"Galibier/Karna/Azzolina - Located in one of the big corner rooms was a system composed of a Galibier Design Stelvio ($12,500) turntable with Triplanar arm and Dynavector XV-1s. The phono stage and preamp were one-off designs, amplification from Karna Push Pull 300B amps from nutshellhifi.com. The speakers were Azzolina Audio Grand Sfera. Cables by Chimera Labs. I played my audiophile approved Sara K., then the Pete Townshend track. Since no one else had any other vinyl to play, I played the Nirvana cut. All the other attendees present left the room, but several more people came into the room and sat down with big smiles on their faces. After Nirvana I played The Eurythmics and Judas Priest to more smiles. So what did I hear from these five LPs. The Sara K. is a true audiophile recording—superbly recorded and pressed. What I heard was like her sitting and singing right there in the room with me. Very nice. On the Pete Townshend track I heard every detail, every movement of his fingers. Quite a toe tapping performance. Kurt Cobain's voice on the Nirvana cut was not quite as realistic as in the Walker room, but still very nice. The Eurythmics track is heavily mixed. On a high resolution system you can hear each separate track of the mix. I heard all of the tracks. Turbo Lover is actually fairly well recorded and pressed, but I played it just for fun. Judas Priest sure beats hearing Jazz at the Pawnshop for the thousandth time. A very nice sounding room to which I returned several times."

Stereophile
www.stereophile.com

"Thom Mackris of turntable manufacturer Galibier Design (whose Stelvio costs $12,500) had me smiling when he played a hilarious track by Red Knuckles & the Trailblazers. Although a little raucous on top, the system (Schröder Reference SQ tonearm, perversely entitled ZYX Universe cartridge, Artemis Labs PH-1 phono stage, preproduction Karna push-pull 300B 15W amp from Nutshell Hi Fidelity, and Gran Sfera Horns by Azzolina Audio) offered a compellingly huge, all-enveloping, elevated soundstage coupled to a beautiful midrange."
"One room over from Galibier, and again sporting imposing Azzolina Audio speakers, Hagerman Audio was showing another all-analog system. With no time to tune the system due to emergency equipment repairs necessitated by shipping damage, the system offered wonderful size and considerable midrange beauty, nonetheless."


Enjoy the Music
http://www.enjoythemusic.com
"In a large suite Azzolina Audio was showing their $15,000 horn-loaded full-range Gran Sfera. Using the exquisite Galibier Stelvio turntable as a source, I was impressed by how delicate and detailed the sound was, and yet by the power as well. Superb stuff if you have the room (and budget) for it."


Jim Hagerman
www.hagtech.com

"...I also had my first exposure to the Azzolinas.  These are odd beasts,
from a technical standpoint.  Lowther full range drivers, but horn loaded on
the front, open baffle on the back.  This, mated to a La Scala like folded bass
enclosure, probably somewhat horn loaded, but also with reflex ports.  A very
unusual combination of techniques.  Only it wasn't just a lark, these things
really work!  The quickness and direct connectedness of a Lowther, improved
with the dynamics and slam of a horn.  No they didn't sound like horns, much
of the expected colorations were missing, no shouting or honkiness.  They are,
nonetheless, quite directional, so the sweet spot is rather small.  Bass was
equally efficient and tuneful.

Ok, most importantly, the sound.  Yes, the sound was excellent.  The Azzolinas
made my room.  Seriously, these speakers are terrific, and they mate to the
CYMBALs like bread and butter.  They coasted at maybe 1/2 watt or less most of
the time, and having the extra headroom and low output impedance keep
everything in control.  Dynamics were really punchy.  I've never heard a
cone/box speaker do this before.  Very open, extremely clear.  We also got
lucky with room placement.  Having spent all the time on the TRUMPET, we never
got around to trying placement, room tunes, or anything else.  Scott delivered
the speakers, figured they would sound pretty good right about here (finger
pointing to a spot on the floor), dropped them in place.  They never got moved.
It was a measured guess, and there was no need to moving things around.  The
sound was already there.  Focus, a soundstage way behind the speakers.

