GR Research LS9 - Review by Chris C.

I am egregiously behind on relating a painful, yet ultimately fulfilling (even beyond my expectations) audio journey as well as my sincerest thanks to the primary person as well as others who turned a nightmare scenario into an awesome reality of aural ecstasy.

I was involved in what turned out to be- well I’ll just say a “less than satisfactory” “pre-pay” deal with a now defunct company on a pair of speakers which never made it past (afaik) the prototype stage at best.

When it was apparent that I would never see not only the speakers, but a refund of the prepayment, that sickening feeling was turned around by Hugh Nguyen, owner of Angel City Audio. He and I crafted an arrangement which, as it turns out, brought a pair of speakers to my listening room which previously just flat knocked me out at two separate audio shows. This pair is very special though. This pair is one of impeccable build and finish. That is certainly not meant to speak unkindly of craftsmen like Ruben (who does phenomenal work!) or anyone else who has built out these speakers (as a kit or otherwise) with the utmost care. I’ve just seen these built from start to finish, so I know exactly what I have. They are perfect.

They are custom built GR-Research LS-9s. Flawless Piano Black cabinets built by Mr. Pu/ Sound Art China. Hugh provided and loaded the full compliment of No-Rez, Danny Richie, Owner of GR Research and designer of the LS-9s built the Upgraded Custom X-Overs and Sean Ries, Owner and “Head Gouda” of Skiing Ninja (who can also supply the same ultra high quality custom x-overs) loaded the drivers and wired the x-overs. Hugh also supplied gorgeous, “floating” custom Piano Black bases.

I have to admit: I’m a ribbon junkie. And I tend to be a bit hard on them. Usually not good for ribbons.

I have heard or owned almost every pair of ribbon/hybrid planar speakers one of my all-time heroes, Arnie Nudell ever built. A pair of IRS BETAs are in my master bedroom system. Arnie personally made me promise him I’d never sell them. Well… A promise is a promise!
I first heard the LS-9s at their premier showing at RMAF. With Danny Richie’s Dodd Audio monster tube monoblocs driving them (Leave it to Gary: “did you say you wanted more power??”), I listened for hours, and hours… They could reproduce anything from finesse to fury and do it cleanly. And this particular pair had like zero time on the x-overs or drivers (more on that part in a moment). The dynamic range, imagining, and detail was really overwhelming to me. I was already starting to wonder if these wouldn’t have been a better choice for me from the get-go, except the other speakers were said to be designed by Arnie and Bascom King with 1000w servo subs to boot.

But I had heard Danny Richie’s designs before the LS-9s as well. I worked on a project which used a pair of his speakers; late, late, late into the night. In fact; a couple of nights. Danny has a true gift of both extraordinary listening and engineering abilities. I watched how closely he listens, and asked a lot of questions about what he was listening for. He is like a kid on Christmas day seeing an Ariel Atom under his tree every time he hears something that really gets him excited. He knows what he wants to hear, listens and tweaks to the Nth degree and then builds it. Then listens more, with future designs in mind. All I can say is: “I’ll have what he’s having!”

There are many great designers whose products I really love- too many to mention here. Danny has crafted in the LS-9, a speaker that can not only “keep up with me” from pianissimo to triple forte, but surpass what even I can take at reference levels. And that’s not because they become harsh; it’s just that I want to be able to hear the next day! They present classical music as if you were sitting in the front row of the concert hall; each instrument at the correct dynamic, and hearing the instrument from the place you physically see it. They do the same with every other style and dynamic variant of music I enjoy. The upgraded x-overs make a very big difference! Major kudos to Danny and Ninja Sean for those.

I listen to music from all over the world. Styles and instruments many have never heard. The LS-9s reproduce these instruments as accurately as if I was in the room with them. And they just keep getting better as burn-in continues!

I’ve spent LOTS of time, starting from my pre-teens in recording studios of the highest caliber, including Capitol Records, The Record Plant, GoldStar, and tons of smaller studios including one at Larry Carlton’s House (Room 335). I’ve participated in music as both a professional musician as well as just lucky enough to be at the gig or the session. Spending so much time hearing the tracks laid down on 2” 24 track Ampex machines running at 30ips gave me a great sense of the sound as it was played live vs. the sound of the session playback; and what is realistic in my expectation of accurate audio reproduction. It is subjective, and sought by all of us in this crazy “hobby”. I have to emphasize the subjectivity part. Whatever turns somebody on and makes them happy is what it’s all about. So this is about my experience with music, and what I enjoy as far as playback. To each their own
I actually took delivery of the LS-9s months ago, but have been working 60+ hr. weeks and decided I wanted a bigger room for these, so I actually removed a wall. (no, of course I’m not married!)

