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Surgery. May 8th was the designated date. Here is Jefferson unbolting the tweeter horn...
... and holding it steady for a shot. Now we can appreciate just how deeply the solid-wood horn extends behind the baffle.
Every internal wall and divider is lined with dense wool fiber. We see a window-pane brace above the tweeter chamber and the lower mid/woofer removed shows off its petite but powerful Neodymium motor and very well-ventilated spider...
... and behind its mount opening the diagonal solid cabinet brace also lined with wool.
Just to be safe and to test two tweeters from the same batch on his home bench for comparison, Jefferson replaced both. Then he set up his Clio software, test-tone generator and microphone. He ran sweeps and steady tones at ascending frequencies to test for distortion. Both units tested and sounded a-okay so the patients were sewn back up with 8 bolts each. Confiding in a subsequent conversion just how hard it was to find affordable electronics that sounded really good for his retail shop, I had a light bulb moment. I went upstairs and brought down the €899/pr Clones Audio 55pm 'gain clone' monos. Not only did those sound so good that Jefferson asked for Funjoe's Hong Kong contact to inquire about carrying them with a "most of our customers won't need more" explanation, they actually acted as minor body builders above and beyond the Job225. They traded some Swiss articulation for greater warmth and weightiness. I frankly felt foolish for not trying them sooner. Better late than never. And no, the money part made absolutely no sense but a triple yes to that the sound very much did!
With Grand Cru's next batch of 50 pairs not due until roughly late June, I'd have my loaners longer than usual. Though very late already, the beefy Pathos Acoustics Logos MkII hybrid integrated due for review would thus cross their paths as would statement digital from Nagra and Rockna and the very promising Backert Labs Rhythm 1.1 valve preamp. Thus consider part 1 of this review concluded now. I'll use the time until Jefferson returns to pick these up and show me a single sample of the final white paint finish to evaluate further hardware combinations and single out the best of those. That will also give the Grand Cru Audio men time to get their website in order to go global, Anglais and more comprehensive than it presently is.
