Hi Danny and all Audio Circle members.
At last, at long, long last I’ve got rid of my back pain and this afternoon, I had enough strength to connect all the cables (Power+spk.) for the V1 (And for the same price, also for the V2) and set them in place. I did some improvised room treatment with what was available in my house.
See below the picture.
The listening session lasted two hours and I sampled approximately ten CDs of jazz, drum, vocal, string, etc…
When I’ve pushed the play button on the CD player, no bass was coming out of the V1 ? Ho no! A wiring problem. Draken double drak (The equivalent of Holy cow!) I took my screw driver and remove the plate amplifier and started to follow each wire one by one. Hooooo… I see… The servo wires and the driver’s coil wires are reversed, that’s can’t be good! Then the bottom driver’s coil wires reverse. Two mistakes, what was I thinking when I did the wiring? Maybe thinking about that nice massage my wife gave me. It was so good; I think I will fake a back pain to get another of those super duper massage that only my wife can give me.
If the right V1 wiring is screwed up, how about the left one? I took off the plate amplifier of that one too and checked every single wire very carefully and… Everything was right, no mistake on that one.
I closed everything and got back in a hurry to my chair with my CD player’s remote control and push PLAY again.
Now, what did I hear? Well at first the sound was good, but not what I was expecting, but after switching from the V1 and the V2
I found out the following:
V1 bass: Tight, natural with details.
V1 medium & highs: Very natural, lot’s of details, presence, ambiance and very dynamic.
V2 bass: Sounds deeper and lower than the V1 but with less details than the V1. Sound is more room filling.
V2 med. & highs: Softer, look like its veiled missing the crispness and details. Sound like it comes from back stage.
Now for both V1 & V2 the room acoustic had nothing to desire, it needs some treatment, some re-doing, some walls… Well, for now I have to live with that.
I love bass, all my life I’ve loved bass, I am bias when it comes to bass. That’s why I previously preferred the V2 for the sound of its bass.
Now after some serious listening of the V1 and the V2 which one do I prefer?
I want to say it depends on the type of music played, each one as its own strength, but after many hours of serious listening, I now say that the V1 is the WINNER ! Let’s give a good hand of applause to Danny and his V1.
Now, that does not mean in no way that the V2 is not good, it’s proudly sitting in the second place just behind the V1.
Conclusion:
The V1 is very dynamic even with my Niteshade Audio amplifier with only 10wpc (SE 6L6)
The bass is natural with details toward the medium frequencies.
The voices are very natural and have good presence and the highs are not aggressive as written in a previous thread.
With it’s sensivity of 97db any flea amplifier can drive the V1 with good dynamics at good level in medium size room.
Now the down side, did you think that the V1 was a perfect speaker!
It’s heavy, the same size and weight as a dinosaur!
Expensive? A little, if you compare the price of the V1 to the price of the V2, but you do get more, how much more? Well that depends on you.
Now, did the modifications I did to bring back the V1 to its original Danny’s design made some sound improvements?
I am not sure? Maybe it did, but very difficult to quantify.
I did three modifications.
Double the thickness of the side walls.
Lower the height of the coaxial PAudio driver.
Move downstairs the Rythmik plate amplifier.
Ho yes, the very, very faith hum in one of the PAudio driver I had is now gone, the bass and the Niteshade Audio SE-15 amplifier are dead quiet, you put your ear against the paper cone and you hear nothing or should I say: You hear the same sound as in a cemetery, over there, it’s dead quiet. Ha, ha…
Now for the runner up, the second place, the V2 what can I do to improve the mediums and the highs. Can Danny or someone else come up with some suggestions? I still like very much my V2, depending on the type of music you feed them. I was wondering if removing the 30 Ohms resistor in parallel with the tweeter would be something that would give me more highs?
You see, I have learned my lessons, now I ask the members their opinions, before do it MY WAY !
If you have the money, go for the V1, if you are on a budget, get the V2 have some friends listen to it, they will like it and buy it from you and with the profit, you will upgrade to a V1.
Yes, I would recommend without any hesitation the V1, however, in the past, I knew that the acoustic of the room was important, but now I realize even more that the room acoustic is VERY important. I would say as a rule of thumb that up to 50% of the surfaces should be covered with absorbing material, could be carpet, sofa, foam panel, etc… If you don’t agree, please come up front and state clearly your idea and opinion. This is a free country, well; I am talking about USA, not Vietnam. (Ha, ha…) I think this is a point where many new audiophiles are lacking knowledge.
If you have intention of buying a pair of V1 and find them too expensive, think that you can save money buy buying an inexpensive Niteshade Audio SE-15 (15wpc) amplifier for much less than 1,000 USD, it will have enough power to drive the 97db sensitive V1 speakers to concert level in small and medium size room.
Well that’s all folks !
What will be my next project?
Keep reading me and you will know.
Guy 13
The happy owner of GR Research V1 (Now according to GR Research specs) and V2 Black (Modified and will stay modified) and V2 (Modified and will stay modified) Ferrari red.
Can't post pictures in this thread, I will post them in another thread.
