RS3i
The little guy with the big voice
Just because you have a small to medium sized room doesn’t mean you should compromise on the magnitude of your music. The RS3i is a compact standmount loudspeaker designed to pack a full-range punch.
Its integral, acoustically optimised stand features the same construction principles and high quality materials as the loudspeaker itself, and is designed to position the RS3i at precisely the right height and tilt angle for the best possible performance.
Expect lifelike dynamics and microscopic resolution of a world of fine detail. Be bowled over by the exquisite reproduction of instruments and voices with holographic clarity and an astonishingly large three-dimensional soundstage. And prepare to be very surprised indeed by the unusually rich and deep bass tones for a speaker of its size.
The Gamut sound
The body of a Gamut loudspeaker is more than just a cabinet or enclosure. Like the body of a Stradivari violin or a Steinway piano, it’s both strikingly simple and highly complex. Marrying impeccable materials with obsessive craftsmanship, it certainly looks stunning but the real beauty lies in what it brings to the quality of sound.
We use real wood throughout, and not just any wood. Ours is hand-selected (from a sustainable forest) for its acoustic properties. It’s then crafted into our distinctive speaker bodies by our partners at Kvist, Danish experts in ‘wood know-how’ and makers of some of the world’s most iconic furniture.
The first thing you might notice about a Gamut loudspeaker is its distinctive swept-back, boat hull-like shape. This is no design gimmick, but serves a key sonic purpose.
The curved boat-shape that tapers to the rear neatly avoids the parallel surfaces found in a standard box format. This sidesteps the problem of internal sonic reflections and allows unwanted resonances to disperse.
The swept-back, rear-tilted angle of the speakers enables a very precise relationship between the position of the speakers’ drivers, your ears and your brain. In a standard upright position, high and mid-range frequency sounds reach your ear at marginally different times, leaving your brain to patch up the incoming information into a satisfying musical experience (which it does, amazing organ that it is). But if the speaker does that work for you by positioning each of the drivers so that all the sonic frequencies reach your ears simultaneously, then the brain can relax and you can enjoy a vivid musical experience filled with dynamic immediacy across the whole frequency range.
The magic angle
In fact, our drive units are so carefully aligned both physically and electronically that there’s a ‘magic spot’ of tilt angle, a point of perfection – specific to your room and hence fully adjustable – at which the speakers seem to vanish, leaving just you and the music.
Like the Tao’s martial arts, our speakers use strength intelligently in order to direct vibrational energy. Their complex internal bracing features fan-shaped reinforcement structures placed at a multitude of angles in strategic locations throughout the internal body, all of which carefully controls vibrational energy for peak performance.
Alongside a raft of other design features, this also allows us to dramatically reduce the level of internal damping in our speakers. Damping is important to tackle unwanted sonic vibrations, but too much of it can also squash the dynamics of the sound. Which is why we go to such great lengths to control vibrational energy without constraining your music.
Our state-of-the-art loudspeaker drivers are designed by Gamut, for Gamut. Unique elements include the distinctive natural oils used to impregnate our mid-range driver cones to eliminate the possibility of colouration from the cones’ fibres, and the woofers’ solid wood dust caps hand-selected according to weight and density to stiffen the cones and ensure perfect performance across the whole frequency range.
In each loudspeaker the drive units are painstakingly aligned both physically and electronically to achieve a phenomenal phase response. This is essential to impeccable timing and is what gives your music not just fidelity but also real depth, presence and soundstage.
‘Any port in a storm’ is a phrase you’ll never hear at Gamut. There are no devils in our details and no plastic tubes in our ports. Every Gamut loudspeaker features beautifully machined aluminium rear-mounted ports (or brass and stainless steel in our flagship Zodiac). A feast for the eyes for sure, though the primary purpose of their high-class construction is a sonic one.
The port on a loudspeaker is typically used to extend the bass response. But since our carefully-designed speaker bodies and precisely balanced drivers already achieve this, our ports are tuned to optimise the impulse response – meaning that they help the drivers to respond instantly to changes in the music, giving flawless timing and vivid dynamism.
It also holds the key to a spot of magic: how to make a pair of loudspeakers disappear. Both the vertical and horizontal tilt of each speaker is fully adjustable – to compensate for floor conditions and to optimize the speakers’ sonic performance in your room – using finely threaded adjusters in the stainless steel base. Once the rake angle is tuned to perfection, the speakers then effectively disappear, leaving only the musical soundstage.
