[JasonCC]

I may be way off base, as I have someone make me these speakers. We got the flat pack, no rez, and every upgrade. I was just wondering if there is a better or updated driver that may give just a touch more low-end. I originally bought 2 kits pre covid and they sat in the garage a good bit. I had to replace one driver, Using REW I could make one mid-bass driver distort, swap driver, and good as gold. Just wondering what options I may have.

Jason

[S Clark]

The crossover is designed for that woofer.  The box is designed for that woofer.  Change the woofer, you are most likely to change the design.   
The more expensive M-165NQ has a different FR curve... 
So most likely, if you want more bass, add a subwoofer. 

[VinceT]

The bass should be there, it just doesn't hang around with Danny's designs; unless like you said you mentioned some of the drivers could have gotten damaged sitting around and gotten damp.

Even my little LX-Encores have decent bass, it is quick not thick; let alone the towers. When I run my LX-Encores with subs, they really don't have to do all the much; just the very bottom. sometimes I do bring my subs up a little higher and overlap the mains to thicken the low end, especially with streamed music since I just use my AVR and the DAC is midfi.

[fre11111]

I may be way off base, as I have someone make me these speakers. We got the flat pack, no rez, and every upgrade. I was just wondering if there is a better or updated driver that may give just a touch more low-end. I originally bought 2 kits pre covid and they sat in the garage a good bit. I had to replace one driver, Using REW I could make one mid-bass driver distort, swap driver, and good as gold. Just wondering what options I may have.

Jason

Hi Jason,

I owned and built both the XLS Bookshelfs and the XSLS Floorstanders. Both of them have decent bass and the towers even better. If you are looking for something that goes substantially lower you might need to think about adding a subwoofer. It is always not practical to use a single 6" driver to produce those lower frequencies. Another option is to use the X-MTM as it is a bigger speaker with more drivers.

Frederick

[listenermark]

I have the bookshelves and the towers and find they both play nice with a couple of sealed 12 inch subs.

[JasonCC]

Thanks all, I figured as much but was just wondering if there may be some silent updates to the original driver since the time of purchase. The woofer that was distorting with tones had a spot on the surround that seemed very loose and that may have happened sitting around.

These are in a 10,5 X13ish dedicated room that is treated pretty well, all walls have at least 2 24x48 GIK panels and 2 hanging as clouds.

Don't get me wrong the sounds bloody amazing, but we all get an upgrade bug now and then, I bought myself a MiniDSP Flex to play around with and I do have an SVS SB1000 not in use

[Danny Richie]

Those woofers are top notch and ideal for the application. Adding a sub is the best way to make them full range.

I would not advise using a MiniDSP in the signal path to the main speakers, but it might be useful to balance out your subs if you have some room issues in that range.

[Glady86]

I went through a period of measuring and eq using  miniDSP products. Unless the speakers are designed to use eq like my Ep 4.7 are I wouldn’t recommend it. They add noise and degrade the signal. GR Research speakers shouldn’t need any eq other than the subwoofers. Room treatments should be what you focus on.

[Tyson]

I went through a period of measuring and eq using  miniDSP products. Unless the speakers are designed to use eq like my Ep 4.7 are I wouldn’t recommend it. They add noise and degrade the signal. GR Research speakers shouldn’t need any eq other than the subwoofers. Room treatments should be what you focus on.

+1

[JasonCC]

Do any of you have experience with the MidiDSP Flex (I know the older ones weren't good) Right now I just have a low pass at 40 on them sounds fantastic.

My other path is an Akitika Z4, Chord Qutest DAC, Schiit Sage Pre, and just seems to control the movement of the woofer a bit, I'll post some pics.

[Danny Richie]

Do any of you have experience with the MidiDSP Flex (I know the older ones weren't good) Right now I just have a low pass at 40 on them sounds fantastic.

My other path is an Akitika Z4, Chord Qutest DAC, Schiit Sage Pre, and just seems to control the movement of the woofer a bit, I'll post some pics.

I would advise keeping stuff like that out of the signal path.

[Presb4]

I have and use the MiniDSP Studio SHD on a daily basis and don't find it causes any deterioration to the SQ. I'm not saying it cant, it will if not used conservatively.

I do not like using DSP in the analog domain, that does sound like poo. But I have had succusses using it in the digital domain combined with Dirac Live, (digital in ->MiniDSP -> digital out -> to my DAC). I have a number of saved profiles set up on it.

On the model I have you can have 4 different saved profiles and are switchable via remote. I have one for a bit of bass boost below 100Hz and another profile that mimics Loudness for late night low volume listening when others are in bed.

The most important thing I learned in using a MiniDSP is you have to leave some head room in the output. So I run mine at -15 to -20db before turning on and using any of the profiles. If and when I want to do some critical listening just push the DSP off button and boom your back to normal. I appreciate those who dont like the idea of using DSP because they experienced SQ deterioration, I have no reason to doubt what they experienced, but that has not been my experience using it before the analog path.