Whilst Aeon is regarded, on one hand , a much evolved version of GER, on the other hand, it is a totally different speaker to my ears as compared to the Farewell session that I had attended several weeks ago. The efficiency of the speaker as a whole is different from GER making its energy dispersion and distribution a totally different breed to integrate with the room, amp, cables and last but not the least the XiangYu sub. Eyes closed, I felt it is the ‘Green Hulk’ chained with explosive power about to burst out.
Truly I was shocked (again) by the quality of the details and music flow delivered by Aeon with a seemingly casual positioning and sub settings. It is undoubtedly a few notches about the time of GER but it is still early days to comment on it. At this level, product matters, but skills in holistically leveraging the rest of the ingredients to make a perfect presentation is indispensable!
I shall visit Aeon more often together with the reporter Mr Dynamic to witness the incremental steps that PT will be driving ahead.
Yesterday Chris invited
me to his home to listen to the latest Epoque Aeon Reference speakers which
arrived only a few weeks ago for my first auditing order to get an idea and
feeling of Göbel. Despite using complete different components I hoped to get a
sound idea of the Aeon Reference.
Chris had prepared and
set-up his awesome system perfectly and fine-tuned the gain and volume for each
CD separately. Well, after 2 ½ hours of intense listening (I brought my own
CDs, mainly 1st Japanese Classic pressings and some ECM Jazz) I have
to say it was stunning, just stunning.
To warm up we started
‘gently’ with Mark Johnson’s “Sound of Summer running” excellent recording to
be followed by the striking voice of Kathleen Saadat, who performs for Pink Martini
as well. Here the sound was at some parts still a bit spiky and sharp but I
attribute that to the fact that the speakers are still quite new and need a bit
more time to fully burn in. Astonishing that they sound already so smooth after
just 4 or 5 weeks running.
Then it became more
serious with 3rd movement of Brahm’s 3rd Symphony by Kurt Sanderling and the Berlin Symphony Orchestra. Although I
have different Brahms symphony recordings on LP and CD, this one is my
favorite. Not because if highest resolution etc but more due to the wonderful
performance, speed and music flow Sanderling did interpret Brahms.
The orchestra played so
much in harmony that it was just a delight, especially the horn solo which was
transformed by the Göbel
Aeon beautifully and neutral and hit my nerve with its mellow sound (also
thanks to the Riviera amps I guess) but you don’t “hear’ the speaker, just the
music, a feast for the ears.
Same happened while listening
to the superb performance of Rostroprovich & Britten playing Schubert’s “Sonata
for Arpeggione” where both piano and especially the cello sounded fantastic.
I haven’t heard it
before like that with any speaker… Same for Rubinstein’s playing Chopin’s Piano
Concerto No. 1 which again were produced so mellow and warm. I’m sorry to
repeat myself but that is for me the main aspects of a speaker character.
Listening to
Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No 2 by Denis Matsuev created real goosebumps.
Last time I had this kind of experience was around 20 years ago when listening
to the big Cello system with the Grand Master speaker which I am still using
today. I haven’t found anything yet which kicked me so emotional … not the last
high super resolution but the musical flow and emotional touch I am always
looking for.
The Göbel reproduced
all positive aspects and somehow singles them out, tiny micro details, volume
of the orchestra etc like ECM’s mainstream live classic recording of Eleni
Karaindrou with Jan Garbarek’s saxophone.
Then we changed to some
ECM Jazz records where the resolution and three dimensional soundstage kicked
in. Immediately I could hear several instruments for the first time like
movement of the drumsticks on the cymbals. Not super high resolution stuff but
just the natural reproduction.
Especially the kick
drum of Manu Katche’s Playground CD was deep, distinctive and just like a real
life performance!
We finished with a very
interesting, somehow funny but excellent recorded Soundtrack of “The Grand
Budapest Hotel” movie with lots of Balalaika guitars, Zymbal dulcimer and
Zither.
After “digesting”
yesterday’s impressions I’ll make a second appointment with Chris for a
second auditing of the Göbel Epoque Aeon Reference speakers with different CDs.
Keep you guys posted,
stay healthy and all the best.
