Introducing: NX-Bravo | How It Compares

[@rigorhead01]

I built a pair of X-Statiks a couple of years ago and I absolutely love them. I don't think my untreated living room could support any higher resolution speakers. There's an audible ambience in the room. My wife wouldn't want me to do what it would take to address it, and this is where I prefer to listen to music and watch movies. Speaking of movies...the X-Statiks are phenomenal L & R. So much detail and dynamics! From a whisper to cannon fire they're WOW!

[@toddm9957]

I would love to build a set of x-statiks but don’t have the space for them, maybe some day

[@cruise2023]

I'm glad you like them. Some time ago I was going to buy the kit until I found out, NRD reviewed them and apparently didn't like them, did not post the review and sent them back to GR Research, this was before he built his shed . Once set up there again apparently they performed better. Funny as well no one else was given the chance to review them, though to be fair Danny doesn't send his speakers out to anyone that I know of except NRD ( could be wrong ? )

[@haycrossaudio5474]

Great video Danny. Very interesting in this and recent videos to understand the work you put in to new designs. Very rewarding. After years of refurbishing and upgrading speakers I'm finally about to release my little series of speakers. The HA series. I love them. A labour of love. Enjoyed hearing about your design process. Cheers. Matt from the UK

[@vmmotors1580]

I own. About. 4 diff pairs of gr research. Speakers and av 123. With upgraded sonic caps. They’re amazing I also. Own a pair of bravos. Kudos to. Danny and gr research Danny. You’re an amazing human being. Every time I have questions he’s Always. There to help me thankyou

[@briantayes2418]

Those NX-Bravos will fit nicely under my Christmas tree!

[@middleearthltd]

Enjoyed this video a lot as it covered a good amount of your history with speakers

[@sloboat55]

Excellent vid. You are one of the Best, Danny.

[@jipillow1]

I have a set of three N3S’s in a LCR. Since they became delisted, it makes me feel special.

[@STEPMOMMEE]

Open baffle speakers got me interested in loudspeakers again because I learned something new about audio.. I always assumed before that open baffle speakers would sound muddy and distorted. Its good to see an honest audio engineer not trying to sell snake oil BS about some magically tuned speaker cabinets that weigh 500 pounds and only have 1 ten inch woofer and 1 one inch dome tweeter per cabinet that sell for 450,000 dollars a pair.

[@VIctorCarruyo]

Wish those were out when I did my Bravos. I actually wanted NX studios, but my cats would sleep inside them. Now these are just what I wanted. Might make a pair, specially MTMs or something sensitive.

[@fonkenful]

Wasn’t aware of your association with Bob at CSS. I cut my DIY speaker building teeth back in the early ‘00s with his EL70 paper cone driver made by Mark Fenlon, and continued with his VWR126 and ERT26 - currently my living room system. FWIW, my last commercially made speaker was a pair of Linn Keilidhs circa last century😂. Still using a combination of Mark Audio Alpair/Pluvia series drivers in a modest room Atmos system. While audiophiles would sniff at such an implementation, one of the advantages of modern affordable AVRs with bass management is the ability to relieve the bed layer and surround speakers of the heavier lifting. Anyways, looking forward to this new series; hell, I might even need to think about building again.

[@JR-ho5qm]

Please consider sending this speaker to Nemo Propeganda for review. It would be really cool to hear his comparisons from this speaker to other speakers. His reviews are really under estimated. 👍🏻🔈

[@nathanevans6277]

Jay Lee would be another good reviewer to send them to. I think they might be right up his street.

[@bearclaw5115]

Nemo is not a fan of the company for reasons I'm not aware of.

[@JR-ho5qm]

@@bearclaw5115 unfortunate thanks

[@peterpixo]

Would love to see the drivers in light once in a while :) Little spot light would do the trick.

