A brief review of GR Research Bully

@ozzy62 This is very subjective, my material may not be very "audiophile" :-). I would say, sound is clean and transparent. GR spends quite a bit of time on time alignment and off-axis response. The latter is actually very good. As compared to ProAc bullies sound really good even 20 degrees off axis, no need to be exactly in a sweet spot. In overall sound is typical for the type of units they employ - looks like a silk dome tweeter and plastic (?) cone mids. I personally prefer sound or planar tweeters, but I cannot say that Bully is ’forward’ sounding. As compared to my Meze Elite headphones some transparency is obviously lost and bass clarity and definition is not the same. But then again, we are talking room response vs top shelf cans.

It is probably possible to achieve similar results with stand mount speakers and two subs, but it probably will be more expensive for the same sound. What attracted me to GR is attention to engineering details rather than marketing and speaker appearance. I would say these days $5K is a bargain for the sound Bullies provide.

look that guy, spent an entire eposide reviewing some speakers without the bass drivers and pointed out the lack of bass the whole time, frequency response curves and all. hey why not listen to them WITH the bass driver(s) connected? maybe theyll measure beatter, einstein.

over the ohone he acknolwedged that the bass briver was missing and also claimed he doesnt review speakers, and last i checked the review os the megneppan minis are stll up. (cant remember if external links are alowed here, so read Flat Panel "Mini" Magnepan Audiophile Speakers!).

he has hisn moments,  but hes also unapologetically full of it. 

Well, I bought and assembled GR Researches NX-Oticas with Double trouble subs and they are Outstanding. Danny did a great job on those. I have heard the Brutes and the Bullies and in my opinion, great for rock. But as for full range, I prefer my Oticas. 

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.

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 !

most interested to read this most folks would not just fork out the $ and say build them! they will DIY fr plans , or easy flat pack kits but it was right for you so why not ?
for a good review of your speakers and the other similar model i can suggest folks listen to, watch these videos ! they will answer most of the questions , concerns folks have besides they are interesting !
https://youtu.be/w-ZzXaVq2TE?si=q7t-Z3krQjPTLQ4_
https://youtu.be/Gr1WQKWUos4?si=7G8t1v7tSdKQY4Lc
https://youtu.be/uWu883ShzUg?si=KAZfrLEmKgRl4Nw0
https://youtu.be/A7hPVAvuzxo?si=5z08ordtTx71o5TT