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GR Research LGK 2.0 Speaker Review (A Joke)

Rate this speaker:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 367 87.8%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 35 8.4%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther

    Votes: 7 1.7%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 9 2.2%

  • Total voters
    418

Katji

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If it is "only" small destop, or computer speakers that they are to be used for, there are many small broadband elements, which anyone with wooden boards, saws, glue and so on can slam together. How good it will be is another matter. There will be sound. Maybe even better than these "A Joke" speakers.
Or I could just take a walk to the local phone/etc. shop or the Cash Crusaders and be back in 30 minutes with some multimedia/computer speakers/2.1 for about 1/10th of the price. Maybe worse SQ but better value for money. https://www.cashcrusaders.co.za/searchresult?filter=2.1 Multimedia Speaker

Or iLoud mini monitors for about $350.

The "Joke" is when you open the flat pack package and find they didn't cut the ports. o_O :mad: ...if it was a round port, then you would just need a big hole saw and a drill. ...LOL
 

Everett T

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I was always confused by Danny's videos on YouTube. Now I know why... lol

The speakers look like something you would pick up at a thrift shop - or some "science project" Made by high school students.
Well it was made from the flat pack and isn't the "finished" version. I thought Rick did a great job of throwing it together.
 

iulianm

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But is it just me who sees mostly American companies going the subjective route when it comes to defending speaker and amplifier design/quality?
In my 5y experience of living in US (from EU) is that here it's more of a numbers game as you have more potential customers (and companies) which tend to speak online in a language that we all understand.
I've took the data from here and built a quick graph (which as they say, it's just a list of larger manufacturers).
speakers.png
 

Trdat

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In my 5y experience of living in US (from EU) is that here it's more of a numbers game as you have more potential customers (and companies) which tend to speak online in a language that we all understand.
I've took the data from here and built a quick graph.
View attachment 211779

100% it could just be that we see more companies from the US taking the subjective route purely because there is more of them and as a percentage it really ends up the same compared to Europe but I dont think that is what your saying. I think your take on is that for a marketing goal its just easier to connect with the target market with a non science based approach when you have such a large corpus of people to sell to?
 

mightycicadalord

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3" is no man's land for widebanders. 4" is the sweetspot imo. Scanspeak has smooth extension till 16kHz and great off-axis almost to the level of a dome tweeter made in Denmark with a neo motor, the most well-ventilated cast frame this side of a Satori or Illuminator and copper cap for 80$. Likely a fair bit cheaper at OEM pricing.

That's the kind of balancing of compromises needed for a widebander to be worth it.

Maybe the shittiest dome ever but I have two of those for a build and they beam early, as they should. It's even there in erins review.
 

Spkrdctr

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It is a good review by Amir. I have one thing to bring up though. The volume levels for a small speaker like this are way, way too high. I think in testing anything like this you would need to use 86dd instead of the 96 as the highest volume. Then add in a 78db sweep. Honestly I don't believe anyone would listen to these at more than about 75db as a 3 inch driver just can't handle much at all. I think this lower level of testing would have been kinder to the speakers. The issue of course is the snake oil marketing used by Danny. Calling it a giant killer pretty much forces Amir to test it against other speakers in that same price range to see if it really is a "Giant Killer". So, the review that needed to be done was not done because it had to go up against other $1000pr speakers. If Danny had sold it as a low volume near field speaker it would have been a little better, not sold as a giant killer. Also, just in using the review testing done for free by Amir, it does need another round of engineering decisions to get rid of the egregious flaws Amir found. As many have offered on this thread, a few simple fixes (better driver and cutting off the low end at 140 or 160hz) could make them perform better. Of course it must have a sub, even if it is a very inexpensive sub. But I guess Danny tells the customers that. (I hope).

Finally the last nail in the coffin of these speakers is that like many things in life, time has passed them by. When you can get Inexpensive but decent active speakers that perform so much better it just kills off the old school rationale that Danny used for these old school weak speakers. The technology of today far surpasses what you can do with $1000 in buying great little speakers. So, 40 years ago at low volumes these may have been passable as a junior high school kids first speakers, but in todays world, they are just junk for way too much money.

I also once again make a formal request to Amir to put up a "JUNK" Panther. I think the Panther in the trash bin would be the perfect Panther for it.
 