[@matthewsallman1700]

Excited to hear you will revamp the N3. I had the equivalent Carnegie speakers and they were great! Thinking of that or the NX-Bravo as a matching rear speaker for my NX-Oticas.

[@oluhamilton2121]

Currently own a pair of Vandersteen 2's, Triangle trios, and ae500's, and l plan on making the NXstudio's my bucket list speakers. Yep, thats the plan.😊

[@will5879]

NX-Bravo vs. NX-Studio.. Bravo has about half an octave (in a critical range) that would be covered by that fast planar tweeter, that the Studio does not. The Studio, due to the higher crossover point, has to rely on the comparatively "slow" NQ woofer to cover that same range. The smaller physical size of the Bravo's, with even better bass, will be more ideal for my own situation. That's icing on the cake.

[@MrLapley]

Got x-encore and super 7 here ,love it.

[@tg_ny]

Now you need an nx-bravo with a neo10 added to bring the response even lower. pair them with a servo subwoofer and you will have an awesome system. those drivers are very musical; I have spent a fair amount of time listening to them.

[@dannyrichie9743]

We've done that.

[@chadmorris946]

Now if only GR offered 3D printed crossover boards like another DIY company offers. It would bring in quite a few more customers I think.

[@JR-ho5qm]

I kinda agree with this. I would actually like to see Danny or maybe even Hobs do another video explaining crossover diagrams. They are still a bit confusing to me.

[@stevieg2755]

Definitely agree with this even if it took buying another printer dedicated to doing it.I had a horrible time doing a xls and needed Frederick on audiocircle to get it right

[@dannyrichie9743]

We are thinking about it. It requires a lot of programming time and would cause a cost increase as well.

[@JR-ho5qm]

@@dannyrichie9743 even just a drawing diagram rather than a schematic would probably be helpful , for me at least so I am assuming it would help others

[@mcgovernjimmy]

@@dannyrichie9743 Maybe better yet... similar but maybe even better and clearer than what you did with the Encore crossover video, have a board / paper on desk with camera looking down from above, so it is very clear, Then talk thru laying out the crossover with actual parts, from scratch. You can keep the video as UNLISTED and share with customers, as needed. If this is costing you sales, you may not know it because the phone doesn't ring to say so. A 3D board sounds great, until someone wants to go with better parts or if something is out of stock and has to be substituted. I think part of the challenge people have with doing the crossovers is their brain doesn't understand the layouts as depicted on paper... sort of like being better at algebra vs geometry. I think a very clear video showing actual parts would go a long way... but most importantly... if it is being done to help AND to drive more sales, people need to know this support resource exists. Call it out in a big way in the Product Description that that level of build detail exists. In fact, you know who would be great at this and sort of be on camera without actually being "on camera", and not have to have the 3D printer running 24/7?... My man Hobbs.

[@robbase-f6x]

this type of 2 way speaker with woofer and EMT driver has become extremely popular lately

[@robbase-f6x]

" they beat 90 percent of the speakers out there " ......... that's a bold statement when you consider the sear number of speaker brands making small shippable speakers in the last 60 years ......... would you be willing you do a blind test against other brands ,,,,,,, would you be will to have then independently tested on a Klippel tester ? What would you be willing to do ?

[@joncitizen8060]

I find it interesting that the NX Studio's play down to 70hz but the smaller NX Bravo's play down lower to 55hz. I hope to see some reviews of these soon as I am interested in these Bravo's.

[@dannyrichie9743]

The Studios are not designed to play down that low. They use a light weight mid-bass style driver.

[@njrumenos]

X-Bravo & NX-Studio had a baby

[@danmetcalf73]

Looks AWESOME!!! Any chance of an NX-Statik in the works???

[@dannyrichie9743]

We kind of already did, but we took it another step or two and stepped up to the M165NQ drivers as mid-bass drivers. We also added another pair of woofers to the bottom and made it completely open baffle. gr-research.com/product/nx-otica-2/

[@BruceCross]

Wow, I didn't see the usual comments attacking Danny for selling GR-Research products. I always find that amusing. Don't people realize this is the company channel?