 

The room is 21’ wide x 27’ deep with vaulted ceilings. The LS-9s are 13’ center-to-center, 4’ from the side walls and 5’ from the back wall. The listening position is at 13’. I’m still playing with toe-in and distance. There are no acoustical room treatments yet; but I’ll be talking with Glenn and Brian from GIK and Dave Elledge from PI Audio about that at RMAF. Now that everything is setup, time to tune the room.

First song played, in Danny’s honor, was Rush’s “Tom Sawyer”. Just had to

 

Not sure how many days I went without sleep, playing disc after disc. Which brings me to: Break-in.

Danny, Sean, Hugh, Mark (Songbird) told me. Everyone who I’ve talked to who owns -6’s or -9’s told me. “You need to get 300 to 500 hours on these to really make them sing”. I let them play all day at my house at reference (since I live on 24 acres of very remote forestland, and neighbors are not an issue). I’ve got about 400 hrs on them now. I remember first thinking, “wow, I expected these to go much lower... people talking about pipe organ music and such”. Sean said, “it takes those 6.5” woofers a bit of time to stretch out- they don’t move all that much”. Believe me, I can see them moving from across the room the levels I’ve been playing them at. LOL. Point is, these speakers have evolved dramatically over the 400 hrs I have on them now. And I don’t use the word “dramatically” dramatically!

As the drivers and x-overs have been pounded with electrons, they have matured greatly. They are smoother and tighter, the dynamic range, imaging, soundstage and yes VERY low bass have improved stunningly. Any sibilance has been replaced with fine definition. The authority and finesse have reached a very symbiotic relationship. Just a perfect balance from the lowest lows to the highest highs (those which I can still hear, anyway). Last night when I got home from work, I heard them go much lower. Like someone threw a switch. It was awesome! Haven’t had time to measure the room or the speakers yet, but that will come with the installation of the acoustic treatments, which I well know will make a huge difference.

Craig once said to me during a beta test project we both worked on, “why use a sentence, when a paragraph will fit?” LOL. Yeah, I still remember that one-liner. Beauty

 

So I’ll cut it short here (outside of a list of components used in my system, below). I don’t think I have picture posting rights on the first post, so I’m going to send a bunch to Hugh to post when he can.

Bottom line: without Danny to design such a fantastic speaker, and build upgraded x-overs to boot, and Sean (who builds the same x-overs) to load the drivers and wire everything up with perfection, and Mr. Pu / Sound Art China for building such gorgeous cabinets, and to Hugh who, had he not made his generosity open to me, I would have never had the speakers that leave me not wanting in the least. They’re perfect for me. My sincerest thanks!

Chris

 

 

 

The system:

Audible Illusions L-1 tube preamp (I really have always liked this little gem, but it’s in place temporarily while I’m expecting delivery of my new baby- end of October). May borrow a Dodd Battery Buffer in the mean time, but I’m getting close to this custom tube preamp finally breathing music after years of design, re-design, and hand-built quality. I’ll let that cat out of the bag once I get it
Bryston 7B-SST Mono Blocs. Great Clean Power (galore).

April Music Stello DA100 Signature DAC (I2S)

April Music Stello CDT100 Transport (I2S). Simon Lee (April Music) is a very talented designer. Many have not heard of him, but if you have the pleasure to listen his designs, you would most likely be very pleased.

HAL (Hollis Audio Labs) Music Server System (Some parts in production; some in beta/development). See Rich’s latest link in the “Audio Gear From Other Companies Section”. It has a link to the AC thread. I’ll be relating my experience with this ultra-magic system soon. But not til I get back from RMAF. I did do a review on the Music Server itself on AC under “Manufacturer Ads”. But it’s the entire system, which is in development, which will change the way you think about music playback. Rich is THE Audio Mad Scientist.
Studer A-810 ½ Track Mastering Recorder. You just have to hear it to believe it. Many thanks to my friend, Ki Choi for this acquisition. Hopefully, there will be at least one at RMAF this year, as there was last year.

Audiolab 8000T Tuner Yep. I love this tuner. Use it with a Magnum Dynalab ST-2 FM antenna and Terk indoor AM Advantage antenna. My house is located way up in the Oregon Cascade Foothills, and this setup pulls excellent signals in from a LONG ways away and reproduces them in a way which to me is very pleasurable. There is a lot on both FM and AM radio which is still true to the intended goals of long ago. Think “Dr Demento” on the college level
Analysis Plus Black Oval 9 Speaker cables.

Electra Inter-connects

Revelation Audio Labs I2S and Power Cables for April Music transport/DAC setup.