[JDarby - Stereomojo.com]

Delayed because of our trek to RMAF and publishing the hundreds of pictures and comments (many yet to come), we have finally published the measurements to all 11 speakers in the shootout.

This takes you to the whole Shootout:
http://www.stereomojo.com/Small%20Speaker%20Shootout%202007/SmallSpeakerShootout2007Part1.htm


This takes you to just the measurements:

[urlhttp://www.stereomojo.com/Small%20Speaker%20Shootout%202007/StereomojoSmallSpeakerShootout2007Measurements.htm][/url]


What do you guys think our next shootout should be?


JD

[miklorsmith]

Why is this thread posted in the GR Research Circle?  Because they did the measurements?  It seems this should be in "Audio Central" or somesuch.

[Danny Richie]

I hosted the shoot out and took all the measurements. So I don't have any issue with James posting a link in my forum.

I think there was also another link in Audio Central or Industry Talk or something.

[KCI-JohnP]

What do you guys think our next shootout should be?

Cables!
Tube amps $5K or less.
Tweaks $100 or less.
Power conditioners.....

A few ideas to start. The shootout was fun and very fair. Danny and James did a great job on keeping the playing field level and making it interesting as well, thanks for the invite!

Sincerely,
John

[mcullinan]

Danny,
great job.. Very thorough.
mike

[gitarretyp]

Thanks for taking the time to do this. I'm a little surprised with how poorly many of the commercial designs measure, though not terribly so.

Looking at the measurements, some of the speakers would clearly sound better off-axis either horizontally or vertically. For instance, the unity speakers have a smoother response (thought it lacks top end extension) at about 20 degrees. Was this taken into account during the listening tests? Also, i saw noted in the measurements section that one of the silverlines was faulty. It might be a good idea to note this earlier in the review, else people may glean the wrong impression about them.

[Danny Richie]

Looking at the measurements, some of the speakers would clearly sound better off-axis either horizontally or vertically. For instance, the unity speakers have a smoother response (thought it lacks top end extension) at about 20 degrees. Was this taken into account during the listening tests?

Not everyone was on axis due to seating, but I don't think it would have changed much in that instance.

Also, i saw noted in the measurements section that one of the silverlines was faulty. It might be a good idea to note this earlier in the review, else people may glean the wrong impression about them.

I actually sent full measurements of that one taken from the better of the two speakers. That speaker was fine and the measurements should accurately represent that speaker. I'll try to get James to post those.

We didn't know that one was actually faulty until we started listening and it really wasn't apparent at first. It wasn't until we put a little power to it that it let us know that something wasn't right. It sounded like one of the wires from the terminals to the woofer cone had come loose and was slapping against the cone or something.

At lower volumes it sounded okay, so we backed it down a little and kept going with it. For all the panel knew we were just over driving it. A couple of the other speakers had pretty limited power handling too.

[MaxCast]

shootout:
DAC's under a grand.

[Kevin Haskins]

What type of smoothing was used in the measurements Danny?

[Danny Richie]

An industry standard 1/3 octave smoothing was applied.

[csc]

At lower volumes it sounded okay, so we backed it down a little and kept going with it. For all the panel knew we were just over driving it. A couple of the other speakers had pretty limited power handling too.

At what point did you back down the power during the session?  Does this mean the speakers were not level matched?

[Danny Richie]

Each pair of speakers were run through a very high quality switching box built by Dodd Audio. It used high quality wiring, Cardas solid Copper binding post, and a high quality stepped attenuator that was in the signal path before the amp on the speaker with the highest sensitivity. There was a spring loaded switch that was used to select between speakers A or B, between song segments, or on the fly (instantly). It worked really well.

All speakers were level matched to the pair being compared (to each other). If we pull the power back on one pair it is pulled back on the other pair as well. Regardless of where we set the volume the pair being compared had the same output level.

[Kevin Haskins]

Shows how well a simple FR measurement, on & off-axis are a predictor of perceived sound quality.      Did you do any low frequency measurements via a ground plane or other methods?   

Nice work by the way... that takes a lot of effort to get everything set up.

[Danny Richie]

Did you do any low frequency measurements via a ground plane or other methods?

Nope. It's time consuming enough just to do the basics.

Nice work by the way... that takes a lot of effort to get everything set up.

Thanks Kevin. It was a lot of work, but it was fun too.

[AdamM]

Thanks so much for sharing all this data and all the hard work.  Very cool, very enlightening, and very much appreciated 

[csc]

Each pair of speakers were run through a very high quality switching box built by Dodd Audio. It used high quality wiring, Cardas solid Copper binding post, and a high quality stepped attenuator that was in the signal path before the amp on the speaker with the highest sensitivity. There was a spring loaded switch that was used to select between speakers A or B, between song segments, or on the fly (instantly). It worked really well.

All speakers were level matched to the pair being compared (to each other). If we pull the power back on one pair it is pulled back on the other pair as well. Regardless of where we set the volume the pair being compared had the same output level.

Thanks Danny.

The attenuator was before the amp.  So did you have seperate amps for each of the two sets of speakers?

[Danny Richie]

One set of mono-block amps were used for both pairs of speakers. These mono-blocks.



With speakers "A" selected the signal goes straight from the pre-amp, to the amps, through the switch box, and to the speakers. When selecting speakers "B" the switch not only switches speaker outputs after the amps, but inserts the stepped attenuator before the amps to slightly attenuate the louder of the two speakers so that the levels were matched. So the signal goes from pre-amp, to stepped attenuator in the switch box, to the amps, through the switch box, and then to the speakers.

See back of switch box.

[miklorsmith]

The Skiing Ninja website says they're working on speaker projects with GR.  Was this one of those projects?  If so, the great measured performance is clearly a product of rigorous engineering chops.

[csc]

One set of mono-block amps were used for both pairs of speakers. These mono-blocks.



With speakers "A" selected the signal goes straight from the pre-amp, to the amps, through the switch box, and to the speakers. When selecting speakers "B" the switch not only switches speaker outputs after the amps, but inserts the stepped attenuator before the amps to slightly attenuate the louder of the two speakers so that the levels were matched. So the signal goes from pre-amp, to stepped attenuator in the switch box, to the amps, through the switch box, and then to the speakers.

See back of switch box.

Got it....that seems to be a nice solution!

[Danny Richie]

The Skiing Ninja website says they're working on speaker projects with GR.  Was this one of those projects?

Sean is basically offering crossover upgrades at various levels (and No Rez) for most AV123 speakers. You can order the parts, assembled crossovers, or on this model a full install of his mods.

If so, the great measured performance is clearly a product of rigorous engineering

Thanks,

The basic version measures exactly the same as well.