I first heard about Danny and GR Research through his YouTube videos. From there I found Jason the Audiophile Junkie and followed his progress building the NX-Tremes. I have been an electrostatic guy for years with Sanders 10Cs as my current speaker for the last few years. Generally, e-stats have muted dynamics, and require copious power. I was running 750wpc, with advice to go to 2k per side. I decided to give OB a shot.
I ordered my NX-Tremes and the Triple Threats last summer. With the ever-lingering supply chain issue, it took a few months to get everything. I received the subs first and started assembly in September of last year. I glued up the first sub with nary a hitch and began the second.
Rookie mistake #1- CRAP! I discovered that the "thick" MDF was actually thin MDF that had NOT been glued! I tried to separate the panels on the first one, and found it impossible, so I assumed they were glued. Not so. The second sub got a proper gluing, and I did my best to get glue between the long panels on the first unit.
After glue-up, I agonized over the finish. Eventually, I decided to do the Duratex finish, as it is reasonably attractive, durable, and forgiving.
Lesson #2- two-tone Duratex is a PITA to do. Tape doesn't seal well to a textured surface, and my OCD went crazy trying for perfection. It looks good, but not great up close.
Installing the drivers was a bit of a challenge because the pilot holes did not line up very well. My suggestion is that you drill your own pilot holes, and that the supplier only dimple reference marks to keep the drivers all aligned.
On to the NX-Tremes!
Since I had recent experience, the NX-Tremes went fairly smoothly. I decided to pre-paint the interior panels because I thought it would be difficult to get the texture even on all the interior surfaces. In retrospect, I probably made it more work than necessary.
Glue-up and driver installation went well. I did have the help of my son to accelerate the gluing process and help me to stand up each tower for final clamping.
Wiring was fairly easy but pay close attention to the schematics posted elsewhere on this Circle. Cutting and installing the No-Rez was a bit messy, but easily accomplished with a Dewalt cordless 4 1/2" circular saw. A table saw would be easy as well, but the lightweight Dewalt was a breeze to use. I used RockBall's cut sheets. I did add some pieces on the curved sections that were a bit tricky to cut, but overall, the NoRez is easy.
You can see where I get my inspiration for the color.
On to the sound!
In a word??? Spectacular! It took me forever to integrate the subs and towers, but once I got positionaing correct, it came together nicely. I will accept suggestions, of course, to further improve, if possible.
My room is 28x26x10. I have the towers at the 1/3 length position, and the subwoofers approximately the 1/3 width, 1/5th length positions. The towers are toed so that the tweeters point just outside my shoulders.
Soundstage width is spectacular. Soundstage depth is nearly the same. Frequency response is fairly even with extremely satisfying bass. Bass that is very different from what I was used to, but mesmerizing, nonetheless.
Finally,
Stupid mistake #3- When updating ANYTHING in your preamp's firmware, SHUT OFF your amplifiers! $200 and 2 new GR Neo3 tweeters later, I have learned that lesson!
NOTE: I couldn't get the pictures to rotate, my apologies for all the cricks in necks.
