Here’s another big speaker from Gershman, but with a difference: you can buy it in two easy payments.

Lots of speaker companies are known for small models, of ten called mini-monitors. Not Gershman. The Avant Garde (UHF No. 43 with a follow-up in No. 44) was a hernia looking for a place to live, and the Gershman Gap could moonlight as a bouncer.
     The new X-1 is a small speaker with dimensions much like those of the other models reviewed in this issue, but look at the picture again. It's big, not that much smaller than the Avant Garde, only it comes in two parts. The X-1 can be purchased as a conventional small speaker. Then add the SW-1 subwoofer-- right away or later--and you've got a big speaker. And if it's as good as the big ones, well...
     Interestingly enough, the pair looks not unlike one of the big Gershmans, with tapered sides on the top part and a front baffle that appears to slant forward toward the listener (that's an optical illusion in fact). The finish on our speakers was reddish with an exceptionally large grain pattern. Most observers found it unusually handsome. A set of brass cones fit underneath the SW-1 subwoofer, and a set of metal discs is supplied that can be placed underneath the cones in case you have a shiny new oak floor.
     By the way, the "floating" X-1 in our picture was done by our professional special effects crew--do not attempt this at home. The picture overleaf shows the way the pair is more likely to look at your place: not bad if you ask us.
     These units caught our attention early on for a reason that you may already have thought of if you read us regularly. Their format is similar to that of our Reference 3a speakers in our Omega system. True, our speakers are considerably larger (and heavier!) and the bottom part has push-pull subwoofers instead of a single unit, but Gershman's price is under a quarter the cost of ours. Do we have your attention?
     Good. On to the test...or rather the tests, since we treated the X-1 alone and the X-1/SW-1 as though they were two different speakers.

The Gershman X-1
     This is quite a small speaker, made somewhat smaller by the sharply tapered sides--the top is exactly half as wide as the base. The woofer is also small, a mere 13 cm in diameter, possibly chosen on the assumption that it won't be handling the bass alone. The tweeter is a Vifa soft dome type. The very solid enclosure has a tuned port in the rear which is triangular in shape, echoing the shape of the speaker itself.
     Sensitivity is medium-low, rated at 87 dB. The crossover point is relatively high, at 2800 Hz, allowing a gradual 6 dB/octave filter with good phase characteristics. A note to home theatre fans: the X-1's woofer is shielded.
     There are two pairs of gold-plated binding posts, well made but fiendishly close together, with no clearance for fingers. We were happy to have a Dynaclear Postman wrench, because there would have been no other way to get a tight connection. Once tightened the posts stayed tight, however, something that can't be said of some others. We were pleased to note that banana connectors plug into the main post, not the rear button.
     Our X-1's came without jumpers (though it had the adapter cables for use with the SW-1 subwoofer). Since we don't use biwiring in our Alpha system, we supplied our own jumpers. We placed the speakers on our Target HJ24 stands, fastened down with Audio-Tak, and dug out the LP's we had selected for this test series.

The X-1 and SW-1 together
     This time we did the test in our Omega system, for two reasons. First, our Alpha system is in a small room, rather too small for this hefty subwoofer. And second, because of the resemblance of this pair to our Reference 3a Supremas, we wanted to hear them together. We set them up in our large room, and--after tests to confirm that they would be at their best placed the way we place our Supremas--we got down to the listening.
     The SW-1 is a large vented subwoofer with a 25 cm driver to which Gershman glues a metal ring to add mass. Its large box is made of 2.5 cm MDF, the same material used for the X-1. Supplied with it are four brass cones that screw into the bottom. Also included were discs that can be placed under the cones if you have vulnerable hardwood floors.
     As already noted, the X-1's woofer is a little too small to be at ease with infrasonic information, and the SW-1 not only reinforces it but also makes its job easier. To do that, it filters out the lower frequencies (below 90 Hz) from the X-1's feed, letting the subwoofer take over. We were surprised that the crossover frequency was that low, because in our tests we could discern its effect from about 200 Hz down. Clearly the crossover is a gentle one, with the woofer continuing to operate well above 90 Hz. That would be a problem with a single subwoofer, but with twin subwoofers like these it's perfectly fine.
     The SW-1 has two pairs of binding posts and, as already noted, Gershman includes the appropriate cable. You plug your speaker cable into the SW-1's bottom posts, and run the adapter cable from the upper posts to the two pairs of binding posts on the X-1. The adapter uses sheet metal spades, which can be improved upon, but of course no manufacturer can offer a top-grade cable for free. If you have expensive speaker cables, you may want to use the same cable as a jumper from the SW-1 to the X-1 as well...

Would you like to read the full text, with illustrations, of the review of the Gershman X-1 and SW-1? Click here to order the print edition of UHF No. 57.