Thanks for sharing. I shall get a copy of your music selection. Chris has chosen the AEON as the speaker for the next decade means tremendously. What you experienced is not an conventional speakers, it is not really the audiophile way of listening, it depicts music as one piece of uncut canvas. You are not attracted by sensational separation, instead, it is holistic integration that shocks through the spine. What you went through echoes my experience there too. Ask him to pay a piece of church music! I hope you to join the Goebel club too.
AEON signifies “eternity”. Oliver Goebel did not choose this name by randomness. The theoretical ideal of a speaker driver is full range without crossover.
That is not enough, however. Dispersion matters much more than extension, based on our field experiences of Air Blade by Arya Audio. For years, we were educated by manufacturers and magazines the importance of high frequency extension. Diamond tweeters are seen as holy grail largely to satisfy the Chinese market. Pavarotti could deliver his highest C a bit over 1,000hz on record. Why does high frequency extension to 100,000hz matter so much? The importance of dispersion however is marginalised.
Bending wave driver has full range capability PLUS wide dispersion capability. The issue of the previous generation was low sensitivity. This issue is also fixed by Oliver in AEON. Also, the transition from the bending wave driver to conventional bass drivers is now filled with abundant energy. The combination of these qualities (full range, wide dispersion, improved sensitivity) is close to theoretical ideal. In practice, however, I do need a pair of Cessaro subwoofers to augment bass energy for appreciation of symphonic scores. Easiness of music delivery matters tremendously to me. I don’t like to WATCH Hi Fi TV, I need to be engulfed by MUSICAL ENERGY with phase coherence in a household environment.
What is the AEON capable of? I am about to unleash its full potential to justify the “name” in 1Q21. Unfortunately, not too many people would understand because this hobby is increasingly judged by the eyes instead of ears. The proliferation of social media perpetuates such tendency. Rigidity of old mindset is another hurdle.
This is a space that requires knowledge, patience, perseverance, and an open mind to excel. It is important to cradle a new generation of listener who could comprehend. Or else the technological progresses in this field will always be undermined by ourselves.
The designer behind Esprit GAIA must have deep knowledge of bass from a symphonic perspective, or else he could not make the “GAIA” series. My reference recording for my home system always consists of Pine of Rome, Mahler 5, and Bruckner Symphony 8. That says a lot my requirement for energy AND structural clarity into the communication amongst different instrumental groups (palpable manner). I used a GAIA power cord to shoulder the electricity demand of the entire system. The thrilling crescendo experiences at coda chill my spine repeatedly.
This was a great session for me to “unlearn” the audiophile perception of soundstage.
We are often elated by the sensation of achieving a wider/deeper stage after something is changed. But how much wider exactly in feet? Is it 2 feet or 2 meter? What exactly are we describing if it can’t be measured objectively in the first place?
I had a fruitful 2 hours with Chris listening at his home. The objective is to raise the bar
in soundstage comprehension. In essence, the goal of a recording engineer is to capture the aura of the performance so that listeners could comprehend and feel as much as possible what happened on the venue. Thus, our goal should aim at recreating the aura, which is primarily a positive function of energy and ambience information.
The audiophile perspective (yardstick is not clearly defined in the first place) of gauging image size and soundstage dimensionality does not correspond to the intention of the recording engineer and the conductor on stage. (That explains there are special recordings made for audiophile to satisfy their needs). Karajan or Solti at the conductor position would not be consciously aware of the width and depth of the stage. He concerned the pacing, communications amongst different instrument groups and other musical parameters.
Another heresy concerns the “mouth size of the vocalist’. According to studies, most people can open their mouth 35 to 55 millimeters (1.4 to 2.2 inches), which is about the width of 3 fingers. Using this benchmark, we can probably fault many expensive high end systems and all turn to very small speakers. Again, this measurement is static without energy projection from the man/woman. Pavarotti projects immense energy far beyond his physical head size suggested.
The distance between the mic and the vocalist also matters. Another example, if a cello (solo) was recorded close to the microphone, it always sounds bigger than a cello in a concerto setting, where the microphone was placed farther away so as to capture more of the surroundings.
