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.
So if I took a $5000 speaker and used the exact same design but used film capacitors instead of polypropylene capacitors, would I hear a difference in the sound? Same question but change the dollar amount spent on the parts. Say the $500 crossover is replaced with a $5000 one. Would I hear a difference? And lastly if I redesigned the crossover completely with different numbers and slopes. Would I hear a difference? The answer is the same to all three questions.
Maybe. |
The original topic posed was clearly focused on passive crossovers. Off topic, active crossover as an alternative to passive opinion was introduced and you started pontificating about their unquestionable superiority
Going down that path demands more than just saying it is so. Yeah, a good start is objective measurements that provide proof of superior sound quality to justify first of all the additional cost. |
"Why should I upgrade when I can buy a better speaker?"
That is the title of a video Danny Richie posted a year ago, one I missed. It may answer some of the questions raised in this thread. Here it is:
https://youtu.be/kSOlxLvSR58?si=lE8ci1BobAp2g1QX
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Modifying audio components in general allows one to obtain exactly the results one desires, this presumes one knows exactly what they're seeking. Understanding how to achieve those results requires either the assistance of others who have specific knowledge and/or much experimentation. In the case of my Klipschorns there has been much knowledge accumulated over many decades, I relied on others for a pathway and then applied my own unique mods, result is I finally have my end game speaker.
My perspective on active vs passive, active is a science, passive is an art. Mods have always been about art for me, I rely on others to provide me with the science, my unique mods conform with good science. Passive mods is art in the sense one can find the perfect recipe via various combinations of high end caps, resistors, inductors, each which may have unique sonic qualities.
Danny provides both a general understanding and/or model specific guideline for speaker modifications. Funny how some think this is a disservice when in fact he's handing out research and knowledge free of charge, he's not requiring one to make purchase. |
