Danny made me curious about parts quality in speakers. He has explained a lot about why you should remove ferrous metals out of the signal path, and lots of other usefull tips. I had some small mission bookshelf speakers, on a somewhat decent system, which provided background music in my audiorepairshop. The crossover was a very basic one. Very few parts, easy to upgrade. I decided to take it one step at the time for experimental reasons. First polycaps, instead of electrolitics. Then a week of burnin time. The difference was obvious. After that the removel of the steel nuts, which improved transparency. After that open coils and teflon wiring. Every step was a improvement, the coils and caps where a milestone in improving the soundquality of the little Mission speaker. She sounds very airy, fast, and lots of layering in the soundstage. I also upgraded the little vintage Yamaha driving it. And the cd player. This humble system sounds breathtaking, causing goosebumps. Danny has played an important role here. He gave me inspiration to try new things, made me curious enough to do all the upgrades as a experiment. One "problem" does occure. You cannot go back to how things where before. The improvements are profound. No going back. Not that i ever want to. Customers are surprised, some asking for specific music to judge the little background system. They cannot believe such a humble system can sound this good! Thanks Danny☺ Cheers from the Netherlands.
@@nicodenhaak3961 by constraing the magnetic field in the wire, it can pass much higher current than without. Wires, besides ohms law have maximum current limit given by wire tables. Fuses function on this principle. Have a look at AWG (American Wire Gauge) table. It shows two lists of current per wire thickness. Power transmission, used by transformer, motor design and in chassis (steel). Take any capacitor except low current tonality ones, tiny ceramic for example, it is magnetic.
I upgraded a set of Wharfedale speakers for my parents TV a several years ago with GR parts. One of the benefits of using better components is the cleaner, and more detailed sound they produce allowed the sound level to be reduced for those with hearing issues. My Dad appreciated this because after the upgrade my mom could turn the sound down and still understand the dialog.
Great to hear a before and after albeit through UA-cam compression, microphones and end user speakers / headphone. Glad you did that. I do tonnes of measurements and upgrades for people and always need to listen. The measurements might be great but theres no measurement device better that our ears. It doesn't matter what the measurements say if it sounds crap. Enjoyed this one Danny. Being able to listen after the upgrade really is key. I love the extents people go through bi-wiring these sort of things. If only they knew thr crap inside them.
I upgraded my Magnepan 1.7i using GR-Research's upgrade kit. NIGHT AND DAY DIFFERENCE. Danny's kit is BETTER than the X upgrade, which costs over twice as much.
Difference was not subtle. Upgraded version better by no small amount, even w/ compressed file. I need to finally finish the GR crossovers my my Maggie LRS and send in one of my Merlin monitors for the Danny magic.
The upgrade is lifelike. My son and I also bought two pairs of the Sony SS-CS5. I did an upgrade on one set using the GR-Research higher end components (sonic caps) and the A-B listening was obvious. There is something about the mid to lower treble region that really makes them sound "in the room". It's something you notice from across the room as well as listening in front of them too. I just wish car audio fixes were this easy. That's a battle for the ages.
Its not Bs but most people never adress the biggest problem room and placement they can buy your upgrade but if they have a poor reflective room it wont make much difference they need an upgrade and sound isolation panels in room at the major reflection points
I could hear a touch better separation and clarity but not by much. To be able to hear that through youtube compression and everything is saying a lot. Would love to rebuild the crossovers in my speakers with better parts as I already like how they are voiced.
If that is seriously using the same microphone in the same position and the speakers in the same position both running the same electronics then I am sold!
pretty interesting comparison. Even on the utube clips you can hear the stock speaker has more of a flat 2-D sound right on the voice coils vs. more of an image from the upgrade. Just a thought, but there are tons of the Wharfedale's out there. The speaker backet to hold the binding posts is made from pot metal and not too tough to crack. Maybe offer the 3-D printed piece as an option in the kits.
Just an aside, I listened to the uncompressed file before the sample clips in the video and you can really hear the compression artefacts UA-cam causes. It really illustrates how you cannot determine any subtle sound improvements through a UA-cam video.
Wow. I'm gonna have to admit that the difference is pretty large and pretty obvious. With the upgrade clips, sounds (voices, instruments) kind of leapt out, up, down, and side to side where they are supposed to be rather than all being concentrated in the middle between the speakers. Amazing upgrade.
The difference is always noticeable, but in some clips it is very obvious. And that is a 1080p / AAC 128kbps video. If it were 4K / AAC 192kbps it would be much more noticeable (that is why the 24/96 FLAC 0 vinyl rips I share on my channel are in that quality). [Edited] Ah, now there are a link to uncompressed sound clips!!! UA-cam NORMALIZES (not compresses) excessively. The same audio on Vimeo sounds much better due to less normalization.
BS is a dramatic click bait title The real question is cost v benefit Not just the cost of the parts. The time finding and ordering the parts The time - and skills to pull the speakers and crossovers apart, solder in the new, put it back together again Mostly for relatively subtle changes Unless you’re obsessive it doesn’t stack up You’d probably be better off spending a bit more maybe and way less time, eg Getting good acoustic treatments and or buying or making bass traps
Great video. It would have been awesome if you haven't labeled the clips though. So that the audience could check them without knowing which is which. Like Speaker A and Speaker B, and then, after a day or two, you would have revealed which was which. Moreover, it would have been awesome if the recording was done with the binaural mics, and then put here as downloadable files without being compressed by UA-cam. Maybe consider doing that with your other reviews. I believe that would greatly increase the value of already great videos. Kind regards. P.S. I mean, our sighted biases and expectations are so strong they can completely change what we think we hear. According to the article by James Larson from Audioholics, "vision’s dominance over hearing is especially true in the realm of music eyes over ears even though we tend to think of music as a purely auditory experience." (Do Our Expectations Determine Our Experience of Sound More Than We Realize?).
