Pitt & Giblin Owners & Discussion Thread

[StereoNET]

Marc Rushton's world is shaken by this superb new Australian designed and built high-end loudspeaker…

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[davewantsmoore]

[daviddsailor]

Glowing review. Will be good to hear a pair.

 

BTW: "The Supermax Mini could start and stop on a one-dollar coin, or a 'dime' as the expression is better known". 

 

"The dime, in United States usage, is a ten-cent coin, one tenth of a United States dollar, labeled formally as "one dime". 

 

(Couldn't help myself). David.

[Guest]

I get your point, but I wasn't comparing the monetary value of a coin vs a coin. It was more about the size of the coin and relevance to the local currency

 

A glowing review for a seriously great product. Was one of the most enjoyable products I've had through my room. 

[RCAJack]

What a cool company and a cool pair of speakers. 

[Pigpen]

I won’t buy a product just because it is Australian, but I will buy an Australian product because it is up there with the best - looks like we have another contender in the “buy Australian” category.

[Ian McP]

You can hear these at Waxflower

 

https://www.broadsheet.com.au/melbourne/food-and-drink/article/now-open-brunswicks-waxflower-combines-music-food-and-wine-way-melbourne-has-never-seen

 

Waxflower
153 Weston Street, Brunswick

https://waxflowerbar.com.au/

https://waxflowerbar.com.au/music/

< When thinking about the Waxflower space we started with the idea of a beautiful bespoke system.

Two high mounted loudspeakers have been custom designed and built for Waxflower by our friends at Pitt & Giblin. The speaker system is aptly named ‘Superwax’.

Each speaker has two 15″ bass drivers, a 10″ midrange, a 1″ compression driver loaded into a custom-built cast bronze constant directivity waveguide. Three discreet channels of Hypex NCore integrated amplification, totaling 1100W. Hypex DSP is used judiciously to optimally integrate the individual drivers and maximize their performance.

We thought loudspeakers were typically too ‘concert/stage looking’, or alternatively too ‘suitable for home’. Pitt & Giblin shared a love of classic speakers like the JBL4355 and Klipsch Horns with us. They went about creating the perfect one-off loudspeaker system solution for Waxflower. Technically advanced acoustics with high sensitivity and massive output, and they’re really sexy.

Engineer Justin Greenslade at Isonoe London hand-built our mixer, the classic ISO420. A rotary mixer and pre-amp of the highest order.

Our wheels of steel are two restored Technics SL1200 MK3D. They’re serviced regularly!

Carts & Stylus: Nagaoka MP110H (although guest DJ’s welcome to use their preference). We plan to experiment with various cartridges over time to test response on our system.

Our in-house vinyl collection spans all genres and leans towards disco/funk/soul. Guest DJ’s are welcome to dig and select as they please. >

regards Ian

[Guest]

They're the Superwax at Waxflower (also mentioned in the review), not the SW Mini.

[davewantsmoore]

On 19/02/2022 at 11:43 AM, Ian McP said:

You can hear these at Waxflower

 

They sound excellent.

 

I kinda want to say something like "they're nothing that special, and sound like every other well designed large-horn and SOTA drivers" (which I think is true) ..... but that would send completely the wrong impression.    Most people have really not heard that, and it's mind blowing.    

[Guest]

Some more insight into P&G from the StereoNET Melbourne Hi-Fi & AV Show:

 

 

[Jone5y]

Very happy new owner of some Superwax Minis here.  Some pics from the unboxing attached

 

Edited September 28, 2022 by Jone5y

[Yamaha_man]

@WAone EAR

[BugPowderDust]

@calis I still reckon we need to test pilot some of these for Pete.

[Whites]

3 hours ago, Jone5y said:

Very happy new owner of some Superwax Minis here.  Some pics from the unboxing attached

 

I love the look of them, particularly the bronze waveguide. Awesome.

[moghan]

Would Love to hear your impressions of these after your first week of Listening.!!

