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.
For those who are truly interested, here is Danny Richie’s response to Andrew Robinson’s video regarding crossovers. The clips from Robinson’s related videos simply reveal that he (and his off-camera wife/girlfriend) is not a serious audiophile, and is in no way qualified to be considered a hi-fi reviewer/critic. IMO, as always.
https://youtu.be/OSCMw-lGwok?si=VX39SlTp3XRfN_0-
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Danny Richie is certainly a polarizing figure. I think that is his objective. After all Danny is in the business to make money. Danny gets well know speakers that have been in the wild for 20 plus years and measures them. Making claims that the designers are incompetent. I am sure some of the components have deteriorated or drifted. Also, manufacturing has gotten much better. Components are held to tighter tolerances and measuring equipment has gotten much better. Out of curiosity does Danny measure these speakers in an Anechoic chamber? I always take someone says with a grain of salt when the next words out of their mouth is for X amount of money I can make your unit sound better. If you believe in Danny, good for you. If you do not then that is your right! I think the high end community can survive. |
@chuck: Your question of "does Danny measure these speakers in an anechoic chamber?" suggests that you have not actually watched many of his videos. If you had, you would know the answer to that question. You make an argument against Danny by theorizing "I am sure some of the components have deteriorated or drifted. Also, manufacturing has gotten much better. Components are held to tighter tolerances and measuring equipment has gotten much better." These are what we call specious arguments., the answers to which dispel your theories. Have you watched the video I just posted above? You really should, it’s full of a lot of accumulated speaker design wisdom. If you haven’t watched it, your opinion is of limited credibility and gravitas. IMO. It’s not a question of whether or not a person "believes in Danny", but rather if what he says holds up to serious scrutiny. We are all free to make that assessment for ourselves.
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Maybe Danny is a good speaker designer, but he is too slimy and strident to be taken seriously. He’s a YouTube buffoon like the cheapaudioman. If you want to pay $800 for an upgrade kit that consists of a few sheets of foam and $40 worth of Mouser components, go right ahead! I can’t speak for his speakers, but some are definitely well regarded by some folks. |