[@JoseCruz-cy1yk]

I like the product revamps. Although I am disappointed in the lack of higher sensitivity kits available. A nx studio form factor with 90+ sensitivity, might just eat everyone else lunch. You can play with tubes or lower watt class a amplifiers

[@dannyrichie9743]

The NX-Otica and NX-Treme models have 94 and 94.5db sensitivity.

[@davidnewell3232]

Bravo!

[@ywsx6489]

I might 3D print the entire NX-Bravo cabinet.

[@JG-gg9wk]

To bad you can't hear them. Positive talk from the maker is just talk talk

[@rajoconnor]

I really need to come up!

[@jasonm3871]

The irony of an SVS add before this video plays 😂

[@dannyrichie9743]

Ah man, that's awful.

[@RacingAnt]

​@dannyrichie9743 is it awful? Think about it. SVS is funding your channel. Lol 😂

[@dannyrichie9743]

@@RacingAnt That is one way to look at it.

[@bearclaw5115]

No irony, the system has you pegged!

[@cruise2023]

The NX-Bravo kit for under $1,000 + build etc is great value, if it sounds as good as Danny say's, then a lot of bookshelf speakers will find it hard to compete with ( note at that price point, around $1,500us ) Are there better diy bookshelf speakers out there, I imagine so, the likes of the Helios textremes, Ara textremes to name a couple. Then there are the commercial killers like the Alta Audio Alesis, Marten Parker Duo, PDP Mum 8, all of course much much dearer ! I must say looking at the NX-Studio at $1,370us kit + build is probably a stand out if it is in fact better than the NX-Bravo.

[@RennieAsh]

There's also Ascend Sierra or Philharmonic BMR M (though that's a bigger speaker)

[@emotive7]

Have you taken a look at or heard Purifi woofers?

[@dannyrichie9743]

I have and I have done design work with them. I designed the crossovers for a model using them from Audio Crafters Guide.

[@emotive7]

@@dannyrichie9743 what did you think of them?

[@REX4340]

If you get a chance get ATC 20T in for testing, they image better than any speaker I've heard.

[@robbase-f6x]

try the Presonus Eris Pro 6 at one tenth the price if you like imaging - its a co-axial ...... its not as good overall as ATC is absolutely world class - but the imaging is insane on the Eris because its a point source

[@toecutterjenkins]

I was thinking of upgrading my livingroom fronts from encores to no studio. Can I just build the wall mount surround boxes for the encores and use the encores internals as is?

[@dannyrichie9743]

The X-On Wall uses the smaller M130 woofer and the crossover for that application is completely different.

[@Hiluxtaco]

I still have my AV123 2-way bookshelf speakers, and a matching AV123 Center Channel in a cherry finish.. They were on clearance, and I got them for a stupid cheap price. They still look great, and sound really good too. For the price, they were tough to beat.. But, I would like to upgrade them one day...

[@yellow_noise3]

Will you re-design X-statics for this tweeter too?

[@dannyrichie9743]

We kind of already did, but we took it another step or two and stepped up to the M165NQ drivers as mid-bass drivers. We also added another pair of woofers to the bottom and made it completely open baffle. gr-research.com/product/nx-otica-2/

[@unicornslayer6963]

Those speakers probably sound amzing. Last time you made a video, I was going to ask you if you have tried the Viawave GRT tweeters? They are expensive,but a world class product.

[@dannyrichie9743]

I have used similar models from RAAL, but I have not tried that tweeter.

[@troymcnett3019]

How far away from wall do they need to be using for a small theater room and will be closer to walls. Which one would you recommend 12x16 room treated fairly well.

[@dannyrichie9743]

The ported models need at least 6 to 8 inches of space from the wall. Any of those models will work well in a small room.