[Jone5y]

Alrighty, early impressions

 

Shipping:

Faultless. Speakers arrived in custom CNC ply boxes and wrapped in protective material. One of mine had copped rough enough handling to have fully punctured the box, yet the contents were unscathed. All cables neatly positioned at the top of the boxes. 

 

Install:

Simple. Connect sources to right speaker, use supplied cable to connect right speaker to left, connect both to power. Turn on left speaker, then right and away you go. They autodetect incoming signals and auto switch between sources accordingly. This makes them very family friendly and simple to incorporate into a HT system. One thing to keep in mind is that, due to their high sensitivity, care must be taken when switching to a CD source to not have excessive volume. 

 

Sound:

Bass: Prodigious and fast. 15" woofers help here. As mentioned to Ross, i noticed an increase in bass quality and quantity after about 10 days of normal listening. That may have come from more confidence in upping the volume or something else, but i recall a distinct day where i could tell they sounded different to the day before. Using a phone app, most music i listen to bottoms out around the 35Hz mark, the minis handle this easily.  I know they do it 'easily' because the amps provided a warning light if they are getting close to overloading and cut out if that limit is exceeded. This is yet to occur for music, but has a handful of times in some war movies.

 

Mids: i think this is where they are at their strongest. They hit hard on drum tracks (almost anything from Def Leppard, Stumblin by powderfinger a lot of metallica etc) and have a real 'get up and dance' energy to 90's/00's RnB classics that simply puts a smile on your face. It was the RnB stuff that had my wife searching her memory for what track to play next when we first listened. Extremely enjoyable

 

Highs: the minis will expose bad material. The live version of Ecstasy of Gold by Metallica and the San Fran symphony gets particularly screechy. This is the same for some other low quality string based classical pieces. It is not evident in other recordings with live audiences such as Hotel California and the MTV live compilations. i think its recording specific, not an issue with the frequency per se. I have a lively room with a long slap echo, this would add to the phenomenon. YMMV

 

Imaging/soundstage etc

I have tried many positions for the minis and all manner of combinations of distance from the wall, each other, the listening position and toe in. I'm not certain i've found their 'perfect position' yet or if there are some aspects of my room that i wont be able to get around. What i do know is that subtle changes are detectable at the listening position. Using Paul McGowans set up CD, changing toe in, lateral separation has the predicted change in response. The width of the soundstage is extreme for any recording designed for it. The Sleigh in Roger Water's "Too much Rope" starts outside the room to the left, thunders across the room before it disappears way outside the left of the room. There are a couple of tracks with barking dogs on the Amused to death album, they are generally heard coming from behind the listener. This same surround effect of singers in the rear of the room is present in many songs i've not noticed it in before. Soundstage height is less predictable. 'Bubbles' by Yosi Horikawa has balls bouncing from the ceiling, for and aft (a little) and at distinct left to right positions between the speakers. Other tracks known for similar effects, such as Bucketheads Big Sur Moon do not attain any real height at all. As far as depth goes, aside from the minis throwing sounds to the rear of the room at times, i cant get any. I believe this to  be a function of my room. I've discussed it on separate threads here previously, but my soundstage depth does not err from the front/rear plane of the speakers. Ever. Even when I've heard it from those same speakers in a different environment. 95% of the time it is at a single height too = the top of the speakers/entertainment unit.

 

In summary, I love them. To my eyes, and more importantly to my wife's eyes, they are beautiful. They do almost everything i want them to, are dead easy to use and forgiving to place. Ross has been in touch several times since i took delivery, which i appreciate. I'm looking forward to settling on a placement that provides the best balance of soundstage, imaging etc and just sitting back and enjoying. 

I'd buy them again

[Guest]

27 minutes ago, Jone5y said:

I'd buy them again

 

Yep - I miss my time spent with them. Good buying, without a doubt.

I do hope P&G get some international attention in time as they deserve it.

