Tour of Danny's Business

[kyuu]

Danny sent his stand-mounted speaker to Erin, and Erin’s measurements and review are on YouTube now. In a nutshell: Erin has good things to say about the speaker. Generally neutral and good sounding with an idiosyncrasy or two.

Yeah they aren't horrible, as long as you're listening at low volumes. Rather high distortion if you turn up the volume, particularly in that (ugly) tweeter. For $2000 a pair, one can do better, in both performance and aesthetics.

 

[JeffS7444]

I know guys who would sell a kidney for a play space like that, with it's repurposed cargo containers, surplus furniture, solar array, and tons of space. I may not agree with some of the stuff he promotes, but kudos to him for (apparently) keeping things somewhat organized and not turning it into a hoarder space.

 

[JeffS7444]

Please don't attempt to fast-charge sealed lead acid batteries unless they're designed for it, because they're not supposed to emit any gas or liquid!

AGM batteries should be properly vented.

I wouldn't be surprised to see wet lead-acid batteries still in use in off-grid power systems: They're old school, need periodic maintenance, and don't tolerate deep cycling, but most of the lead can be recycled

 

[Jaxjax]

FYI:

Danny sent his stand-mounted speaker to Erin, and Erin’s measurements and review are on YouTube now. In a nutshell: Erin has good things to say about the speaker. Generally neutral and good sounding with an idiosyncrasy or two.

Yeah, I just got done watching. I'm super surprised actually. For a midfield speaker w/ subs the data says you good to go with decent off-axis. It measures way better than what I got going on for 10x the kit price of that. For no Klippel design help, it's darn good for a little low spl jobbie. Now I wonder what his bigger stuff measures like.? After the ASR entry kit he sent in here debacle I thought all his stuff would measure badly. It seems to be not the case.

 

[Todd68]

Yeah, I just got done watching. I'm super surprised actually. For a midfield speaker w/ subs the data says you good to go with decent off-axis. It measures way better than what I got going on for 10x the kit price of that. For no Klippel design help, it's darn good for a little low spl jobbie. Now I wonder what his bigger stuff measures like.? After the ASR entry kit he sent in here debacle I thought all his stuff would measure badly. It seems to be not the case.

Yea but some dude said pretty much any big name brand $700.00 speakers measures as good but play louder so are better deal.

 

[Everett T]

Good behind the scenes video of Danny Ritchie's shop by Jay:

Gives some insight we have not seen in his own videos.

Showing off his two way center channel, smh.

 

[Jaxjax]

Yea but some dude said pretty much any big name brand $700.00 speakers measures as good but play louder so are better deal.

I guess I would say show me.....
I know the usual suspects for $ to $ but what I see is for the kit price & option for 5 or so different hard wood baffles would appeal to some. It's all out sourced CNC so no home job router gig. Kali is spl limited, so is KH120 , on & on. Little speakers for low level fun I guess. Not my cup as I enjoy high spl & want even more badly....I'm wayy more interested in what Audio First has coming mid summer for my spl needs or late summer using Purifi .

 

[Everett T]

Good heavens. I had no idea Danny was operating on that scale. What am I doing wrong?

It will take him 25 years to go through that inventory

 

[Mattcc22]

The NX-Bravo is $700 for the kit (no sonicap "upgrade") and another $275 for the flatpack with MDF baffle then looks like at least an additional $50-70 for shipping. This is unfinished cabinets.

So total cost for unfinished pair of speakers is around $1,025 minimum.

The Audio First Fidelia kit is way better than this and around the same price. Heck, I bet the $350 Kef Q150 or the Q350 would sound just as good. The Ascilab speakers about to launch in early May for around $1,000 are way better and are finished. Ascend Acoustics Sierra V2 are $1,000 per pair finished and measure near perfect. Philharmonics... could go on and on...There are just so many better options at this price. and even below.

 

[ta240]

It will take him 25 years to go through that inventory

That may be underestimating the benefits of a loyal following and really good selling skills broadcast to the world.

 

[Everett T]

That may be underestimating the benefits of a loyal following and really good selling skills broadcast to the world.

Possible for sure, I just known him a long time and seen way too many smoke and mirrors from him.