The Azzolinas were set up so we played LPs into the night."



Six Moons
www.sixmoons.com

"More Azzolinas were next door with a Galibier turntable. Good music, good sound - what more could one want?"






Doug Smith

Shortly after purchasing the Gran Sferas, I wrote to Scott, expressing my great pleasure of owning these fine speakers.  Scott asked me if I would be willing to write a candid review and forward it to you.  I agreed to do so, but having never reviewed any audio equipment, having a somewhat plain style of writing, and feeling insufficiently qualified, I have been putting off this task.  I am, however, going to relate to you a few of my observations following several hundred hours of listening.
 
1)  The location of musicians and vocalists can be precisely identified on any decently recorded music.  Even the movements of musicians and their instruments during a piece of music can be detected!
 
2)  The sound stage is incredibly deep.  On many recordings done on large stages, it is easy hear the tympani, the trumpets, the horns, or whatever instruments are 20 feet behind the forward instruments, as if they are actually 20 feet behind the instruments on the front of the stage.
 
3)  The width of the sound stage is almost as realistic as the depth.  Even though my dedicated listening room is only 12 feet wide, the speakers easily place instruments and singers way beyond the width of my room when the recording calls for that placement. 
 
4)  The timbre of instruments and the reality of the human voice is stunning.  Though I don't consider myself an expert in the evaluation of audio systems, my wife and I do attend dozens of live performances yearly, including opera, orchestra, small chamber groups, choirs, small jazz groups, brass bands, rock bands, and more.  My  mom was a piano performance major; my brother has a masters degree in piano performance; my son and daughter were piano and violin performance majors respectively at the UMKC Conservatory of Music in Kansas City.  My point is, I do have a good grasp of the sound of live music.  After my brother, the piano player/professional musician, listened to Diana Krall sing to him in my listening room, he had goosebumps on his skin and was speechless--literally, speechless!
 
5)  The dynamic capability of your speakers is fantastic.  Thirty years ago I built a couple pair of Speakerlab corner horns--the Klipsch copies.  It has been a long time since I sold my personal pair, but the dynamics and the ability of the Gran Sferas to capture the energy of music is at least as good as my corner horns.  The first time I listened to Bill Berry (For Duke), I would have sworn that he had come back to life and was playing in my listening room!  It sounded as if he was playing his trumpet in my home--the rest of the band was there too!
 
6)  Music simply sounds more real on my system than any other system I have heard.  I have listened to a number of audio systems costing two, three, and even four times the cost of mine, but none even remotely approaches the level of reality that my system, anchored by the Gran Sferas, does. 
 
7)  There are two issues that do trouble me.  One is that the sweet spot is so small, not even a second person can enjoy the full benefits offered by the Gran Sferas.
 
8)  The other problem is that they are so outrageous in appearance, I will never be able to use them outside of my private listening room--yes, I have been isolated to the only finished room in our basement.  My wife is most tolerant, but she has said no to the Gran Sferas.  She was perfectly happy with the corner horns early in our marriage, but has put her foot down firmly in this case.
 
Ok, I feel like I'm rambling now, so I'm going to stop.  I do want to tell you that I'm hearing all of the things above with a modest system made up of a $2000 Sony 555ES SACD player, the $5000 Cary 2a3 amp/preamp combo that won many awards ten years ago, and about $1000 in cabling.  My dedicated listening room is 19' by 12' with a 10 foot ceiling.
 
Thanks for making music so enjoyble to me!  I never dreamed I would have such fine music making in my home!
 
