GAMUT The Superior RS7

MJ20.04.2015

Floorstanding loudspeakers

The speaker slim and sharp edged cabinets represent a perfect example of Scandinavian “eco” school – they are both economically built and ecologically friendly. Do not mistaken eco for compromise – the speakers are exquisitely crafted with the use of pure materials and light-handed architecture. Should you love modern interiors you will love the RS7.

100% reference

Function and form

91%
Ease of use
79%
Sound
95%
Appearance

GamuT remade the new model from scratch (not that it was a difficult task considering the speaker´s minimalistic design). The look of the RS7 evolves from the former El Superiores S7, yet it comes with different cabinet boards, using the sandwiched construction of plywood, that make the speakers more rigid. In turn GamuT promptly eliminated part of the damping material inside to harmonize with their philosophy of sympathetic resonances. Both internal wiring and driver complement were upgraded – from now on The Superior only uses GamuT´s proprietary Wormhole Signature leads.
The multilayered plywood is CNC machined to perfection and bent with the same devices that do the job for Bowers & Wilkins 800 series. The speakers feature massive adjustable spikes and not less massive nuts of bi-wirable terminals. The base of the cabinets is a sandwich of two brushed stainless steel plates and soft fiber wood. The grille is not really a grille, rather two metal rods connected via network of nylon-like strings; by removing such a super-transparent shield you will not help yourself, quite opposite as the grille complements the aesthetics of the speakers that look naked without it.

Bass management

Weight
68
Slam
87
Articulation
72

The K2 HD sampler features a great track from extremely talented You Sun Nah that travels into the listening room with the voice so fragile and palpable that I unconsciously held my breath not to make any harm to it. Then piano joins, sweet, sound and ringing. Anything above 100 Hz is dense and rich. The Dark Knight soundtrack climaxes with cinematographic catharsis, a mix between live orchestra and synthesized background, that is enormous through the RS7’s. The low-end extension of the GamuT is enhanced by dual drivers and dual reflex ports. With increasing volume (and with bass rich material) the ports create small tornados behind the speakers as if some fans were running inside the cabinets. When I moved the RS7’s closer to the wall behind them the balance becomes affected by too much lows. Opposite, moving them forward to a big room results into a bit leaner sound than I wished for. The Superiors will be quite demanding for the room’s size and listening set up to keep the frequency spectrum in balance. I would say that the rooms between 30-50sqm with some modest acoustic treatments would be the optimum size for the RS7’ if you want to use their potential in full.

Clarity & delicacy

Detail
95
Air
89
Transparency
85

Tempus (Oskar Rózsa and Adriana Kučerová, Under My Spell) is through the GamuTs like fresh walk in moss-covered countryside after the rain, where you steps are springy and soft and the air clear and crisp. The music through the RS7 also has a ‘springy’ quality but at the same time it provides a nano-view into microcosmos – as if the speakers were an extremely sensitive laboratory device that is carefully settled on an anti-vibrational platform. The technical team of Hitachi spent one year assembling such a device at the University of Victoria. The ultra-high resolution 7-tonne Scanning Transmission Electron Holography Microscope (STEHM) is the most powerful optical device in the world – it can see particles of 35 picometres (one picometre is a trillionth of a metre). I do not know what it is like to look through the STEM but I believe that The Superior RS7 are its equivalent in the high end world.

I have already heard better lows from other speakers than the RS7 yet I had to rejoice upon the colour and resolution of the the GamuT’s bass. The bottom octaves of the RS7 exhibited comfort and pleasure and they did not project the sound forward – as if its introspective quality was more inviting rather than just projecting. Actually the absolutely relaxed presentation of The Superior RS7 was like a kind of audio-morphine – instead of auditioning chore I found myself deeply enthralled inside the music. No way that I could hit STOP button on the CD player. Then there is one more magic – the RS7’s are as much relaxed speakers as they are analytical. And when I say analytical I mean microscopically.

Tonal accuracy

Timbre
88
Dynamics
86
Temporal resolution
92

I am not surprised at the high-resolving capabilities of the RS7 – 3 years ago I experienced the same phenomenon with another GamuT’s speaker, the M´inenT M5, that also masterfully blended the high-res with the listening comfort. Yet the RS7 are way more resolving and way more tuneful. The highs of The Superior are handled by a custom-modified ScanSpeak Super Revelator dome tweeter and all natural paper cones (with characteristically damping spiral grooves) assist in the midrange complement to build very detailed, precise yet silky sound. Yes, the presentation of the diamond domes of my Bowers & Wilkins speakers is a tad more robust and contoured yet the RS7’s stay super-refined and super-relaxed with music material where the B&W’s become a bit merciless. And this is what I liked the most about The Superiors – they are not sonic exhibitionists and serve the music for the sake of pleasure rather than for the sake of the sound itself.

Spatial resolution

Holography
90
Soundstage width
74
Soundstage depth
72

The native rhythms of David and Steve Gordons (Drum Cargo) seem to be a perfect food for The Superior RS7’s. Myriads of small, bigger and yet bigger drums, kettles and rattles were dynamic, powerful and totally alive. There are speakers that can throw bigger soundstage or that can create bigger sound pressure, yet there are only few that can illuminate nuances of sounds. The RS7 let you read in the music like in a book – it was quite easy to guess how big the drum was and what its skin was made of, if it was played at the center or to the sides, how hard it was hit. The palette of the RS7 was both hypnotic and magic – if I paraphrase the world’s bestseller then the GamuT’s grey does not have just fifty shades, its range of greys is endless and seamless.

Price as reviewed:890 000,- Kč

Recommended resellers

Iryson, Kvetoslavov, tel. +421 903 418 345

Associated components

  • Sources: GamuT CD3
  • Amplifiers: GamuT DI-150 integrated amplifier
  • Interconnects and speaker cables: GamuT Wormhole Signature Interconnects and Wormhole Speaker Cables

Gallery

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