If/once available here in Vienna through reliable source, I’ll definitely give them a listen. I am more familiar with the world of watchmaking, where all too often brilliant watchmakers are not the best business men…
As for now, curious how your ordeal ends, and of course your impressions.
Hey @agisthos,
I’ve owned three pairs of Gurus and nearly bought a fourth.
I started with the original, the QM10, and it was a mk1.5 (same drivers as mk1 but they finished the cabinet a bit better than very first run of mk1’s).
This is the speaker I am getting repaired / updated.
It’s a cracking little speaker that doesn’t sound small at all and the major thing it does that others struggle to match is in the timing, they just sound stunning. They are a speaker that presents the whole of the message as opposed to the collection of the disparate nuances.
To put the above comment into context I would say my Kef speakers (Ls50 metas and R3 Metas) are more the other approach with a more forensic style. Both can work, but the Gurus take no effort to get their best, the Kef’s the complete opposite.
Voices just soar from the Gurus and the closest I have heard to having the qualities I see in them are the Neat Petite Classics, similar in the way they project voices forward of the drive units as opposed to from behind.
I also bought a pair of mk2’s (Qm10 twos) when they came out, they had new drivers compared to the previous and higher volume capability.
I think i bought my first in 2011 and the second in 2013, I only recently in last 18 months sold the mk2’s to a mate as they were doing nothing and I thought would solve his difficult room problems. I kept the Mk1’s as I just thought they had a little bit more magic and probably nostalgia.
In the last two years I listened the their big bro, the Guru QM60, when my dealer had a pair used for sale. It was an amazing experience (you need to look for some pics, they are massive and dwarf the little 10’s).
They were stunning but, given the price and the age I was concerned about potential issues getting them fixed. Also when swapping back in the 10’s they just again had some magic that the bigger ones, whilst spectacular didn’t. With the 10’s you got 90% of the frequency response of the 60’s in a cabinet probably 1/10 th of the size, and the 10’s then just had that projection.
A little while later, on this site, someone mentioned Guru having the new model the 28 out and I had a look and then they announced the 12 and 8 models.
I reached out directly to Erik as my dealer (TomTom) were no longer distributor’s for them as they had driven them mad with failed promises etc.
So I contacted Erik directly and ordered a pair of the new 12’s in Fog colour.
They are in my main system in the house and are brilliant, all the same qualities of the 10’s but are capable of much higher sound levels, the bass is ridiculously solid, and the famous Guru timing is all there.
My CEO at the time bought the 28’s and loves them. I had zero issues when I ordered my 12’s and they were delivered ahead of schedule, my CEO had more problems but they turned up eventually.
The move to being under some sort of partnership with Project should sort of the logistics as Erik is a professional musician as his full time job (violinist) and he tries to run this in the side.
Awesome speakers, they make music come alive and fun, also excellent at low levels as well.
Yes meant to add that short while after having my new 12’s the 10’s developed a fault and Erik offered to repair them, which meant bringing them up to latest spec (which is at least mk3 now).
These are the ones I’m waiting for now after returning in July, fortunately I have a surplus of speakers but this is more sentimental value as I just think the 10’s are an absolute classic.
In context of speakers I tried when thinking of upgrades I had the Neat Ministra on home demo and I much preferred my Gurus. The Gurus replaced B&W 805ns (the original ones), after they had provided many years of service.
One huge benefit of Gurus is their preferred close to wall placement, makes for a much easier domestic setting and less fuss around positioning optimisation.
They also sorted out my mates problematic room, replacing his Ls50 metas, which didn’t work in his setting, they are complete opposite to Guru in how fussy they are in my experience for placement to deliver their magic.
Makes me think that a lot of the backlash on line against the Ls50 claiming over rated are in this situation.
If you can lavish the Ls50 meta with the positioning and supporting gear they are stupidly good, in my mates system they were next to awful.
Thank you for both your additional contexts, very, very helpful!