Kudos for the sound clips. I have old ears and am an unpracticed listener so I don't hear much differences in the YT comparison. At least not night/day differences. But I do believe the upgrades are "directionally correct" and worthwhile if you are looking for a fun project to do and think that you will "hear" the differences after you're done. I remain a long-term DR follower and eagerly await his next video and project.
if you want to work on a awsome nugget, try get a KEF ACE 9000 center L/R. / its from the earlye 2005s, such a unique HT speaker, i had a 3 front they was awesome, very much. if i remeber correct it had. a active carbonfiber pod inside something something. big sound from a thin speaker. and used the Q series top range units.
If this is true then it means originally sound was very very bad😮😮😮listening to Danny richy and other audiophiles 5years now I'm able to do my DIY with a much cleaner sound than these things😅😅😅😂😂😂😂
I would say the only BS is when the customer is having the first listen to their new speakers. Unfortunately aesthetics’s have impressed them more than the sound.
I have a halfway decent computer speaker set up. Nothing audiophile grade. But, it does make casual listening a pleasant experience. However, even on that I could hear a definite sense of depth through the upgraded speakers relative to the stock ones and there was more clarity on the strings. Particularly, when plucking was the way it was being played. One way you could almost mistake it for being done through a keyboard. The other, you could note the sense of the guitar or violin body vibrating.
Im pretty sure £ multi-million audio companies know exactly what theyre doing, messing with wharfedales british sound signature is not a great idea. do you think that after 10 miles of mains cable going to your home a steel speaker jack with 0.0001 ohms resistance will make the slightest bit of difference?
What they are doing is maximizing profits. If you think they are trying to build the best ever product that they can, then you are highly mistaken. Also, steel parts used in the signal path have nothing to do with resistance or A/C power.
You are hilarious! How do you think they became “multi-million dollar companies” to begin with? By using THE cheapest parts while giving a “halfway decent” sound quality. I’d like for you to make a video and do a blindfolded test in order to show everyone what this “British sound signature” really sounds like… inquiring minds want to know!😂👍 And yes, good cables DO matter when you have a decent electrical power conditioner that filters out 99.9% of the noise from those miles of power lines and gives you a rock solid 120 volts of clean power… ESPECIALLY if you have highly sensitive speakers (like horns or ribbon tweeters) that allow you to hear MUCH more than other speakers. So yes, they DO matter to people who ACTUALLY have good hearing and love listening to good music over great speakers/equipment. So go back to listening to your old Sound Design “all-in-one” unit with your Magnavox speakers and stay happy with that “quality” sound you’ve got there… the rest of us are soooo jealous of you!😂👍
Dont bother earing the differences in the video. You have to download the uncompressed file. More clarity and air, but it seems there is less dynamics and bass authority.
That’s probably just how THAT speaker sounds… it does have a small “woofer”. Plus, Danny stated that he DID NOT correct for anything else besides that “knee” and upgraded the crossover parts along with tube connectors… and a couple of small pieces of no-rez. I’m sure that if he went all out, the sound would get even better, but it’s not really worth it when the speaker is built at a certain price point and only uses inexpensive drivers, but sounds pretty good already . He’s not trying to develop a $1,000 upgrade kit for speakers that brand new are only a few hundred dollars… it would be better to just buy a set of the speakers that he makes in-house for that kind of money and have WAY BETTER sound quality for the same money spent!😎👍
Question/comment......why would someone send you just one speaker to fix knowing that when they get it back it is going to be a much better speaker than the one they did not send you.....seem like you would want a matching pair?
Awesome, I was in the ESS Speaker group a while back and someone was asking for any ideas for upgrading the crossovers, I said yeah, send a speaker to Danny at GR-Research and he will take it to another level far beyond the stock factory design.
@@roybatty- No experts over there at all. They just take measurements and theorize a result. They do no proper science at all, and really don't know what they are doing. They also have no real listening experience. They just have an agenda to take down any company that promotes anything they don't understand.
I have some Aussie Krix lyrix gold floor standers that have a very pleasing natural sound but slightly muddy compared to others. All of its cheese is glued on to the back of it's magnetic biwire posts and suprisingly no bracing. If I was closer than Australia, I would send them in. I was resisting a part for part upgrade, but now it is on the menu, until I save up and make room for some Bullies
I heard more sharpness and openness on most of them but the female vocal was the biggest difference, which was amazing. The original sounded fuzzy and the upgrade sounded much quieter with more detail. I was able to hear it more clearly using the MacBook drivable Sennheiser HD599 headphones, either on UA-cam or the download version, than through my new Cornwall IVs--possibly because the Cornwalls have a similar problem.
I had these speakers a long long time ago. They are okay. I was pushing them so hard on Christopher Nolan Batman and blew them out. Very cheaply made with the plastic front. Returned.
The wharfedale diamonds 10.2s were my favourite for long years..Then I changed my amp (up with classes) and I noted where the 10.2s were perfect with a cheap amp - with an upper-mid class is no way..The 10.2s could not handle the amp's wider and stronger bass range,the sound got muffled.I could not hear the dialogs clear.I did not upgraded the 10.2s but changed to 11.2. The 11.2s were my best wharfies what I owned.The 11.2s passed fantastic to my amp but here come another problem: power handling.Sometimes I like to push up the volume...the 11.2s did not like it.I changed them to polkaudio se20.Now the bass is also fat,goesvdeep enough but tight and good controlled at once.The dialogs far better than the 10.2 or 11.2 .Only 1 things left what was better on the 11.2: about 10-12kHz range it was better detaioed or lifted a little bit.I loved them sounds when the triangle or tubular bells played on them by Oldfield.But finally the se20 has more pros than the 10.2 or the 11.2 so not changed to another type yet ..
Hi Danny, enjoyed your video on the Diamond 10.1. I could tell the difference. Was wondering if you have done any upgrades on Spendor speakers. I have the S8e.
