GRIMM Audio LS1c & SB1 DSP Speaker Review

[MattHooper]

As already mentioned, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Personally, I have always found the concept and design appealing because it follows the principle of form follows function.

For this reason, I also found it appealing as a DIY project. Because you can still add a personal touch and you have more freedom. A more potent subwoofer, crossover frequencies and filters for the subwoofer can be freely selected.

It is still a lot of fun to listen and experiment with all parameters.

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Love it! What a cool design! Bravo!

 

[MattHooper]

The value proposition is poor because you can get same/better (audible) performance for less. So why purchase these vs another? What performance justifies this price vs other comparable performance options? And I suspect many that have the means to drop this amount of cash on speakers could care less about the measurements.

Haven’t some people on this thread, already pointed out to possible reasons somebody may prefer this speaker over some of the contenders? I think for instance somebody pointed that Neumann speakers measure even more flat, but then somebody else pointed out that they may not satisfy the type of dispersion characteristics somebody else wants, that the Grimm would satisfy.
So in the end aside from aesthetics, couldn’t this purchase be justified on the grounds
“ virtually no two speakers sound exactly alike” and therefore, if you like the sound of these and can afford them… it makes them a decent choice.

I personally have found myself having quite strong preferences for one loudspeaker over another, even among speakers that measure pretty well (though never identical).

 

[a4eaudio]

Haven’t some people on this thread, already pointed out to possible reasons somebody may prefer this speaker over some of the contenders? ...

Yes, probably ten times or so, but (understandably) no one reads the previous 622 posts.
I'd bet that most people actually don't go to the prior page of posts.

 

[RickS]

LOL.

It’s hilarious how people differ on aesthetics.

I generally don’t like seeing speaker drivers, yet the SEAS excel drivers are one of the few that I think look really cool. That’s one reason why I like the look of the Grimm speakers.

And it’s also why I make an exception to my “ grills must always remain on” rule for my Joseph audio speakers. In person, the speaker drivers have a luxurious materials look rather than just a plane, white or black driver, and I like the way the copper phase plugs tie in with the copper surround of the tweeter:

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Well it is better than the Grimm but suggest the lighting helps a bit too. No doubt appearance is a matter of taste. I have owned speakers with bright aluminum cones and find them attractive. But attractive can be distracting and too. In my home, am down to 2 serious systems. As one is a home theater and a multichannel music system, from my perspective, is key that speakers disappear as much as possible. Lighter color or shiny parts are distracting and so have moved away from those.

As much as enjoy speakers between downsizing and arrival of first grandchild, headphones are looking more and more likely for me. Enjoy it while you can!

 

[MattHooper]

. I have owned speakers with bright aluminum cones and find them attractive.

The Revel speakers without grills with all their blaring white cones are my distraction nightmare!

But attractive can be distracting and too.

I agree. And when I am aware of the speaker drivers. I tend to be more aware that the sound is coming from the speaker drivers.
Even if I like the look of them .

In my listening room,I have a range of pot lights and track lights and I have dim lighting settings where the lighting directly over the speakers is off, so that even when the grill is off I cannot see their drivers when listening to music.

As much as enjoy speakers between downsizing and arrival of first grandchild, headphones are looking more and more likely for me. Enjoy it while you can!

I hear you on that!

It looks like I might be headed to an earlier retirement than I imagined, but at least I’m set in terms of my audio system. Fortunately no need for headphones on the horizon for me.

This kind of reminds me of a conversation I just had this week with a guy who was interested in purchasing some vintage Monitor Audio speakers I have listed. He is 78 and still has the fever, telling me he owns something like 27 different pairs of loudspeakers, and he described owning almost as many amplifiers. He was wondering how he was gonna sneak this pair speakers in past his wife

 

[Pearljam5000]

Ugh, get a grille on it!

Same for the Grimm too.

I don't think they even have one lol
I guess In the studio it's less important

 

[dagfinn]

• Already has a sub...

Score EQ LW: 6.3
with sub: 7.5 (?)

Score EQ Score: 6.9
with sub: 7.8 (?)

So the "with sub" numbers are with a second sub? Or a better sub? What do they mean? This doesn't add up.

 

[IngMishael]

So the "with sub" numbers are with a second sub? Or a better sub? What do they mean? This doesn't add up.

