GR Research NX-Extreme


Looks like a helluva lot of speaker for the money, even if you need to put it together which sounds kinds fun. Anyone built a pair of these or heard them? 
mofojo
I built the OB subs with three 12" drivers for each channel. Danny's design can be built with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 6 drivers per sub, and flat packed are available for all configurations. The more drivers you have, the less each driver has to work and the faster they will settle when the signal goes away. 

The servo control makes them settle very quickly anyway, but with three drivers (6 for both channels), the bass is extremely fast and articulate. If you've ever heard Magneplanars, particularly larger ones, the bass has a similar quality except the GR subs go considerably deeper and are a bit more dynamic. 

The bass doesn't pressurize the room quite like a sealed box sub, since you are moving air from one part of the room to the other. So musical instruments sound more natural, but movie sound effects such as explosions don't have as much of a shock wave feel. If your primary use is home theater and you like movies with exploding helicopters, I'd probably stick with more conventional sealed box powered subs, but for music, the OB servo subs can't be beat. 

I would expect the OB subs to integrate much easier with the OB speakers compared to a traditional sealed box sub. It's kind of the same issue with trying to integrate subs with Maggie's. But I haven't tried so I don't know for sure. I would post your question on AudioCircle in the GR Research forum to see if anyone else has experience. 

I live in Portland, OR so quite a trek from Michigan. 

It took me about 50 hours to build both the NX-Oticas and subs.  Probably 30 for just the NX-Oticas. Most of that was painting. Building the cabinets was very easy - probably a couple hours total. The crossovers and wiring up the drivers took about 8 hours. And cutting and installing the NoRez for speakers and subs took another few hours. 

There are a couple of You Tube videos documenting how the GR Research loudspeaker flat packs (precut MDF panels you glue together and finish) are assembled. You don't need any woodshop tools except for some wood clamps (and glue, of course). The flat packs are very easy to put together, made with alignment dowels (just like IKEA furniture) and "biscuits". I love that you can finish them (or have it done for you, as in an automotive body shop for a Wilson Audio-quality paint job, or cabinet shop if you want a genuine wood veneer finish) any way you want.

Build threads are also posted on the Audiocircle GR Research Forum website. Join the fun! Once you get used to the idea, you realize it can take your hi-fi involvement to a new level, like super-charging your car's engine with a bolt-on blower kit. Ultra-high performance for the price of mass-produced mediocrity.

Danny Richie designed and has manufactured his own drivers (including the NEO3 planar-magnetic tweeter), and his cross-overs are the best in the business. Don't wait for a review of a GR Research product in Stereophile, it ain't gonna happen. But lots of speaker companies pay Danny to design the x/o's for their loudspeakers, He is a leader in the open baffle DIY market, highly respected by his peers, of which there are few. Um, does this make me a fanboy (I hate that term)?

Hello.
While I have not heard Danny's speakers yet (soon) I have heard some of his work. I have a pair of Emerald Physics EP 2.7 open baffle speakers that he build new crossovers for and they sound amazing! They use much higher quality parts than the original crossovers. I have the frequency response and waterfall graphs before and after and they are quite a bit better that stock. In fact I was told by Danny and one of EP's designers that they are likely the best sounding pair of EP speakers on the planet.
That said I am just starting to build Danny's latest speaker design, the new NX Studio monitor kit. Just received the kit and all the MDF, cherry veneer and grill cloth and stuff over last week and will start the build this weekend. Very excited about this. See it here: https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=160647.0
Also see this as to why you can build better speakers than you can buy in most cases: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yozUh8xBfk&list=PLUFNGRKZZWXzCt2Syx4yjR4Oy7V-uiePB&index=19
I recommend subscribing to that channel and watching all the videos. Very educational.
Cheers. 


I keep hearing about how the bass is good on these open baffle speakers but do not really pressurize the room the same way a box speaker does. Is it safe to assume that for rock they would not really give you that punch in the gut midbass?