Experienced listeners may throw in the argument of “proportion”. For example, the size of the violin must be always smaller than cello. They are referring to the physical size without considering energy. A Stradivarius violin could radiate tremendous energy at the top end as Anne Sophie Mutter once commented in an interview explaining why she preferred using “Lord Raven” performing solemn pieces. Most mistaken strong energy projection transpires large image size. On another note, I rarely heard audiophiles complaining the physical size of piano is not big enough even though dimensions of a Steinway Model D piano are publicly known.
What is the essence of a quality soundstage? A high end system should be able to project respective energies from different musical instruments to the listener without
compression. Such energy impact to the human nerve translates into “musicality. If there is inadequate energy coming from whatever within the soundstage, it maybe better to watch blue ray or dvd video to save all the troubles and money. Video shows everything in the correct position. One sees the faces of everything clearly. If that is the case, then why would people spend so much on high end audio system? Watching video lacks energy delivery is the answer.
A good recording engineer, such as the legendary Kenneth Wilkinson, one of the inventors of Decca Tree recording methods for orchestra always transcribes “aura”. According to conductor Denis Vaughan wrote in 1981, “The most remarkable sonic aspect of a Wilkinson orchestral recording is its rich balance, which gives full measure to the bottom octaves, and a palpable sense of the superior acoustics of the venues such as Kingsway Hall in London.”
What constitutes aura is energy originating from various musical instruments/vocal/choir. The collective breath of audiences also transpires energy. Abundance of ambience details are determined by the hall acoustics. The recording engineer encoded all such so that listener could be immersed into the music. Of course, the position of the recording mics, remastering
and the subsequent playback system all play a crucial part in the construction
of the ‘soundstage’ per se.
In Chris’ home system, the JMF Audio 3.7/2.2 digital CD system alongside Riviera APL-1 SE/AFM-100 pre/amp driving
Goebel Aeon Epoque Reference and Cessaro Xiangyu subwoofers delivers a “tours de force” performance only rivalled by the Divin Lab.
I am utterly floored by the realism of the experience. Musical energy touched my body thoroughly. There is a soul behind everything in the stage. I felt as though I had travelled back in time to Musikverein stage in Vienna with Wiener Philharmonic orchestra, followed by Osterhaninge Church in Stockholm with the Stockholm Cathedral Choir.
My takeaways were deep this round. Superimposing audiophile evaluation yardstick (a set of small and rigid rules) to music appreciation has been the norm for decades. Applying these benchmarks lead to more questions. Do we receive more music or less? This is an important question needed to be addressed. Technology improves. Prices go up. But evaluation standard remains unchanged.
A proper soundstage therefore is about recreating acoustic properties of the recording venue, which is the ultimate factor determines the live feeling of attending a concert, or aura. Audiophile angle of soundstage loosely defined as anything stretched beyond the side and back of the speakers are qualified as a stage, many the content within it exclude energy concept. Static motion with 3D imaging floating in space is good enough.
This is very well written and argued article. What you and Chris are arguing is we should scale up the standard of evaluation. The misalignment of musician intention and audiophile goals is a good one. Superimposing audiophile goal to music appreciation prioritises the sensation of holographic imaging over music parameters. What you are saying is the current technology with hefty price tag should bring us closer to the perspective of Kenneth Wilkinson. That is very good. But most need to unlearn or need an open mind to wear down bricks and mortar of the old school.
This is a very good article. I bet ideas within also come from PT. Content is what mattered the most! I see facts and logical arguments well developed in eloquence. Damn it that 2.2 inches or 3 fingers mouth size point makes me laugh.
PT, I think you should seriously consider writing a book.
The conclusion hurts…. Prices rocket. Technology leapfrogs. Evaluation standard remains unchanged coming from the 80s. That speaks the truth of the industry. Internet actually worsens the situation on the business side. Pathetic but true.
Comments
增益調教的問題，對於我來説太難了。我媽咪識聽便可，她曾經説過任姐把聲，從AEON播放，十分真實，氣定神閑，上一對喇叭把聲好「扁」，勉強有神，但絕對冇魂。老媽和我不是發燒友，要求是音樂的出發點。以前的中樂伴奏和任白戲寶是冇乜前後距離感，媽説這是冇可能的，但狗友話一齊發聲才對，能量穿透力更勁。這應該就係Mr Dynamic所説的壓縮吧了........