 

[Todd68]

I guess I would say show me.....
I know the usual suspects for $ to $ but what I see is for the kit price & option for 5 or so different hard wood baffles would appeal to some. It's all out sourced CNC so no home job router gig. Kali is spl limited, so is KH120 , on & on. Little speakers for low level fun I guess. Not my cup as I enjoy high spl & want even more badly....I'm wayy more interested in what Audio First has coming mid summer for my spl needs or late summer using Purifi .

Well the tweeter has higher than normal distortion which I didn’t expect. I own a pair of the NX-Oticas that uses the same tweeter. I guess I’m not sensitive to the distortion because I like the highs from that tweeter. The treble response is one of the aspects of the sound that stood out to me as above the other speakers I owned. I guess I like distortion, heck I like low powered SET tube amps.

 

[Todd68]

The NX-Bravo is $700 for the kit (no sonicap "upgrade") and another $275 for the flatpack with MDF baffle then looks like at least an additional $50-70 for shipping. This is unfinished cabinets.

So total cost for unfinished pair of speakers is around $1,025 minimum.

The Audio First Fidelia kit is way better than this and around the same price. Heck, I bet the $350 Kef Q150 or the Q350 would sound just as good. The Ascilab speakers about to launch in early May for around $1,000 are way better and are finished. Ascend Acoustics Sierra V2 are $1,000 per pair finished and measure near perfect. Philharmonics... could go on and on...There are just so many better options at this price. and even below.

Yes but only based on some of the measurements, is it possible a person could prefer the presentation of the speaker that doesn’t measure as good?

 

[MattHooper]

Now I wonder what his bigger stuff measures like.?

Jason from the YouTube channel audiophile junkie has been using one of the big pairs of Danny speakers for years. Jason’s shown measurements he’s done in his room.
I remember that the DSP’d measurements were very good very flat. And I think the uncorrected measurements were pretty good to start with.

 

[woofersus]

I know it's popular to hate on Danny because he believes in some silly stuff, but a fair number of his designs have been measured over the years and shown to be pretty good. I've heard a bunch of his designs and generally thought most of them sounded pretty good. A few sounded great. An unfortunate reality of this field is that plenty of people who know perfectly well how to design things and do good work also believe in things that don't make any sense. It's a weird dichotomy but it's not uncommon.

 

[mhardy6647]

Disorbers, the next tube connector.

Disorber in the court!

 

[M240i]

Well the tweeter has higher than normal distortion which I didn’t expect. I own a pair of the NX-Oticas that uses the same tweeter. I guess I’m not sensitive to the distortion because I like the highs from that tweeter. The treble response is one of the aspects of the sound that stood out to me as above the other speakers I owned. I guess I like distortion, heck I like low powered SET tube amps.

The Neo3 tweeters have never been known for low distortion. And in this case Danny runs them all the way down to 1khz.
Erin's results are as expected.

 

[Jaxjax]

The Neo3 tweeters have never been known for low distortion. And in this case Danny runs them all the way down to 1khz.
Erin's results are as expected.

Where will it sit on SPINorama .?

 

[traind]

You guys would appreciate Jay's video test on cable sound quality from maybe a year ago. If I remember right, he has a few friends do a single blind test and they essentially conclude they can't really hear a difference. Jay then dismisses these results; he must have screwed up the test because $5000 cables are obviously better sounding.

 

[Todd68]

The Neo3 tweeters have never been known for low distortion. And in this case Danny runs them all the way down to 1khz.
Erin's results are as expected.

Danny could have used any tweeter he wanted in his top models, but according to what he told me, he tried many different types but chose the planer NEO type because of listening tests. Personally he likes the presentation of the NEO planer type. He admitted the distortion measurements are not great, but claims you would have trouble hearing an issue. I can’t hear it. Also, harmonic distortion is less important than some think in my experience, now clipping amps or overdriven drivers sound obviously bad.

The bigger floor standing models that use the NEO are crossed higher and have lots better efficiency, 93db so less of a concern. I drove them with 2a3 SET amp and sounds great at normal or moderate volumes, but you can’t crank it too loud with such low power reserve.

Also his claimed most transparent best design, the line force, used all planer drivers. It’s no longer possible to make due to a the company BG stopped making the drivers.