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X-Series kit deals. Prices have been set REALLY low on these.

21K views 30 replies 13 participants last post by  david-me 
#1 ·
X-Series kits.

I have always been at the top of the performance per dollar spent category, but now I am REALLY raising the bar. I am now offering some new loudspeaker kits of some multiple award winning designs at ridiculously low price points.

Note that I said "KITS" and not fully assembled speakers. The prices below do not include cabinets.

Here is the short story:

I designed a product line for AV123 known as the X-Series speakers. It started out with a brilliant idea from Mark Schifter to offer a real over achieving mini-monitor and sub as a lost leader and use it as an advertising tool rather then spending a lot of money directly on advertising. The speakers had to be well engineered and mass produced to keep cost low, then sold at levels barely above cost.

The plan worked well as the X-LS and X-sub racked up awards and accolades.

Then we followed them up with a higher end version using a world class tweeter and took everything up a notch. Other models followed that filled out the line with many of them winning industry awards as well. These were known as the Encore versions.

Fast forward a few years and AV123 hit some bumps in the road that lead to them closing the doors...

X-Series speakers were last being made in Colombia by Santiago and family, and they did a wonderful job with the whole line. But they obviously will no longer be manufacturing them. And that left them with thousands of X-series drivers, crossovers, and various parts. They couldn't afford to sit on this product that they have purchased and really needed to recovery some of their investment.

So Santiago and I have agreed to a deal that will allow all of the X-series inventory to be sent here to GR Research. I am now blowing them out as kits and at prices that will make them fly out the doors. The faster they sell the faster I can send funds to Santiago and his family, so prices are really low for fast sales.

I took delivery of two forty foot container loads of product. So there is a lot on hand.

There will be more information made available here and on the GR Research web site as soon as I can get it up. I have crunched the numbers, factored in shipping cost, brokerage, etc, and I think I can stick with these numbers. These prices included everything but the cabinets.

Original X-LS mini-monitor: $109 per pair.

These were reviewed by Audioholics, Affordable Audio, Home Theater and High Fidelity, GoodSound, Tone Audio, Consumer Guide, Prillaman.net, and several others. They received two Product of the Year awards, Best Buy award, Budget Speaker of the Year, and seems like there might have been one or two more that I can't remember. An upgrade for that model offered by the Skiing Ninja was also reviewed by Tone Audio.

Original X-CS: $79 each.

This was a matching MTM in a sealed box using a pair of the 16 ohm woofers in parallel. These were reviewed by Home Theater Talk, Audioholics, Consumer Guide, and Affordable Audio.

X-LS Encore: $149 a pair.

This was an upgraded version of the original X-LS. A few pics here: http://av123.wetpaint.com/page/X-LS+Encore

These were reviewed by Positive Feedback, and several others. A Skiing Ninja upgraded version also won the small speaker shoot out by Stereo Mojo: http://www.stereomojo.com/Small Speaker Shootout 2007/SmallSpeakerShootout2007Part1.htm

X-CS Encore: $99 each.

An upgraded version of the original X-CS, MTM center channel speaker.

This was also reviewed by Positive Feedback. There was also a review of the X-MTM, X-CS, and X-ls at Home Theater Sound, and they were given a Reviewers Choice award.

X-Omni: $169 a pair.

This is an omni directional design for left and right mains or rear surround applications. It was reviewed by Affordable Audio and given a Best of 2009 award.

X-Statik: $379 a pair.

This hugely popular model is an MTM in open baffle with an addition pair of woofers below.

Some pics here: http://av123.wetpaint.com/page/x-statik

This speaker was reviewed by Affordable Audio, AV Guide, Gear Patrol, Audioholics, and the Absolute Sound, winning their Top Value award and an Editors Choice award. Stereo Mojo also gave it a Best of Show at RMAF 2008.

X-Voce: $189 each.

This speaker is a center channel version of the X-Statik.

A few pics are here: http://av123.wetpaint.com/page/x-statik+Centre

It uses an open baffle MTM center section with an additional sealed box woofer on each end.

These were also reviewed by Gear Patrol and several others.

If you have questions about any these then let'em rip.

I'll post some pics and more information on each model as soon as I can.
 
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#2 ·
Re: X-Series kit deals. Prices have been set low on these.