At Gamut we’re not crazy about those kinds of compromise so we solved the dilemma. Instead of the usual grille, two vertical stainless-steel rods flank the drivers. These rods support a series of horizontal, fabric-woven strings that look smart, protect the drivers and, most important, offer no acoustic obstruction whatsoever.
You’ll find that same ‘less is more’ approach in our connections too. The optimum way to terminate a speaker cable is in fact not to, so our custom-designed stainless steel and brass input terminals feature a pressure insert that allows you to clamp in bare wire for the cleanest, clearest connection. Then again, some people prefer a plug-in solution so they’re also equally compatible with banana plugs and spades.
The Gamut sound
The body of a Gamut loudspeaker is more than just a cabinet or enclosure. Like the body of a Stradivari violin or a Steinway piano, it’s both strikingly simple and highly complex. Marrying impeccable materials with obsessive craftsmanship, it certainly looks stunning but the real beauty lies in what it brings to the quality of sound.
We use real wood throughout, and not just any wood. Ours is hand-selected (from a sustainable forest) for its acoustic properties. It’s then crafted into our distinctive speaker bodies by our partners at Kvist, Danish experts in ‘wood know-how’ and makers of some of the world’s most iconic furniture.
The first thing you might notice about a Gamut loudspeaker is its distinctive swept-back, boat hull-like shape. This is no design gimmick, but serves a key sonic purpose.
The curved boat-shape that tapers to the rear neatly avoids the parallel surfaces found in a standard box format. This sidesteps the problem of internal sonic reflections and allows unwanted resonances to disperse.
The swept-back, rear-tilted angle of the speakers enables a very precise relationship between the position of the speakers’ drivers, your ears and your brain. In a standard upright position, high and mid-range frequency sounds reach your ear at marginally different times, leaving your brain to patch up the incoming information into a satisfying musical experience (which it does, amazing organ that it is). But if the speaker does that work for you by positioning each of the drivers so that all the sonic frequencies reach your ears simultaneously, then the brain can relax and you can enjoy a vivid musical experience filled with dynamic immediacy across the whole frequency range.
The magic angle
In fact, our drive units are so carefully aligned both physically and electronically that there’s a ‘magic spot’ of tilt angle, a point of perfection – specific to your room and hence fully adjustable – at which the speakers seem to vanish, leaving just you and the music.
Like the Tao’s martial arts, our speakers use strength intelligently in order to direct vibrational energy. Their complex internal bracing features fan-shaped reinforcement structures placed at a multitude of angles in strategic locations throughout the internal body, all of which carefully controls vibrational energy for peak performance.
Alongside a raft of other design features, this also allows us to dramatically reduce the level of internal damping in our speakers. Damping is important to tackle unwanted sonic vibrations, but too much of it can also squash the dynamics of the sound. Which is why we go to such great lengths to control vibrational energy without constraining your music.
Our state-of-the-art loudspeaker drivers are designed by Gamut, for Gamut. Unique elements include the distinctive natural oils used to impregnate our mid-range driver cones to eliminate the possibility of colouration from the cones’ fibres, and the woofers’ solid wood dust caps hand-selected according to weight and density to stiffen the cones and ensure perfect performance across the whole frequency range.
In each loudspeaker the drive units are painstakingly aligned both physically and electronically to achieve a phenomenal phase response. This is essential to impeccable timing and is what gives your music not just fidelity but also real depth, presence and soundstage.
‘Any port in a storm’ is a phrase you’ll never hear at Gamut. There are no devils in our details and no plastic tubes in our ports. Every Gamut loudspeaker features beautifully machined aluminium rear-mounted ports (or brass and stainless steel in our flagship Zodiac). A feast for the eyes for sure, though the primary purpose of their high-class construction is a sonic one.
The port on a loudspeaker is typically used to extend the bass response. But since our carefully-designed speaker bodies and precisely balanced drivers already achieve this, our ports are tuned to optimise the impulse response – meaning that they help the drivers to respond instantly to changes in the music, giving flawless timing and vivid dynamism.
It also holds the key to a spot of magic: how to make a pair of loudspeakers disappear. Both the vertical and horizontal tilt of each speaker is fully adjustable – to compensate for floor conditions and to optimize the speakers’ sonic performance in your room – using finely threaded adjusters in the stainless steel base. Once the rake angle is tuned to perfection, the speakers then effectively disappear, leaving only the musical soundstage.
At Gamut we’re not crazy about those kinds of compromise so we solved the dilemma. Instead of the usual grille, two vertical stainless-steel rods flank the drivers. These rods support a series of horizontal, fabric-woven strings that look smart, protect the drivers and, most important, offer no acoustic obstruction whatsoever.