Oh wow, an Adelaide United FC shirt! I’m from Adelaide, and I watch your channel all the time. I find your videos very interesting and informative. I have a pair of Dynaudio Emit M20’s, which I have had for a few years now and have always loved how they sound. Very smooth sounding and open and airy but laid back at the same time. I have noticed a degradation of sound quality in recent months though, and I just can’t seem to pinpoint what the problem is. I’m starting to wonder if it’s my power board. I have a Monster 8 outlet AV power board, which I have have had for at least 7 or 8 years, and I have heard the EMI filters do degrade over time, so that might be the next thing to consider replacing. I also forgot to mention that I’m powering the speakers with an ARCAM FMJ A19 integrated amplifier.
It’s kinda crazy, but it seems some people view speakers like some view vehicles. It’s what it looks like that’s important, or how much money was spent. Why WOULDNT better parts make a vehicle run smoother of faster. A tuneup can greatly affect mileage, as can tires. Same holds true for speakers. 🤷🏻♂️ Thank you Danny! Love it!
Danny I could hear the difference! The original/pre-upgrade was flat which you only notice when you played the upgraded version! When you played the upgraded version the sound became more open and the instruments, voices & background became more pronounce! I am using an old Altec Lansing PC speaker system and listening to this though the headphone jack with a pair of cheap pioneer headphones. If I can hear the change with this setup. Anyone with a better sound card had to be blown away, Great Job! You're a protectionist Danny:). What's Hmm......to you is great to most people.
I upgraded the Caps and Resistors in my old B&W CDM1s. Left one with the original parts and had a listen. The non-upgraded speaker sounded broken. Tiny, whispy, congested, no dynamics and bright. It was a major upgrade and comparing the 2 speakers' side by side was an ear opener. I only changed out the Caps and Resistors, left the coils and used the same circuit board, cabling and connectors. I think older 80's, early 90's B&W would all benefit from changing out the Benic Caps and sandcast resistors. Not sure about the more technically advanced later models or the lower 600 series.
Even over UA-cam that's noticeable, you got rid of the forward ringing that was hitting on certain notes. Overall imaging sounds like it improved as well because you don't have that forward sound drawing your attention away from what else is going on
Big difference . How do.i go about upgrading a pair of speakers by you ? I have quite a few sets of speakers I have a set of Bowers and Wilkins cm8 they are Tower speakers and I love the way they look and they sound decent at low volumes but I think when I push them they fall apart I would love to see if they can be upgraded
I bought a pair of these from Music Unlimited I think? (about $229/pr) a few years ago and also thought they sounded just a little flat, lifeless.The binding posts were a little goofy too but just trying to be different I guess. But for the price I thought they were an excellent value. They were beautiful to look at but did feel like an in-expensive speaker, which it is. I can definently see why they were so polular back then. But I prefered my Mordaunt-Short 902i's, which have since been replaced by M-S Aviano 6 small towers. And listening through a Swans M10 2.1 computer speakers (three times) I thought I heard a little more detail and smoothness. I wonder if he would upgrade my M10's LOL.
You think stock sounded ok and then you hear the upgrade and instruments are separated, clearly defined placed wider and the vocals sound less muffled.
I used the exact same values for the crossover as the original but with better parts and the improvements were surprising. My speakers play much louder now so I set the volume level as 1/2 as before. The long session listening fatigue is gone. I wish I had done this upgrade much earlier! You might ask how do I know these changes ? I upgraded one speakers at a time so it was an easy comparison as which speaker was playing louder and I used to get listening fatigue after a few hours that doesn’t happen anymore !
Danny! Thank you for the Sunday matinee! Love these upgrades and now you gave us a sound comparison that shows a bit what you do and what the effects are! Great. Wish I could have been At NRD to witness the sound-clip live. Okay, now the big question is, 9,1 or the new 10,1? Always looking around for second hand speakers that you have laid your hands on. Bookshelf variants.
I have enjoyed your videos and agreed with your work for a long time. But finally hearing a factory vs upgrade audio even with the listening limitations of streaming, was striking to me. Attack transients on beginnings of notes were much more apparent and increased. It definately was noticable in the transparency of the vocal, and the "s" were much clearer and more natural. These totally validates your work. Thanks for going through the trouble of making these.
I have always been a Wharfedale fanboy and love seeing (hearing) work like this. Noticeable clarity and layering on the upgrade! Crazy what good parts do to already good bones! Nice work!
In the second clip you can hear the sound bounce off the rear wall (with precise imaging) only in the upgraded speaker, but it was subtle. I could clearly hear a difference in the third clip (female latin vocal). There was mechanical grit in her throat that disappeared. In the last clip the metallic percussion in the left channel picked up a lot of definition when the speaker was upgraded. No spit, way more body.
I play guitar and the biggest thing that affects sound is the speaker being used. It’s amazing how much your guitar sound is affected by the type of speaker you use.
On an iPhone mind you - that’s not a subtle difference to my ears. That’s significantly improved. The clarity is one thing, but the holographic nature of the voices is what really stood out.
I find it hilarious when you hear people say “don’t like Danny Richie, he just sells snake oil parts and thinks every speaker is flawed” 😑 yeah, sure. They are just jealous imo. Great video Danny.
@@Pok-001 It’s snake oil until someone makes a video demonstrating the improvement, like this one. Which were the $8000 speakers? and the $400 ones that he claims are as good? Thats a bold claim, I’m interested to know which speakers they were.
@@russellparker4568 lol Sorry if sarcasm was lost. 😂 People are idiots. I thought the “flat earher” was weird at first. But after seeing people’s comments I get it now. BTW have encore sls maxed out X-over with GR research cables. Danny puts in a lot of work and offer top tier audiophile solutions for hobbyist. Does at reasonable prices. 💯 should be praised for his efforts
I could hear the difference in the sound clips. in particular the percussion and guitar are much more articulate after the upgrade. I know from experience having posted a lot of my NX-Otica videos, the changes are magnified in the listening space vs the video. Really appreciated the sound clips on this.
