Interesting ASR review of small GR Research speaker kit

"The design of those speakers is just dumb." What's dumb is taking a speaker designed to be used in a specific manner for a specific application and testing it completely inappropriately. @seikosha said the same above, and he is correct. It's like testing a single-ended tube amp putting out 3 watts with a low sensitivity loudspeaker. Gee, it sounds distorted, what a surprise. Duh.

GR Research offers other models for non-desktop use, ones with larger drivers that play louder and lower. No one can break the rules of basic physics. A 12" woofer on a desk top?!.

Yes, Danny Richie is a fan and proponent of open baffle loudspeakers, but they are not appropriate for desk top use. Is he not allowed to suspend that preference to make products for which open baffle is not appropriate?

"They might be ok in the extreme near field (1-2' desk speakers)." I'll give @james633 the benefit of the doubt and assume he is unaware that THAT is the exact application for which the speaker being discussed was designed and offered. Yet Amir reviewed it as if it is a "normal" full range loudspeaker. Does he also test off road tires on the race track?

Like OP has mentioned earlier, GR admits his ignorance and provides the update ... Amir’s comments are correct. Attack to Amir’s comments and disrespect got to end here, folks.

I’ve realized the best way to get fantastic sounding speakers is to build them yourself - if you have the skills.. a mass produced product can not compete cost effectively in terms of cabinet design/build quality.

I build the meniscus Helios in similar fashion to Javad’s design, and they have blown me away. Just amazing.

GR admits his ignorance and provides the update

I am not quite sure how you get this from the video. From the 1 minute 20 second mark to about 3 minutes he explains exactly what others have said above. These speakers were designed for near field desk top type of listening and were never intended to be full range or to play loud. Both of which Amir did. Without coming out and directly saying it, Danny is saying that the speaker was tested improperly. 

Attack to Amir’s comments and disrespect got to end here, folks.

When you are wrong and deserve to be called out, you should be called out. He was wrong and deserved to be called out in this case. 

Some of you are seeing what I see. Others are just issuing more broadsides against Amir and ASR and measurement in general. Or singing paeans to how your system makes you feel, measurements be damned. Interesting — shows how audio is both scientific and religious, depending on the particular audiophile. 

For my own part, what I liked about this video — and some of the stuff on Audioholics, too — is that they go through a topic and says, "There is this issue, and here's the evidence and the conclusion….and now there is this *other* issue, etc." They may go ahead an add all that evidence up and give a product evaluation, overall, too. But what is important to me is each separate piece of evidence.

I have learned a lot from technical information about speakers, amps, etc. I have learned a lot by listening. The notion that I would throw out an entire class of methodology just because there are *some* who are measurement-only (or listening-only) zealots is ridiculous. I'd prefer Jefferson's approach to the Bible — cut out the speculative metaphysics and leave the sensible stuff. You don't throw out the whole Bible because you think the afterlife and sin stuff is just B.S.