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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
bdp24's avatar
bdp24 OP
10,487 posts
 

 

Like some others here, my current main loudspeaker---the Eminent Technology LFT-8b---employs a midrange driver (a push-pull planar-magnetic design) with no crossover in it’s passband: 180Hz to 10kHz, with 1st-order (6dB/octave) high and low-pass filters at those frequencies, handing off to a sealed dynamic woofer for frequencies below 180Hz and a ribbon tweeter for 10kHz up.

For those who want improved bass response, the Rythmik Audio/GR Research Open Baffle/Dipole Servo-Feedback Woofer (unlike all "normal" subs, it may be used up to 300Hz) may be used in place of the LFT-8b’s stock woofer (the LFT-8b includes dual pairs of binding posts, one for the woofer). Magnepan has been working on their own dipole subwoofer for a few years now (Wendell Diller has long insisted that non-dipole subs "Do not work"---Wendell’s exact words---with a dipole loudspeaker). Magnepan owners: no need to wait for it!

The OB/Dipole Woofer includes a plate amp that provides all the controls the Eminent Technology LFT-8c does (the 8c uses the same planar magnet-drivers as does the 8b, but a dipole---though non-open baffle---woofer in place of the 8b’s monopole), but operates in the analogue domain. The 8c operates digitally.

 

mambacfa
110 posts
 

I had a set of very nice speakers that were also offered in a "reference" edition (for an additional $900.) Curious about upgrading them, I spoke with the manufacturer who advised on the components, and I replaced the caps and resistors with parts costing $450; these were the same brands as the ones int he upgraded model but much higher in quality. I didn't hear a significant difference. 

tcutter's avatar
tcutter
396 posts
 

And then there's Wilson Benesch who run their midrange directly coupled to the amp, i.e., no crossover, and use primarily first order electronic crossovers or acoustic crossovers. 

The best crossover is no crossover, followed by an acoustic crossover. 

KISS

lous's avatar
lous
212 posts
 

My biggest issue with Danny is that he offers "better" kits. I'm no resistors guru, but they, caps, and coils actually do make differences, often significant differences. That said, he uses okay caps. Sonicaps are bettered by many others. Some ClarityCaps are much better, not to mention Myflex and V-Cap ODAMs. Were I running the business it probably would never have gotten off the ground, but I would offer good, better, best as Radio Shack did for several decades.

Having said all of that, one suggested leaving speakers stock. Remember, all audio is personal. I know a fellow who has serious loss of high frequencies. If it doesn't send me out of the room covering my ears it just doesn't sound good to him. 

So, if you are content, ignore and enjoy. If not, see if Danny can hook you up. If not, you can go lone ranger, and depending upon your skill set, and test setup, you may better Danny's kits. My son recently purchased a speaker. I looked at the crossover and suggested 3 solutions, all of them included Mills resistors, I am not a resistors guru. The good included ClarityCap MR MPK caps. Better used ClarityCap CMR MPK caps, while the best and by far the most expensive used V-Cap ODAMs. My insane cap upgrades include ODAMs bypassed with V-Cap CuTF caps for slightly improved highs. 

The bottom line though is that truly bright is going to be right for some. IME many consider transparent or neutral to be bright, and many consider "warm" to be dull. What "others" consider is right should only influence you if you are building the system to please others, which you'll likely never do if they are the least bit selective in their listening. So, try to build a system that you believe that you will enjoy. Don't worry about pleasing others. Where music is concerned, tastes just differ.

sns
4,218 posts
 

I believe Danny will substitute an individual's choice of caps for the Sonicaps, recently saw one of his videos with Duelund CAST caps loaded on crossover.  Physical space limitations are generally the greatest issue with using the best of best film caps, Sonicaps much smaller footprint, this, as well as cost likely the reason they seem to be de facto replacement cap.

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