Hifi Test Design Edition - GÖBEL HIGH END

Loudspeakers with bending wave technology
from Gobel Audio.
En detail
Most fresh faced speaker producers
debut with conventional
loudspeakers and concentrate
on engineering with a particular
approach to detail. Not GÖBEL
Audio - the newcomer presents
a bending wave speaker as their
first product - Respect!
Somewhere in the middle
of southern Germany,
a young, ambitious
manufacturer dares to
create a loudspeaker
using the most demanding
principle of sound
reproduction: the bending
wave loudspeaker.
This makes people with a
knowledge of this technology
hope and fear at the
same time, because this
membrane represents
several challenges that
have to be overcome. For
example, bending wave
speakers are not known
for their high degree of efficiency
or high maximum
load, but GÖBEL Audio
is more concerned with
the high quality reproduction
of music at home and
as a result these factors
do not necessarily play a
major role. For the latter
problem, the go-getting
developers came up with
an interesting solution:
what, from a distance,
looks like leather stitching around the
edge of the membrane, are in fact incisions,
cut and sealed by a computer
guided laser. They serve to give the
sound-emitting panels a precisely defined
stiffness, which increases the mechanical
load. These measures seem to
have worked well, as, even in combination
with tube electronics, the pair of
Detaille S speakers could be turned up
to a respectable volume - more volume
is only workable in detached houses.
The use of the advantages of bending
wave technology in the case of the
Detaille S has been just as successful
as the overcoming of its weaknesses.
Thanks to the isocronic and in phase
dispersion characteristics of the bending
wave panel, the Detaille S indulges
you with an accurate impulse performance,
very good fine dynamic as well
as an outstanding resolution. For relaxed
enjoyment of sound, a long-winded
positioning process is not needed,
as the 180 degree sound dispersion in
the listener’s direction is very broad, so
that exact location and tangible spacial
depiction are possible in many different
set-ups - therefore the Detaille S does
not restrict its auditorium to one exact
spot. Use of the optional, but definitely

ecommended, subwoofer demands some adjustment of the
level and phase controls. It is worth the effort though - the
almost unbroken integration of the sub-frequent sound base
with the remaining, light as a feather, untainted and spatially
generous sound characteristics. Hours later the Detaille S confirms
previous experience with bending wave loudspeakers:
they make completely stress-free, long-term listening possible.
Fortunately this loudspeaker doesn’t like to be the centre of
attention - the Detaille S would rather let the music do the talking.
Well done for this successful debut!
Marius Donadello