The GR Research V-1
I initially purchased the coax drivers for this speaker to determine if I liked the sound enough to move forward with the rest of the build, namely the servo bass system. I decided that the coax sounded very good and ran a pair with a single 15” Augie for nearly a year. This combination was good and I thought I was getting a feel for what the V-1 sounded like, I was wrong.
During the year that I was running the coaxes and Augie I was making other changes to my system. I built a faux wall behind the speakers that was full of 8lb 3” rockwool, I built a ClassD amp and a Dodd Buffer. Of these changes, the Dodd Buffer and the ClassD remain, the wall is gone.
When I first completed the V-1s and had them in the room the typical “WOW, these are great!” took over and I happily listened this way for a few days. As I listened I realized that something was wrong, the air was completely missing from the music. Some of the highs were there but the music sounded bland, flat. I toyed around with placement, I elevated the rear of the speaker to eliminate the 3% tilt and changed my seating position, none of these things helped. I did not recall having these issues when simply running the coaxes and Augie so I was at a bit of a loss as to what could be wrong. I had rebuilt the crossovers when I finished the V-1s so I started going back over those to verify I hadn't wired something incorrectly. I was on the verge of sending Danny pics of my crossovers so he could verify I hadn't wired something incorrectly when it hit me, it was so obvious that I couldn't believe I hadn't considered it earlier, the wall had to be the culprit even though I hadn't experienced “lack of air” previously with the coaxes and Augie. I am still not 100% certain why the wall didn't bother me earlier but I now believe it was due to 2 issues, I didn't have the same amount of bass to balance/counteract the high frequencies coming from the coax, and the coaxes were mounted a few inches lower with the tweeter at or just below ear level.
After I removed the wall, VIOLA!, there was air and the type of sound I had expected. I removed the shims from below the rear spike to put the 3% tilt back into play and it was juuust right. I had imaging and a better soundstage than I had previously experienced in this room, all was good.
I mentioned jokingly to my wife that I wanted to let these speakers live in our great room, I have always wanted a larger space to listen to music in and the great room is a nice size (16x28), much to my surprise she said fine! I commenced to moving the speakers into the great room (no easy feet as these are quite heavy) along with the rest of my equipment. The sound was outstanding, wide open room filling musical goodness, and this was with no formal setup. Of course as soon as she saw how far out the speakers needed to sit out from the wall the experiment was terminated.
Taking everything back into my office was when it happened. When setting the speakers back in place I changed the placement slightly, only about 1.5” for one of the corners of the speakers (I was getting tired at this point and getting aggravated with trying to get this heavy speaker into the “right” location) , this modified the tow-in a bit, when I powered up there it was, everything had locked into place and this was the new best sound I have had in this room, really the best sound I have had and perhaps heard from any stereo system.
For me these speakers do it all, they have great tonality, they can play louder than I can stand without any noticeable compression (I have had sound levels up to 105dB), and they can play very quietly and still maintain the music, however to make this happen I have to switch the sub amps from auto to on so they come on. These speakers are unlike any I have previously owned in that regardless of the sound level they sound consistently great!
You may have noticed I haven't mentioned the outstanding bass that these speakers and Danny's servo bass systems deliver, well, it is there in abundance! This is some of the best bass I have ever heard (and I have a 4x15" AEIB infinite baffle setup driven by a 2400 watt amp in my HT), it adds to the music in every dimension. I stated earlier that I though I would get a feel for this speaker by listening to the coaxes, not even close. This speakers plays well above the sum of it's parts. I was not expecting the level of improvement that going from the coax and Augie to the complete V-1 offered. There is a synergy here that just works, this is a incredibly musical speaker that can play anything you can throw at it (or at least what I have thrown at it) with ease and without ever feeling you are reaching the V-1s limits.
In case you haven't noticed I am very happy with my decision to build this speaker, it does everything I ask of it with aplomb. It wasn't always that way, but once I worked through some room and setup issues it is everything I had hoped for and better in many ways, primarily the pure musicality it offers, it's dynamic capabilty, the sound-stage, imaging, the “you are there” experience, having someone in the room singing (that one was a bit too realistic on one recording and had me suddenly looking over my shoulder from my desk) and many other things you typically read in reviews, this speaker has done it all for me.
There are many things I could go on spouting off about but I think I have bored you enough. If you can DIY and are looking for a great speaker to build, I highly recommend this one. Thanks Danny!
Best,
Ed
My setup is currently made up of the following:
Egreat M32a NMT (network media tank) running MPD> Glass fiber optic cable> Havana DAC with WE396a tube> Morrow Audio MA-1> Dodd DIY Buffer with GE 5751 tube> homemade IC using magnet wire> ClassD 120 watt amp> V-1
Servo Amps feeding the 12” servo sub pair in each speaker
My room is 10.5'x12.5'. Yes, you can get outstanding sound from a large speaker in a small room, if it's OB anyway!
edit:
Rereading what I have written above I realize I haven't mentioned one of the things I love about this speaker. The bass is incredibly articualte as you have read in other reviews of this speaker series, but one thing that has really stood out for me is the quality and lifelike sound of the treble, specifically cymbals and chimes. No tizzy vaguely metallic sound here, the sound rings true, differences in various types of cymbles and what they are being struck with is easily recognizable.
