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  1. #1
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    PC's GR-Research X-LS Encores are done!

    Some of you may remember my AmpCamp amp project posted here in a recent thread in August.

    Part of that project was to build up a pair of GR-Research X-LS Encores as speakers.

    Well, I had a total hip replacement August 10th and have been recovering from that the last six weeks.

    As I got clearance to resume normal duties from my orthopedic surgeon with an A+ post-op exam on Tuesday, I decided to finish up the X-LS Encore project.

    Some of you may remember the photos of the cabinets in the ACA thread, well, those were damaged irrevocably in shipping, so the cabinet maker made me up a pair in "birch red" to match the Dynaudio Special 40s.

    Here's a shot of one of the cabinets:

    Doesn't look like much in the photo, but this cabinet has 4 internal braces and a cross-brace, and it is very stiff and heavy for its size. Its so stiff and strong that 4 of them under each wheel will support a 4X4 pickup truck.

    Here's a pic of the crossover I put together. The resistors, SoniCaps and MiFlex copper caps and Mills resistors were part of the upgraded "parts" kit. The inductors are large-diameter wire and air-core. Everything is wired point-to-point and soldered with Cardas solder.


    Once I had the cabinets lined with No-Res, the crossover and drivers installed, I have to say for what is an approx. 1.2 cubic foot box speaker, these speakers are heavy! The cabinets are very stiff and also well-damped. I have beefier pair of speaker stands coming for them.

    The on-axis frequency response measurements at the refence point is excellent, with a max deviation of 1.5dB across the entire frequency range and considerable portion within 1 dB or less.


    The horizontal off-axis at 0, 10, 20, 30, 40 degrees off-axis is also very good.


    The vertical off-axis performance is also very good:


    And, finally, the cumulative spectral decay (aka waterfall plot) is, with essentially no ringing of any significance from either driver.


    My cost including built, veneered and stained cabinets, and speaker premium crossover parts and $45 sheet of No-Res: ~$915. This included the trick components in the crossover, like the Miflex copper caps (which are pretty pricey).

    And...here they are!


    I have say, listening to them immediately after hooking them up, I am REALLY impressed.

    After 300 hours on them for run-in, they should be "on the cam" as we say in motor racing...so, stay tuned, listening impressions to come over the next few days as they run in. The woofers certainly need running in and crossover needs to be burned in.

    But so far, I am VERY impressed.

  2. #2
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    Re: PC's GR-Research X-LS Encores are done!

    Those are pretty awesome! Well done.

    Are they fairly efficient?
    Fleetwood Deville by Oswald Mills Audio, Vienna Acoustics Haydn Jubilee, Wharfedale Linton w/ stands, Klipsch RB-75, Klipsch RP-160M.

    Job INTegrated. Luxman L-595aSE

    NAD C 658 streamer.

    First Watt SIT-3, Job 250 Monos, NuForce STA200, AkitikA GT-102 amp, ASL Wave monos, Dennis Had 45 monos. Absolute Audio Labs PCF 25 amp (improved First Watt F7 super clone)

    Topping D90, RME Audio ADI-2 DAC FS, ModWright Ultimate Sony XA-5400ES.

    Burmester 948, McIntosh MCLK12, Kimber Kable, Siltech, Cardas, Avanti Audio cables.

  3. #3
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    Re: PC's GR-Research X-LS Encores are done!

    Quote Originally Posted by joeinid View Post
    Those are pretty awesome! Well done.

    Are they pretty efficient?
    87 dB at 1 Watt/meter, Joe. Pretty good for what is an ~1.25 cubic foot box with bass reflex port. Not a problem as I listen typically at 72-74 dB in my listening position. They started opening up a bit in the last five minutes and are sounding better than when I started writing the first post above.

    I would expect these to give the Dynaudio Special 40s and Harbeth p3ESRs a real run for the money (with those those speakers costing ~3X as much as these).

  4. #4
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    Re: PC's GR-Research X-LS Encores are done!

    That's great. Thanks for posting.
    Fleetwood Deville by Oswald Mills Audio, Vienna Acoustics Haydn Jubilee, Wharfedale Linton w/ stands, Klipsch RB-75, Klipsch RP-160M.

    Job INTegrated. Luxman L-595aSE

    NAD C 658 streamer.

    First Watt SIT-3, Job 250 Monos, NuForce STA200, AkitikA GT-102 amp, ASL Wave monos, Dennis Had 45 monos. Absolute Audio Labs PCF 25 amp (improved First Watt F7 super clone)

    Topping D90, RME Audio ADI-2 DAC FS, ModWright Ultimate Sony XA-5400ES.

    Burmester 948, McIntosh MCLK12, Kimber Kable, Siltech, Cardas, Avanti Audio cables.

  5. #5
    Senior Member
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    Re: PC's GR-Research X-LS Encores are done!

    Just an update that with only about 8 hours on them, the GR-Research X-LS Encores are starting to open up and sound very good indeed. The tweeter is very resolving, and the woofer capable of clean, defined and well-articulated bass down to what sounds like 55 Hz or so. I'll bust out the calibrated mic at some point and REW and find out how they performing in the room.

    They're quite impressive and I would say fully compete with standmounts in the $3-4K range.

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PC's GR-Research X-LS Encores are done!

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