I listened to the YT version on headphones and noticed a subtle difference in vocals. The shocking thing is that even the stock sound is better than any speakers I've owned, but that might be due to my room being reasonably crap.
The female vokal kinda had more spacious and air. The last track sounded more precise and yeah felt there was less smearing. The rest sounded so close to identical I could not say what was best. But interesting some differences can be heard even though it is recorded and compressed for UA-cam and played om a competly different system
You only show measurements that look good on paper. Let's see all the measurements. Group Delay, step response, distortion are some that you could be worsening. Oh, and your measurements don't go below 200hz.
Most people don't understand group delay or step response. Distortion measurements have no industry standard, and are easily manipulated. Distortion measurements also tell you little to nothing about sound quality unless there is a problem. Distortion measurements within amplifiers are a good example. They can be all over the place but don't match up well to how they sound. Measurements used in designing an upgrade are not relevant. That is fixed by the box volume and tuning of the designed and not something that I can change.
@@dannyrichie9743 fair enough. And that's the thing about this industry, there isn't industry standards everywhere you look. So many companies fudge the numbers so it looks great on the spec sheets or only show you the numbers that look good but don't give you all the numbers. (Side rant) It would be nice to have a governing body that these companies have to send in their speakers and amplifiers into for measurements. These measurements conducted by this governing body then have to be provided on the manufacturers website and in the user manual. Like why isn't it industry standard for a manufacturer to provide an impedance sweep with electrical phase on their speakers? We all know "nominal" impedance is a joke and companies like Kef can't even get the "nominal" Impedance rating correct.
Yeah, distortion in amps is a great example. Please explain why certain McIntosh tube amps have a whopping .5% distortion while MUCH less expensive solid state amplifiers (like a Yamaha M60) have an incredibly low .003% distortion? Most layman can only understand certain technical specifications and basically just want to know if it improves the sound quality or not. Danny is not doing videos for electrical engineering students, so getting “too technical” can be a bad thing for keeping subscribers because they get confused or bored with all of the “it’s Greek to me” babble. Danny knows more than you give him credit for, so just take each video for what they are… learning tools for the average speaker owner/music lover. He’s trying to get people to do the DIY upgrades and get hands on with their own speakers first… then, when they see that Danny’s crossover/speaker mods have greatly improved their sound quality of THEIR old speakers, they just might buy his custom in-house speakers for an even greater upgrade. This is good business sense and good business practice… you can’t just get people to spend a few thousand dollars on speakers they have to build themselves WITHOUT them even hearing them first UNLESS they know that YOU know what you’re doing by actually hearing the quality of his upgrades to their own system. Pure genius!!😉👍
The imaging and decay improved enough that I didn't have to look to see which version was playing. Also, damping that 1.8 KHz resonance made them easier to listen to.
Heard it off V60 with headphone and it sounds as if vail is lifted and sound is more direct and detailed with better tonality and almost if distortions were lower ... so worth to do.
Danny, we appreciate your knowledge and videos! Please do more sound demos like this! Awesome Job sir.
Wow! - There IS more room between the single notes.That translates to more clarity and more listening fun. I did not expect that!
A clear improvement. Everything sounds cleaner, more open and less harsh on the ears.
I noticed the exact same thing. I found the reduction in vocal harshness to be notable.
Danny made me curious about parts quality in speakers. He has explained a lot about why you should remove ferrous metals out of the signal path, and lots of other usefull tips. I had some small mission bookshelf speakers, on a somewhat decent system, which provided background music in my audiorepairshop. The crossover was a very basic one. Very few parts, easy to upgrade. I decided to take it one step at the time for experimental reasons. First polycaps, instead of electrolitics. Then a week of burnin time. The difference was obvious. After that the removel of the steel nuts, which improved transparency. After that open coils and teflon wiring. Every step was a improvement, the coils and caps where a milestone in improving the soundquality of the little Mission speaker.
She sounds very airy, fast, and lots of layering in the soundstage. I also upgraded the little vintage Yamaha driving it. And the cd player. This humble system sounds breathtaking, causing goosebumps.
Danny has played an important role here. He gave me inspiration to try new things, made me curious enough to do all the upgrades as a experiment. One "problem" does occure. You cannot go back to how things where before. The improvements are profound. No going back. Not that i ever want to.
Customers are surprised, some asking for specific music to judge the little background system.
They cannot believe such a humble system can sound this good!
Thanks Danny☺
Cheers from the Netherlands.
All high quality capacitors, for sure, ones sold by GR must have ferrous leads. High current resistors must have it too.
@@hugueslecorre4893
Why?
@@nicodenhaak3961 by constraing the magnetic field in the wire, it can pass much higher current than without. Wires, besides ohms law have maximum current limit given by wire tables. Fuses function on this principle. Have a look at AWG (American Wire Gauge) table. It shows two lists of current per wire thickness. Power transmission, used by transformer, motor design and in chassis (steel).
Take any capacitor except low current tonality ones, tiny ceramic for example, it is magnetic.
I upgraded a set of Wharfedale speakers for my parents TV a several years ago with GR parts. One of the benefits of using better components is the cleaner, and more detailed sound they produce allowed the sound level to be reduced for those with hearing issues. My Dad appreciated this because after the upgrade my mom could turn the sound down and still understand the dialog.
Great to hear a before and after albeit through UA-cam compression, microphones and end user speakers / headphone. Glad you did that. I do tonnes of measurements and upgrades for people and always need to listen. The measurements might be great but theres no measurement device better that our ears. It doesn't matter what the measurements say if it sounds crap. Enjoyed this one Danny. Being able to listen after the upgrade really is key.
I love the extents people go through bi-wiring these sort of things. If only they knew thr crap inside them.
