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

as analog engineer, I would advise to be careful to just switch existing x-over components w/ “better” ones, because in many speaker designs x-over components parasitics are counted in speaker’s design optimization process. in my speaker design flow I characterize driver, inside actual cabinet w/ damping materials, by measuring complex impedance vs. frequency at desired power, and then I create RLC model for my circuit simulator, used for design new “perfect” x-over circuit. 

 

Now THAT is interesting @westcoastaudiophile. Can you elaborate on crossover component "parasitics?

 

very funny ! $28K speakers and he had to fix them ! they had serious issues ! LOL  🤣 "The $27,900 disappointment? Wilson Audio Watt Puppy 8 issues..."
I spent $28K  for speakers? i would expect perfect!    they are FAR from it ! 

https://youtu.be/Tma9jFZ3-3k?si=i8RMcHqUAa6Towj-
 

surely @bdp24: 

discrete capacitors and inductors can be represented in circuit simulator as RLC first/second/third order models, where R is ESR (equivalent series resistance), which in ideal capacitors/inductors is very low (TanD below ~0.01). high volume manufacturers use cheaper than ideal components, and count on ESR as “free” resistor in series with inductors/capacitors, which is added to actual resistors in mid/high legs of x-over circuit. replacing “so-so” performance capacitors and inductors in x-over circuit with excellent ones will increase resonances, if circuit is not recalculated and other related components not changed.

saying that I am not against replacing aged/degraded components in x-over part, if you know what you are doing. 

 

Danny Richie makes a point of stating that crossovers cannot be correctly done in simulated circuits, but only by using them with the intended drivers that are mounted in the intended enclosure, then doing acoustic measurements. Of course the crossover parts have to be matched left speaker to right, the matching being done electronically.