[@richardstearns621]

Will the NX-Bravo work in an 17’ by 18’ room with a subwoofer?

[@dannyrichie9743]

@@richardstearns621 Absolutely.

[@stefanweilhartner4415]

did you have a look at the dayton audio planar tweeters? like the AMT3 ?

[@dannyrichie9743]

Oh yeah. Unusable....

[@davidhester9897]

Really cool stuff, I like the studio monitors from a design standpoint with the cabinet being open in the back for the tweeter giving that big open sound in the room. Was a little surprised that they had sides on them when you turned them around Danny, do they measure better with the cabinet sides on instead of a completely open cabinet in the back for the tweeter section?

[@dannyrichie9743]

Not only do they have sides, but a sloped floor that comes up to the top of the back wall. It is then lined with No Rez to absorb the direct back wave. This is what allows close wall placement that otherwise would not be possible.

[@davidhester9897]

@@dannyrichie9743 Interesting for sure, thanks. If i buy speakers or if I know of anyone looking for some good sound I will definitely direct them your way.

[@stephenyoud6125]

very cool. And an NX-VOCE ??

[@wiebl5266]

I know that you put a lot of heart and brains into your product. And I vouch for the sound quality, I've asked people to buy your speakers rather than the CSS option. Any time, any day, GR Research performs better at lower cost. For this review, again I wish you can "get to the point" faster and sharper, give a clear distinction of the difference between the speakers. So that the viewer can quickly and clearly get the critical points. I had to skip your video 10X or more to get to the critical parts. I know you are proud of your creation, and need to give the details of why and how....but put yourself into the shoes of the customer, speak their language. BTW, you already give the why and how in the first video, so no need to repeat. Customer just need to know the WHAT, i.e. "the difference" that makes the difference, that's it. The more you talk the blurrer your value proposition. Anyway, I'm going over to your site now to check the price of the NX-Bravo.

[@petertimp5416]

Thanks

[@toddm9957]

I have lcr Av3’s with a gr- research sub

[@Sebastian-gc2hc]

Hello, how air motion transformer compares to planar tweeter in your experience?

[@dannyrichie9743]

Few air motion transformer type drivers are really made the way they should be. Most of them have no rear chamber or rear driver air space at all. They are really limited as to how low they can play and just do not sound as good as our Neo 3's. If they did, we've be using them.

[@Sebastian-gc2hc]

Thank you for your reply. Can you please describe how amt sounds compared to planar?

[@t.j.bennett6454]

@@Sebastian-gc2hcone would think that the AMT would sound closer to a ribbon because of similar style but to me they sound like a faster dome tweeter. A ribbon tweeter is even faster, moreresolving, more flow and gives off a more real sound. The amt is not as real sounding but has more saturation or thickness to it. Where they fall behind for me is that they A: localize themselves so often you can hear the sound coming from the speaker and B: the reason domestic tweeters are still used over other types is how they splay the sound at you. The AMT doesn’t have this same effect and isn’t as involving to me as a good dome tweeter

[@dannyrichie9743]

@@Sebastian-gc2hc There is a really big difference just in the sound of various AMT's. I could write pages just on that alone. There are differences in the sound of planar's too. Comparing one to the other can be just as different.

[@davidhester9897]

@@t.j.bennett6454 Was it the modern flat type AMT that sounded localized or was it the big Heil like on the vintage ESS speakers that Dr Heil invented. The reason I ask many yrs ago I heard some vintage ESS speakers and it was the most unreal soundstage and the sound was completely disconnected from the speakers themselves. I was stunned at the aural trickery, the sound was floating in the air behind the speakers and it was like the speakers were just in the room and not producing sound at all. I've always tried to figure out how they did that, have wondered many times was it that particular room or the equipment the speakers were connected to. This was way back in 1976, even FM radio produced that same depth and dimension which really surprised me, I remember Fly Like An Eagle played on the radio and I couldn't believe what I was hearing, it was all in the room like they were actually there in the room, such realism.