Well that’s the trouble with trying to use words to describe audio equipment, some brands tend to have a house sound which is great if its widely available to have opportunity to hear but if less common then really tough.
One speaker I did home audition when I had the B&W’s was an Audioplan Kontrapunkt speaker. I remember a glowing review from early 90’s by Alan Sircom and it whetted my appetite for them. Many years later (I’ll guess around 2009/10 before my Guru experience), a dealer (really nice guy) came all the way from Suffolk for a home dem.
Well you could see on his face as he came into the house and heard the B&W’s playing already that this wasn’t going to go well.
We set up the Audioplans, and whilst you could say their performance was beautiful, imagery exceptional, everything was in miniature, there was no scale to the music. I tried to convince myself that these were the speakers for me, as an upgrade to the B&Ws (which they should have been as think they were £5K ish at the time. However my wife’s face said it all, she was like “where is the energy, its really dull”, she was right.
The Guru’s came along shortly afterwards and completely reversed that result, in fact the Guru’s have always been the one constant that my wife and two daughters always say sound best to them, and they have none of the hifi hangups to prejudice their comments.
In fact that reminded me that when the 12’s first turned up my eldest daughter (24 at the time) jumped out of her skin when vocals kicked in and she was freaked out by it sounding like the singer was in the room, even asking how did they pull off such an illusion.
@Adam1 I have just come from the Neat Petite Classic’s. I kind of got the sense they put Guru in the Neat category re musical speakers.
The fog colour looks good. If you had told me last week I would be saying a pastel green and white speaker would look good I’d have said i gone mad.
I agree on the Neat’s, heard them at my dealer and thought they were lovely speakers. I can usually tell in a couple of seconds if a speaker won’t gel with me.
Yeah the colour scheme sounds a bit mad but makes for a very calm looking speaker, quite a wolf in sheep’s clothing giving the drama they bring to the party with their sonics.
I have a mate who works in specialist glazing company who operate mostly in commercial space and he got a pair of speaker stand top plates made to fit the 12’s perfectly. When I bought my first 10’s James of TomTom threw in a pair of the top plates that they had back then. They are needed as they sit on small foam feet and these are then counter sunk into the top plate.
I can absolutely second the comment about easy placement of Guru’s. For the better part of my ownership I’ve had mine on wall mounted plinths stuffed right into the corners of a very square room for no other reason than that was where there was space albeit with the recommended toe in. I can’t claim to have had / heard a huge variety of alternative speakers, mostly in dealer demo’s or at friends but in comparison the Guru’s are just so much fun.
So what is going on technically with these speakers that makes them well regarded - the crossover and cabinet e.t.c ?
The Guru10 and ones from many years ago always had that slit port at the front that looks like it could be a transmission line.
Yes all the speakers have the slot and when I’ve asked Erik he said they pay particular attention to a certain frequency range to get the timing aspect so tight.
There are some really interesting early interviews with one of the other 3 founders around on the net about their origins and priorities.
Ingvar Ohman on YouTube.
The original Guru Juniors. Very easy to place and the bass is impressive for such a small speaker. I’ve tried other bookshelf speakers but none have bettered the Gurus. They just boogie.
and the Junior has more nods to the 12’s than the QM10 did from design. Like you say once you’ve been Guru’d its difficult to find anything else that hits the spot.
Well for the first time in the last 4 weeks I finally have a “out for delivery” status from UPS with a delivery date of by end of the day. Believe it when I see it.
Its like coming out of lockdown, slow but sure.
Hope all is ok.
You joke Neil, their telephone helpline makes reference to “we are still picking up and delivering packages with the current situation”.
Can’t wait to hear your thoughts, later, after some listening…
Congrats. Worth waiting 
BW
R
Hey @ratrat ,
Got them rigged up temporarily as per below just to give them some gentle watts to welcome them home and Suzanne Vega is sounding bewitching.
They sound stunning, just so fast and open.
Which Guru of those is the best?
