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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

mikhailark
deep_333
1,543 posts
 

A couple of things. IMO, The OP tried to do the impossible in the beginning, no passive speaker was going to provide decent bass at low volumes, and IMO the only way to get even bass at low volumes is to get 1 or many powered subwoofers. GR makes very nice speakers, but you could have purchased hundreds of other speakers with a couple of REL subwoofers and achieved what you were looking for. Many other speakers in the past couple of decades have provided powered subwoofers in their speakers, like definitive technology.

Buying a subwoofer is one thing, integrating it correctly is another. The designer (especially if he knows what he’s doing) has additional dofs open in the design phase if he chose to integrate powered subs crossing over as high (a case can be made for it).

I have no idea how some guys claim to have accurately integrated the infamous REL subwoofers in their purist systems that don’t even provide a variable phase input to an user (sounds like a lie to me).

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mikhailark OP
343 posts
 

@deep_333 - this is exactly where bullies shine. Variable volume, phase, cut frequency AND parametric EQ on top.

vthokie83
944 posts
 

I've not heard the Bully speakers, so can't comment on them. I did have Danny upgrade the crossover on a pair of vintage Infinity RS Kappa 7s, and in the end they were expensive.

Part of that cost was my choice, Danny offered me a couple of levels of parts upgrades (from a couple of hundred dollars to a little less than $800), and I chose the most expensive.

To me that was worth it, as the Infinitys were my first audiophile speakers; bought new on release......and they sound amazing for what they are. And the crossovers were beautifully built

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