GR Research Hot topic?

[Hetfield]

Danny is a very nice guy. .BUT...........

He uses his smooth talking and nice personality, combined with some actual GOOD advice, to push some snake oil.

It is like the super friendly and nice used car salesman. He will eventually get you to buy, even if you are on the fence.....

I just watched a video again yesterday where he was pushing, swearing by expensive cables and cables making a huge difference. Honest that crap makes me want to puke.

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[Am_P]

I built GR's X-LS Encore speaker kit for my 2 channel setup and it sounds exquisite.

If I had another speaker from a different manufacturer who really cheesed out on parts quality and a 200ish dollar upgrade kit makes it sound better, I would gladly do it. I am not required to live forever with the cheese from some manufacturer.

His diy speaker cable is fairly good quality and dirt cheap in comparison to all the multi-thousand dollar snakeoil wire out there. If I want a good quality cheap cable, I'd go with his diy cable. I don't buy into any of the sonic miracle nonsense from anyone marketing cables however.

Overall, the stuff from GR is very affordable and not there to rob the audio enthusiast's wallet.

 

[howmanyru]

I have watched a few of GR videos now, not really my cup of tea. His MDF boxes are very expensive for a CNC cut sheet of material. I think he would make loads more profit from the cabinets than anything else. I don't know how much better exotic caps and cables make to the sound quality. There would be a point of diminishing returns that most people would accept. However if budget is no limit then why not sell stuff to these people? I once changed the cheap cable from my amp to my Gale speakers from $1 wire to nice $5 wire, AND soldered it directly to the speaker, bypassing the terminals. Wow, it made a huge difference that even a noob like myself could hear. However I really doubt $500 cables would get me the significant gains per $ that the $5 cable provided.

 

[kevintomb]

I built GR's X-LS Encore speaker kit for my 2 channel setup and it sounds exquisite.

If I had another speaker from a different manufacturer who really cheesed out on parts quality and a 200ish dollar upgrade kit makes it sound better, I would gladly do it. I am not required to live forever with the cheese from some manufacturer.

His diy speaker cable is fairly good quality and dirt cheap in comparison to all the multi-thousand dollar snakeoil wire out there. If I want a good quality cheap cable, I'd go with his diy cable. I don't buy into any of the sonic miracle nonsense from anyone marketing cables however.

Overall, the stuff from GR is very affordable and not there to rob the audio enthusiast's wallet.

You sound like the kind of guy, that Danny is waiting for!

 

[Am_P]

You sound like the kind of guy, that Danny is waiting for!

Should i show extreme loyalty to every manufacturer and brand name that spits out a cheeseheaded speaker? Should i not EVER upgrade its components with something of a higher quality? Do i have the right to do so?

Do you know a lot about Danny Ritchie? and do you know a lot more about speaker design than him?

 

[Hetfield]

Should i show extreme loyalty to every manufacturer and brand name that spits out a cheeseheaded speaker? Should i not EVER upgrade its components with something of a higher quality? Do i have the right to do so?

Do you know a lot about Danny Ritchie? and do you know a lot more about speaker design than him?

I do, he sells snake oil pushing expensive cables. That's all I need to know. Just like PS Audio selling thousand dollar cables. Anyone who pushes that garbage is not a serious person and is worse, a deceiver milking people for expensive cables.

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[Am_P]

I do, he sells snake oil pushing expensive cables. That's all I need to know. Just like PS Audio selling thousand dollar cables. Anyone who pushes that garbage is not a serious person and is worse, a deceiver milking people for expensive cables.

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Hmmm,, looks to me like his speaker cables are cheaper than Blue Jeans and Kimber cable which appear to be a standard around here. He is a cable believer though, which i'm not...But, that doesn't nullify for me his fairly affordable diy speaker kits that sound quite good.

 

[Hetfield]

Hmmm,, looks to me like his speaker cables are cheaper than Blue Jeans and Kimber cable which appear to be a standard around here. He is a cable believer though, which i'm not...But, that doesn't nullify for me his fairly affordable diy speaker kits that sound quite good.

Well it does to me. Anyone pushing cables as a difference maker is disqualified as being serious and has money on the line. That goes for this clown, PS Audio and Audioquest but there are many, many others.

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[lovinthehd]

Hmmm,, looks to me like his speaker cables are cheaper than Blue Jeans and Kimber cable which appear to be a standard around here. He is a cable believer though, which i'm not...But, that doesn't nullify for me his fairly affordable diy speaker kits that sound quite good.

Speaker cables from Kimber are rare around here, altho Gene bought some when they were more reasonably priced. Speaker cables are not rocket science, many of us simply buy in bulk and put our own terminations on them (if at all)....BlueJeans is a sponsor and one of the more reasonably priced high quality offerings around if you must buy something made for you. Some of Danny's kits cost as much as the speaker and the need for different crossover components is often way over-thought by tweakers.

 

[kevintomb]

Should i show extreme loyalty to every manufacturer and brand name that spits out a cheeseheaded speaker? Should i not EVER upgrade its components with something of a higher quality? Do i have the right to do so?

Do you know a lot about Danny Ritchie? and do you know a lot more about speaker design than him?

Danny..................is this YOU!

 

[kevintomb]

Hmmm,, looks to me like his speaker cables are cheaper than Blue Jeans and Kimber cable which appear to be a standard around here. He is a cable believer though, which i'm not...But, that doesn't nullify for me his fairly affordable diy speaker kits that sound quite good.

I agree his DIY Kits are quite Decent.

He pushes botique caps, that most feel are a total waste of money.

 

[Hetfield]

I agree his DIY Kits are quite Decent.

He pushes botique caps, that most feel are a total waste of money.

