Speaker Asylum: REVIEW: GR Research AV1 Plus Speakers by L Maier

Model:	AV1 Plus
Category:	Speakers
Suggested Retail Price:	$529 / Kit
Description:	2-way stand mounted
Manufacturer URL:	GR Research
Manufacturer URL:	GR Research

Review by L Maier on January 01, 2002 at 17:52:37
IP Address: 24.120.10.137

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I'm new to the DIY scene and I admit I was really green coming into this, but the experience has been a lot of fun and If you asked me if I would do it again I would tell you yes, and I WILL do it again!
The speakers I would like to tell you about are the AV1+'s from GR Research. After weeks of chat forums and surfing the net I made my decision on the AV's because It seemed to best fit what my tastes were. The Designer of the AV1+'s is Danny Richie.
Before I tell you about the sound of the speakers I want to first share with you my experience in making them.
Once I made my decision I sent a check to Danny for $555 (includes tax and shipping). In less than a week I had my kit. There were two boxes. The larger of the two contained the enclosures. The smaller contained the drivers, wiring, solder, caps and inductors, and the instructions. The enclosures were heavy. They were well braced inside and beautifully routed inside and out. Even the braces were routed as if you would be looking inside at some time in the future once they were put together.
Before I started I dry fit the drivers into the pre-cut and countersunk wholes. Everything fit perfect! Like I said they were surprisingly heavy. These babies could make it through an earthquake. No wimpy KIT looking stuff here. I'd be very surprised to find quality like this on a commercial level.
The first problem I ran into though was where were no step-by-step directions on how to put it together. There were several pages on dimensions of the cabinet and where the inductors would rest within the enclosure, but all I had on the crossover network was this schematic looking graphic on one page.
I immediately e-mailed Danny and asked him to help me. In my message I stated that I noticed a bunch of things that looked like black M-80's and green and white firecrackers (the capaciators). But what do I do whith them.
Well First thing saturday morning the phone rang and It was Danny speaking to me in a nice southern drawl asking me if he could give me a hand. I was pretty surprised. I didn't expect such good service. It was saturday and it was long-distance.
After several minutes of going over the details I realized what he gave me was all I needed in print but I'm an ignorant boob when it comes to electronics. He never made me feel that way though. He did chuckle a bit when he told me that the green firecracker attached to the Black M-80. He also gave me some tips on soldering and attaching the heat shrinks. After that I was on my way.
The longest part was painting, clearcoating and sanding the enclosures. I knew that would make a big difference in the success of this project. I guess it's part of a trend in speakers now but Painting the MDF with a metalic paint and clearcoat looked really cool. I chose gold because it matched the look of our family room. When I finished they looked like metal enclosures-real nice! I couldn't wait now to do the network and button these puppies up.
That's when I ran into some problems. I am by nature impatient and I had some problems getting the network into the enclosures once they were soldered together. I tore two of the copper ribbons on the inductors that attach to the capacitors. They are a bit flimsy for my taste. That's not to say there was anything wrong with the inductors. It was just me. After peeling back some of the copper ribbon I just re-attached it and I moved on. I don't think that had any negative impact on the final result of the network. At least I hope not.
I managed to fix it and I was very careful to place the network back into the enclosure and I was home free. All that was left then was to put in the insolation and screw in the drivers. Now was the real test. See if sound would actually come out of those boxes. I was nervous.
I unhooked my old bookshelves and hooked up the Av's and Whala! There it was, beautiful sound indeed. Right off the bat I could tell the imaging was great. Excellent detail too. John Klemmer and Steely Dan couldn't have sounded better. I was impressed. Even the bass was good (which I didn't expect). I figured the highs would be good but I wasn't expecting the lows to sound that good. Real tight. Well defined and this is from solid state middle of the road Yamaha stuff. No it wasn't earth shattering like my old Klipsch Cornwalls but good enough to stand on their own in a smaller room. I admit I like the oomph and I will be working on a sub project next but These could live on their own if you wanted to. At low volumes they were much better than my klips. And I will admit that I won't be trying to blow out the windows anymore any way.
I was pleased to say the least. I new immediately I did the right thing. I was almost giddy. I mean here I was getting the kind of sound I wanted and I did it myself. I saved a ton of money and had fun too. My hats off to Danny and Gr Research they make an excellent product. I'd recommend The AV1+'s to anyone.
In closing I'd like to share one final story. Yesterday I was at some high-end Audio place looking for stands for my speakers when I overheard some guy bragging to his girlfriend about these $1000 dollar plus speakers that had the typical tweeter sizzle I can't stand when I heard him say how great they were to her. I couldn't resist butting in and asked him if he'd be interested in getting twice the sound for half the money. He kind of looked at me with a sneer and said sarcastically: "Yeah why don't you enlighten me". I said: "build them yourself". He replied: Yeah right, like that could be done. I just smiled and told him I just did it. He looked at me like I was nuts and walked away. I guess if he wants to throw away money on garbage that's his right. For me I'll stick with DIY.
Larry Maier

Product Weakness: I think a step-by-step instructional would be helpful.
Product Strengths: Well built, excellent imaging and detail, tight bass, overall feeling is they disappear into the room.

Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	Yahmah RX-V595
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	None
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Yahmaha CD
Speakers:	AV 1 Plus / GR Research
Cables/Interconnects:	gold connects
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	Jazz, Blues, Popular
Room Size (LxWxH):	20ft x 16ft x 9ft
Room Comments/Treatments:	Hardwood flooring
Time Period/Length of Audition:	12 hours
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	n/a
Type of Audition/Review:	Home Audition
Your System (if other than home audition):	n/a

Product Weakness:	I think a step-by-step instructional would be helpful.
Product Strengths:	Well built, excellent imaging and detail, tight bass, overall feeling is they disappear into the room.