Interesting ASR review of small GR Research speaker kit
I bounce between various kinds of analysis — more subjective listening reports, more quantitative measurement analyses and, my favorite, those that combine both strategies to tell a useful story about audio products.
Amir of ASR has just done a very powerful takedown of a fairly inexpensive kit being sold by Danny at GR Research. Not only does he prove his point about the speakers, he also makes (to my mind) a very convincing case that Danny put his finger on the scale in how he reported his own measurements.
I'm not in any camp — Danny's or Amir's or anyone else's. What I appreciate is thoroughness and meticulousness in exposition. Danny does that in his own videos. (Again -- to me. I'm really still learning and cannot easily spot gaps in argument in this subject matter.)
I know people with some of GR's best kits — and I've heard one of them. They sounded incredible. I've watched a bunch of Danny's videos where he criticizes other companies; I've come away thinking, "Wow, he really revealed some of the grift embedded in that product."
But here, the tables are turned, it seems, on Danny. I hope he responds, both to defend his reputation and methods, but also because it will set in relief where some of the distance may be between these two dominant online figures' methods in assessing what makes for a good speaker.
ASR's comment about square edges on the cabinet. Look at the latest review in TAS, the Stenhiem $72,000 speaker has square edges, along with Harbeth and many others which I think are some of the ugliest speakers out there, and I don't like the sound of the 1's I have heard. We are talking about a $300 speaker here. Sure, the winding of the coil might not be perfect, the $100 woodwork might not be furniture grade, but it's a $300 speaker. |
We are talking about a $300 speaker, right? Not sure if ASR is up for reviewing speakers but if you look at the latest TAS issue that has the Stenhiem $72,000 speakers that he thought were the cats meow, and they had square edges, as well as many other speakers like Harbeth, which I think are very ugly and I don't like the sq, just my opinion. Ok the windings aren't perfect, the cabinet isn't furniture grade, but again, it's a $300 speaker. I think this reviewer might have a grudge against Danny/GR research |
I don't believe this is correct. Please corroborate your allegation with substantive evidence. |
Noske- that is just my opinion. Looking at the video, the reviewer didn’t like what Danny was telling him regarding how measurements are taken. I think this upset the reviewer. Plus, a while back, Danny called out reviewers for not doing appropriate tests for his speakers which also p$ssed off many reviewers. I have seen less intensive reviews for $100k speakers, all of this for a $300 speaker. |
