Part 1 - Acoustic Audio GX-400 build "quality"
Not going to lie – this will be another silly audio post/thread. If you thought the cheap Panasonic Thrusters speakers I posted about last time were bad enough, then you are about to explore some new depths in lo-fi audio here. Ladies and gentlemen, I present you the Acoustic Audio GX-400 speakers... or speaker (only pictured one for better details )
Before I continue any further, perhaps you might be asking why I even bother to post about such crap audio gear (let alone keep it). The answer is simple: I like to poke fun of gutless and badly-made things. In this case, I didn't buy the speakers nor spend a dime going anywhere to pick them up. They literally came to me – given by a former college roommate. Long story… long, as I moved in my college apartment, he saw me bringing my stuff (and mainly a lot of tools). So as we chatted, I mentioned that I fix electronics. Next day he presented these speakers to me and asked if I knew what was wrong with them. He said they just stopped working one day after he tried turning them up a bit so he could hear them in the shower (with an open bathroom door, he said. )
Upon seeing their build “quality”, I was pretty sure what to expect. Moreover, based on his description of what had happened to them, I was pretty sure they probably burned out. Pushing on the speaker cone confirmed this – both were hard as a rock.
But how could that be? They are rated for a whopping 600 Watts!! Wait, whaaat?? Per speaker? Sure the rating is “peak” power… but seriously? Watt, you don't believe it like me? Well, too bad – that's watt the specs say on most eBay pages if you were to look them up… and naturally where you can find such “100% brand new & high quality” products. Here's what one listing says:
… so yeah… these speakers are supposed to be capable of 300 Watts RMS each. Let's look into their fine build quality, shall we?
First, I want to make note of the extremely high quality “horn” driver:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1552012822
It's top-notch really. Never mind the paint / hot glue drip.
Those edge protectors also look super-tough…
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1552012822
… just like the “Powder-Coated Steel Grille” (read: cheap cruddy plastic… probably the same as the edge “protectors”.)
But let's look at the most important detail: the speaker drivers!
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1552012822
Oh, what a mighty-big magnet that 6.5” driver has! It's almost 3 & 1/8 inches (8 cm) in diameter and ¾ inches (19 mm) thick (actually, that wouldn't have been so terrible if this was a mid-range driver only.) 300 W RMS? – No problems! Just bring marshmallows too!
And of course, such a mighty speaker driver shall only be housed in an equally matching sturdy enclosure – extra reinforced and built from the toughest wood particle board ever manufactured. (Note: give extra emphasis on the word “particle” here. )
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1552012822
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1552012822
Even the speaker inputs look very well-made:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1552012822
Yes, durable plastic nuts are durable.
I think my sarcasm is getting silly now, right. So let's be be more direct then: the cabinets are a real piece of turd (calling it “sawdust” is an insult to sawdust), the horn driver is… not really a horn driver , and the 6.5” speaker driver is about as average and no-name as any cheap MIC speaker can get. On top of that, the cross-over “network” for the “horn” (I don't know why I even bother to call it that – it's not a real horn driver, damn it!) is simply just a 0.1 uF polypropylene cap in series with it. (But hey, at least they used a real polypropylene cap! Have to give them some credit, after all. ) Essentially, these speakers are nothing more than a cheesy 2-way system with a crappy 6.5” full-range driver that can't really do much below 60 Hz, and a tiny undersized tweeter that is barely audible. Low-range -3 dB response down to 28 Hz? Are you joking?! And 300 Watts RMS? -Not a chance! Even 30 (thirty) Watts RMS is probably too much… and my guess as to where these speakers released the magic smoke. After all, at least my roommate had a decent 100W/ch Sherwood stereo amp, which didn't look over-rated (late 90's / early 2000's amp with some weight to it).
Anyways. I pointed out the crappy build quality to my roommate, and he almost didn't want to believe me at first. He told me that he thought these speakers were a great deal when they were “on sale” on Black Friday, because they had a $300 price tag crossed out and slashed to $70… and FREE SHIPPING!!! Deal of the century, right?
