[The Dude]

It's my understanding that the crossovers in the US version of the Usher Be-718's have been upgraded by GR Research using higher quality parts. Does this result in improved sonics or has it been done to improve build quality?

[laserman]

I thought this was one of those "Cash Cab" trick questions, but then I realized it was straight up.  One could argue on either side of this issue.  However, if you were to improve build quality of the XO, then it should logically hold true that the sonics would be improved.   This may not be absolute in every incident, but in this instant case of the Be-718's -- it's absolutely true.  That is my final answer.    

L

[corndog71]

Heck, I recently upgraded the crossovers in a pair of Klipsch and Polk speakers and they both were transformed into much better sounding speakers.

[Danny Richie]

What happened was that they brought me one of those speakers to see what I could do to improve it as they wanted to take it to another performance level.

I threw everything out and designed an all new crossover for it. I also selected the type and brand of parts to use in it.

It improved the sonics to such a degree that those involved felt that the added cost was clearly justified.

It later won a ton of awards with just about every magazine that reviewed it. It even just recently topped Stereophile's class A recommendation list.

I am not sure how to answer if it improved the build quality. It certainly has higher parts quality in the crossover now, but the high quality work that went into the cabinet design and drivers (that are really world class) were unchanged.

[KS]

Heck, I recently upgraded the crossovers in a pair of Klipsch and Polk speakers and they both were transformed into much better sounding speakers.

I sent one of my Mission crossovers to Danny.  He measured the values and supplied far superior inductor coils and capacitors, reusing the original resistors.  The sound improvement is huge (including the use of No-Rez in the cabinet).  Of course, the better route would have been to send a speaker to him.  Even better, of course, is to build one of his, and I did...the NEO2-X.

[multibit16]

Any tips for us with the standard BE-718's unable to buy the ones with the upgraded crossovers? no upgrade kits seem to be available for those outside of the US which is a shame

[angelo]

Here's a quote from the 6moons review, http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/usher2/tinydancer.html

The Be-718s' crossover was actually designed by Mr. Tsai who chose the parts values. As we say, Dr. Joe -- everyone's favorite engineer -- tuned the crossover for the US market and Danny stuffs the boards with premium parts and JPS Labs cable. MusikMatters actually saves $300 to $400 dollars a pair this way!

How can they say that they are saving $300 - $400 if the crossover is actually being upgraded 

Also, if you "threw everything out and designed an all new crossover," does it mean that whatever "Mr. Tsai" and "Dr. Joe" did was completely replaced?

I think somebody from MusicMatters should be informed about this and give you the FULL CREDIT that you deserve.

P.S. I'm considering this speaker to replace my av123 onix ref3 unless you plan to redesign & upgrade the ref3 crossover through the ninja upgrade, then I might stick w/ the ref3 a little longer.

--
angelo

What happened was that they brought me one of those speakers to see what I could do to improve it as they wanted to take it to another performance level.

I threw everything out and designed an all new crossover for it. I also selected the type and brand of parts to use in it.

It improved the sonics to such a degree that those involved felt that the added cost was clearly justified.

It later won a ton of awards with just about every magazine that reviewed it. It even just recently topped Stereophile's class A recommendation list.

I am not sure how to answer if it improved the build quality. It certainly has higher parts quality in the crossover now, but the high quality work that went into the cabinet design and drivers (that are really world class) were unchanged.

[Danny Richie]

How can they say that they are saving $300 - $400 if the crossover is actually being upgraded 

Marketing maybe? I don't really know where that was coming from.

Also, if you "threw everything out and designed an all new crossover," does it mean that whatever "Mr. Tsai" and "Dr. Joe" did was completely replaced?

If you really want to get technical and compare the old network to the new one that I designed, there is one resistor value, and one cap value that is the same in both designs. But yes, it was a new design from scratch.

I think somebody from MusicMatters should be informed about this and give you the FULL CREDIT that you deserve.

They have already heard all about it.

P.S. I'm considering this speaker to replace my av123 onix ref3 unless you plan to redesign & upgrade the ref3 crossover through the ninja upgrade, then I might stick w/ the ref3 a little longer.

Actually the Ninja did just ask me about redesigning the Ref2 and Ref3 crossovers. It could happen soon.