I think Danny provides a good service. He generally only "upgrades" speakers sent to him by customers who are unhappy with them in some way. He then evaluates them, and when he can (not always worth it or technically doable) offers a crossover upgrade or even in rare cases, a driver update, to make them sound "better". But GR Research’s bread and butter is DIY. He serves that market well.
He also partners with other speaker manufacturers to help them improve their models.
One thing that seems consistent is that at every price point from $300 to $8000, he finds that of course, "everything is built to a budget for mass manufacturing". They use cheap crossover parts, steel nuts and more in the signal path, and sometimes it looks like they didn’t even bother to do any real engineering on the speaker, i.e. out of phase all over the place between drivers, or a big hole in the response curve, etc.
So, in some cases possible better performance is left on the table. He offers people a way to get the most they can from whatever box he is sent. Sure, he has a bit of an ego, but he generally backs up what he says with before and after measurements.
At the end of the day not everyone has the room needed for something like his largest open baffle with huge servo subs. I bet they sound great in a room that could do them justice. I’m glad to see him look around at what is going on in the industry, (the popularity of vintage looking speakers from Wharfedale, JBL, KLH, and others) and offers his take on them in kit form. The Bully and Brute seem to hit a good spot. He has also recommended completed speakers from a few others.
He shows that consumers need to be more aware and become more knowledgeable before they fork over their hard-earned money.
If people want more speaker reviews with measurements and subjective comments, Erin’s Audio is also a good channel to watch.
A brief review of GR Research Bully
I was looking for speakers that would allow me to enjoy classic rock at reasonable volume. NOT at a venue volume. I don’t like loud music at all. Thus something that allows me to have full spectrum sound without having to crank in up. First I tried ProAc 38R, which were nice, but lacked bass at low volumes. Accuphase amp has loudness and tone controls, but they did not quite worked to my satisfaction.
So I ordered a pair of GR Research Bully, assembled. GR typically sells kits, but I am not into finishing cabinets so rather prefer it professionally done. It took about 12 weeks from the order to delivery. I did not buy matching stands and instead ordered custom metal made for me.
I am very satisfied. The bass section is powered - the amp is Rhythmik. It is, effectively, a subwoofer and is very adjustable - crossover frequency 40-120Hz, phase 0-180 and even includes parametric equalizer. This allowed me to adjust amount of bass to the volume level I prefer.
The speakers come with printed measurement chart (in GR Research room). I also performed a number of measurements in my room with UMIK-1 and REW for Windows. I could make frequency response pretty close to linear, but prefer a bump below 100 Hz to compensate for lower listening volumes. Waterfall is also very clean, no ringing.
Associated gear: Denafrips Terminator with DDC, Rega P6 + SoundSmith MC, Pass XP-12, Accuphase E650. The room is 30x16x8 with some acoustic panels and ASC Tube traps.
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So the lesson I have learned is we are NOT done yet w/ our speakers ! we have our speaker systems and they CAN be ( most of them ) be made markedly better / improved w/ mods to the crossover , connectors the box or ? IF you want to . There are some clever audio engineers who have done or will do it . some of them you can send them speakers ( ask first ) and they will test them FREE , show you the graphs, tests and they can make a better crossover , etc. -( if they CAN be improved Some it is not worth trying -hey a few speakers , very few, ARE good to begin w/ ! Others ? it would be like putting lipstick on a pig ! And ? yes maybe you will end up spending so much you could get the / some more expensive "better " speakers . OK but then THOSE probably are not optimum either ! LOL I own several good, really good vintage speakers Yamaha , some Vandersteen 2 ce , Allison acoustics AL130 , etc . and as time and finances permit ,( I’m mostly retired on SS ) i will pay the shipping both ways and send them for testing ! some will be left as is some will be fixed , modded ! Seems many / most of the speaker makers cheap out ,cut corners , build to a price point and compromise . EG there are two REALLY good re-do’s for the venerable Yamaha NS1000M speakers ! GR research can for next level, upgrade the speakers w/his crossover kit or Troels Gravesen has a crossover upgrade kit for that model Yamaha NS1000M as well ( posted 6 yrs ago ) He did like them and noted an upgrade brings them up to compete with modern loudspeakers, that’s saying something coming from a loudspeaker designer. & Audio engineer! well he’s like Danny he’s into making money The upgrades are a LOT $ of money ! they both charge almost $1,000 for the crossover kits ( for 2 speakers ) I thought it was kind of quaint Mr Graves uses felt, or was it wool for material to control resonance. I pointed out Danny uses something called No rez which is a little more high-tech.( like HUGELY better! ) ! If I had a spare $2,000 I’d buy both kits do one speaker with one do one speaker with the other then A-B test them and then do both / ALL speakers what was best.! ( or which you prefer ) If you get a kit from Mr. Gravesen do a speaker and ( I HOPE ! ) send it to Danny for testing he can test it against one of his maybe LOL. BTW I REALLY like his ( Mr Gravesen’s ) design for a center channel speaker ! it is impressive ! ( but another topic and NOT vintage heck there were NO center channel back in the day ! ) Hi! Have you sent A Yamaha NS 1000mm to Gr research yet ? well, you do not need to ! 3 months ago he did the NS1000M ( on YouTube ) you may be familiar with it ? if not watch it ! i’m all in favor of upgrading fine classics to 21 st century ! they CAN be better! IF you want to ! |
@moonwatcher +1
While I've not heard any of his upgrades or speakers, his analysis of faults spot on. I've been doing my own mods to speakers for decades, so many manufacturers leaving so much on the table, and this to save a few bucks, I don't get it. |
@sns as we know it applies to all consumer goods...everything is built to a "price point". Manufacturers probably have very good data telling them about how many units they will sell at any price and how raising that price hurts sales. Figure there are "sweet spots" for price vs. sales numbers vs. profit margin for everything, including speakers. It is crazy in a way. Given the labor involved, it can't add more than maybe $100 to $200 or so to use better crossover components or air core inductors, especially since manufacturers could buy in bulk) yet if that raises the selling price above their "target" they won't do it. We as consumers need to do our homework. No, not everyone is very technically minded understanding all the graphs and what they mean, not everyone is an engineer, many are liberal arts majors and such. But even so, it isn't a bad idea to learn some basics. Good luck with your speaker mods. |
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