How people could fall for such a scam is beyond my explanation. But it does happen, that's a fact - if you look up the model of the speakers on eBay or elsewhere online, you will still see that not only are they still available for sale and in stock, but also go for around the same price… which means someone out there is still getting scammed! These speakers clearly aren't worth anywhere near that! They are downright along the same alley as the various crap “white van speakers”. I personally wouldn't even pay $5 for any of this garbage (and I'm glad I didn't!):
With this said, it didn't take long to convince my roommate that I cannot fix these Acoustic crap speakers. Since he had a decent amp (the Sherwood), I told him to look for a used pair of tower/floor speakers on the local Craigslist or similar. After about a week, though, he asked me if I could help him with that. So I did: I asked for his budget and within the hour I found several worthwhile listings on CL. He didn't have much idea what to pick but decided to go with one of the more “pricey” options… and now that I look back at this, I think that was one of the better choices. The speakers he ended up with was a pair of Technics SB-CR77 for $50 in near mint condition - a pity, because my roommate isn't the type that cares for his stuff much and ended up trashing them pretty badly. But the fact that he didn't manage to kill them in 3 years says A LOT, IMO.
On a small tangent… the build and sound quality of the SB-CR77 speakers was pretty decent. While my roommate was moving in the summer, he asked me if I could keep them for him for a few weeks, along with a few of his other moving boxes, until he got a key to his new apartment. That's when I had time to test them… and snap a few pictures. So there's that:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1552012822
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1552014159
The SB-CR77 is a typical average 3-way system with a 12” woofer. The woofer driver looked a bit cheap (and probably didn't have a very big magnet, much like most average mid-fi speakers), but it managed to pump decent lows, down to 35-40 Hz easily without much roll-off. And compared to the Acoustic Audio speakers… there's not even a comparison possible.
But how would I know that, right? After all, I got those AA craps in broken condition, so I was never able to hear how they sound. Or was I? Stay tuned.
Not going to lie – this will be another silly audio post/thread. If you thought the cheap Panasonic Thrusters speakers I posted about last time were bad enough, then you are about to explore some new depths in lo-fi audio here. Ladies and gentlemen, I present you the Acoustic Audio GX-400 speakers... or speaker (only pictured one for better details )
Before I continue any further, perhaps you might be asking why I even bother to post about such crap audio gear (let alone keep it). The answer is simple: I like to poke fun of gutless and badly-made things. In this case, I didn't buy the speakers nor spend a dime going anywhere to pick them up. They literally came to me – given by a former college roommate. Long story… long, as I moved in my college apartment, he saw me bringing my stuff (and mainly a lot of tools). So as we chatted, I mentioned that I fix electronics. Next day he presented these speakers to me and asked if I knew what was wrong with them. He said they just stopped working one day after he tried turning them up a bit so he could hear them in the shower (with an open bathroom door, he said. )
Upon seeing their build “quality”, I was pretty sure what to expect. Moreover, based on his description of what had happened to them, I was pretty sure they probably burned out. Pushing on the speaker cone confirmed this – both were hard as a rock.
But how could that be? They are rated for a whopping 600 Watts!! Wait, whaaat?? Per speaker? Sure the rating is “peak” power… but seriously? Watt, you don't believe it like me? Well, too bad – that's watt the specs say on most eBay pages if you were to look them up… and naturally where you can find such “100% brand new & high quality” products. Here's what one listing says:
Originally posted by random eBay listing for GX-400 speakers
First, I want to make note of the extremely high quality “horn” driver:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1552012822
It's top-notch really. Never mind the paint / hot glue drip.
Those edge protectors also look super-tough…
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1552012822
… just like the “Powder-Coated Steel Grille” (read: cheap cruddy plastic… probably the same as the edge “protectors”.)
But let's look at the most important detail: the speaker drivers!
