April 2025

World Premiere Review!
Grandinote Mach 8 XL Floorstanding Loudspeaker Review
Reproducing the heart and soul within recorded music.
Review By Dr. Matthew Clott

  What has eight woofers, one horn compression tweeter, no crossovers (well maybe a single capacitor, first order high pass for the tweeter. So a filter, not formally a crossover), and a semi resonance tube 'transmission line like' cabinet? You guessed it, the Grandinote Mach 8 XL speaker does. Wow... You're good! And so are they!

Although it sounds counterintuitive, the one word that comes to mind when describing these very tall, nine-driver speakers is, "Simple." Massimiliano Magri's design philosophy equates to the K.I.S.S. principle (Keep It Simple Stupid). Reduce resonance in the simplest way possible. Reduce intrusion of capacitance, inductance, and resistance as much as possible by eliminating the use of crossover components. Utilize elegant and simple speaker design to improve performance by implementing a modified transmission line that they refer to as a Semi resonance tube. Even the appearance is simple and refined; as is the sound.

Technicals
The Mach 8XL's proudly boasts a 98dB/W/m sensitivity and 8 Ohm impedance with a frequency response of 19Hz to 20kHz. Right about now Enjoy the Music.com technical folks are quickly realizing you only need a handful of Watts to achieve high SPL levels (read: loud music). In addition, by eliminating the need for crossover components, they can retain a higher nominal impedance resulting in an easier-to-drive speaker. As an added benefit to a crossover-less design, they avoid known issues with time and phase distortion. The result is a more transparent transducer, which Grandinote claims improves speed, detail, coherence, and spatiality.

To offset a lack of electronic filtering, mechanical filtering behind the drivers and in the cabinets is utilized; essentially a mechanical crossover. These mechanical filters result in drivers with low Fs and high Qts, which work well with transmission line type cabinets. Driver break-up is minimized and performance is optimized. The cabinet itself is made of reinforced MDF and behaves as a tube with a downward firing port, functioning as a hybrid transmission line/bass reflex design. The port tube is too short to be considered a true transmission line, so Massimiliano refers to it as a Semi Resonance Tube (SRT).

The use of a horn compression tweeter presents lighting fast, extended frequency performance  (down to 7kHz) to permit the tweeter and woofers to each behave best in their native environments. The horn is designed in-house. The high pass filter cuts off in the region of 5kHz, where, as Massimiliano says, "the ear is a bit more 'crazy'." The entire speaker system performs in a physical state of semi-compression, which should yield faster transients, quicker base impulses, improved dynamics, and offer a more natural and effortless reproduction.

The cabinets were finished with a matte black laminate on the front and back and an attractive and well-implemented grey wood laminate on the sides. They certainly don't have the mass or inertness (is that a word?) of my Rockports, but the cabinets' unique SRT design relies on different qualities to achieve its goals. A single pair of high-quality binding posts on the lower back were easy to use. The speaker was seated on a metal plinth with threaded inserts for spikes. I always try speakers with and without spikes, just to hear the difference. The spikes made a bigger than typical difference in the case of the Mach 8XL. The speaker's SRT design clearly benefits from good isolation. I had lent my IsoAcoustics Gaia footers to a friend, but I would bet (as my mother says) "Dollars to Donuts" that the Gaia's would have made an improvement even beyond the included spikes. For those who own or are considering owning these, keep that in mind to optimize performance.

As an aside, they came in well-built and well-padded wooden crates to handle the cross-Atlantic trip drama and damage-free. I was hoping for a nice bottle of Chianti or a fresh pizza, but I think I was being unrealistic in my expectations. I had to settle for delicious speakers. That said, the original plan was to also have their Solo all in one to feed the Mach 8XL, but the audio gods saw to it that didn't happen. Maybe for a future review?.?.?....

Setup Time
Setup. OK. Actually, pretty easy. The SRT design and tall, relatively narrow, and thin design required little fiddling to find their sweet spot. The port did not fight my room at all, and they were happy within 45 minutes of me starting to play with placement. They liked being about 22" out into the room and about 3 feet from each side wall, which placed them around 8 feet apart and 9 feet from my listening position. Toe in was a touch less than parallel to the inner speaker wall.  At that geometry, I got the best balance of tonal cohesion between drivers, and the widest and deepest stage while maintaining accurate and spatially intact image accuracy. What I got gave me the spatial magic of panels combined with the image accuracy of dynamic speakers. It seems like cheating, but tall speakers do have some advantages that must be acknowledged.

