Today I had the pleasure of listening to some expensive Chinese gear driving an expensive Canadian folded horn Fostek speaker.

The speaker was made by Gemme, and it was an older line Concerti 108 with a Fostex FE108 Sigma driver. Very solid and heavy cabinet with a large square opening in the front and nice stabilizer footers.

6moons review and pics of manufacturing
6moons audio reviews: Gemme Audio Concerti 108


I had them driven by a Bravo 2.3 6C33 Integrated 15wpc SET amp.
6moons audio reviews: JAS Audio Bravo 3.2


We used an Astin CDP from England and a few of my disks. If a setup can't properly play back Marcus Miller M2 then it isn't acceptable. Did it sound good? The amp was lush and pleasing and had good pace but the sound was just off. With the Gemmes, there was bass but is was bloated, boomy, indistinct, and hollow while the top end was somewhat ok. It had good midrange but not at all what I was expecting from all the dime store advertisements as of late.

I was expecting to be blown away and ready to chuck my gear for one of these setups but I'm not so sure. I was hoping to hear some Omegas but Steve was out of what he had and waiting for more. When I go back to pick up my Hafler pre I'm going to listen to some Raysonic integrateds with some JAS Oriors.



I als listened to Steves own SQ-H10 10" driver and horn speakers at 94db sensitivity. Nice full sound but still not blowing me away.
Quest For Sound - High End Audio


I'm home tonight listening to my Clearfields with the Stratos and the VAC in passive and it sounds way better than anything I heard today. Even better when I put the Counterpoint back in play.

Maybe for a small room and low levels the single-set setup would be nice but I'm not so sure it's for me. I will give it another chance when it comes up.