Loathecliff

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Panther being consoled
That expression might indicate that Panther may have made an incorrect gender assumption based on the long blonde hair.
Back on topic, Ted Jordan's tiny Goodmans Maxim has come to mind.
With matching tuner and (class B horror) amp, it was the first 'lifestyle hifi' (AFAIK), & decades ahead.
Edit. Forgot to add that iirc the mid/bass driver was under 3"? - A quick hasn't been successful, so far.
 
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holbob

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If only there was someone out there who could modify this speaker, inevitably bringing night and day improvements.
 

mhardy6647

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Cool review -- although I am sorry about the bad vibes between the principals here and at GR (which I realize are fairly asymmetric vibes, at that).

FWIW, I've fiddled with single-driver loudspeakers since... well, technically, since birth, since I grew up (literally) listening to Electrovoice twincones (like these). :)


(EV "Wolverine" LS-12 'fullrange' 12" drivers)

Well, I have to say that this tests like a "full-ranger" with come care and thought put into pulling it together -- in the best and worst possible senses of that notion. ;)
Heck, maybe I should box up one of these and send it out to Washington for a spin. :)


I like these -- although I actually liked the sound of these little drivers, the infamous PartsExpress p/n 269-469 69 cent wonders (Pioneer OEM, but once sold under the "Onkyo" brand by Madisound, too), even better in big vented boxes (repurposed Brand X monkey coffins, randomly chosen and using the tweeter cutout as the "port"!). But that's another story entirely. :cool:



(EDIT: Full disclosure, a 4" driver)

Great review and, still, a great topic!
 
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DanielT

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they are just junk for way too much money.
But now Danny has priced them to that level and thus they should be evaluated accordingly.

Although I, the more reviews, Amir does get more and more confused on this with price vs performance regarding HiFi stuff. It is becoming more and more like being in the twilight zone.

Edit:
I quickly checked out some of Danny's videos. He's apparently found Cable Risers to sound good (I'll not paste that video). Google: What's up with Audiophile Cable Risers?
17:00 in the YouTube video. There, Danny states that even the color of the cables affects how it sounds.
(or if colors affect and create new structures that... I do not understand what he is waffling about)

So then that saga GR Research was over. ....Or the fantasies will probably continue.
 
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JaccoW

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mhardy6647

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I think the why is clear: selling $300 worth of crossover parts for a $40 driver! All it needs to be believable is to claim it performs better than larger speakers.....
It would (OK... it might) be interesting to bypass the EQ network in the box and test the "naked" driver + enclosure, qualitatively & quantitatively.

Or... perhaps, one of these. :)




EDIT: the 3" driver version of these is, apparently, NLA, in full disclosure. :confused:
 
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DanielT

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Note the similarity in appearance between these and GR Research LGK 2.0?

Design for tc9, found on any DIY forum. It is such a well-known speaker element. Price, see attached photos.
It's not harder than that (to get OK sound that easily matches GR Research LGK 2.0 .... albeit much cheaper).

OK sound, even nice sound , from a pair of small desktop speakers that is.
 

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phoenixdogfan

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This guy is turning out to be the Paul McGowan of DiY/Speaker Modding. Makes me so very glad he's unwilling to mess with LS 50's. At least no one who spent good money on that very good speaker will have their investment ruined.
 

Astoneroad

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17:00 in the YouTube video. There, Danny states that even the color of the cables affects how it sounds.
(or if colors affect and create new structures that... I do not understand what he is waffling about)
As someone who misspent his youth in the '70's following The Dead and exploring the nexus between music and color... I can attest to the fact.. that given the right amount of fungal matter... that different colors DEFINITELY affect the sound... and vice versa... :cool: Perhaps that's Danny's little secret that he's not sharing that allows him to see music and hear colors... a secret ingredient from genuine Texas cow paddies... Groovy!
 

Robbo99999

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617

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index.php

WAVES OF FEAR

 

DanielT

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As someone who misspent his youth in the '70's following The Dead and exploring the nexus between music and color... I can attest to the fact.. that given the right amount of fungal matter... that different colors DEFINITELY affect the sound... and vice versa... :cool: Perhaps that's Danny's little secret that he's not sharing that allows him to see music and hear colors... a secret ingredient from genuine Texas cow paddies... Groovy!
He he, :)

... I started a new thread about it instead::)

 
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