Nothing new?

[FranklinLG]

The A'gon Lafons are 230v and ship from SE Asia. Not ideal if you're here in the Continental States...

[Freestone]

Originally Posted by FranklinLG

The A'gon Lafons are 230v and ship from SE Asia. Not ideal if you're here in the Continental States...

Agreed - but where is he from? I don't recall a US based giscours recently but could well be. If he is from the US buy locally of course!

[gortnipper]

I think the Giscours was from here in Auckland. I think the Petrus is from SE Asia. I was told the Giscours was orginally from UK.

[Pronan]

Originally Posted by Freestone

That's a great preamp! Where did they ship it from ?

Those gm70s would be really nice.

It will ship from NZ - looking forward to it, first buy on audiogon

So the gm70 are a good match - speakers on the end of this kit are zingali horns... Any other thoughts....

[Freestone]

Originally Posted by Pronan

It will ship from NZ - looking forward to it, first buy on audiogon

So the gm70 are a good match - speakers on the end of this kit are zingali horns... Any other thoughts....

Everyone has seemingly been pleased by all the amps - with not one being the universal best but rather the flavor they want with their own speakers. Unlike the preamps. But I liked the gm70s I heard with the latours. And the cortese I heard as well.

[Pronan]

Originally Posted by Freestone

Everyone has seemingly been pleased by all the amps - with not one being the universal best but rather the flavor they want with their own speakers. Unlike the preamps. But I liked the gm70s I heard with the latours. And the cortese I heard as well.

Thanks for the insight, my brief listening experience and comments on this shindo forum make me feel at ease about just jumping in... Normally I test relentlessly but the thought of the arrival of the green machine and not using it for a while is eating away at me!

If I summarize the forum comments across the range it would seem to be that
HB is bold and slightly dark
WE300B is romantic
So whats the character of the LM70 or the cortese?

Apologies in advance for boiling it all down to one statement per amp!

[baddog]

The Shindo Cortese is a wonderful amp. Warm and enticing. The Lafon 300B is even more of the Cortese. The Lafon GM70 is bigger and bolder, literally moving you several rows closers to the performance.

Room size makes a difference. If I had a larger room I would go for the Lafon GM70s, for me the Cortese worked great and the Lafon 300B was even better. For me, the GM70s were a little too close to the stage and too much for my tastes in my room.

But that was due to room size, I also heard the Cortese, Lafon 300Bs and Lafon GM70s in a much larger room then mine, and in that room the Lafon GM70s ruled.

My room size is 13' wide by 23' deep by 9' high.

Refresh my memory, what speakers do you have? I have DeVore O/96s, so that is my reference point for all auditions of the amps above.

BTW - they are all wonderful amps. I have owned the Shindo Cortese and now own the Lafon 300Bs.

[Pronan]

Originally Posted by bplexico

The Shindo Cortese is a wonderful amp. Warm and enticing. The Lafon 300B is even more of the Cortese. The Lafon GM70 is bigger and bolder, literally moving you several rows closers to the performance.

Room size makes a difference. If I had a larger room I would go for the Lafon GM70s, for me the Cortese worked great and the Lafon 300B was even better. For me, the GM70s were a little too close to the stage and too much for my tastes in my room.

But that was due to room size, I also heard the Cortese, Lafon 300Bs and Lafon GM70s in a much larger room then mine, and in that room the Lafon GM70s ruled.

My room size is 13' wide by 23' deep by 9' high.

Refresh my memory, what speakers do you have? I have DeVore O/96s, so that is my reference point for all auditions of the amps above.

BTW - they are all wonderful amps. I have owned the Shindo Cortese and now own the Lafon 300Bs.

Bplexico,
Thanks for the response. I'm in Geneva for 3 yrs and the room is 25' wide by 30' long with 15' foot height, it's a slightly bright room and the current speakers are zingali 20.6 horns with 92db sensitivity, i am on the look out for some zingali clientname which are further up the range but i am also a fan of the O/96s and have not ruled them out of the future equation,going green and moving away from SS gryphon calls everything into question!

My "real" room back in England is heavily treated and has a higher vaulted ceiling but is only 20' wide by 20' long. In the English room the treatment allowed the speakers to sit closer to the back wall with a normal toe in for a mid sized horn that is 7 inches in diameter. Sitting 10' from the speakers the imaging is great. I guess the question is whether the forward soundstage of the gm70's is too 'in your lap' for this size of room, even if treated?

I'm only getting to listen to shindo in NYC,it's tough here in Geneva, the local outfits are Manley and Cary tube joints, so I'm really relying on the forums for informed views which is new for me!

[Freestone]

Awesomely tall ceilings!

And room enough to make the Shindo latour speakers sound great!!

[gortnipper]

Pronan - I had a Cary pre and monoblocs, and while the Cary SLP-98P is a nice and warmish pre with lots of musicality, the Giscours will be the same but so much more detailed and transparent. I know, because I have heard the Cary against a VR and the VR kills it. All day.

Did you buy that GM70, then? If so, I am very jealous!!!