好多人喜歡壓縮的能量感的！
Truly I was shocked (again) by the quality of the details and music flow delivered by Aeon with a seemingly casual positioning and sub settings. It is undoubtedly a few notches about the time of GER but it is still early days to comment on it. At this level, product matters, but skills in holistically leveraging the rest of the ingredients to make a perfect presentation is indispensable!
I shall visit Aeon more often together with the reporter Mr Dynamic to witness the incremental steps that PT will be driving ahead.
Marvel
Hi everyone, though not new to HK and the Audio world I just recently joined the AE group. Although I purchased some SRA bases from Chris 12 years ago I only contacted him again recently after hearing a lot of good things about Göbel cables and especially speakers.
Yesterday Chris invited me to his home to listen to the latest Epoque Aeon Reference speakers which arrived only a few weeks ago for my first auditing order to get an idea and feeling of Göbel. Despite using complete different components I hoped to get a sound idea of the Aeon Reference.
Chris had prepared and set-up his awesome system perfectly and fine-tuned the gain and volume for each CD separately. Well, after 2 ½ hours of intense listening (I brought my own CDs, mainly 1st Japanese Classic pressings and some ECM Jazz) I have to say it was stunning, just stunning.
To warm up we started ‘gently’ with Mark Johnson’s “Sound of Summer running” excellent recording to be followed by the striking voice of Kathleen Saadat, who performs for Pink Martini as well. Here the sound was at some parts still a bit spiky and sharp but I attribute that to the fact that the speakers are still quite new and need a bit more time to fully burn in. Astonishing that they sound already so smooth after just 4 or 5 weeks running.
Then it became more serious with 3rd movement of Brahm’s 3rd Symphony by Kurt Sanderling and the Berlin Symphony Orchestra. Although I have different Brahms symphony recordings on LP and CD, this one is my favorite. Not because if highest resolution etc but more due to the wonderful performance, speed and music flow Sanderling did interpret Brahms.
The orchestra played so much in harmony that it was just a delight, especially the horn solo which was transformed by the Göbel Aeon beautifully and neutral and hit my nerve with its mellow sound (also thanks to the Riviera amps I guess) but you don’t “hear’ the speaker, just the music, a feast for the ears.
Same happened while listening to the superb performance of Rostroprovich & Britten playing Schubert’s “Sonata for Arpeggione” where both piano and especially the cello sounded fantastic.
I haven’t heard it before like that with any speaker… Same for Rubinstein’s playing Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 which again were produced so mellow and warm. I’m sorry to repeat myself but that is for me the main aspects of a speaker character.
Listening to Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No 2 by Denis Matsuev created real goosebumps. Last time I had this kind of experience was around 20 years ago when listening to the big Cello system with the Grand Master speaker which I am still using today. I haven’t found anything yet which kicked me so emotional … not the last high super resolution but the musical flow and emotional touch I am always looking for.
The Göbel reproduced all positive aspects and somehow singles them out, tiny micro details, volume of the orchestra etc like ECM’s mainstream live classic recording of Eleni Karaindrou with Jan Garbarek’s saxophone.
Then we changed to some ECM Jazz records where the resolution and three dimensional soundstage kicked in. Immediately I could hear several instruments for the first time like movement of the drumsticks on the cymbals. Not super high resolution stuff but just the natural reproduction.
Especially the kick drum of Manu Katche’s Playground CD was deep, distinctive and just like a real life performance!
We finished with a very interesting, somehow funny but excellent recorded Soundtrack of “The Grand Budapest Hotel” movie with lots of Balalaika guitars, Zymbal dulcimer and Zither.
After “digesting” yesterday’s impressions I’ll make a second appointment with Chris for a second auditing of the Göbel Epoque Aeon Reference speakers with different CDs.
Keep you guys posted, stay healthy and all the best.
Cheers Peter
Thanks for sharing. I shall get a copy of your music selection. Chris has chosen the AEON as the speaker for the next decade means tremendously. What you experienced is not an conventional speakers, it is not really the audiophile way of listening, it depicts music as one piece of uncut canvas. You are not attracted by sensational separation, instead, it is holistic integration that shocks through the spine. What you went through echoes my experience there too. Ask him to pay a piece of church music! I hope you to join the Goebel club too.