Nice! The ambience really pops with the upgrade. Can hear right into the tail of the reverbs.
I upgraded my Magnepan 1.7i using GR-Research's upgrade kit. NIGHT AND DAY DIFFERENCE. Danny's kit is BETTER than the X upgrade, which costs over twice as much.
Difference was not subtle. Upgraded version better by no small amount, even w/ compressed file. I need to finally finish the GR crossovers my my Maggie LRS and send in one of my Merlin monitors for the Danny magic.
Thanks RON for before/after part.
The upgrade is lifelike. My son and I also bought two pairs of the Sony SS-CS5. I did an upgrade on one set using the GR-Research higher end components (sonic caps) and the A-B listening was obvious. There is something about the mid to lower treble region that really makes them sound "in the room". It's something you notice from across the room as well as listening in front of them too. I just wish car audio fixes were this easy. That's a battle for the ages.
How hard was gutting them and working in the confined space? I have heard complaints trying to get the crossovers in with pudgy hands.
hello ! see above !
Its not Bs but most people never adress the biggest problem room and placement they can buy your upgrade but if they have a poor reflective room it wont make much difference they need an upgrade and sound isolation panels in room at the major reflection points
I need to upgrade my ears to hear the difference. I'm sure it is there, but my ears are just incapable of hearing it. Too much loud 80s rock, I guess.
I could hear a touch better separation and clarity but not by much. To be able to hear that through youtube compression and everything is saying a lot. Would love to rebuild the crossovers in my speakers with better parts as I already like how they are voiced.
Yep. The upgrade is smoother. You have a good ear sir.
Cheese City 😂 Now that’s something you should have printed on a Tee Shirt. 😂
😂
Cheese City: Capitol of Flat Earth!
@@danbuffington75 even mo’ betta haha
Danny, can you please make a video of your XLS encore and do a sound comparison. Stock and upgraded xls encore.
I imagine the difference will be much more subtle and be more in the world of sound stage that won't come across in a recording.
@@CanberraProtest-dm6hu that's speculation. i want to see what Danny can show us.
What a difference!, the stock speaker sounds like you’re listening thru a paper towel cardboard tube!
😅😅geh malnzum ohrenarzt
😂@@thomasschafer7268
How can you tell through UA-cam?
@@richardjohnston4682 The better the recording the more easily its discernible.
That is a good way to describe it. I agree with you.
If that is seriously using the same microphone in the same position and the speakers in the same position both running the same electronics then I am sold!
Big difference on sample 3 and 5. Spacialy big on the 3 👋🏻😜
I daresay it sounds more 'layered'
Big difference in listening through good headphones. Couldn't tell anything using the stock speakers on my laptop.
pretty interesting comparison. Even on the utube clips you can hear the stock speaker has more of a flat 2-D sound right on the voice coils vs. more of an image from the upgrade. Just a thought, but there are tons of the Wharfedale's out there. The speaker backet to hold the binding posts is made from pot metal and not too tough to crack. Maybe offer the 3-D printed piece as an option in the kits.
My immediately reaction upon seeing that speaker was: Wow! That's my Polk RTiA1. Same box, same size, same finish, but different drivers.
Danny, the rest of the world doesn't play soccer! They play real football. 😅 ❤ it Danny!
Just an aside, I listened to the uncompressed file before the sample clips in the video and you can really hear the compression artefacts UA-cam causes. It really illustrates how you cannot determine any subtle sound improvements through a UA-cam video.
Wow. I'm gonna have to admit that the difference is pretty large and pretty obvious. With the upgrade clips, sounds (voices, instruments) kind of leapt out, up, down, and side to side where they are supposed to be rather than all being concentrated in the middle between the speakers. Amazing upgrade.
The difference is always noticeable, but in some clips it is very obvious. And that is a 1080p / AAC 128kbps video. If it were 4K / AAC 192kbps it would be much more noticeable (that is why the 24/96 FLAC 0 vinyl rips I share on my channel are in that quality). [Edited] Ah, now there are a link to uncompressed sound clips!!!
UA-cam NORMALIZES (not compresses) excessively. The same audio on Vimeo sounds much better due to less normalization.
BS is a dramatic click bait title
The real question is cost v benefit
Not just the cost of the parts. The time
finding and ordering the parts
The time - and skills to
pull the speakers and crossovers apart,
solder in the new,
put it back together again
Mostly for relatively subtle changes
Unless you’re obsessive it doesn’t stack up
You’d probably be better off spending a bit more maybe and way less time, eg
Getting good acoustic treatments and or buying or making bass traps
The difference is quite obvious even when played back through a lowly iPhone speaker!
Great video. It would have been awesome if you haven't labeled the clips though. So that the audience could check them without knowing which is which. Like Speaker A and Speaker B, and then, after a day or two, you would have revealed which was which. Moreover, it would have been awesome if the recording was done with the binaural mics, and then put here as downloadable files without being compressed by UA-cam. Maybe consider doing that with your other reviews. I believe that would greatly increase the value of already great videos. Kind regards.
P.S. I mean, our sighted biases and expectations are so strong they can completely change what we think we hear. According to the article by James Larson from Audioholics, "vision’s dominance over hearing is especially true in the realm of music eyes over ears even though we tend to think of music as a purely auditory experience." (Do Our Expectations Determine Our Experience of Sound More Than We Realize?).
Kudos for the sound clips. I have old ears and am an unpracticed listener so I don't hear much differences in the YT comparison. At least not night/day differences. But I do believe the upgrades are "directionally correct" and worthwhile if you are looking for a fun project to do and think that you will "hear" the differences after you're done. I remain a long-term DR follower and eagerly await his next video and project.
if you want to work on a awsome nugget, try get a KEF ACE 9000 center L/R. / its from the earlye 2005s, such a unique HT speaker, i had a 3 front they was awesome, very much.
if i remeber correct it had. a active carbonfiber pod inside something something. big sound from a thin speaker. and used the Q series top range units.