Enjoying Music
First, I need to address what to me is the elephant in the room. With all of those drivers, I am always worried about two things, smearing and poor cohesion (which go hand in hand). As a result of an essentially complete lack of crossovers and utilization of a semi-compression system, the system sounded essentially like a big two-way speaker. That is to say, the integration of the nine drivers was wonderful and allowed the system as a whole to create that holographic reproduction that, to me, is most representative of the best two and three-driver two-way and three-way speakers. Well done Mr. Magri. I can also attest to the speed and transparency that the product literature promises. The only spec I would question is the 20Hz extension, although I would assume that's 20Hz (-4 or -6dB), so who knows for sure? I do know that I did not get the base extension I had in my room with the Wilson Alexia 2, which was unquestionably stable to 19Hz (-3dB). Not that I am complaining about bass response, just commenting on reported specs. I'd give the speakers solid performance into the high 20's Hz without question.

Tonally, the presentation is on the warm end of neutral. There is no hint of analytical, sterile, or cold; yet the speakers have ample resolution and detail to create an accurate presentation without fatigue. I want to say they are laid back, but some would interpret that to mean overly warm and soft, which they are not. I could listen to them all day long, and well into the evening. They made me dig deep into my CD collection (boy am I enjoying playing with my new Ayon transport) and helped me to more than justify this month's Qobuz subscription fees. They are forgiving of changes in equipment and cables, and focus on making your day better without worrying specifically about what or why it needs to be better.

I do admit that without a complex or even simple crossover network, the speakers do sound as if they have a more direct connection with the amplifier. Dynamic passages are imbued with energy and life, and the subtlety of reproduction is gentile and demure when it is called upon to be so. There is a capacity to express emotion and rhythm that entices and engages the listener while providing an accurate and texturally integrated presentation. These are very likable floorstanding loudspeakers, and offer a proverbial seeing the forest through the trees experience.

As mentioned, the stage is wide, deep, and very tall. That meticulous toe-in I mentioned permitted the stage to extend beyond the lateral edges of the loudspeaker's cabinet, while painting a wide, deep immersive soundscape in front of the listener. Accurate image presentation was always evident, but I did not hear quite as far into the tapestry as I can on my Rockport.

Grand Note Finale
I have some experience with the Grandinote Essence integrated, and the ethos of Grandinote comes through similarly. Grandinote is not for those looking to analyze their system's performance, dissect the difference between this cable and that isolation device, or determine the tonal colorations of this DAC versus that DAC. The Mach 8XL is, first and foremost, a product focused on reproducing the heart and soul of what was recorded and helping the owner / listener extract as much enjoyment from that recording as possible. You will not want for anything, nor will most Enjoy the Music.com music lovers even think about what you could have.

The grand point concerning the Grandinote Mach 8XL, and its greatest accomplishment, is its ability to look past the minutiae and deliver what the musicians meant to be heard. If you are looking for a pair of speakers to just listen to music, and forget about what sounds better and what to buy next or what your next upgrade is, then consider the Mach 8XL floorstanding loudspeakers. Please try to listen to them with matching Grandinote electronics. Massimiliano surely desires Enjoy the Music.com's audience to know he imbues his product with Italian spirit and passion, plus a true and deep love of music and the art of recording. Grandinote gear is an homage to the human capacity to create and enjoy music in all of its forms, and to connect more directly with the performers without perceiving the chain of custody between recording and reproduction. If this is your intent, then the Grandinote Mach 8XL loudspeakers are highly recommended.

Specifications
Type: Floorstanding loudspeaker
Tweeter: Horn compression
Midrange / Woofer: Eight drivers, unfiltered and unequalized
Frequency Response: 19Hz to 20kHz
Sensitivity: 98dB/W/m
Impedance: 8 Ohm
Dimensions: 174 x 34 x 34 cm (HxDxW)
Price: $31,600

Manufacturer
Grandinote
Via San Lorenzo 11
27040 Rea (PV) Italy

Voice: +39 3470648306
E-mail: info@Grandinoteusa.com 
Website: Grandinote.it