Background
Curious about what happens to a speaker when you combine high quality parts with a genius design? I certainly was.
Throughout college, my passion for audio continued to grow, and after reading as much as I could, consulting with dealers, and doing numerous listening tests, I settled on my first stereo system. I ended up buying a pair of Focal Chora 806s, paired with an NAD 316 BEE V2 integrated amplifier and an SMSL SU-9 DAC. As a college student, shelling out this kind of cash was no small decision, but I was determined to see what kind of performance I could attain with a little knowledge of acoustics, stereo setup, and electronic design. When working on a tight budget, decisions are made more cautiously, and everything must be optimized for the lowest price possible. How far can you stretch your money to achieve the best sound possible? I was determined to find out.
While I was enthralled with the sound of the Focals (in large part due to my ability to set up a room well), I knew from experience listening to systems in the six-figure range that there was a lot of performance left on the table. I wanted to get a taste of that high-end sound without shelling out a fortune.
As I browsed the internet for speaker reviews and “best value for money speakers” I came across a company called GR-Research. Danny Richie, the founder of the company and crossover design expert, was doing a teardown of a more expensive Focal speaker, the Focal Aria 906, which sold at the time for an eye-watering $2200. What kind of quality do you get for a speaker of that price? As it turns out, not as much as you might think.
What I didn’t realize was that the pricing structure of loudspeakers is such that the actual cost of production is a small fraction of the retail cost, sometimes as low as 20% of the asking price. First the manufacturer has to sell to a dealer, then the dealer has to make money and mark the product up even further. So unfortunately, if you shell out $1000 for a set of speakers, there’s a high likelihood there isn’t more than $250 worth of actual cost for the pair. Is this enough to achieve high-end performance? Unsurprisingly, the answer is no.
The basics of good loudspeaker design: even frequency response on and off-axis, high-quality crossover components, and an inert cabinet, aren’t covered at the budget end of speaker systems, and can even be overlooked in much more expensive products. GR Research’s claim is that high-quality parts can significantly improve performance of an audio system. Could I upgrade the parts in my Focals and get a real taste of the high-end sound that I wanted, without paying all the retail markup? I needed to find out.
Luckily, GR-Research allows customers to send in speakers and get them tested to see if they are good candidates for upgrading. They measure the performance of the speaker, and then if it seems like the design can be improved, a new upgraded crossover with premium parts will be designed for it. They also can add cabinet damping materials, fresh wiring, and upgraded binding posts (also called tube connectors), which are exclusive to GR-Research.
In addition to doing speaker upgrades, Gr-Research also sells DIY speaker kits, where you can buy parts for a tested speaker design, and build it yourself, significantly reducing cost to the consumer.
I had hoped to spend $500-600 on parts and improve my Focals for years to come, but ultimately GR-research determined that it wasn’t worth upgrading the speaker. The quality just wasn’t there to begin with. This is what happens when a company like Focal has $100 to spend on building each speaker. GR-research suggested I start over, spending just a little bit more than the expected Focal upgrade cost to buy one of their DIY speaker kits, which I was hesitant to do. I really didn’t want to shell out the extra cash on a kit that I would have to build myself, and that if I didn’t love the sound of when it was finished, would have little to no resale value. Ultimately, I decided I would take the risk to see what kind of performance I could attain going DIY. I wanted to get to the next level of performance and have a speaker that I felt would last a long time.
Boy, am I glad I decided to take on the project. The result was nothing short of spectacular.
I ended up buying the XLS Encore speaker kit, which I maxed out on upgrades to include the highest quality capacitors, inductors, and resistors GR-Research offers, along with additional bypass capacitors that were said to reduce signal degradation in the tweeter circuit. A full summary of the kit and build process can be found here. Total cost for the parts (including cabinets) was around $1100, with another $150 spent on materials for building and painting.
Listening Impressions
If I had to describe the sound of these speakers in one word, it would be “accurate.” The linearity was immediately audible, with no hint of sound coloration or strange dips and peaks that distract you from the music. Additionally, the spatial information coming from the Encores was simply outstanding. On every single track, you could hear clear as day the room that the audio was recorded in, and differences between recordings could be easily heard. Songs that I thought didn’t have substantial spatial information were suddenly much more crisp, realistic, and clear. At this point I realized that GR-Research was on to something. Clearly, parts quality does matter. The resonances and distortions from the electronics and cabinet in my previous Focal setup were almost entirely absent with the Encores. I had no idea just how much distortion the lack of damping and poor quality crossover parts was adding to the signal before. I was shocked. The sound I was hearing was on par with speakers I had heard in fully treated rooms in the $6-10k range, which was mind-blowing, considering the cost of the project. Unfortunately, given the space limitations and decor, I was not able to apply any room treatment, which would take the performance of the Encores to another level.
The biggest change in presentation I heard from typical budget speakers is how much information about the recording was being presented. I could tell whether the microphone was close or far away, left or right, etc. The soundstaging and imaging were astounding. Sound was completely coming from behind the speakers, which certainly takes some getting used to if you like a very forward, “in your face” presentation. Much of this has to do with how far from the wall the speakers are pulled out, however, the Encores “disappear in the room” with ease.