[Pigpen]

On channel 7 tonight, P&G in the bar in Little Lonsdale Street - nice.

[mattcalf]

On 09/10/2022 at 6:42 PM, Pigpen said:

On channel 7 tonight, P&G in the bar in Little Lonsdale Street - nice.

The bar is called Caretaker's Cottage - I've been twice now, mainly to spend some time with the Superwax Mini's there. The bar is worth a drink independent of the P+Gs but they certainly help!

Interestingly they have a pair in the main bar room as well as the second seating room, I'm not sure if this was the case when I first visited. Either way sounded awesome last night, first song was this Stand on the Word remix and then they played a bunch of Mildlife. I was in heaven.

 

I've head P+Gs at Sonny in Hobart, Waxflower in Brunny and briefly while dropping in to the new Bounce Audio premises on Chapel St. Awesome everytime. Can't see myself affording a pair for a while but love having access to listen to them around the place. Will definitely hit up the Saint Hotel soon to hear the TENET.

[Anton Mullet]

I heard them at the recent Melbourne Hifi show. 

They blew me away. Every track sounded great add the guys were asking for requests. They didn't want the usual "approved" tracks.

I couldn't leave the room but unfortunately didn't discover it until 4:30. I was there until 6. 

Interestingly, a whole lot of who people who entered also stayed until the end. 

I'm a lover of SET amps but I think I have finally been turned by digital.

Already a fan of horns but have only ever owned Heresys.

I'm seriously considering buying a pair. I've never spent that much on anything audio in one purchase but wife is onboard, so I have permission.

I thought they sounded very holographic and easy like good horns and tubes but with SS  controlled bass. Not  iron first, in your face control but a natural sounding effortless control. 

 

 

Edited October 27, 2023 by Anton Mullet

[AudioGeek]

4 hours ago, Anton Mullet said:

I heard them at the recent Melbourne Hifi show. 

They blew me away. Every track sounded great add the guys were asking for requests. They didn't want the usual "approved" tracks.

I couldn't leave the room but unfortunately didn't discover it until 4:30. I was there until 6. 

Interestingly, a whole lot of who people who entered also stayed until the end. 

I'm a lover of SET amps but I think I have finally been turned by digital.

Already a fan of horns but have only ever owned Heresys.

I'm seriously considering buying a pair. I've never spent that much on anything audio in one purchase but wife is onboard, so I have permission.

I thought they sounded very holographic and easy like good horns and tubes but with SS  controlled bass. Not  iron first, in your face control but a natural sounding effortless control. 

 

 

 

Not just a brilliant sounding speaker, they look gorgeous as well.

[TerryO]

I to very much enjoyed hearing the P&G’s. Over the weekend I went back several times to listen to them playing and each time came away even more impressed. 

Bang for dollar there is nothing even close to them. 
 

cheers,

Terry

Edited October 27, 2023 by TerryO

[Guest]

Being one of the first to hear P&G some years ago now, I predicted the boys would go on to great things. It was a great and motivating story to come out of COVID. I'm so pleased to see others now experiencing P&G and them enjoying success - they genuinely deserve it.

[evil c]

I went back a few times myself, and thought they were absolutely superb!

I had to set aside all previous prejudice and personal opinion, and just thoroughly enjoyed being immersed by the music!

 

Always been a fan of the Waveguide concept.

 

No one seems to have mentioned the actual model of speakers on demo.

Looks to be the Superwax Mini, (a misnomer if you look at their large size), and Livi stand or wall mount speaker.

 

Both at the same price sounded incredible, and some in the room preferred the smaller Livi - although superior room placement was mentioned as a factor.

I'd love to hear the Superwax model, with twin 15" woofers - going by the performance of these two ! 

[Gee Emm]

For me, they were the pick of the show.

I visited 3 times.

Having built econowaves and twin subs, I am a fan of what high-sensitivity woofers, compression drivers & wave guides can do.

They did everything with ease.

Well done!