I've literally seen him say the crossover is well designed but "cheesy parts". If it's well designed why change anything? He'll even say the response is good but still changed out parts.
I was tempted a while back when I had RSL speakers to send one in just too see what he would say because I know they are well designed with good parts in the crossover.

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[Am_P]

Danny..................is this YOU!

Here's what you should do Kev.....To affirm your unwavering loyalty and subservience to the brand name cheese box some guy made for you (to earn his daily dime), you should get on the floor in front of it and do 10 prostrations everyday. Chant repeatedly as follows ... "I live for the grand cheese box you have provided, O grand cheese master, i give myself to thee". When you do that everyday, the cheese master's divine grace will flow through the power lines and make said cheese box sound even better. The soundstage will become huge and..and...and just consume you. All the microdetails will come through in a highly musical and organic fashion.

Meanwhile, i will get rid of the grand cheese and do the upgrades as i please.

 

[Hetfield]

Here's what you should do Kev.....To affirm your unwavering loyalty and subservience to the brand name cheese box some guy made for you (to earn his daily dime), you should get on the floor in front of it and do 10 prostrations everyday. Chant repeatedly as follows ... "I live for the grand cheese box you have provided, O grand cheese master, i give myself to thee". When you do that everyday, the cheese master's divine grace will flow through the power lines and make said cheese box sound even better. The soundstage will become huge and..and...and just consume you. All the microdetails will come through in a highly musical and organic fashion.

Meanwhile, i will get rid of the grand cheese and do the upgrades as i please.

I think we have our answer. The only clown that uses the word cheese to describe speakers. My, my are you upset.
And guess what there bubbles, he is getting your money so what's the difference. Everyone is trying to part us from our money , whether it's the speaker manufacturer or this clown with his "upgrades". Then again I suspect this is that said clown.

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[Billy106]

Just by association....alone, over the years I've spent on various forums I'd steer clear of him and his opinions.

My 2 cents

 

[Pandaman617]

So a while ago I paid GR to “upgrade” the crossover in an SVS Ultra center I was using for a bit. I asked him for before and after measurements and nothing ever came of it, once I got the speaker back the crossover was definitely modded but it’s response was identical to its OEM performance. Before I did the crossover upgrade, I was 99% sure it wasn’t going to make an audible difference and in terms of his videos of course the guy who runs the company is going to push the products he’s selling. But I’ve never seen any sort of tangible evidence his upgrade kits do anything other than continue to fund his campaign of nonsense. I believe GR was the OEM source for AV123 before they went under and years ago I went to audition a pair of their towers and that giant RS something center channel they made, however for the price they just didn’t cut it. You have to figure most of us on here are here because we want to increase and/or share our knowledge of home theater and loudspeaker setup, design, tweaks, etc but the majority of the users on here require quantifiable proof of any sort of mods or upgrades as should any consumer involved in the A/V world. Unfortunately there’s so many uneducated buyers out there that I believe we’re actually the minority. I’ve got the REW graphs and pics of the SVS before and after somewhere and if I can find them I’ll upload them, still working on making some graphs up for the MultiEQ-X & Audyssey App/Rat Buddy app comparison.

 

[Billy106]

One of my favorite quotes describing DR..."he's like a sailboat drifting in the ocean and the seagulls follow him"...
Pretty much sums that character up .. imo.

 

[-Jim-]

So a while ago I paid GR to “upgrade” the crossover in an SVS Ultra center I was using for a bit. I asked him for before and after measurements and nothing ever came of it, once I got the speaker back the crossover was definitely modded but it’s response was identical to its OEM performance. Before I did the crossover upgrade, I was 99% sure it wasn’t going to make an audible difference and in terms of his videos of course the guy who runs the company is going to push the products he’s selling. But I’ve never seen any sort of tangible evidence his upgrade kits do anything other than continue to fund his campaign of nonsense. I believe GR was the OEM source for AV123 before they went under and years ago I went to audition a pair of their towers and that giant RS something center channel they made, however for the price they just didn’t cut it. You have to figure most of us on here are here because we want to increase and/or share our knowledge of home theater and loudspeaker setup, design, tweaks, etc but the majority of the users on here require quantifiable proof of any sort of mods or upgrades as should any consumer involved in the A/V world. Unfortunately there’s so many uneducated buyers out there that I believe we’re actually the minority. I’ve got the REW graphs and pics of the SVS before and after somewhere and if I can find them I’ll upload them, still working on making some graphs up for the MultiEQ-X & Audyssey App/Rat Buddy app comparison.

Was it your SVS Center he used for development of his "improved" crossover? If I remember correctly, he only will take one speaker in for that; and provide before & after documentation to certify the performance improvement. For everyone else he sells them the crossover parts (and sometimes stuffing material and "sonic" tubes or whatever, and wire to connect to the speakers) in his kits. I assumed he sends the same test sheets from the first "beta" for that model.

It would be interesting to see your data.

 

[Hetfield]

I believe Danny said the crossover on the Ultra speakers was excellent and well designed but "cheesy parts". I don't know how those 2 things exist together? I believe he copied the exact crossover but with "better parts" but I again that all makes zero sense to me.

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[panteragstk]

I believe Danny said the crossover on the Ultra speakers was excellent and well designed but "cheesy parts". I don't know how those 2 things exist together? I believe he copied the exact crossover but with "better parts" but I again that all makes zero sense to me.

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If that's all he does, then what he really might be doing is prolonging the life of the crossover. I have no clue if they're susceptible to wear in a crossover like they are in an AVR or a PC motherboard, but when caps start to crap out, it's a problem. I know a guy who used to re-cap motherboards because he thought the caps made the voltage more stable.

He's also the only person I've ever seen do that, so take him being a crazy EE with too much free time with a grain of salt.