Interesting ASR review of small GR Research speaker kit
I bounce between various kinds of analysis — more subjective listening reports, more quantitative measurement analyses and, my favorite, those that combine both strategies to tell a useful story about audio products.
Amir of ASR has just done a very powerful takedown of a fairly inexpensive kit being sold by Danny at GR Research. Not only does he prove his point about the speakers, he also makes (to my mind) a very convincing case that Danny put his finger on the scale in how he reported his own measurements.
I'm not in any camp — Danny's or Amir's or anyone else's. What I appreciate is thoroughness and meticulousness in exposition. Danny does that in his own videos. (Again -- to me. I'm really still learning and cannot easily spot gaps in argument in this subject matter.)
I know people with some of GR's best kits — and I've heard one of them. They sounded incredible. I've watched a bunch of Danny's videos where he criticizes other companies; I've come away thinking, "Wow, he really revealed some of the grift embedded in that product."
But here, the tables are turned, it seems, on Danny. I hope he responds, both to defend his reputation and methods, but also because it will set in relief where some of the distance may be between these two dominant online figures' methods in assessing what makes for a good speaker.
A tiny driver will never be good. No replacement for displacement. They might be ok in the extreme near field (1-2’ desk speakers). GR resource made a “rebuttal” video already. For me? Measurements matter but not everything important is measured. The speakers I have liked long term that have been less fussy have always measured well. Hard to argue with a kipple when used right. |
Yep. It’s easy nitpicking for naysayers who don’t design and build successful sounding speakers that actually sell. What does not measure the best but sounds good to one person might not sound good to the next person staring at meters first. One of the best kit speakers I did in collaboration with a lead engineer at Madisound, they recommended drivers that did not measure the best, not flat, lively, some distortion, and yet they sounded amazing. The person who bought the speakers loved them. He told me he could not believe how good they sounded. :)
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What has worked for me over the years: take exactly opposite of what AmirM says. In other words, if he likes something, I will never consider buying it. Scratch from my list. If he does not like something, it automatically goes to my watch list. This strategy has had a very high correlation with what I generally like to hear from any components. |