Resolution and Accuracy
Listening to “Cycles” by Lee Ritenour, I was taken aback by the sheer level of resolution and lack of ringing that many other speakers convey while playing music. The neutral presentation allowed me to listen to the music without fatigue, and the instruments sounded tonally balanced. Transients were delivered with pristine accuracy.
Dynamic Capability
Wanting to test the dynamic range of the Encores to ensure they weren’t boring to listen to, I played “Jazz Patrol” by Flim and the BB’s and was shocked at not only how loud they were able to get, but how cleanly it handled the dynamic swings. Sure, the Encores won’t produce concert level volumes like a horn or PA speaker, but, frankly, I wouldn’t want much more volume than what I got for fear of damaging my hearing. The key is to be able to hear the relative dynamic swings and have it be effortless, not sounding like the speaker is compressing or distorting. I don’t need 120dB SPL capabilities in my room. I’d need earplugs for that…
Vocals
Vocal clarity is where this speaker excels. There is significantly reduced distortion in the midrange which allows for greatly improved speech intelligibility and a full picture of the human voice, which is often ruined or colored by speakers of lesser quality. Because of the neutral presentation of the Encores, they can be unforgiving on tracks that are recorded particularly bright, however, I never felt like it was a dealbreaker. The lack of ringing and distortion made bright tracks tolerable, although I can appreciate when the mastering engineer has taken the time to reduce any sibilance that might make the song uncomfortable to listen to. While listening to “Too Good at Goodbyes” by Sam Smith, the vocal clarity, particularly in the low registers, was unmistakably great. It sounded much more authentic to a real human voice than anything I had heard near this price range.
Bass
To test the bass performance, which I was particularly concerned with considering the diminutive size of the Encores, I played “Extraordinary” by DJ Fabio and Moon. When the bass dropped, it sounded incredibly tight, articulate, and delivered respectable levels of volume. Do I want to add a subwoofer? Yes. Do I need to for most music? No. The Encores were controlled within the range they could play and produced significantly more bass than expected. The speakers don’t try and play notes they can’t, instead rolling off smoothly around 50Hz. Seeing how clear the speakers rolled off, it doesn’t make sense to judge the performance of the Encores on orchestral or movie music, since they simply aren’t meant to produce that kind of low bass. Despite this, I noticed usable output down to the mid-40Hz range, which is quite good and will suffice for most music. When playing “Night Train” by Christian McBride, you could easy hear the pluck of the strings on the bass, and the decay of the notes was rendered with extreme realism. Overall, the bass performance of the Encores is more focused on clarity and speed than output, although I think for smaller rooms these speakers will provide more than enough bass to please most listeners. Simply add a pair of subwoofers and you can solve the output problem quite easily if you integrate them well.
Treble
Treble performance is another area where a marked improvement in clarity over inferior loudspeakers was easily noticeable. Usually, the treble response is boosted to create the impression of more detail, even though it is just a distorted mess. This isn’t the case with the Encores. The decay of each note is easily audible and snare hits, particularly in tracks where the mix is bright, such as some rap music, are delivered in a way where the claps and snares are tolerable because they sound like real instruments, rather than a distorted onslaught of treble. The neutrality of the treble can take some getting used to since tracks that I expected to be louder in the treble area were much more subdued than I was accustomed to. At first, I thought the speakers were simply rolled off in the treble, but as I listened to more songs, I realized that the treble was completely present when the song was mixed that way, but it didn’t exaggerate anything for the listener, which I appreciated. The neutrality and resolution in the top end made music easy to listen to for long periods of time without any fatigue.
Final Remarks
One standout feature of the XLS Encores that I really appreciate is how wide the dispersion is in the vertical plane, meaning that even when you stand up and walk around the room, the sound you get is very similar, which makes it that much more realistic to listen to. This is something that I would expect from a coaxial design but have found to be difficult to replicate with a multi-driver design. Excellent design work on GR-Research’s part to ensure that the drivers remain phase coherent as you move off-axis.
I can’t speak highly enough about the XLS Encores by GR-Research. If you can afford to spend the time and money to build a pair, I would highly recommend it. Insane value for money is the name of the game here. GR-Research also offers finished speakers for those who don’t want to build it themselves, although you are paying a premium for that. Still, relatively affordable speakers for the level of performance they attain. These speakers will benefit from being pulled out into the room and used with high quality electronics and room treatment. They scale well. The performance is there to justify building a nice system around them. However, they can be used quite easily with affordable amplifiers in an untreated room and will still sound fantastic. They truly are a bargain, especially if you build one yourself. Go check out GR-Research and the XLS Encores. It’s worth your while.
Accessory Gear:
Blue Jeans Cable speaker cables
Blue Jeans Cable RCA interconnects
NAD 316 BEE V2 integrated amplifier
SMSL SU-9 DAC
IsoAcoustics Aperta 200 speaker Stands
Monolith by Monoprice Speaker stands (filled with sand)
iphone over USB streaming Apple Music lossless