You’ll find that same ‘less is more’ approach in our connections too. The optimum way to terminate a speaker cable is in fact not to, so our custom-designed stainless steel and brass input terminals feature a pressure insert that allows you to clamp in bare wire for the cleanest, clearest connection. Then again, some people prefer a plug-in solution so they’re also equally compatible with banana plugs and spades.
Features & specifications
DESIGN PRINCIPLE
- 2-way impulse optimised bass reflex compact standmount loudspeaker
DRIVERS & CROSSOVER
- All drivers designed & made in collaboration with world-leading Danish driver experts
- 1 x 1.5” tweeter: ring radiator, silk cone, neodymium magnet
- 1 x 7” mid-woofer: sliced paper cone, impregnated with a bespoke blend of natural oils
- Drivers perfectly aligned both physically and electronically to achieve phenomenal phase response for superior musical presentation
- 2-way phase and impulse linear crossover design
- Crossover point 2,150 Hz
BODY
- 21 layers of sustainably-sourced hand-selected real wood veneer form-pressed into solid wood panels
- Curved shape and rear tilt designed for superior sonic performance
- Complex internal bracing strategically positioned to enable dynamic musicality
- Minimal but optimum internal damping
- 2 x 5mm aluminium rear-mounted ports precisely tuned for optimum impulse response
- Custom-designed front-face protects drivers while ensuring no acoustic obstruction
WIRING & CONNECTIONS
- Gamut Reference cabling internally throughout
- 4 input terminals to enable bi-wiring and bi-amping
- Gold-plated OFC copper input terminals with stainless steel ‘nuts’, compatible with stripped wire, 4mm banana plugs or custom 20mm spades
STAND & BASE
- Integrated acoustically optimised stand
- Stand features rear-mounted, routed channel for securing cables
- Massive plate-and-spike base system, constructed in a sandwich of solid stainless steel with a composite damping material, provides incredible stability and decouples speakers from floor
- Removable stainless steel ‘coasters’ to protect hard floors and damp resonance
- Finely-threaded adjusters enable effortless refining of vertical and horizontal tilt of loudspeakers to optimize the speakers’ sonic performance in your room
MADE IN DENMARK
- 100% designed and built in Denmark
SIZE & WEIGHT
- Dimensions (mm): 1,059 (height) / 226 (width) / 456 (depth)
- Dimensions (inches): 41.69 (height) / 8.90 (width) / 17.95 (depth)
- Weight 46 kg (including stand)
KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
- Frequency response 34 Hz - 60 kHz
- Nominal impedance 4 O
- Minimum impedance 4 O
- Sensitivity 87.5 dB / 2.83 V
WARRANTY
- 5 years
Options
A stunning finish
The natural woods used to form the body of our loudspeakers play a key part in their organic, dynamic sound. So we never cover them with surface veneers. Instead, a small selection of luxurious tinted varnishes is used to achieve our stunning range of finishes.
Ivory
Maroon
Ruby
Onyx
Hitting the spot
Every listener’s room is different, so Gamut offers some helpful guidance to optimise speaker placement. On request, we can provide an Excel spreadsheet allowing you to enter the dimensions of your listening space. The spreadsheet will then calculate measurements for the ideal placement of your Gamut speakers, allowing you to effortlessly find just the right spot for your speakers – and your music – to give their best performance.
Awards & reviews
“I must say, Gamut is on to something… a musically accomplished speaker that just happens to be small.”
“After living with the RS3i for several months now, I am doubly impressed.”
The Absolute Sound, November 2016
Read full review
“My socks were blown off… among the most engaging speakers I have experienced”
“Few speakers I’ve encountered seem to excel to this degree with any recording thrown at them.”
ToneAudio, May 2016
Read full review
“If you have a small to medium sized room and are looking for a speaker that can deliver near full range sound, you really should seek out your nearest Gamut dealer to give the RS3i a serious listen.”
Audiophilia.com, April 2016
Read full review
“Sounded impressive from the outset. I was bowled over by the sheer width and depth of the sound stages.”
The Absolute Sound, October 2015
Read full review
“One of the two finest loudspeakers I’ve ever had in my home.”
“They’ve shown me a way forward toward higher levels of performance than I thought possible in my mid-sized listening room.”
Hi-Fi Plus, September 2015
Read full review
“Captured the sax’s honk and echo-laden guitar with perfect attack.”
Hi-Fi News, August 2014
Download the review
