Back in September I made the trip to Texas to visit some friends and stopped off at GR research and bought the X-LS kit from Danny and as promised I would report back once the kit was finished. I have been loosely following the flow of this thread and I am surprised at the varying points of view on the building of this kit. I have the tools to build from scratch but chose flat packs from Parts Express and cut the openings for the drivers myself in accordance to the X-LS plans. I find handling sheet of 3/4 MDA by myself problematic, for $85, I chose the flat pack.
X-LS kit with NO-REZ yes I used no rez 1 sheet is just about enough for the cabinets I chose.
CABINET FLAT PACK-
https://www.parts-express.com/Knock-Down-MDF-0.56-ft-Bookshelf-Cabinet-300-7064?quantity=1
BINDING POST-
https://www.parts-express.com/Dayto...ted-Binding-Post-Pair-Gold-091-630?quantity=1
BINDING POST PLATES-
https://www.parts-express.com/Dayto...Post-Plate-Silver-Anodized-091-600?quantity=1
Plus various paints and glue.
So all in it is apx. $630
THE FLAT PACK
The flat pack from Parts Express is slightly larger than specified by GR Research, 0.56 vs .5 cubic ft. The width is the same but is a bit shallower and apx. 2 in taller. I placed the drivers at the specified height from the top of the cabinet. The front baffle comes with the sides rounded over but not the tops, so I rounded the tops of the baffle with a 1/2 round over, I think, old age.
THE BIND POSTS AND PLATES
In stead of using the TUBE CONNECTORS from GR Research, I choose the binding posts and plates from Parts Express. I just wanted the look. As for price, tube connectors are actually cheaper than my choice. Also I swapped out the steel lock washers for copper washers and secured them with THE RIGHT STUFF silicone,
PAINT AND GLUE
I used Gorilla wood glue for the cabinet, and THE RIGHT STUFF to glue in the port and on the binding post threads as a sort of thread locker.
BUILDING THE KIT
This a fairly basic kit to build but I can see how some might find the crossover wiring and soldering challenging. I have a good soldering station capable of putting out a lot of heat so the connections with 3 or 4 wires were not a problem. If you only have 25 watt pencil iron you had better invest in a better iron. I used small pieces of 1/4 plywood from the dollar store as the base for the crossover. They were small craft pieces, for $2.00 you can't go wrong.
Clamping the cabinets is straight forward, the more the merrier.
FINISING
So basic standard priming but I used rubberized, paintable automotive gravel guard. I chose this to try and control any panel resonances.
SOUND
So how do they sound? Pretty darn good! There is a good amount of bass response that is impactful and fast, no mush here. Mid range is good. I use SADE, COWBOY JUNKIES TRINITY AND BRUCE COKBURN as my vocal references. Margo's voice is outstanding. As for the highs I think that this is where the X-LS shines. While it is laid back just a bit there is detail in spades. I am going to call it the, "AIR." It is the attack and shimmer of symbols, the initial metallic strike of the drum stick as it hits the symbol, its the small details that set it aside from other speakers I've had. So I am satisfied and please with what I am hearing, definitely. I'm not disappointed.
MY THOUGHTS
I enjoyed building the kit and I'm glad I did. I purchased this while on vacation in Texas so that just added to the experience. This kit is is probably geared to those that have some experience in basic wood working and electrical and maybe for the person that has built a kit before and wants to up the ante a bit. There as been some questions about the build instructions and their clarity, all I can say is Danny is there to help if you have questions. I had questions before the purchase regarding the use of NO REZ and weather it takes up volume in the cabinet. Danny's response was no it would have no effect. That was that, that's all I needed to know. As for the debates above in previous posts regarding the use of NO REZ, round overs on the front baffle the use of solid wire etc. I feel that anyone building a kit such as this should do some home work and see what the best practices are and than decide weather or not the kit is for them. I knew, by doing research, what I was going to do and how I was going to do it. I suffer some mild tinnitus and felt that the more expensive caps would be wasted on me so I went with just the basic caps. The kit did come with one small sonicap by pass cap for the tweeter circuit.
The final question is, was the $630 USD I spent on this kit worth the time effort and expense? To me, yes of course, I would do it again. Can you get the same level of performance for less? Maybe? I own a pair of Paradigm Studio 80's MKII, they're good but are much more expensive and the crossovers are, in Danny's words, "CHEESEY."
I think anyone building this kit will be more than satisfied with the results, I know I am. I would recommend this kit for the person that wants the experience of building their own speakers and that as the resources required to do the job. As they say in TEXAS, Happy speaker building, Ya'll.
