Steve59 If i have to compare wilson sasha 2 vs vivid giya g3; sasha 2 Has that blacker bacground quality due to it’s more inert cabinet but it does not dissapear like the giya g3. I attribute giya g3 having a higher noise floor due to this cabinet colloration brought about it’s lack of inertness, cabinet vibration/movement that i can definitely hear.
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I have owned Kaya 90 for over a year now, and frankly speaking they are among the best speakers I have heard. I had Stenheim2 before, dynamic,fast and a little lean to me, and Kharma Exquisite midi is romantic and sublime. KAYA is between them, not too lean or too romantic. I have heard Wilson Audio Alexia several times and honestly do not like them, neither Magico S3. The only American speakers I like is Rockport |
https://hometheaterreview.com/vivid-audio-kaya-90-floorstanding-speaker-reviewed/ This quoted from the Home Theater Review article: “The first Vivid Audio speakers I recall seeing at a local audiophile show were large, brightly colored, with tapered and curved tubes that reminded me of the opera singer’s head from The Fifth Element or the iconic B&W Nautilus speaker. The Vivid Audio speakers have nothing to do with The Fifth Element opera singer, of course, but in a strange twist of fate they are in fact related to the classic Bowers & Wilkins Nautilus speakers. Laurence Dickie, the sole engineer and designer of the Nautilus at B&W, co-founded and became the engineering director of Vivid Audio in 2001.” |
I have owned 2 model of vivid before upgrading to wilson sasha 2. My ist pair is the vivid v1.5 which i’ve owned twice and the vivid giya g3 before migrating to wilson. vivids are fast with a micro and macro dinamics to die for. they are highly musical speakers. The v1.5 has a mid bass hump that i like which gives vocals a forward and meaty presentation, the giya is more neutral and laid back in com parison. what i dont like about them is their “monotone” presentation, it’s not good in terms of giving instrument its right colour or timbre. I also find that; although there’s zero cabinet diffraction, cabinet coloration is very much present. |
To the OP, I am not sure why Kenjit is trying to make this thread about me. Vivid makes wonderful products that you should have a high level of confidence in buying. This will be my final post in this thread and my apologies for the hijack. @kenjito to my knowledge you have never heard or even seen my speakers. Did you come visit me at CAF or AXPONA last year? If you did, wonderful. I wish you would have introduced yourself. If not, I suppose it is moot. I know you despise boxed speakers. Regarding the materials, the different impedance associated with the fiberglass or CH combined with the air and nomex honeycomb is an improvement in terms of damping. To maximize efficacy, additional damping materials (stuffing) is required. CF is also slightly more effective than fiberglass due to it's more textured surface. In practical applications, the aerospace company that makes my cabinets uses these panels with additional light-weight damping material to reduce cabin noise from 120dB to below 70dBs. Is it perfect? No. Is it a legitimate attempt to address issues within a box speaker? Yes. You obviously disagree. That is fine. Vivid does more. The shape of their designs are a further step in addressing this issue beyond material. But to ignore material is to literally ignore what the designer explicitly says regarding the speakers. The speaker drivers are explicitly designed based on how they interact with the cabinet and the exotic designs are explicitly intended to optimize sound production. I don't have the resources to design my own drivers so I had to experiment with 3rd party units to see what worked best. Some day, I hope my speakers are sold broadly enough that I will have enough profit to invest in further R&D to address all the issues. Regarding "mass production", last year my peak production run was 14 cabinets (7 pairs). I am a true small business trying to experiment and have risked my retirement on it. I am self funded, don't have deep pockets from the sale of another business and still work a day job. In the interim, I am going to build the best product I possibly can. |
