Erin reviews GR-Research NX-Bravo

[dfuller]

Short snippets from the review:

- on axis is really bad, but it evens out by 15 degrees off axis
- super wide dispersion up to around 4k, then narrows quickly
- very high distortion from the tweeter (1% H4/H5 around 2k at 86dB/1m)
- super clean decay behavior


Overall, it's... Fine, I guess. Hard to justify at the price point of $1525 base considering there are better options out there from other manufacturers e.g. Kef or Asciilab.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

I would prefer the LS 50 Metas or Concerto Metas from Kef, one of the lower priced Asci models, or Ascend Sierra LX's, but, all in all, not a bad speaker. And if you're willing to buy the kit, a bargain.

Much as we don't particularly care for Danny's style, I think this is a reasonable choice, particularly if listening in the near to mid field in a small space, and are willing to pair it with a sub.

So credit where credit is due.

 

[Ageve]

8% (-22 dB) 2nd harmonic distortion at 4 kHz.

Cheesy crossover components, perhaps?

 

[DMill]

Performance is fine. Unlike Erin, I really don’t much like the look of them though. Speakers have to double as furniture in my home and the tweeter is horrible looking. Also not a big fan of exposed screws on the mid bass. I realize it’s subjective but can’t imagine many will disagree.

 

[kharan]

For much cheaper, an Elac Debut 2 or 3 performs with a similar or lower number of idiosyncrasies. Same goes for Polk R200s and probably a number of competently designed models.

Linton 85 outperforms it if you have room for a larger speaker and it is still cheaper.

 

[scrubb]

Speaking of Erin, is he no longer updating his website? The last review posted there was from December 21, 2024. I understand that he wants to post to subscribers and Youtube first but it's been an inordinate amount of time since the last post on the website. I like going there because all his reviews are posted and it's easy to find them and make comparisons.

 

[WillBrink]

8% (-22 dB) 2nd harmonic distortion at 4 kHz.

Cheesy crossover components, perhaps?

I see what you did there! LOL.

 

[Daverz]

Speaking of Erin, is he no longer updating his website? The last review posted there was from December 21, 2024. I understand that he wants to post to subscribers and Youtube first but it's been an inordinate amount of time since the last post on the website. I like going there because all his reviews are posted and it's easy to find them and make comparisons.

He's been having issues with maintaining the website, so he's decided he'll provide everyone (not just his patreon subscribers) with a link to the data on Dropbox in future.

 

[kyuu]

He's been having issues with maintaining the website, so he's decided he'll provide everyone (not just his patreon subscribers) with a link to the data on Dropbox in future.

Meaning we would have to produce our own graphs from the data? Hopefully spinorama.org will get the measurements into a usable form, at least.

Unlike Erin, I really don’t much like the look of them though. Speakers have to double as furniture in my home and the tweeter is horrible looking. Also not a big fan of exposed screws on the mid bass. I realize it’s subjective but can’t imagine many will disagree.

Have to agree, it's not a good looking speaker at all. Has a fairly amateur-DIY look despite the high price tag. And I disagree with Erin on the tube connectors big time.

 

[a4eaudio]

... and the tweeter is horrible looking. ..

Yeah, I don't get this at all. It would be easy and not very expensive to have those look nice. I'd understand if the speaker was $300.

 

[thewas]

- on axis is really bad, but it evens out by 15 degrees off axis

Just the upper treble peak though.

What I personally like the least on this loudspeaker is its directivity widening at exactly 3 kHz where you rather want to have less sound power. On many loudspeakers this is partially compensated by the vertical radiation which often shows some lobing there but this widens there too:

 

[Daverz]

Meaning we would have to produce our own graphs from the data? Hopefully spinorama.org will get the measurements into a usable form, at least.

I think he'll still provide the plots. Having the raw data would be interesting, particularly if there's a way to, say, compute an anechoic impulse response at a particular position that could be fed to room correction software.

 

[boxerfan88]

The woofer performed pretty good, the tweeter not so - the low spl distortion is quite high. It’s good to see a reasonably okay product come out of GR.

The looks of the cable terminal didn’t sit well with me. I still prefer the chunky multi-way binding post.

 

[DMill]

The looks of the cable terminal didn’t sit well with me. I still prefer the chunky multi-way binding post.

The biggest problem with tube connectors is you’re stuck buying into banana plugs. Don’t get me wrong, I personally like banana plugs but many prefer bare wire or spade connectors. Given they do absolutely nothing this seems to me Danny solving something that is a non-issue. I love Erin, but wish he would’ve taken more of a stance on it in the review. It feeds into audio myths. That said, I’m sure they work just as well as any other speaker connection, so they are not likely harming anything. I also prefer something more versatile.

 

[Doublej]

Someone needs to figure out a way to disguise this speaker and send it to Danny to be measured and improved. He will say that the top end is too hot and modify the crossover to make it flat on axis.

 

[norman bates]

lol

 

[dfuller]

8% (-22 dB) 2nd harmonic distortion at 4 kHz.

Cheesy crossover components, perhaps?

Genuinely I was kind of in awe when I saw that. Unless Danny sent him a defective unit, but I don't consider that particularly likely - more likely I think whatever planar tweeter is used here is just not very good.

Edit:

It's the tweeter. Someone on DIYAudio measured it. The same behavior shows up. Oddly, the other tweeters measured are similar designs (based on the B-G Neo3 planar driver) and have much lower distortion.

And wouldn't you know it, I was right.

I used to work at BG and the original NEO3 drivers performed well in distortion. There were some QC issues over the years though (somewhat high unit to unit variance).

Zaph|Audio

Danny's copies are significantly worse in non-linear distortion and have more narrow coverage above 6-7 kHz.

At PS, we use a similar construction to the BG NEO3 PDR drivers but with a few improvements.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s...B-1m.png?rlkey=jozqwrztwu0czxwui61r5dyrs&dl=0

IMD, in particular is very low.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s...FULL.png?rlkey=lvzjp7i3rlhprl4koh816j9d2&dl=0

 

[Todd68]

If it’s mostly second harmonic it probably not a problem. Maybe hard to actually notice it playing music. But I don’t like that it’s not as good as the original BG unit.

 

[TonyJZX]

i feel like $1.5k isnt too bad for what is a cottage industry product with 5 weeks lead time...

think of it as the Made in USA home made tariff

but as always $1.5k for bookshelfs is kinda... eh... and what are these? 6" cones? just get the damn DBR62s before the EU tariffs kick in???

also true to form Danny sells a $260 capacitor upgrade? i mean yeah... if there's rube money to take... take it... leave nothing behind

as far as looks go i think they are fine for generic bookshelfs

the mix of Torx and Phillips is kinda funny but I suppose its just what the cone provider... provides???

and yeah for $1,5k i wouldnt expect such ragged charts from someone competant


from danny... yeah that's about rite

 

[Todd68]

There’s conflicting comments about the overall measurements, from crap to congratulations on a good design. I just wish the guy would actually do subjective listening test between this and a KEF or something and tells us what he thinks. He’s heard enough speakers to have a valid opinion.