• The Gaudi MK II
• The Loreley MK III
• The PQS Series
  • The PQS 402
  • The PQS 302
  • The PQS 202 MK II
  • The PQS 201 MK II
  • The PQS 100 Plus
  • The PQS 100 Centre
  • The PQS 100
  • The PQS Sub
• The Carbon MK IV
• The Borderland MK IV
• The Unicorn MK II
• The HRS 120
• Unlimited MK II
• DDD - Driver

A Monument To Musicality

The Gaudi represents our state of the art. While all German Physiks loudspeakers are similarly accurate in reproducing the essential sounds of individual instruments due to their common use of the DDD driver, the Gaudi is unique in its ability to convey musical dynamics from the faintest pianissimo to a full orchestral crescendo. It is capable of reproducing sound levels up to 120dB while retaining the signature German Physiks finesse and fidelity.

The Gaudi's capabilities may be shown in a simple demonstration we have conducted many times at our facilities. This involves using the loudspeakers to reproduce a live jazz band. The ability of the Gaudi to capture not only the precise timbres of individual instruments, but their full dynamic range is astonishing and comes remarkably close to fooling the ears of even experienced listeners. Originally conceived as a custom made one-off for demonstrating our most advanced loudspeaker technologies, the Gaudi proved such a sensation at industry presentations and prompted so many sales inquiries that we decided to make it a regular, albeit limited, production product. The Gaudi is necessarily costly, but offers a level of performance that is simply unavailable elsewhere, and the system has been cited as the ultimate prestige loudspeaker by many respected reviewers.

Leading Edge Driver Compliment

Each cabinet uses four of our unique DDD drivers in a line array, augmented with eight 6 inch metal cones for the mid bass and four 12 inch honeycomb flat cone drivers mounted in stainless steel frames for the subwoofer columns. It is the use of the DDD driver that puts the Gaudi ahead of all other loudspeakers as it confers a number of very important advantages.

The DDD driver’s very low moving mass enables it to operate linearly over an extremely wide frequency range. On the Gaudi it covers the entire range from 180Hz upwards. In a conventional design, this range would be covered by two or even three different types of driver and most importantly there would be a cross over point in the mid range, the area where our hearing is most sensitive. The DDD driver’s wide operating range allows this vital region to be kept free from the level and phase anomalies that multiple drivers and a necessarily more complex cross over would create. This enables the Gaudi to produce very accurate and realistic stereo images.

Another key advantage of the DDD driver is that it is omni directional, so these excellent stereo images can be enjoyed from a wide range of listening positions, unlike conventional designs which have much smaller “sweet spots” due to the tendency of their drivers to beam the sound. This allows a more relaxed listening experience as you don’t have to keep worrying about sitting in exactly the right position.

The DDD driver’s very low moving mass provides the further benefit of exceptional impulse and phase response characteristics and allows it to reproduce both the attack of the music and resolve low level detail very accurately. This is essential in order to faithfully reproduce the delicate nuances and timbral characteristics of a performance and make it sound like music, rather than just good hi-fi. The driver’s excellent impulse response also ensures that the stereo image remains focused and stable, even when the loudspeaker is reproducing complex passages at high levels.

User Adjustable Line Source Array

The DDD line source may be precisely physically positioned in relation to the bass enclosures for optimal phasing, by mean of a telescopic aluminium mounting arm driven by linear actuators. This may be easily adjusted from the listening position by means of a wireless remote control.

Custom Sub-Woofer Drivers

The sub-woofer drivers are some of the largest flat cone units ever constructed, and feature 6 inch under hung voice coils within two separate magnetic structures. Double spiders are employed to stabilise the diaphragm. Each unit has a continuous power rating exceeding a thousand watts, and the diaphragm itself, consisting of a honeycomb laminate of carbon fibre and aluminium, is literally like armour plate. The acceleration of these remarkable low bass drivers must be experienced to be believed.

Low Resonance Cabinet

Great effort has been put into creating a highly rigid structure in order to minimise the radiation of sound energy through the cabinet panels. This is one of the principle causes of degradation of a loudspeaker’s ability to resolve fine detail and thereby produce a sense of realism, as it smears and generally confuses the sound. The Gaudi’s cabinets are constructed from heavy panels of MDF with cross bracing fitted to critical points within the structure. To minimise residual vibration, Hawaphon damping sheets are attached to the inside face of each panel. Hawaphon is a polymer sheet containing a matrix of small cells filled with very fine steel shot and was originally developed as an anti-surveillance measure for use in military and government buildings. It adds mass to the panel to reduce the resonant frequency and the ability of the shot in each cell to move against each other provides a very effective way of converting vibration energy into heat. Hawaphon achieves a broadband attenuation of structure-borne sound of more than 50dB, which is a remarkably high figure.To damp resonances of the air within the cabinets, the whole of the inside of each cabinet is lined with a thick layer of high density felt.

Costum Electronic Crossover

The Gaudi must be tri-amped and the loudspeakers are supplied with our custom electronic crossover. This has been designed specifically for use with German Physiks loudspeaker systems. It is a no-compromise, dual mono design and employs twin mains transformers, rectifiers and capacitor banks. Audiophile grade Burr Brown and Analog Devices op amps are used exclusively, along with special low ESR filter capacitors. Separate high quality potentiometers are provided for both the high and low pass sections in each channel, and the phase of the subwoofer is continuously adjustable over the range of ±180 degrees. RCA and XLR connectors are provided for all inputs and outputs.

Hand Finished for the Ultimate Quality

The Gaudi is available finished in a range of hand matched, finely figured hardwood veneers, hand polished to a high gloss. For more details of the available finishes please see the Finishes page of this web site. To prevent warping over time, cabinet interiors as well as exteriors are both veneered and lacquered. This is typical of the attention to fine detail that we lavish on all of our products.

Special Order Version

A special order version of the Gaudi is available with a laminated carbon fibre cabinet. The cabinet’s heavy MDF panels are reinforced with multiple layers of bi-directional, resin impregnated carbon fibre, which are applied using techniques originally developed for the aircraft industry. The cabinet is coated with a multi-layer lacquer and then hand polished to a high lustre. This produces a cabinet that is immensely rigid and strong, as well as being practically free from resonances within the audio frequency band. This further increases the already impressive level of transparency achieved by the Gaudi. This version of the loudspeaker is fitted with carbon fibre DDD drivers, which extends the frequency response to 24,000Hz and the maximum output level to 120dB.

The Gaudi MK II Specifications