There are good reasons to review everything else other than loudspeakers. And the logistics is not even the worst reason. But there's a whole range of good reasons to look into AudioMachina's top of the range model. And that's why I've now lived with the Maestro GSE for several months.

This is the first reason why loudspeaker reviews are usually not so attractive: the time factor. When reviewing other components, provided that the respective components have been warmed up and connected long enough to the power supply – for a converter that can easily be over a week – then you can in one or two days make a very reliable assessment of the object in question. This is different for acoustic transducers. They interact more intensively with your own room and characterise the overall sound within an audio chain for a long time. This is why it's difficult to change from your usual loudspeakers, as you have usually had them for a long time, and gotten used to their strengths and weaknesses. Thus it takes some time until you're open-minded for an objective approach. And whilst after a while the advantages and disadvantages of the test objects become apparent, you don't trust yourself to evaluate other components with them, although the daily business should carry on in the meantime. If alongside you have to be clear for tonal changes for a remastering project as well, then you feel as though you are on thin ice with anything other than your own loudspeakers. But with AudioMachina it was different.

Volker Bohlmeier, Head of Einstein and Distributor for TechDAS and AudioMachina in Germany, wanted to present them to me briefly when he, to my regret, picked up the Japanese analogue monument Air Force One. What these seemingly delicate pillars then offered me in my listening room, even though we didn't move the Lumen White out of the room, but just pushed them quickly into the corner, then quickly convinced me to familiarise you with these exceptional loudspeakers. Even without a lot of moving around the Maestro GSE fascinated me with a spatial representation which belongs to the best of anything I was ever able to enjoy in my listening room. Even if this discipline used to be the most important for me up until now, with AudioMachina it wasn’t the only advantage. They produced a pressure in the bass range which was simply irresistible for me. But instead of enthusing about the sound perhaps I should explain what makes the AudioMachina technically so special. And that's a lot.

Before we get to the details perhaps I should tell you that all AudioMachina models were conceived and built by Dr. Karl Schuemann in Fort Collins, Colorado. To be able to ensure the desired quality he builds the loudspeakers exclusively by himself. He doesn't want to rely on employees for manufacturing even if this decision means the maximum number of loudspeakers produced is limited. His own standards of quality are much more important than commercial interests. Naturally the amplifier for the active subwoofer module as well as the driver units Dr. Karl Schuemann buys. However the assembly into the housing, produced on his own CNC machines, the developer does by himself. Volker Bohlmeier told me that Dr. Karl Schuemann generates the electricity for the energy-intensive aluminium CNC machining and his house himself by using a solar energy system.