Physically separating bass, midrange and high frequencies
to reduce distortion isn’t new to loudspeaker design. Gershman’s Black Swan
($30,000/pair) eschews basic boxes for a more elegant solution: the bass driver is
isolated in its own cabinet, while the midrange and tweeter are built into a cabinet that
stands on four legs. This design allegedly gives the speaker a pure midrange and extended
high frequencies, which results in a very large, lifelike stereo image. "Smooth"
exclaimed Jeff Fritz and Anthony Di Marco, who enjoyed the well-integrated sound.
Contributing to the involving sound were Manley 250 Neo mono amplifiers, a Manley 300B Neo
preamplifier, and Sony’s newest XA-999ES SACD player. Tying everything together was
the exceptional Nordost Valhalla interconnects and speaker cables.
