2. speakers
  3. 194482-2248

How good is the crossover in your loudspeakers?

 

I just watched a Danny Richie YouTube video from three weeks ago (linked below). Danny is the owner/designer of GR Research, a company that caters to the DIY loudspeaker community. He designs and sells kits that contain the drivers and crossover schematics to his loudspeakers, to hi-fi enthusiasts who are willing and able to build their own enclosures (though he also has a few cabinet makers who will do it for you if you are willing to pay them to do so).

Danny has also designed crossovers for loudspeaker companies who lack his crossover design knowledge. In addition, he offers a service to consumers who, while liking some aspects of the sound of their loudspeakers, find some degree of fault in those loudspeakers, faults Danny offers to try to eliminate. Send Danny one of your loudspeakers, and he will free of charge do a complete evaluation of it's design. If his evaluation reveals design faults (almost always crossover related) he is able to cure, he offers a crossover upgrade kit as a product.

Some make the case that Danny will of course find fault in the designs of others, in an attempt to sell you one of his loudspeaker kits. A reasonable accusation, were it not for the fact that---for instance---in this particular video (an examination of an Eggleston model) Danny makes Eggleston an offer to drop into the company headquarters and help them correct the glaring faults he found in the crossover design of the Eggleston loudspeaker a customer sent him.

Even if you are skeptical---ESPECIALLY if you are---why not give the video a viewing? Like the loudspeaker evaluation, it's free.

 

 

https://youtu.be/1wF-DEEXv64?si=tmd6JI3DFBq8GAjK&t=1

 

And for owners of other loudspeakers, there are a number of other GR Research videos in which other models are evaluated. 

 

 

bdp24

Showing 4 responses by audioman58

audioman58's avatar
audioman58
4,383 posts
 

Having rebuilt many loudspeakers the vast majority have Xovers that are average at best ,even speakers at $50 k 

look up Tony Gee humble homemade hifi capacitor test  most speakers capacitors are a 7-8  around 11 on up is very good most are not !!

audioman58's avatar
audioman58
4,383 posts
 

Most Xovers are not That great , even in some $$ speakers .

danny Ritchie uses parts quality a bit better then average as a rule unless you pay for Copper foil  capacitors  or top Jantzen Copper foil waxed inductors and resistor upgrade as well as internal wiring and WBT connectors 

go to Humble homemade hifi capacitor test , then see what is inside yours.

most have Solen or the cheaper Mundorf Evo capacitors ,their Supreme are thier good ones,  many options to improve resolution in your loudspeakers  Xover.

audioman58's avatar
audioman58
4,383 posts
 

Type Qualio Ultra  Loudspeakers under $13k   And unique ,open baffle on top

and dedicated rear ported ,nice exotic Indian 🍎 Apple veneer with excellent low bass !!

audioman58's avatar
audioman58
4,383 posts
 

Imo and decades in audio and modding my equipment as well as 

ally Loudspeaker Xovers. Your speakers Xover on 85% of speakers is at best average my focal Sopra aat over $20 k have cheap. Xoverparts 

inductors instead of say a $$50 copper foil ,theyhave a $10 sledgehammer iron with wire wrapped around it Solen capacitors $3 resistors what a disgrace .

i just bought a pair of Qualio ultra Loudspeakers under $23k 

land built better then $30k loudspeakers . Top notch Jantzen Copper foil waxed paper inductors  Mundorf mid grade Evo aluminum foil oil for the Bass ,I  had them upgrade to clarity latest Purity caps  top mundorfwiringWBT connectors 

3 sets of WBT connectors on top they include several sets of mundorfsupreme resistors to adjust. The Mundorf AMT tweeter to your room , then 2 ndset for your main amp for speaker ,Or 3 rd set to run a separate amplifier dedicated for the woofers this is what I did , you can run a med power tube amp on top and a moderate SS amp for the woofers . The only headache is now running in the Loudspeaker drivers and thesemuch bigger capacitors , ijust let it play for a  week

capacitors to an very much Taylor the sound. Ifi am not totally satisfied I will put in maybe Mundorf supreme silver oil , but pricy about $1400 for just 3 capacitors per speaker x2. Danny Ritchie knows what he is doing  but uses not too much  better then average parts vs what I use IMO Go to  Humble homemade hifi capacitor test 

and ratings rom 7-15  for capacitors , many companies use cheap brass with thin gold plating . Copper is a 3x better conductor then brass which is too on the brighter side ,seen often in electronics everything in my system is gold overCopper 

do it right 1x and be done with it .

More to discover