This was a great session for me to “unlearn” the audiophile perception of soundstage.
I had a fruitful 2 hours with Chris listening at his home. The objective is to raise the bar in soundstage comprehension. In essence, the goal of a recording engineer is to capture the aura of the performance so that listeners could comprehend and feel as much as possible what happened on the venue. Thus, our goal should aim at recreating the aura, which is primarily a positive function of energy and ambience information.
The audiophile perspective (yardstick is not clearly defined in the first place) of gauging image size and soundstage dimensionality does not correspond to the intention of the recording engineer and the conductor on stage. (That explains there are special recordings made for audiophile to satisfy their needs). Karajan or Solti at the conductor position would not be consciously aware of the width and depth of the stage. He concerned the pacing, communications amongst different instrument groups and other musical parameters.
Another heresy concerns the “mouth size of the vocalist’. According to studies, most people can open their mouth 35 to 55 millimeters (1.4 to 2.2 inches), which is about the width of 3 fingers. Using this benchmark, we can probably fault many expensive high end systems and all turn to very small speakers. Again, this measurement is static without energy projection from the man/woman. Pavarotti projects immense energy far beyond his physical head size suggested.
The distance between the mic and the vocalist also matters. Another example, if a cello (solo) was recorded close to the microphone, it always sounds bigger than a cello in a concerto setting, where the microphone was placed farther away so as to capture more of the surroundings.
Experienced listeners may throw in the argument of “proportion”. For example, the size of the violin must be always smaller than cello. They are referring to the physical size without considering energy. A Stradivarius violin could radiate tremendous energy at the top end as Anne Sophie Mutter once commented in an interview explaining why she preferred using “Lord Raven” performing solemn pieces. Most mistaken strong energy projection transpires large image size. On another note, I rarely heard audiophiles complaining the physical size of piano is not big enough even though dimensions of a Steinway Model D piano are publicly known.
What is the essence of a quality soundstage? A high end system should be able to project respective energies from different musical instruments to the listener without compression. Such energy impact to the human nerve translates into “musicality. If there is inadequate energy coming from whatever within the soundstage, it maybe better to watch blue ray or dvd video to save all the troubles and money. Video shows everything in the correct position. One sees the faces of everything clearly. If that is the case, then why would people spend so much on high end audio system? Watching video lacks energy delivery is the answer.
A good recording engineer, such as the legendary Kenneth Wilkinson, one of the inventors of Decca Tree recording methods for orchestra always transcribes “aura”. According to conductor Denis Vaughan wrote in 1981, “The most remarkable sonic aspect of a Wilkinson orchestral recording is its rich balance, which gives full measure to the bottom octaves, and a palpable sense of the superior acoustics of the venues such as Kingsway Hall in London.”
What constitutes aura is energy originating from various musical instruments/vocal/choir. The collective breath of audiences also transpires energy. Abundance of ambience details are determined by the hall acoustics. The recording engineer encoded all such so that listener could be immersed into the music. Of course, the position of the recording mics, remastering and the subsequent playback system all play a crucial part in the construction of the ‘soundstage’ per se.
In Chris’ home system, the JMF Audio 3.7/2.2 digital CD system alongside Riviera APL-1 SE/AFM-100 pre/amp driving Goebel Aeon Epoque Reference and Cessaro Xiangyu subwoofers delivers a “tours de force” performance only rivalled by the Divin Lab. I am utterly floored by the realism of the experience. Musical energy touched my body thoroughly. There is a soul behind everything in the stage. I felt as though I had travelled back in time to Musikverein stage in Vienna with Wiener Philharmonic orchestra, followed by Osterhaninge Church in Stockholm with the Stockholm Cathedral Choir.
My takeaways were deep this round. Superimposing audiophile evaluation yardstick (a set of small and rigid rules) to music appreciation has been the norm for decades. Applying these benchmarks lead to more questions. Do we receive more music or less? This is an important question needed to be addressed. Technology improves. Prices go up. But evaluation standard remains unchanged.