Green Mountain Audio Chroma HX Review


I just had my Green Mountain Audio Chromas upgraded to Chroma HX. The difference is the crossover, with the capacitors being exceptionally high-grade. The low-pass filter is specially made to Roy Johnson's specifications. Unobtainium (not for sale) Litz wire is used with the latest unobtainium solder. The change is dramatic enough to consider the HX a different speaker, even though the schematic is essentially the same.

And the result is absolutely stunning. I was expecting a substantial improvement, but I was unprepared for the result. It's going to be difficult to put this into words, but I'm going to try. Let's face, we've heard it all before.

I have never heard a speaker that so effortlessly plays music. Every note has more music in it. I guess you could call that greater detail, but the HX transcends that description. Perhaps I should call it harmonic richness. The sound is unbelievably accurate, yet musical, throughout the frequency spectrum. The copious bass digs down deeper while being more well-defined. I would call it high-definition bass, to coin a term. The midrange is similarly tuneful, clear and also hi-def. It just flows naturally and cleanly. I would describe the treble as ethereal, sparkly and airy, never bright.

The HX is also the most coherent speaker I have ever heard. The woofer and the tweeter coexist happily. It is impossible to tell where the crossover frequencies are. You cannot hear the port either, just the bass. I find myself listening for hours, without fatigue, because the music captures my attention and holds it.

The sheer accuracy seems to lend itself to the soundstage, imaging with pinpoint precision. You know where every voice and instrument is at all times. This is an area of audio that I didn't much care about previously, but I cannot ignore now.

Any criticisms? Well one, maybe. If you like to crank the bass hard enough to drive your neighbors to yell death threats, you're going to need a powered sub.

I have heard many speakers in my time, among them Wilson Audio, Joseph Audio, Paradigm, Triangle, Meadowlark, Dali, Thiel, Usher and Vandersteen. None of them can deliver what the HX can. It's not even close. If you have a pair of the already excellent Chromas, HXing them is a must. I have found the speakers that I am going keep for life in the Chroma HX.

Related equipment:
Musical Fidelity A308cr with upgraded clocks
Audio Note Kits DAC 2.1
Pass Labs B1 buffered passive pre modified for shunt volume control
Pass Labs Aleph 3 power amp
BPT BP-1 balanced power conditioner
Audio Magic Matrix Mini power conditioner
Pass Labs Aleph 3 power amp


dave122
If you were happy with the PMC speakers I recommend finding something with a like sound.  I have only heard PMC at shows and thought they were very good.  Perhaps the PMC twenty .24 or something in the twenty lineup is what you should strive for.

I was not suggesting your amp wasn't good, but merely curious what it was. a solid state amp with 100 watts of power vs a 8 watt tube amp does matter.  

I do find it somewhat odd that you haven't found a new set.  I couldn't live for 6 years without a decent set of speakers.

Kenjit: "There were no measurements. He just stuck a 0.21mh coil on the woofer and called it a day"

If Roy says he used measurements in the design process and you say he did not, guess who we’re going to believe?

Kenjit: "No baffle step, nothing."

I have not used baffle step compensation since I was an amateur.

Kenjit: "The baffle is so... All in the name... Which by the way you’d never... Olsen showed that... "

Since you know so much, why not design your own speakers?

And in the meantime, why not let it go? How is that going to harm you?

Duke



The kinds of measurements and analysis he conducts, and the time coherent results he gets. Imo the things he can do well are a lot more difficult than the
things I can (hopefully) do well.

99% of speaker companies don't care about time coherence. 99% Audiophiles don't either.

If it was so important, surely more people would pay attention to it?

If Roy says he used measurements in the design process and you say he did not, guess who we’re going to believe?

Hopefully you will believe neither of us and just do your own research to find out the facts. If you go online there are crossover calculators. Plug in 3khz 1st order, and you get 0.21mh on the 4ohm woofer which is the exact value used by green mountain. So no measurements were involved. 

I have not used baffle step compensation since I was an amateur.

I would love to hear your explanation for that.

And in the meantime, why not let it go? How is that going to harm you?
 I'm still waiting for somebody to answer the questions I've raised.
Why are you so eager to prevent a discussion? What harm is there?




@kenjit "99% of speaker companies don't care about time coherence. 99% Audiophiles don't either".  

You sure about this?  I can think of dozens of manufactures who take time-coherence into their design.  Do you dislike Vandersteen and Dali?  

https://www.dali-speakers.com/sound/sound-design/time-coherence/

What speakers do you like that do not take time coherence into consideration?

@kenjit wrote: "Why are you so eager to prevent a discussion? What harm is there?"

You have demonstrated an agenda to disparage Roy Johnson and Green Mountain Audio, and you have done so unfairly. That’s not a "discussion", it is trying to do harm to someone’s reputation and business.

You probably don’t realize that you are being unreasonable (which happens when we let emotions call the shots). Let me show you. You also wrote:

"If you go online there are crossover calculators. Plug in 3khz 1st order, and you get 0.21mh on the 4ohm woofer which is the exact value used by green mountain. So no measurements were involved."

You could not possibly know that "no measurements were involved." That statement is unreasonable and unfair.

And there is absolutely nothing sinister about .21 mH corresponding to a 3 kHz first-order lowpass filter into a 4 ohm load. ANY inductor on ANY woofer is going to correspond to a first-order lowpass filter at SOME frequency.

It is possible that an emotional part of you thinks this kind unfounded attack constitutes "having a discussion", but switch over to your rational side. "No measurements were involved" is a completely unfounded and unfair conclusion. There is no way you could reasonably come to that conclusion based on the information you have.

(For anyone who is curious, this might be of interest: In practice, a single inductor NEVER results in a first-order electrical rolloff because the voice coil’s inherent inductance increases the impedance of the load the inductor sees as we go up in frequency. The net result is an electrical rolloff of less than 6 dB per octave. So other components are used to modify the impedance of the load that the inductor sees. And the inductor may or may not end up seeing a "textbook" constant-impedance load - it all depends on what the designer needs to do to meet his targets in the phase and frequency response and impedance domains. In other words, the additional components may result in the inductor seeing a load whose impedance intentionally rises and falls at different frequencies if that is what works best. Crossover design is about how the components all work together with the drivers’ characteristics to give the desired end results.)

Kenjit also said, "I would love to hear your explanation for [not using baffle step compensation]."

When you have demonstrated that you can have a discussion in good faith, we can have that conversation. But it will have to be in another thread - this thread is not about my stuff.

So I have a question for you, Kenjit: Does treasuring your grievances against Roy Johnson and Green Mountain Audio make you happy? I’m not asking whether or not your grievances are "justified" - grievances are ALWAYS justified to the person who treasures them. I’m asking, do they make you happy?

And if not, why do you hold onto them? Maybe it’s because, it never occurred you that doing so is a choice (and you would not be alone in that!).

If you choose to, you can simply say to yourself, "I’m tired of being angry (sad, discouraged, bitter, whatever) about this. I’ve done it for long enough. My grievances have offered me nothing that I truly want, so I’m letting them go." It may not work the first time because it’s a new way of thinking, but give it a fair chance.

Then start a thread about baffle step compensation and we can have that conversation.

Best wishes.

Duke