If this is true then it means originally sound was very very bad😮😮😮listening to Danny richy and other audiophiles 5years now I'm able to do my DIY with a much cleaner sound than these things😅😅😅😂😂😂😂
I downloaded the file, and yeah there is a difference between stock and the upgraded version. On a couple tracks though, I prefer the stock version.
I often prefer a more muddy sound as it is more natural than having sharp high frequencies. It getting the balance right i suppose
huh the difference is quite surprising . really need to listen to the uncompressed file to really hear it
Improvements in soundstage and high frequency rendition.
I would say the only BS is when the customer is having the first listen to their new speakers. Unfortunately aesthetics’s have impressed them more than the sound.
Some of the upgrades make good fundamental sense! Especially the older speakers! I used your advice with good results. Thank you, Danny!
Thanks for sharing the sound clips. I could hear a difference with the imaging and sound stage on my system.
Adelaide United! Nice from my home town as well ❤️
The upgrade is smoother sounding which I'm not sure I liked, but the improved soundstage depth swung my preference, clearly a worthwhile upgrade.
Just a quick listen to the uncompressed sound clips, and gee, but I’ve heard those track excerpts before. Thanks, Ron😂
I have a halfway decent computer speaker set up. Nothing audiophile grade. But, it does make casual listening a pleasant experience. However, even on that I could hear a definite sense of depth through the upgraded speakers relative to the stock ones and there was more clarity on the strings. Particularly, when plucking was the way it was being played. One way you could almost mistake it for being done through a keyboard. The other, you could note the sense of the guitar or violin body vibrating.
I can hear it even with the logitech thx Z 625 speakers I have, Lol;l
easily better sounding even on my mid fi pc monitors. flat earthers gonna flat earth but parts quality is vital for best potential.
Please do a pre and post Klipsch comparison…..
Why not take the drivers out and show them?
yes we could easily hear the differences!
One day I will get a set of your amazing speakers
Im pretty sure £ multi-million audio companies know exactly what theyre doing, messing with wharfedales british sound signature is not a great idea. do you think that after 10 miles of mains cable going to your home a steel speaker jack with 0.0001 ohms resistance will make the slightest bit of difference?
What they are doing is maximizing profits. If you think they are trying to build the best ever product that they can, then you are highly mistaken. Also, steel parts used in the signal path have nothing to do with resistance or A/C power.
You are hilarious!
How do you think they became “multi-million dollar companies” to begin with?
By using THE cheapest parts while giving a “halfway decent” sound quality.
I’d like for you to make a video and do a blindfolded test in order to show everyone what this “British sound signature” really sounds like… inquiring minds want to know!😂👍
And yes, good cables DO matter when you have a decent electrical power conditioner that filters out 99.9% of the noise from those miles of power lines and gives you a rock solid 120 volts of clean power… ESPECIALLY if you have highly sensitive speakers (like horns or ribbon tweeters) that allow you to hear MUCH more than other speakers.
So yes, they DO matter to people who ACTUALLY have good hearing and love listening to good music over great speakers/equipment.
So go back to listening to your old Sound Design “all-in-one” unit with your Magnavox speakers and stay happy with that “quality” sound you’ve got there… the rest of us are soooo jealous of you!😂👍
Dont bother earing the differences in the video. You have to download the uncompressed file. More clarity and air, but it seems there is less dynamics and bass authority.
That’s probably just how THAT speaker sounds… it does have a small “woofer”.
Plus, Danny stated that he DID NOT correct for anything else besides that “knee” and upgraded the crossover parts along with tube connectors… and a couple of small pieces of no-rez.
I’m sure that if he went all out, the sound would get even better, but it’s not really worth it when the speaker is built at a certain price point and only uses inexpensive drivers, but sounds pretty good already
. He’s not trying to develop a $1,000 upgrade kit for speakers that brand new are only a few hundred dollars… it would be better to just buy a set of the speakers that he makes in-house for that kind of money and have WAY BETTER sound quality for the same money spent!😎👍
Question/comment......why would someone send you just one speaker to fix knowing that when they get it back it is going to be a much better speaker than the one they did not send you.....seem like you would want a matching pair?
We design the upgrade, we do not install it. The customer has to do the assembly work for both speakers.
Awesome, I was in the ESS Speaker group a while back and someone was asking for any ideas for upgrading the crossovers, I said yeah, send a speaker to Danny at GR-Research and he will take it to another level far beyond the stock factory design.
Thank you.
NRD sound clips !
Danny what do you think of the Klipsch inspired but higher quality components Volti Audio speakers such as the Rival compared to the Cornwall IV?
Sand cast resistors:-
www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/replace-resistor-by-low-inductance-resistor-is-it-audible.12162/
You can't believe anything you see or read over there.
@@dannyrichie9743 What did they say that was wrong and how did you disprove it?
@@nigeltrigger4499 They are always falsifying information or purposely misleading in order to attack or discredit various companies.
@@roybatty- No experts over there at all. They just take measurements and theorize a result. They do no proper science at all, and really don't know what they are doing. They also have no real listening experience. They just have an agenda to take down any company that promotes anything they don't understand.
@@roybatty- They have never proved anything over there. They speculate a result and never do any real science.
I have some Aussie Krix lyrix gold floor standers that have a very pleasing natural sound but slightly muddy compared to others. All of its cheese is glued on to the back of it's magnetic biwire posts and suprisingly no bracing.
If I was closer than Australia, I would send them in. I was resisting a part for part upgrade, but now it is on the menu, until I save up and make room for some Bullies
Sound clips are crap, I try hard not to do sound clips on my channel, another great video👍
just buy a better speaker from the start.
Unfortunately, more expensive models that are thought to be better are usually filled with the same cheesy parts.
