Green Mountain Audio Chroma HX

@dbb

Interesting that your Green Mountain Audio Chromas use Seas 29TTFF/W tweeters.

Mine uses the seas H1462-06 27TDFNC/GW.

Have you tried swapping out the woofer or modifying the crossover?

Despite the usual rule that ferro fluid damped tweeters dont need impedance compensation I do not agree that it applies to this tweeter. You can hear and feel the amount of energy coming through by touching the tweeter dome.

The only way to improve this speaker is by replacing that woofer in there. It’s not just that it's low quality, it’s not designed to work in small boxes like the chroma.

That’s why youre not getting any decent bass weight out of these speakers.

@rebbi 

 

I don’t currently own any of Roy’s speakers,

why not?
What made you decide not to buy them?

Actually yes I am averse because I know what your motive is for asking me about my room which is to then blame the room and discredit me.

You have to remember that the green mountain audio distributor brought the speakers over and set them up himself for a demo. 
He then stayed with me the whole time while I listened to them. He never mentioned anything about the room.
You also have to remember that I've had many other speakers in the same room. The problems with the room still did not prevent me from enjoying some of the sound.
I even took the speakers outdoors and tried another room. Neither changed the outcome. 

@golferscochran

what are their weaknesses? they can’t be perfect surely.
No matter how good you think they sound now, do you not think they would sound even better if those weaknesses were put right?

What green mountain audio is doing with these HX versions of their rios is they’re selling the same product with minor alterations under a different name.
This is nothing new. Many products that are sold, have packaging that changes over time even if the product remains the same.

The original Rio speakers suffered from a mid forwardness due to a improperly tuned crossover causing lobing.

This was subsequently addressed in their newer models that they called RIO II.

The HX versions are just for marketing reasons. There are no double blind tests to prove their claim that there’s any audible difference from better quality wires and components.

The other major problem with these speakers is the bass response. This has not been addressed in any of the various versions of the Rio

Kenjit, can you describe your room and amplifier? Assuming dbb and Mr. Cochran are not deaf, it is possible that there is a serious problem elsewhere in your system that you are mistakenly attributing to the Chromas.

Audiokinesis,  it's been a long time since I bought the chromas. It's beyond the point where I'm trying to figure out why they don't sound good. I have already discovered why they don't satisfy me.

The main mistakes / reasons are :

1. Wrong box / woofer combination 
2. The tweeter used in mine were not impedance corrected and not rolling off sufficiently. 
3. Crossover was not optimised 

Have you seen the measurements?

I asked green mountain but they refused.

Tell us about your room and your amp.

That would be off topic. This is about the green mountain chroma speakers. Not rooms or amps. I tried different rooms and had the same problem. How do you explain that? How do you explain that the green mountain authorized dealership came round and set them up using the same room and amp and made no comments about them?
Where is the proof that the green mountain chroma speakers are time and phase coherent?  Where is the proof it's response is flat? Where is the proof the cabinet is inert and free of resonances? 
Where is the proof that using a smaller box for that woofer brings any advantages?  have you heard the speakers?  Taken them apart? Modified them? I've done all those things. I know what I'm talking about. Putting a woofer into a cabinet changes it's response in the upper range. Do you agree? Therefore a 0.21mh coil will not automatically result in perfect first order acoustic roll off. That inductance is arrived at for an electrical 4 ohm load at 3khz crossover point. To get a first order roll off, you'd need to measure the raw woofer in the cabinet. Then you'd need to do a series of simulations to get the desired acoustic slope. Where is the proof this has been done? It obviously doesn't look like it has. So why is it wrong for me to state that no measurements were made? 

Wikipedia says "Ad hominem, short for argumentum ad hominem, is a fallacious argumentative strategy whereby genuine discussion of the topic at hand is avoided by instead attacking the character, motive, or other attribute of the person making the argument,"

That sounds like what you're doing Audiokinesis. You accuse me of dishonesty and question my motives all the while avoiding addressing any of the criticsms I've made to justify my belief that the product is flawed.

I've made my points in the other green mountain audio topic.

If you want to respond to the points feel free. 

Yes I have owned chromas and I hated them. They are colored, have no bass or midbass and are harsh and unrefined. 

I have also taken them apart so I know exactly why they sound like this. 

They use a very cheap aurasound car woofer instead of a state of the art midwoofer from the likes of Scanspeak. 

They use a very cheap Seas tweeter. 

Now what's even worse is they use a single cap and coil as the crossover. Inexpensive ones at that, costing about $20 each.

The capacitor cannot prevent low frequencies from entering into the tweeter. Take a 10Uf cap and stick it on a woofer and see how far the woofer cone moves. This is the energy going into that SEAS  tweeter. Put your finger on the tweeter of the Rio and you can even feel the energy! Do it on any other high quality speaker and you wont feel a thing because they use a sharper order crossover slops which are much more phase cohesive. All that distortion makes the sound very harsh and cold.

Now, similarly the woofer has too much highs going into it and also what you get is lobing. With the Rios you have to be sat on the exact spot. If you stand up or sit lower the sound balance changes.

The cabinet of the rio is much smaller than it looks because the walls are too thick. The woofer sits in a thick baffle with no chamfering and the woofer actually needs a bigger volume which is why there's no bass.

Overall it's very overpriced considering the parts they use. If you like their sound, great. If you want high quality neutral uncolored sound look elsewhere.