GR Research LGK 2.0 Speaker Review (A Joke)

[Rick Sykora]

Rick, I hate to have to ask this, but can you build a speaker in a cardboard box? If you have a good relatively full range driver (6 inch?) and a purchase of some very strong cardboard would be all it takes. Then your building skills and high strength glue would come into play. No crossovers to mess with. Then Amir could test it. Just still thinking if a 5 or 6 inch driver in a cardboard box could do better than the LGK2 from GR Research.

I suppose you could, but what is the goal?

 

[Spkrdctr]

I suppose you could, but what is the goal?

Just to see how good or how bad it is compared to other cheap speakers. That is why I brought up the LGK speakers. I wonder if based on price per performance if it could get a recommendation from Amir? $80 a pair speakers that sound well, not bad, Oh, OK, Rick you got me on this. I was just thinking again. Like EVERY other ASR member, my thinking was going to create work for you. Like when people always ask Amir for more testing, and he has to cut it off or he would never get much done. I think I need my morning coffee and a shower. I wasn't awake and lucid yet. Thanks for the quick reply. As they they say, You are the man!

 

[mhardy6647]

In the context of the last couple of posts, and FWIW: Drywall (gypsum board) has historically been a popular material from which to construct test enclosures for loudspeakers. Inexpensive (well, at least, it used to be) and easy to work with, albeit heavy.

 

[Rick Sykora]

Just to see how good or how bad it is compared to other cheap speakers. That is why I brought up the LGK speakers. I wonder if based on price per performance if it could get a recommendation from Amir? $80 a pair speakers that sound well, not bad, Oh, OK, Rick you got me on this. I was just thinking again. Like EVERY other ASR member, my thinking was going to create work for you. Like when people always ask Amir for more testing, and he has to cut it off or he would never get much done. I think I need my morning coffee and a shower. I wasn't awake and lucid yet. Thanks for the quick reply. As they they say, You are the man!

While my (or more importantly Amir’s) time is a consideration, like to ensure I understand your goals before I propose solutions (that may or may not be your target).

For example, you can buy the PE Copperhead for $120 a pair. They may need some eq, but they are an inexpensive solution. There are too many potential solutions without narrowing the problem to align with your goal.

 

[Philbo King]

Looks like it would be handy if you have any little giants hanging around and causing you problems...

 

[Rick Sykora]

In the context of the last couple of posts, and FWIW: Drywall (gypsum board) has historically been a popular material from which to construct test enclosures for loudspeakers. Inexpensive (well, at least, it used to be) and easy to work with, albeit heavy.

Agree, as a quick and dirty front baffle, could use drywall.

It is difficult to use for a smaller box though as is also quite brittle.

 

[mhardy6647]

Agree, as a quick and dirty front baffle, could use drywall.

It is difficult to use for a smaller box though as is also quite brittle.

Good point and not one that's "front-of-mind" for me.
Most of the folks I know tend towards... larger boxes.

 

[Spkrdctr]

Rick, thank you for being kind in your replies. A true gentleman!

 

[MacCali]

Rick, I hate to have to ask this, but can you build a speaker in a cardboard box? If you have a good relatively full range driver (6 inch?) and a purchase of some very strong cardboard would be all it takes. Then your building skills and high strength glue would come into play. No crossovers to mess with. Then Amir could test it. Just still thinking if a 5 or 6 inch driver in a cardboard box could do better than the LGK2 from GR Research.

I think people under estimate a cardboard box, and I’m only saying this for something to think about. You can get some very rigid boxes that most people have never seen. I am sure that’s not the context you are referring to and just envisioning a regular box

Funny you mentioned this and actually got me thinking of maybe doing a crazy diy project. One up from that is a 3D printed unit.

 

[Helicopter]

I think people under estimate a cardboard box, and I’m only saying this for something to think about. You can get some very rigid boxes that most people have never seen. I am sure that’s not the context you are referring to and just envisioning a regular box

Funny you mentioned this and actually got me thinking of maybe doing a crazy diy project. One up from that is a 3D printed unit.

I've thought about building something out of cardboard, and then perhaps covering it with epoxy soaked strips of polar fleece. I haven't done it because I just like working with plywood.

 

[mhardy6647]

You can get some very rigid boxes that most people have never seen. I am sure that’s not the context you are referring to and just envisioning a regular box

Indeed.
E.g., those of us who've dealt with case lots of concentrated acids or bases (or even some organic solvents) have experience with some pretty hefty cardboard packaging systems.

 

[D!sco]

Wouldn't corrugated cardboard, with it's open air cells, be perfect for absorbing acoustic reverberations?

 

[amirm]

Wouldn't corrugated cardboard, with it's open air cells, be perfect for absorbing acoustic reverberations?

Depends on the frequency and the diameter of said tubes.

 

[Descartes]

That it is a "little giant killer." It doesn't work as a speaker for hi-fi use so I don't see it killing anything, at it size or larger.

Maybe useful to squish bugs or as an expensive paper weight!

 

[mhardy6647]

Maybe useful to squish bugs or as an expensive paper weight!

Don't encourage me.

(I don't need much encouragement )

 

[fpitas]

Large cardboard Sonotubes are reasonably popular among certain DIYers.

 

[mhardy6647]

Large cardboard Sonotubes are reasonably popular among certain DIYers.

Very large, in some cases.

https://www.firstwatt.com/pdf/art_elpipeo.pdf

I'll also point out that the venerable DCM timewindow employed sonotube (and some particleboard or MDF baffles) as a key structural agent. Not so obvious in the finished product, but very easy to see in one that the ravages of time* have partially deconstructed.



Actually, one cannot see the unmistakable spiral seam of sonotube very clearly in this front view, but it's obvious from the rear.

_____________
* Ironically enough, in the case of a timewindow, eh?

 

[James Romeyn]

I'm surprised a 3" full range speaker did not test well, even one designed by this subject! /sarc off

Few things in audio bring as much joy as seeing one of this subject's designs burning alive at the stake screaming for mercy. Let me explain. About 25 years ago this designer "cut his teeth" by publicly ripping, allegedly finding the most grotesque flaws (per himself, a neutral observer.../sarc off) in a speaker marketed by a then-popular competitor with a sales website at the same audio forum. Then the subject re-designed the xo and quadrupled performance of course, charging the speaker owner practically nothing because the subject knows only the most pure charity.

The owners of that forum had to rewrite the rules to specifically forbid such practice. The subject would apparently have us believe his idea was normal, standard marketing practice. He still uses this same marketing technique for his own products daily at his YT page. The subject has perfected his pathetic caricature of the friendly Southern (TX) used jalopy salesman who would never hurt a fly. Think Hitchcock's Psycho Norman Bates with the blanket wrapped around himself, hearing his mother's voice, in custody for double murder: "I'll show them; I won't even swat this fly on my hand..."

 

[Bruce Morgen]

Few things in audio bring as much joy as seeing one of this subject's designs burning alive at the stake screaming for mercy.

OK, but how do you feel about him?

 

[BDWoody]

Large cardboard Sonotubes are reasonably popular among certain DIYers.

I believe that's what Hsu Research used in their original subwoofers. I have a pair of the 10" subwoofers, and at 29" tall my JBL708Ps sit on top of them very nicely.

I think @Sal1950 has a pair of the taller ones?