With sub is always obviously a dedicated "perfect subwoofer"

That should be obvious enough unless this is your first foray with Spinorama

 

[dagfinn]

With sub is always obviously a dedicated "perfect subwoofer"

That should be obvious enough unless this is your first foray with Spinorama

There's a breach of logic here, that should be obvious to you too. It has a sub. It's measured with a sub, and Amir has proven the score with sub. You can add EQ, but adding a virtual sub is like measuring a sub, and then adding a virtual sub on top to get a score. (Which is what has been done here.)
The speaker should be measured separate as well, as should the sub. Then you could calculate and compare with and without sub on a realistic basis.

 

[kyuu]

There's a breach of logic here, that should be obvious to you too. It has a sub. It's measured with a sub, and Amir has proven the score with sub. You can add EQ, but adding a virtual sub is like measuring a sub, and then adding a virtual sub on top to get a score. (Which is what has been done here.)
The speaker should be measured separate as well, as should the sub. Then you could calculate and compare with and without sub on a realistic basis.

No, you're not understanding what the "with sub" score means. It basically pretends that the speaker system being tested (it doesn't matter one whit if the speaker system has a large woofer that might be considered a subwoofer, even if it's on a separate enclosure) has had a subwoofer added that results in a perfect bass response. The "with sub" score is just taking the bass response out of the picture and just reflecting purely the tonality of the speaker above the bass region. It's basically just what you look at if you're not concerned with the speaker's bass response, presumably because you plan to integrate it with a subwoofer.

 

[Maiky76]

So the "with sub" numbers are with a second sub? Or a better sub? What do they mean? This doesn't add up.

Forth line from the top of my post to start with,
My point was more to highlight the surprisingly unbalanced tuning and to question why someone would invest so much in a speaker system with built-in subwoofers, only to feel the need to supplement it with better ones.
It does not make sense to me.

 

[Ktacos]

10 pages of people talking about the bass, 20 pages of people saying they don't like how the speaker looks. Really riveting stuff we have going on here.

 

[RickS]

Did you get your Soundfields? I think these look far better.

I concur. But maybe you can get grilles for the Soundfields?

If you have a dedicated room, do whatever you want. In my case, speakers need to fit in the decor. Notably, this is much more difficult with multichannel. My wife likes “better heard and not seen”.

 

[RickS]

10 pages of people talking about the bass, 20 pages of people saying they don't like how the speaker looks. Really riveting stuff we have going on here.

...and your contribution is?

 

[Ktacos]

...and your contribution is?

Post #585.

 

[RickS]

Post #585.

Great! Look forward to a build thread if you do.

Otherwise, unless the thread gets ugly, have plenty else to do and no part involves Grimms other than make snarky comments about their appearance!

Think am done for now so feel free to raise the value of the thread.

 

[Pearljam5000]

10 pages of people talking about the bass, 20 pages of people saying they don't like how the speaker looks. Really riveting stuff we have going on here.

What's wrong about talking about the bass?

 

[MKR]

I concur. But maybe you can get grilles for the Soundfields?

If you have a dedicated room, do whatever you want. In my case, speakers need to fit in the decor. Notably, this is much more difficult with multichannel. My wife likes “better heard and not seen”.

While I think some speaker cosmetics are better/worse than others, ultimately form follows function and I could care less what the speakers look like. In fact, the best speaker is no speaker! But we ain’t there yet, maybe some day we will have sound emanating from a point in space with no visible source for said sound. What I especially can’t stand is speakers that look like furniture. They are transducers, not a darn book shelf. Of course if speakers have to fit in a multipurpose room in the home, I fully get in that case some appropriate cosmetics may be in order. Otherwise I rather my speakers not call attention to themselves, I want the illusion of only the musicians in front of me, not a bunch of gear. All that to say, I fully agree with your wife!

And yes, grills for all my speakers, and that is again to help them “disappear”

 

[Ktacos]

What's wrong about talking about the bass?

Nothing, but it's been discussed. I guess it depends on how many circles one wants to go in.

There is good info in threads on ASR, but it tends to be limited to the first few pages and after that is quickly degrades. Tough to find the good info in between all of that. Be cool if there was a sort of tagging system here to mark posts as being sort "best of the thread" so people can quickly wade through the noise and get to the signal.

 

[Robbo99999]

SQ aside
It's one of the coolest looking speakers
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Looks a bit wooden to me!