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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.

https://youtu.be/IikqAg38FPs

128x128hilde45
james633
919 posts
 

As a 25 year audiophile I can tell you measurements matter a lot but are just a stage gate for me. I am not interested in poor measuring speakers/equipment but that does not mean I like every good measuring speaker as not all things of value are measured. It has to measure well for me to bother hearing it. 
 

for me it goes in this order 

#1 flat frequency response within reason. Measurable 
 

#2 even dispersion, wide or narrow as long as it is even. In a good room give me wide. Measurable 
 

#3 tone,resonances. Does it sound natural? No weird cone breakup or crossover oddities, no crazy port noise, I prefer no secondary port rise at all. This all can be measured but takes a very skilled eye as these are way down in the graph details because of this I like to hear about listen impressions and they are important. 
 

#4 dynamics, distortion can be measured but it is not the whole story. Adding square waves would help imo. 

#5 soundstage, Room setup critical, dispersion at play here. Too many factors and I fall back to experience in listening  

 

curiousjim's avatar
curiousjim
4,229 posts
 

So I just watched some ASR videos and I have a question or 2. Has Amir ever reviewed anything that wasn’t low-fi or mid-fi? I’m wondering what he would say about some Cardis Clear or AQ Thunderbird speaker cables.

Again I’ve only watched a few of his videos, but there does seem to be a theme to them.

djones51
4,947 posts
 

Has Amir ever reviewed anything that wasn’t low-fi or mid-fi?

Yes

crustycoot
600 posts
 

"No replacement for displacement"

Words of wisdom.  The idea that this tiny FR driver can handle FR music at any reasonable level is simply not credible, and the measurements prove it.  As a NF monitor at lowish volumes, maybe a case can be made... but all Danny's usual assortment of tweaks like tube connectors, non-magnetic hardware and resistors, SoniCaps, etc. cannot overcome the limitations of the basic design choice.  No substitute for engineering as seen in the Neumann active DSP monitor.  This speaker should be called "Dwarf Food" not "Giant Killer".

hilde45's avatar
hilde45 OP
4,850 posts
 

FYI, it looks like (a) Darko has respect for Amir and (b) Darko reports that Amir is not the absolutist objectivist that some think he is. FWIW. 

 

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