I heard more sharpness and openness on most of them but the female vocal was the biggest difference, which was amazing. The original sounded fuzzy and the upgrade sounded much quieter with more detail. I was able to hear it more clearly using the MacBook drivable Sennheiser HD599 headphones, either on UA-cam or the download version, than through my new Cornwall IVs--possibly because the Cornwalls have a similar problem.
I had these speakers a long long time ago. They are okay. I was pushing them so hard on Christopher Nolan Batman and blew them out. Very cheaply made with the plastic front. Returned.
Next time you do a sound test, just label them an and b. then have people guess the before and after.
I still get people trying to tell me extreme distortion is good if that's what they like to hear.
Just like speakers, some people just can't be fixed.
Still not a great sounding speaker, but the difference is significant in multiple areas.
No need to listen, the before/after measurements always tell me everything I need to know.
Cheers 🍻
The wharfedale diamonds 10.2s were my favourite for long years..Then I changed my amp (up with classes) and I noted where the 10.2s were perfect with a cheap amp - with an upper-mid class is no way..The 10.2s could not handle the amp's wider and stronger bass range,the sound got muffled.I could not hear the dialogs clear.I did not upgraded the 10.2s but changed to 11.2. The 11.2s were my best wharfies what I owned.The 11.2s passed fantastic to my amp but here come another problem: power handling.Sometimes I like to push up the volume...the 11.2s did not like it.I changed them to polkaudio se20.Now the bass is also fat,goesvdeep enough but tight and good controlled at once.The dialogs far better than the 10.2 or 11.2 .Only 1 things left what was better on the 11.2: about 10-12kHz range it was better detaioed or lifted a little bit.I loved them sounds when the triangle or tubular bells played on them by Oldfield.But finally the se20 has more pros than the 10.2 or the 11.2 so not changed to another type yet
..
Hi Danny, enjoyed your video on the Diamond 10.1. I could tell the difference.
Was wondering if you have done any upgrades on Spendor speakers. I have the S8e.
Oh wow, an Adelaide United FC shirt! I’m from Adelaide, and I watch your channel all the time. I find your videos very interesting and informative. I have a pair of Dynaudio Emit M20’s, which I have had for a few years now and have always loved how they sound. Very smooth sounding and open and airy but laid back at the same time. I have noticed a degradation of sound quality in recent months though, and I just can’t seem to pinpoint what the problem is. I’m starting to wonder if it’s my power board. I have a Monster 8 outlet AV power board, which I have have had for at least 7 or 8 years, and I have heard the EMI filters do degrade over time, so that might be the next thing to consider replacing. I also forgot to mention that I’m powering the speakers with an ARCAM FMJ A19 integrated amplifier.
Juge difference between stock and upgraded version.
Especially on the third song.
It’s kinda crazy, but it seems some people view speakers like some view vehicles. It’s what it looks like that’s important, or how much money was spent. Why WOULDNT better parts make a vehicle run smoother of faster. A tuneup can greatly affect mileage, as can tires. Same holds true for speakers. 🤷🏻♂️ Thank you Danny! Love it!
Night and day difference!!! The upgrade has so much more detail and resolution!!
Danny I could hear the difference! The original/pre-upgrade was flat which you only notice when you played the upgraded version! When you played the upgraded version the sound became more open and the instruments, voices & background became more pronounce! I am using an old Altec Lansing PC speaker system and listening to this though the headphone jack with a pair of cheap pioneer headphones. If I can hear the change with this setup. Anyone with a better sound card had to be blown away, Great Job! You're a protectionist Danny:). What's Hmm......to you is great to most people.
I upgraded the Caps and Resistors in my old B&W CDM1s. Left one with the original parts and had a listen. The non-upgraded speaker sounded broken. Tiny, whispy, congested, no dynamics and bright. It was a major upgrade and comparing the 2 speakers' side by side was an ear opener. I only changed out the Caps and Resistors, left the coils and used the same circuit board, cabling and connectors. I think older 80's, early 90's B&W would all benefit from changing out the Benic Caps and sandcast resistors. Not sure about the more technically advanced later models or the lower 600 series.
Even over UA-cam that's noticeable, you got rid of the forward ringing that was hitting on certain notes. Overall imaging sounds like it improved as well because you don't have that forward sound drawing your attention away from what else is going on
Big difference . How do.i go about upgrading a pair of speakers by you ? I have quite a few sets of speakers I have a set of Bowers and Wilkins cm8 they are Tower speakers and I love the way they look and they sound decent at low volumes but I think when I push them they fall apart I would love to see if they can be upgraded
I bought a pair of these from Music Unlimited I think? (about $229/pr) a few years ago and also thought they sounded just a little flat, lifeless.The binding posts were a little goofy too but just trying to be different I guess. But for the price I thought they were an excellent value. They were beautiful to look at but did feel like an in-expensive speaker, which it is. I can definently see why they were so polular back then. But I prefered my Mordaunt-Short 902i's, which have since been replaced by M-S Aviano 6 small towers. And listening through a Swans M10 2.1 computer speakers (three times) I thought I heard a little more detail and smoothness. I wonder if he would upgrade my M10's LOL.
"clarity, detail, and resolution"
-What's the difference between these?
The upgrade has a bit more meat on the bone in the medrange. 🎉
You think stock sounded ok and then you hear the upgrade and instruments are separated, clearly defined placed wider and the vocals sound less muffled.
I used the exact same values for the crossover as the original but with better parts and the improvements were surprising.
My speakers play much louder now so I set the volume level as 1/2 as before.
The long session listening fatigue is gone.
I wish I had done this upgrade much earlier!
You might ask how do I know these changes ?
I upgraded one speakers at a time so it was an easy comparison as which speaker was playing louder and I used to get listening fatigue after a few hours that doesn’t happen anymore !
Danny! Thank you for the Sunday matinee! Love these upgrades and now you gave us a sound comparison that shows a bit what you do and what the effects are! Great. Wish I could have been At NRD to witness the sound-clip live. Okay, now the big question is, 9,1 or the new 10,1?
