PC's DIY project 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:https://photos.imageevent.com/puma_c...XL-S%20Red.jpg

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.
https://photos.imageevent.com/puma_c...over%20Rev.jpg

Once I had the cabinets lined with No-Res, the crossover and drivers installed, I have to say for an ~1.2 cubic foot standmount, 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.
https://photos.imageevent.com/puma_c...response_1.jpg

The horizontal off-axis at 0, 10, 20, 30, 40 degrees off-axis is also very good.
https://photos.imageevent.com/puma_c...43.27%20PM.jpg

The vertical off-axis performance is also very good:
https://photos.imageevent.com/puma_c...20vertical.jpg

And, finally, the cumulative spectral decay (aka waterfall plot) is, with essentially no ringing of any significance from either driver.
https://photos.imageevent.com/puma_c...core%20csd.jpg

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!
https://photos.imageevent.com/puma_c...%20Encores.jpg

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.

Very cool Stephen. Must be very satisfying.

Very nice! I have been thinking about getting their servo sub kit and flat pack, not nearly as involved as this since you don’t have to build the crossovers.

Awesome project, Stephen!

Very cool Stephen! Good job. :yes:

When I was just getting started in high end audio in my early 20’s, my only chance of trying to get better sound than the speakers I could actually afford, was to build my own.

A few books later and armed with the knowledge how to build a crossover, how to calculate and match a bass driver to a cabinet and understand what “Q” factor was, how much damping material to use, etc... I picked up cabinets, raw components and drivers from Madisound catalog (they have been around since 1972) and built my own 2 way pair. Not bad at all! I used them for quite a few years until I saved up for a pair of Martin Logan SL3’s, my first audiophile grade speakers which were launched around 1995 and took my breath away with their speed and transparency.

My DIY pair were gifted to my friend and last I spoke to him, they are still being used in his game room. :D Not bad mileage for what was a roughly a $300 investment and a few hours of wiring, soldering, stuffing and screwing down the drivers. Fun! :thumbsup:

Good looking project, Stephen...and love those response curves.

Congratulations on your recovery following hip replacement surgery. It'll keep getting better. And makes an enormous improvement in the quality of life.

Thanks, Craig. Yeah, it was a fun project to do. Quite a bit of work, too.

Goes to show how one can obtain some very well-constructed and designed speakers with excellent quality drivers and XO components that measure and sound great by putting in some elbow grease.

Yeah, the Servo subs with these would work really well. You'd very likely get performance comparable to a speaker system costing 4-5X the retail price.

Thanks, Mike. :thumbsup:

Hi Serge,
Thanks for sharing. Yes, I agree, putting in some work on your own, you can have some very nice speakers for a modest cost that perform comparably or outperform to speakers costing 3-4X as much. There's no skimping here from using sandcastle resistors, cheap wire, iron-core inductors, or cheesy foam or a skimpy amount of poly-fil for damping.