Hey everyone this is better than a great deal on these kits! When they were first introduced I bought a finished pair of the X-LS in Maple and a pair of the subs to match. At the time of the purchase I thought
it would be best to have the subs. I like the bass and how much could such a small speaker make?
Well let me tell you that i never even took the subs out of the boxes! When I got the speakers I had them upgraded to a sonicap in the crossover and the cabinets lined with black hole 5.
In my room the response was well into the upper 30's and could do that at quite a loud level.
Very pleasing and easy to listen too at high volumes. They were by far my favorite of all time small monitor,
and I paid much more then Danny is asking for the kits. Easy enough for anyone to build . Best bang for the buck as they say!:T
gary
 
#5 ·
I have recently built several pairs of the X-LS Encore kits that I bought from Danny. Not only do they sound great, but at $149.00 for the parts kit they are a super bargin too. If you want to take the performance up to a higher level, I highly recommend going for the performance upgrades. The upgrades consist of replacing the the stock crossover capacitors and resistors with Sonicaps and Mills respectively. Also, lining the cabinet interioe walls with No-Rez makes an audible improvement too. I would be glad to share my build information
with anyone interested in building the X-LS or X-LS Encores. Just send me a PM. Note -I would post pictures but for some reason this site presently won't allow me to create a Gallery folder to upload pictures to.
 
#6 ·
I have recently built several pairs of the X-LS Encore kits that I bought from Danny. Not only do they sound great, but at $149.00 for the parts kit they are a super bargin too. If you want to take the performance up to a higher level, I highly recommend going for the performance upgrades. The upgrades consist of replacing the the stock crossover capacitors and resistors with Sonicaps and Mills respectively. Also, lining the cabinet interioe walls with No-Rez makes an audible improvement too. I would be glad to share my build information
with anyone interested in building the X-LS or X-LS Encores. Just send me a PM. Note -I would post pictures but for some reason this site presently won't allow me to create a Gallery folder to upload pictures to.
Welcome to HTS!

You need 5 posts to do that - you can use the post padding thread here to get to 5.

Looking forward to seeing your pics!
 
#13 ·
Hi,

I'm interested in the X-LS Encores, but is the difference difference between the Skiing Ninja version and the version offered the soniccaps and resistors? Are those also available through GR Research?

The other thing I didn't see is about the cabinet plans. Are those provided with the kit? Maybe it's obvious, but I thought I'd confirm.

Thanks!
 
#14 ·
The kit comes with fully assembled crossovers using air core inductors, poly caps, non-inductive wire wound resistors, and Gen. 2 Sonicap by-pass caps in the tweeter circuit.



I can sell you Sonicaps that can be swapped out for the poly caps to take resolution levels and detail levels up a notch. You can mount them on the same board. That is the best bang for the buck upgrade.

What the Skiing Ninja does is take everything up a notch with Sonicaps, Mills resistors, And Erse XQ inductors. He even does away with the circuit board and point to point wires everything. Full assembly is included so you just mount the crossover and make connections. The Skiing Ninja crossover must be ordered from the Skiing Ninja.

Binding post can also be upgraded to tube connectors too if you like. Tube connectors can be seen here: http://www.electracable.com/tubeconnector.htm

Cabinet plans are here: http://gr-research.com/pdf/X-LS Encore box.pdf
 
#15 ·
OK Danny, I am interested in building a pair of the XLS Encores and maybe starting to put together a bookshelf shootout sort of like what we did at Sonnie's for the $1000 speakers. I am still trying to wrap my brain around the price. It is $149 for the pair, with assembled crossovers? Really? Not each?

Will one sheet of No-Rez be enough? Do you have recommendations for placement? Back, sides, top?

This will be a cool project to do with my son, and a pair of speakers will end up with him. I need another pair for my bedroom and am considering the Arx A1b, among others, so with these two speakers we have the beginnings of a shootout.

I have always had a curiosity for bookshelf speakers and the practical matter is that it is nice to have sound in places that are not the prime listening area, like the bedroom. I have not had a nice pair for many years and am finding my way back to this hobby. Old favorites included the Rogers LS3/5a (Gulp, choke when I look at what a kit costs these days) and the Spica TC50. Yes, I go back almost 3 decades to most of my serious audio days. I am curious how the best value speakers of today match up to what we had back then. I don't have any of these to compare, but I do still have my original Thiel 04 pair as a reference.
 
#16 ·
OK Danny, I am interested in building a pair of the XLS Encores and maybe starting to put together a bookshelf shootout sort of like what we did at Sonnie's for the $1000 speakers. I am still trying to wrap my brain around the price. It is $149 for the pair, with assembled crossovers? Really? Not each?
Per pair.