Always looking around for second hand speakers that you have laid your hands on. Bookshelf variants.
I have enjoyed your videos and agreed with your work for a long time. But finally hearing a factory vs upgrade audio even with the listening limitations of streaming, was striking to me. Attack transients on beginnings of notes were much more apparent and increased.
It definately was noticable in the transparency of the vocal, and the "s" were much clearer and more natural.
These totally validates your work.
Thanks for going through the trouble of making these.
I have always been a Wharfedale fanboy and love seeing (hearing) work like this. Noticeable clarity and layering on the upgrade! Crazy what good parts do to already good bones! Nice work!
In the second clip you can hear the sound bounce off the rear wall (with precise imaging) only in the upgraded speaker, but it was subtle.
I could clearly hear a difference in the third clip (female latin vocal). There was mechanical grit in her throat that disappeared.
In the last clip the metallic percussion in the left channel picked up a lot of definition when the speaker was upgraded. No spit, way more body.
I play guitar and the biggest thing that affects sound is the speaker being used. It’s amazing how much your guitar sound is affected by the type of speaker you use.
The timbre of female vocals is always my go-to for any evaluation. The difference here is quite obvious.
On an iPhone mind you - that’s not a subtle difference to my ears. That’s significantly improved. The clarity is one thing, but the holographic nature of the voices is what really stood out.
I find it hilarious when you hear people say “don’t like Danny Richie, he just sells snake oil parts and thinks every speaker is flawed” 😑 yeah, sure. They are just jealous imo. Great video Danny.
Yep snake oil. Their 400$ speakers are just as good as 8,000$ speakers that have better parts No need
For fancy parts. 😂
@@Pok-001 It’s snake oil until someone makes a video demonstrating the improvement, like this one. Which were the $8000 speakers? and the $400 ones that he claims are as good? Thats a bold claim, I’m interested to know which speakers they were.
@@russellparker4568 lol
Sorry if sarcasm was lost. 😂
People are idiots. I thought the “flat earher” was weird at first. But after seeing people’s comments I get it now. BTW have encore sls maxed out X-over with GR research cables.
Danny puts in a lot of work and offer top tier audiophile solutions for hobbyist. Does at reasonable prices. 💯 should be praised for his efforts
@@Pok-001 oh yeah I see now. 🤣👍🏻
I could hear the difference in the sound clips. in particular the percussion and guitar are much more articulate after the upgrade. I know from experience having posted a lot of my NX-Otica videos, the changes are magnified in the listening space vs the video. Really appreciated the sound clips on this.
Those speaker sound very good stock. I am surprised.
I listened to the YT version on headphones and noticed a subtle difference in vocals. The shocking thing is that even the stock sound is better than any speakers I've owned, but that might be due to my room being reasonably crap.
The female vokal kinda had more spacious and air. The last track sounded more precise and yeah felt there was less smearing. The rest sounded so close to identical I could not say what was best. But interesting some differences can be heard even though it is recorded and compressed for UA-cam and played om a competly different system
You only show measurements that look good on paper. Let's see all the measurements. Group Delay, step response, distortion are some that you could be worsening. Oh, and your measurements don't go below 200hz.
Most people don't understand group delay or step response. Distortion measurements have no industry standard, and are easily manipulated. Distortion measurements also tell you little to nothing about sound quality unless there is a problem. Distortion measurements within amplifiers are a good example. They can be all over the place but don't match up well to how they sound. Measurements used in designing an upgrade are not relevant. That is fixed by the box volume and tuning of the designed and not something that I can change.
@@dannyrichie9743 fair enough. And that's the thing about this industry, there isn't industry standards everywhere you look. So many companies fudge the numbers so it looks great on the spec sheets or only show you the numbers that look good but don't give you all the numbers. (Side rant) It would be nice to have a governing body that these companies have to send in their speakers and amplifiers into for measurements. These measurements conducted by this governing body then have to be provided on the manufacturers website and in the user manual. Like why isn't it industry standard for a manufacturer to provide an impedance sweep with electrical phase on their speakers? We all know "nominal" impedance is a joke and companies like Kef can't even get the "nominal" Impedance rating correct.
manufacture specs for speakers is the worst garbage out there. few percent distortion i don't know your ears can tell the different
Yeah, distortion in amps is a great example. Please explain why certain McIntosh tube amps have a whopping .5% distortion while MUCH less expensive solid state amplifiers (like a Yamaha M60) have an incredibly low .003% distortion?
Most layman can only understand certain technical specifications and basically just want to know if it improves the sound quality or not. Danny is not doing videos for electrical engineering students, so getting “too technical” can be a bad thing for keeping subscribers because they get confused or bored with all of the “it’s Greek to me” babble.
Danny knows more than you give him credit for, so just take each video for what they are… learning tools for the average speaker owner/music lover.
He’s trying to get people to do the DIY upgrades and get hands on with their own speakers first… then, when they see that Danny’s crossover/speaker mods have greatly improved their sound quality of THEIR old speakers, they just might buy his custom in-house speakers for an even greater upgrade. This is good business sense and good business practice… you can’t just get people to spend a few thousand dollars on speakers they have to build themselves WITHOUT them even hearing them first UNLESS they know that YOU know what you’re doing by actually hearing the quality of his upgrades to their own system.
Pure genius!!😉👍
The stock speakers are muddy.
The imaging and decay improved enough that I didn't have to look to see which version was playing. Also, damping that 1.8 KHz resonance made them easier to listen to.
I even can pick the differences through my phone.👍
Heard it off V60 with headphone and it sounds as if vail is lifted and sound is more direct and detailed with better tonality and almost if distortions were lower ... so worth to do.
i found female vocal more realistic. human voice one of those thing you can tell immediately
The biggest notable difference is from the female vocal; her voice is clearer, more defined and brighter.