I was close to selecting the Vivid Kaya 45 for my office. The price gave me pause and I was wondering if it was that much better than the much cheaper KEF Reference 1 or 3 that I was also considering. I really liked the Kaya 45 and since it reminded me a bit of the KEF Blades, though not exactly at that level I have also heard the Giya Spirit G1. I heard that immediately after a long demo with KEF Blades and Hegel gear. The Vivid Giya was using Luxman mono blocks and the C900u preamp. I preferred the KEF Blades though the Vivid with Luxman was amazing. Never heard a better version of Michael Jackson’s Thriller than on that Vivid system. I also heard the Vivid line prior to the Kaya line with Luxman gear and it was also amazing. I am going to try and have a listen to the new Vivid Kaya monitor that they are coming out with. I said I would never replace my KEF LS50’s but this new Vivid monitor maybe the one that could do it. Hopefully the price is not too crazy. I prefer not to buy speakers where the drivers are outsourced from other companies so I have focused on brands that make their own drivers. I have demoed the following: Paradigm Persona 3F Vivid Kaya line KEF Reference and Blades Yamaha NS 5000 Focal (though not too seriously but should have) The Vivids as clear, fast, detailed, and non-fatiguing to me, just really amazing gear. They also have unique technology, just like the other brands I have listed above. BTW - I just noticed this thread was resurrected from the dead. |
And even within the utilisation of composites, there are multiple cores and each behaves differently. Some use balsa, others use airex and in my case, I use a nomex honeycomb. To my knowledge, I am the only company that uses a nomex honeycomb core and if you recall, I even sent you a white paper on the benefits of this, explicitly around sound damping. No I dont believe this. This is just splitting hairs. Brick would do the job. Its cheap and readily available. There is no point in trying other materials. The point you seem to miss is that a speaker box is WRONG. it doesnt matter what you make it out of if its WRONG. Why do you think open baffle speakers exist? Because its an extreme attempt to solve the problem of having a box. You have an obsession with box material and its completely misguided. Have you read the paper yourself? this post isn't about my speakers, it's about Vivid .Yes but vivid is a good example of a speaker that tries to solve most of the main problems with box speakers and for that reason its justified in mentioning bad speakers that dont bother to deal with all the problems. A speaker box made of solid 5 inch thick diamond slabs would still sound horrific if for example the crossovers were badly done. That is only one example. You only ever speak about cabinet material which is misleading. I bet your speakers arent even custom tuned either. They are just mass produced. Which is another problem. |
There are several companies that make amazing and unique speakers using MDF or other wood based materials beyond ATC. Innovative designs and creative solutions to each part of a speaker is something I wish more people would engage in. Whether it be in shape, where a company like Vivid really pushes the limits, driver material where someone like Accuton, B&W and Paradigm are pushing limits. Open baffles, planars, electrostatics, whatever MBLs are...these companies all pushing limits and producing amazing products. And even within the utilisation of composites, there are multiple cores and each behaves differently. Some use balsa, others use airex and in my case, I use a nomex honeycomb. To my knowledge, I am the only company that uses a nomex honeycomb core and if you recall, I even sent you a white paper on the benefits of this, explicitly around sound damping. I would agree completely that my speakers are "boxes with driver" and I don't use MDF. True statement but this post isn't about my speakers, it's about Vivid . And you are correct, Vivid does many things that are different and taken in aggregate, they produce some amazing, truly differentiated products. I don't think Lawrence Dickie get's enough credit for the innovative things he's done. |
@verdantaudio what do you say about world class speakers like ATC that are regarded as the finest in the world and obviously use regular mdf? Why do you think we need more speakers made without mdf when its already been done by the companies youve listed? Vivid uses a tube on their drivers. Your speakers do not. Neither do the others. Its not as simple as choosing a particular material. Your designs are nothing more than the usual "boxes with drivers" except you dont use mdf. |