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1552012822
Oh, what a mighty-big magnet that 6.5” driver has! It's almost 3 & 1/8 inches (8 cm) in diameter and ¾ inches (19 mm) thick (actually, that wouldn't have been so terrible if this was a mid-range driver only.) 300 W RMS? – No problems! Just bring marshmallows too!
And of course, such a mighty speaker driver shall only be housed in an equally matching sturdy enclosure – extra reinforced and built from the toughest wood particle board ever manufactured. (Note: give extra emphasis on the word “particle” here. )
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1552012822
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1552012822
Even the speaker inputs look very well-made:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1552012822
Yes, durable plastic nuts are durable.
I think my sarcasm is getting silly now, right. So let's be be more direct then: the cabinets are a real piece of turd (calling it “sawdust” is an insult to sawdust), the horn driver is… not really a horn driver , and the 6.5” speaker driver is about as average and no-name as any cheap MIC speaker can get. On top of that, the cross-over “network” for the “horn” (I don't know why I even bother to call it that – it's not a real horn driver, damn it!) is simply just a 0.1 uF polypropylene cap in series with it. (But hey, at least they used a real polypropylene cap! Have to give them some credit, after all. ) Essentially, these speakers are nothing more than a cheesy 2-way system with a crappy 6.5” full-range driver that can't really do much below 60 Hz, and a tiny undersized tweeter that is barely audible. Low-range -3 dB response down to 28 Hz? Are you joking?! And 300 Watts RMS? -Not a chance! Even 30 (thirty) Watts RMS is probably too much… and my guess as to where these speakers released the magic smoke. After all, at least my roommate had a decent 100W/ch Sherwood stereo amp, which didn't look over-rated (late 90's / early 2000's amp with some weight to it).
Anyways. I pointed out the crappy build quality to my roommate, and he almost didn't want to believe me at first. He told me that he thought these speakers were a great deal when they were “on sale” on Black Friday, because they had a $300 price tag crossed out and slashed to $70… and FREE SHIPPING!!! Deal of the century, right?
How people could fall for such a scam is beyond my explanation. But it does happen, that's a fact - if you look up the model of the speakers on eBay or elsewhere online, you will still see that not only are they still available for sale and in stock, but also go for around the same price… which means someone out there is still getting scammed! These speakers clearly aren't worth anywhere near that! They are downright along the same alley as the various crap “white van speakers”. I personally wouldn't even pay $5 for any of this garbage (and I'm glad I didn't!):
With this said, it didn't take long to convince my roommate that I cannot fix these Acoustic crap speakers. Since he had a decent amp (the Sherwood), I told him to look for a used pair of tower/floor speakers on the local Craigslist or similar. After about a week, though, he asked me if I could help him with that. So I did: I asked for his budget and within the hour I found several worthwhile listings on CL. He didn't have much idea what to pick but decided to go with one of the more “pricey” options… and now that I look back at this, I think that was one of the better choices. The speakers he ended up with was a pair of Technics SB-CR77 for $50 in near mint condition - a pity, because my roommate isn't the type that cares for his stuff much and ended up trashing them pretty badly. But the fact that he didn't manage to kill them in 3 years says A LOT, IMO.
On a small tangent… the build and sound quality of the SB-CR77 speakers was pretty decent. While my roommate was moving in the summer, he asked me if I could keep them for him for a few weeks, along with a few of his other moving boxes, until he got a key to his new apartment. That's when I had time to test them… and snap a few pictures. So there's that:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1552012822
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1552014159
The SB-CR77 is a typical average 3-way system with a 12” woofer. The woofer driver looked a bit cheap (and probably didn't have a very big magnet, much like most average mid-fi speakers), but it managed to pump decent lows, down to 35-40 Hz easily without much roll-off. And compared to the Acoustic Audio speakers… there's not even a comparison possible.
But how would I know that, right? After all, I got those AA craps in broken condition, so I was never able to hear how they sound. Or was I? Stay tuned.
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