Sincerely,
 
Doug Smith



Dennis Boyle
Chimera Labs
www.chimeralabs.com
As you know, I am not a fan of the fairly popular Audio theory of mixing the "Tones" of various pieces of audio equipment to achieve a high performance level that accurately reproduces the sound of Live Music. I want transparency.....I want that audio device to be invisible, so it lets the Music flow through without changing it.
As I listened to your Loudspeakers, the first thing I noticed was how quickly I got "sucked" into the Music. My feet were tapping; I would have got up and danced if I would have been by myself. It was Live Music in all its Glory and I was THERE! And I had no plans to leave.
How did the Basso and Alto interact? To be honest, I didn't think any 15" driver could keep up with the Lowther A55 drivers. When we listened to Katie Melua's Piece By Piece, tracks 2 and 4, the difference was amazing. Mid-bass, upper bass and lower midrange performance was outstanding. Best string bass reproduction I have ever heard. I was astounded how accurate the voices of the instruments were. The transition frequency range from the 15" driver to the Lowther was seamless and undetectable.
Then there were the Susana Baca tracks that showed me that speed and 105dB sensitivity could accurately and effortlessly reproduce the challenging percussion...Rhythm, Pace and Dynamics. These are three of my favorite things and, in my opinion the hardest to achieve.
I am sure you can tell that I am still pumped about how they sound with any type of Music, in both vinyl and disc. I don't think I have ever heard a more accurate or transparent reproduction.
In one sentence, in my opinion, your Loudspeakers are one of the finest I have ever heard!
Best Regards and Congratulations,
Dennis
PS Thanks for developing a speaker accurate and transparent enough to let us hear what the Axiom Amps can do."



Thom Mackris
Galibier Design
www.galibierdesign.com

"Serendipitously, I discovered Azzolina in my quest for new speakers for our Galibier turntable demonstration room.
In one sense, I consider my decision to use Azzolina Gran Sfera speakers to be stacking the deck, because the speakers' resolution level as well as their compatibility with all types of music rival that of my analog front end. One could argue that demonstrating with such a system presents an unfair advantage. My clients have however come to expect nothing less of a system I assemble for demonstration purposes, so the decision to go with Azzolina was an easy one.
As a small, boutique manufacturer, I don't have the room to store multiple reference speaker systems. The speakers I choose have to do it all - to the extent that this is possible. They must play to a wide range of musical tastes. Additionally, people should be able to relate to them - irrespective of whether their home system is based on dynamic box speakers (cones 'n domes), open baffle architecture, electrostatics, or horns. I am a firm believer that the best expressions of various architectures will converge on musical truth and that the experienced listener will recognize quality when they hear it.
Over the few months I've been running the Azzolina Gran Sfera's, I've received comments like "these don't sound like horns". I interpret these statements to mean that they don't have typical horn coloration's such as "honk" and other inconsonant resonance. They certainly have room-filling dynamics to the point of being frightening, scale the presentation correctly (large works sound large, and small ones are intimate), and have an immediacy and low-level nuance characteristic of the best horn systems.
Having worked with Azzolina for these short few months, I made the decision to make their speakers available through Galibier Design.
Small, boutique manufacturers occupy a rare position in the audio world. On one hand, we realize that our products need to have universality (which I consider both our turntables as well as the Azzolinas to have). On the other hand, we realize that the very top echelon of equipment requires painstaking system matching and configuration in order to achieve world-class sound.
This latter point is where we as boutique manufacturers hold the trump card over a conventional hi-fi distribution network. It is virtually impossible to lay 5 components from each equipment category in front of a competent audio dealer and expect him to build even one single world-class system from the components. They will likely achieve very, very good "sound" but will fail to achieve greatness and results will not stir the soul.
Achieving greatness in a music reproduction system results from equal amounts of hard work, perseverance and luck. As a result, many boutique manufacturers adopt a model of assembling a single system - one they have invested years in configuring. If you change one component, its performance can easily degenerate into something so pedestrian as to "only" receive a product of the year award from the popular audio press.
From my experience of the Azzolinas, it's obvious that they share my philosophy - that great sound is merely the departure point on the road to musical greatness. Furthermore, they are well on their way. Listen to these speakers only if you're ready to get out your checkbook. Resistance is futile."



AZZOLINA AUDIO SOUND MATTERS