I love Vivid and am a huge fan of Lawrence Dickie. Brilliant and it was a few interviews with him that gave me the confidence to launch my speaker line using composite cabinets. The integration of driver and the fiberglass cabinets that they use are extraordinary. It is always a matter of taste and they tend to not offer deep bass so need to be augmented with subwoofers, but the frequency response they do offer is absolutely brilliant and truly one of the elite speaker companies in the world. When looking at Vivid (fiberglass cabinets), there are a small number of products that actually compete with them. Wilson Benesch Geometry (carbon fiber), Kef Blades and above (fiberglass), Wilson (cast phenolic resin), Marten (cf or fiberglass in certain products), Rockport (unspecified composite), YG and Magic (aluminum), Verdant (My Company - fiberglass and cf in certain products), Kaiser (rubber composite). There are a couple others but not many others that are produce cabinets that are not mdf/wood. These non-traditional cabinets offer superior damping and are really special but are pricey. |
I have the V1.5 and agree better than my Wilson Audio Puppy 5.1, my Sonus Faber Cremona Auditors as well as (now sold) B&W 802N. As many say lacks bottom end on some material but added 2 x B&W PV1 subwoofers which complement them due to 'speed'. Next is my Vivid Audio B1 coming. Driving the V1.5 with NuPrime IDA-16 and Nordost Heimdall speaker cables. |
A few weeks ago, i heard the Giya G1's. The system was in a large room with Mola Mola amps, Luxman DAC, an Apple Mac book pro doing digital and the Brinkmann Bardo doing analog duty. The speakers were exceptional and threw a very large and well defined stage with exact placement of instruments. The bass was articulate and had great heft, a very impressive demo indeed. I think the only down-side IF you can call it that is the size and look of the speakers. They are without doubt a particular taste in aesthetics. OTOH, IF I had the room for these, they would be on my VERY short list. I have also heard most of the YG line, which is not IMO in the same league as the Vivid's. Cold and analytical is the way i would describe the YG's that I have heard. |
Meanwhile I have tried to Vivid Audio V1.5 in my 30m2 living room and, after some careful positioning, they sounded amazing and have all I want except for the lack of bass. Of all the alternatives I heard, they're still my favourite. But I need that bass... not too much... just enough for a cello to not sound like a viola :) I'm considering complementing them with a subwoofer but I wonder if this is a good solution. Any opinions? Thanks, Nuno |
Tidal, Vivid and Brodman are the top three speaker manufacturers in my book, and I have experienced the trench that separates these from the vast majority rather as a quantum leap sort of thing. If you have a chance, do listen to the Giya; Vivid manufacture speakers that stand far above discussion on single sound characteristics that one invariably seems to indulge in with the other names you mentioned. Instead, Vivid stands for completeness of the musical experience. Here's another thread with a few more thoughts http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?cspkr&1267419742&read&keyw&zzvivid |
I have the Vivid v1.5. They are the most musically engaging speakers I have owned. They involve me into the listening like no other speaker. I have owned Proac, B&W, Magnepan, Thiel, Focal, and Wilson Benesch speakers (listened to many others), all very nice...but the Vivid v1.5 has taken me to a level beyond expectation. I expected a very neutral, unboxy, effortless sound. Got that and a level of coherence and continuity that I have never ever heard from any type of speaker. They are not cheep but frankly they are a bargain for what they do. There have been a few moments in my hifi experience (25 years) that absolutely opened my eyes to high end audio. Listening to an LP12 for the first time back in the 80s when IT was the the TT to own. Switching from a Thorens TT to an LP12. Getting my first really good preamp. Getting Audioquest silver signal and speaker cables and now with the Vivid speakers. You must go listen to them. 1 Minor quibble...binding posts a little hard to manage if you have spade connectors. Marantz sa-7, Avid Volvere SME IV, Aesthetix Calypso Signature, Rhea, Plinius SA-50 MKIII, Nordost Valhalla, Shunyata PCs. |
I love the vivid speakers. I think they the most natural sounding speakers I have experienced. Highly dynamic, realistic, lively, and never fatiguing. I have owned many speakers along the years, including Avalon, Wilson, and Magico. Go and listen to them. Even the smallest, the V1.5 is much better then and Wilson. |