[@pedrodepacas4335]

Please. A hertz is never a hurt.

[@mcjonner]

Would love to see a new video by Jay with the nx studio or the nx bravo tower mtm!!

[@kartickgrover]

Don’t necessarily need that baboon’s go ahead for every product!

[@mcjonner]

@@kartickgrover he's the only one who actually gave gr research some attention other than new record day which I appreciated and did comparisons which I liked even if he isn't my favorite reviewer and I think if he heard the studios or tower it may be more favorable or if he crossed them with a sub as well

[@kartickgrover]

@@mcjonner that dude was a total naysayer of Danny’s products. He couldnt understand what GR’s vision and philosophy is/was, despite being in the audio business for long. Dont have a high opinion about his audio acumen. Anyway, not here to diss on him but just wanted to comment that hope folks dont take his word as gospel!!

[@mcjonner]

@@kartickgrover I understand what your saying. I thought he gave kudos to the product somewhat with also saying it wasn't to his taste comparatively to css criton or the sonus Faber he likes if I remember correctly. He prefers a warmer tone which is fine and Danny prefers neutral and focused on soundstage/layering. I still appreciated the fact that Jay went out of his way to give some attention to gr research, I would prefer if it came from other reviewers, but for now he is good enough I wish there would be a follow up video.

[@stevieg2755]

Problem there is borders and amount of time,they might compare to the monacoustic favorably

[@Rocker6969]

Danny, are you going to have any specials coming up for Cyber Monday or ? any price discounts on your speaker kits?

[@dannyrichie9743]

Not that I know of.

[@johnberti6958]

research some bright studio lights

[@chebrubin]

Ouch Andrew Robinson is going after mods. He is telling people to buy the new Elac.

[@Pete.across.the.street]

Yup, no affiliate links for mods. Needs you to buy new. $$$

[@kdomster9141]

Andrew who? 😂

[@jnm04041963]

Sorry, but I just can't get over how ugly these speakers look. Yes, the speaker should sound good, but for me, they also need to look good.

[@dannyrichie9743]

We'll have options for you to order them in nicely veneered cabinets.

[@scottmackey4182]

Define: “Look good.” Looks are in the eye of the beholder. What is it that would make this type of speaker look better? Wood finishes? He offers those. Auto paint finish? Take ‘em to a paint shop. Fake vinyl veneer? Don’t bother. Shape affects sound. Fancy bells & whistles? Negatively impacts the sound. The beauty of Danny’s speakers are that you can finish them anyway you like. The form, shape, dimensions and drivers are all determined for one single purpose: awesome sound.

[@alexw890]

You can finish them any way you like. Come on now. He used duratex because it’s easy and durable.

[@howardskeivys4184]

So you don’t build speakers. You assemble them from other manufacturers products.

[@thorseim7177]

You must be new here.

[@richardstearns621]

How soon will you have completed veneer speakers available for sale in this new model?

[@rikardekvall3433]

Everyone doesn’t make their own speakers, but might, as Danny specify parameters to his manufacture, so they fit his choice. Volume depended. Many speaker brands make their own speakers but shouldn’t. Too bad when measured. Many speaker manufacturers buy their parts from others. Like Seas, Dynaudio, Purifi, Sacndspeak…….

[@dannyrichie9743]

We don't assemble our own speakers. We sell them as DIY kits. Even the models that we do offer fully assembled are actually assembled off site at Denton Audio Works. The cabinets are made by Denton Wood Workers. We do however design our own drivers. So what you see is very proprietary. We don't use drivers from any other companies.

[@howardskeivys4184]

@@dannyrichie9743 👍👍

[@tpn8402]

@dannyrichie9743 Danny, would you ever consider making something like an 8" Encore?

[@dannyrichie9743]

I have.

[@tpn8402]

@@dannyrichie9743 Hmmm..... 🤔