Gershman Acoustics 30th Anniversary Grand Avant Garde
Grand Avant Garde delivers a wide, airy stage with remarkably three-dimensional imaging and fast, nuanced bass. Stereophile admired its poised balance of space and detail, while Thomas & Stereo praised its holographic scale and controlled low-end texture. Smooth, detailed treble and a forgiving voice make this a compelling full-range floorstander for music lovers with varied collections.
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Deliciously Crispy
Sound Quality
93/100
Build Quality
90/100
Value for Money
85/100
Pros
Expansive, holographic imaging with stable spatial focus and strong speaker-disappearing ability.
Deep, fast and highly textured bass delivers serious impact without muddiness or the need for a subwoofer in the reviewed systems.
Detailed but smooth, forgiving presentation makes both well-recorded and poorer recordings enjoyable.
Cons
Bass extension and overall performance are strongest at normal-to-high listening levels; low-level playback is less fully realized.
The speaker benefits from a powerful amplifier to bring its bass fully to life.
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What Reviewers Are Saying
SOUND QUALITY PERFORMANCE 93/100
Reviewers portray the Grand Avant Garde as an unusually complete and musically involving speaker, combining deep, controlled bass with a smooth but detailed presentation. Its particularly strong sense of space, image dimensionality and forgiving nature make it well suited to listeners who want immersion without an aggressively analytical sound.
Bass
95/100
Bass receives some of the strongest praise. Thomas & Stereo found it fast, nuanced and free of muddiness, while Jay's Iyagi highlighted its substantial midbass impact, low-frequency extension, texture and grunt, saying a second subwoofer was unnecessary. Jay's Iyagi also praised how seamlessly the low end integrates with the midrange and treble.
Mid
92/100
Jay's Iyagi describes the midrange as silky smooth while retaining detail, suggesting a refined and easy-flowing vocal and instrumental presentation. The broader comments on balance, forgiveness and emotional connection reinforce a coherent, non-fatiguing character through the heart of the music.
Treble
93/100
Reviewers consistently hear plenty of high-frequency information and separation without excessive brightness. Thomas & Stereo notes a little bite and sharpness rather than a rolled-off top end, while Jay's Iyagi hears detailed, smooth treble with no harsh brilliance. Together, these accounts suggest a revealing but carefully controlled top end.
Soundstage Imaging
96/100
Spatial performance is a major attraction. Stereophile praises the speaker's finely judged expression of space and detail, saying it disappears, while Thomas & Stereo calls the stage wide, airy and holographic, with three-dimensional musicians that seem to occupy real volume. Jay's Iyagi also found the imaging stable away from the central listening position.
Dynamics
89/100
Direct discussion of large-scale dynamic range is limited, but Jay's Iyagi reports convincing impact and low-end grunt with movie material even without a subwoofer. The quick, controlled bass described by Thomas & Stereo further supports a lively rather than sluggish presentation, though there is less evidence about ultimate loudness or orchestral headroom.
Assessments of Build Quality, Usability, and Overall Propositions.
Build Quality
90/100
Stereophile calls the loudspeakers elegantly shaped and beautifully crafted, and Jay's Iyagi points to the distinctive BCT composite enclosure. The available coverage presents the cabinet work as a serious part of the product's appeal, though it offers limited detail on long-term durability or internal component execution.
Value for Money
85/100
The supplied review coverage identifies an earlier price of $13,000 per pair, while the current listed range is approximately $17,995 to $20,995. None of the reviewers directly compares the Grand Avant Garde with competing speakers or makes a clear judgement on whether it represents especially strong value at those prices.
Reviews & Sources
Professional reviews and sources for this product's Watt'n Potatoes analysis.
Online Reviews & Mentions
YouTube Reviews
Forum Mentions
No forum mentions found yet
Specifications
- Specification
- Frequency responce 20Hz- 22k Hz,
- Sensitivity
- 87dB
- Weight
- 82 lb
- Height
- 39”
- Type
- Three and a half way dynamic
- Tweeter
- 1” soft-dome, Midrange 5.25” carbon-fibre ,Woofer 8” dual-coil aluminium
Manufacturer's Description — Gershman Acoustics
“Gershman’s Grand Avant Garde bring living, breathing performers to your room, with body, presence, and a natural ability to engage and entertain… they perform beyond price and beyond expectations”
Gershman speakers do not look like other loudspeakers – but surprisingly, often, other loudspeakers come to look like the Greshmans.
The Avant Garde’s tapered, truncated cabinet and sloping baffle looks almost familiar, so widely has it been imitated. It is tempting to surmise that the distinctive base added to create the Grande Avant Garde was a response to this general acceptance of the speaker’s looks. However, it simply illustrates another essential aspect of the Gershman credo, an attitude that might best be described as, “Never stop experimenting.” This developmental imperative has always been harnessed to a stable core philosophy; for all their distinctive looks, acoustically and electrically, the different Gershman speakers share common and consistent DNA. What defines a Gershman? Extended low frequencies and an extremely low system signature. As wildly different as they might look, one to another, all Gershman speakers have two things in common – inherent musicality underpinned by surprisingly deep bass.
The Grand Avant Garde incorporates Eli Gershman new Patent Pending design, The BCT (Back-wave Control Technology) and, as the name suggests, along with the resistive line in the main bass enclosure, is designed to trick the bass units into ‘seeing’ a larger volume than is actually there. In addition, the combination of tuned venting and the interior matrix constructed within the base helps create a pressure differential between the main cabinet and the base. That draws the back-wave energy into the acoustically and mechanically separate base element where it is dissipated, reducing both intermodulation distortion and re-radiation through the cone.
“Grande Avant Garde do big, do bass and do imaging. They also do natural and naturally expressive. It is a particularly impressive overall performance and balance of virtues.”
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Authorized dealers for Gershman Acoustics 30th Anniversary Grand Avant Garde
- Audio Club — in-store — Tel Aviv-Yafo, Tel Aviv District, Israel (website)
- BELHIFI — online and in-store — Meise, Vlaams Gewest, Belgium (website)
- Centre Hifi — in-store — Laval, Québec, Canada (website)
- DiokAudio — online and in-store — Ostrava , Moravskoslezský kraj, Czech Republic (website)
- House of Stereo — online and in-store — Jacksonville, Florida, United States (website)
- Next Vision — in-store — Annemasse, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France (website)
- Soundstage HiFi — in-store — Barnet, England, United Kingdom (website)
- SPINNERS SOUND CENTRE — in-store — Vernon, British Columbia, Canada (website)
- Summer House Sound — in-store — Holybourne, England, United Kingdom (website)
- The Vinyl Revivers & The Audio Hunters — in-store — Columbia, Maryland, United States (website)
and 1 more verified dealer