane to find their sweet spots.

Plus both could be used as a good start to a family mausoleum, I guess making the Stenheim a better deal as you get 4 cabinets instead of just two.
 

Al M.

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I didn’t listen very long, but I think it very likely that the Divin Majestic is a state-of-the-art type of speaker. On intimate music I would be happy to bet that it will recreate beautifully the sound of an intimate musical experience.

That is not suggested in your somewhat unfortunate original wording, Ron, which implicates an intrinsic sonic signature:

It sounded big and hefty just like you would expect a giant, heavy, six foot or seven foot tall loudspeaker to sound.

We all need to be careful with our words -- myself included. I am planning to write a review of my speakers and amp on WBF at some point, and I am thinking about all the devilish minefields that lie along the way towards an appropriate final wording. It's not easy, and I am the first one to admit that I have been careless in the past about what I was saying (less in reviews, mostly in discussion threads). This does not mean that I will not try to be honest in my reviews, which I always strive for, but there is a difference between honesty and clumsy wording which unnecessarily could be misinterpreted by some.
 

Ron Resnick

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I modified my original post to reduce the likelihood of mischievous misinterpretation. :)
 

wisnon

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Hard to say. At those prices and size #1 I would have to be worth much more than I am, #2 I would have to hear them properly setup with gear I would be using on the front end and #3, I would have to have a BIG room able to handle their massive air movement.

Of course I would need to own a crane to find their sweet spots.

Plus both could be used as a good start to a family mausoleum, I guess making the Stenheim a better deal as you get 4 cabinets instead of just two.

LoL
True dat.

Stenheim moves the mid-section drivers with a remote control for fine tuning the listening position.
 

Al M.

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I modified my original post to reduce the likelihood of mischievous misinterpretation. :)

Mischievous misinterpretation or not, your modification is excellent! Thanks, Ron, much appreciated.
 

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