The sound from outside the Gingko
Audio room drew us in, where we saw and heard the company's ClaraVu 88 speakers, which
cost $3995 per pair (stands cost $750 per pair). These are not your run-of-the-mill
two-way speakers. A waveguide with a unique pattern surrounds the silk-dome tweeter, and
the woofer is actually one of a pair -- mounted one behind the other within an internal
tube -- and decoupled from the baffle. Quoted nominal impedance is 10 ohms, with 8 ohms
being the minimum. The speakers are available in three cabinet finishes and four baffle
finishes -- you can mix and match.
The rest of this system included an Atma-Sphere S-30 Mk III
amp ($3300), MP-3 Mk III preamp ($4550), and a Modwright-modified Sony 9100ES CD player.
What about the sound? It was fast, open and very detailed,
letting the personality of the Atma-Sphere amp in particular come shining through. We
played a number of cuts here, and while it was clear that the room was less than perfect,
the speakers still sounded very promising.
