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.

Room frequency response

Room waterfall