Will one sheet of No-Rez be enough? Do you have recommendations for placement? Back, sides, top?
One sheet of No Rez will handle the pair. You put it on all five sides (not the front baffle).

This will be a cool project to do with my son, and a pair of speakers will end up with him. I need another pair for my bedroom and am considering the Arx A1b, among others, so with these two speakers we have the beginnings of a shootout.
Sounds fun. You can also take them up a level or two with higher resolution and detail levels by upgrading the caps to Sonicaps. You can also upgrade the resistors to Mills. That is a slight upgrade.



You can even upgrade the connectors to tube connectors. That is an improvement as well.



All that little stuff adds up and allows them to compete easily with any mini-monitor out there.

I have always had a curiosity for bookshelf speakers and the practical matter is that it is nice to have sound in places that are not the prime listening area, like the bedroom. I have not had a nice pair for many years and am finding my way back to this hobby. Old favorites included the Rogers LS3/5a (Gulp, choke when I look at what a kit costs these days) and the Spica TC50. Yes, I go back almost 3 decades to most of my serious audio days. I am curious how the best value speakers of today match up to what we had back then. I don't have any of these to compare, but I do still have my original Thiel 04 pair as a reference.
I have upgraded some of those old speakers in the past. Here is one of them: http://gr-research.com/spicatc-50upgrade.aspx

They are a long way from a pair of X-LS Encores.
 
#18 ·
Leonard,

While you're at it build out a pair of GR-Research OB7's for the upcoming $2,500 floor standing shootout

Here's a link to the page: http://gr-research.com/ob-7.aspx

OK so technically ~$1,300 for the upgraded kit and NoRez + cabinet material will probably be well below $2,500 I would expect the OB7's to win that shootout hands down.

I just finished building a pair of upgraded X-LS Encores and couldn't be more pleased.

Mike
 

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#19 ·
I received the XLS Encore kit and built it this weekend. For a total cost in materials and kit under $200 I can say that this is quite a good value. I wish that I had a room in which I could set them up optimally to see what they can really do. Nice image for a cheap speaker, relatively good definition. I built them using the stock components. Perhaps I will experiment with some of the recommended upgrades, but not until I get to know them and get to make some careful measurements.
 
#23 ·
BTW, my old Thiel 04s hold up pretty well. In terms of imaging, maybe better in some areas. I tink I like the upper midrange better on the Encore and the frequency response overall seems to be smoother in the Encore. Thirty years later, with the original drivers other than the passive radiators which were replaced, this early effort from the late Jim Thiel and his brother Tom.
 
#26 ·
Really appreciate the heads up Mike. I followed all of the original X-Statik development info back on AV123 years ago and always loved the open baffle design. I recently stumbled on someone with a set and it peaked my interested again. Danny does some absolutely fantastic work developing these systems.....

I'd love to build a set up - either that or some OB-5's....



Thanks,
Eric
 
#27 ·
Eric,

Danny also has a new OB design out called the LGK Wedge (or Wedgie as some people call it).

The Wedge itself is the top part of a full range speaker covering 250Hz and up. It needs to be mated with bass units (preferably OB bass) that will cover the bottom octaves.

Danny's 8 inch and 12 inch direct servo drivers work well for this. They can be built into H-frames that can double as stands for the Wedges yielding OB speakers that play flat down to 20Hz.

Danny is currently working on a wedge shapped bass unit using three of the 8 inch servo drivers that will match the LGK Wedgie.

I built a pair of the Swedgies and love them.

Mile
 
#29 ·
Eric,

You will find an in-depth discussion of the LGK Wedgie here http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=126112.0


The N3s are alive and well in my living room, which my wife informed me was her system and those speakers would remain in her system thank you very much :eek: (WAF indeed).

Since my wife commandeered the N3s, I needed another set of speakers for my man cave. I got to hear OB speakers at the Lone Star Audio Fest last year and liked the sound so I was looking at the OB7s when the Wedgies became available.

My personal preference is now OB when the room layout will allow them and N3s when OB won't work. The way my living room is set up, OB speakers won't work. I can't get them far enough off the front wall so the N3s are perfect here.

Mike
 
#31 ·
Looking for x-statik upgraded crossovers but I cant afford to spend even close to that much. Pleas let me know if/when you have a blowout sale or just want them out of your inventory. If the x-voce has an upgrade, I'l be interested as well.

I own mostly av123 speakers. and a mfw15 with a version 1 and 2 dead amps.

Rs1000
Rs850 sig
Rs450
RSC200

xl-s
x-statik
x-voce
 
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