Those are on my short list of speakers to listen to.. I dont' go off of reviews as my ears must be totally different as I don't often hear what the reviewer hears. I've been around audio long enough to know the dark secrets of the print/electronic media and how reviews are handled. That said, I've heard about Vivid from a friend who heard them at a show in Newport I think it was and he said they were really good and even has some legit bass. When talking about BEST speakers heard there is just so much that goes into it. The most I hear of the esoteric level of speakers, the more I appreciate first order, phase coherent speakers. All too often I hear 'detail' 'sparkle' huge soundstage' 'deep bass', but the problem is ....what did the producer put down on the tracks? Accuracy is only so good. Too many high end speakers go crazy with parts and they don't always fit together as well as some of the lower priced speakers in their lines. They are often times fatiguing or the bass isn't realistic.
I was at a John Legend concert the other night with my daughter. The first thing we both noticed during the warm up act was that the bass was distorted and turned up WAYYYY too much. It was brutal and it sucked. We heard him at the Hollywood Bowl last summer on a college visit and the sound was superb. The LA Philharmonic helped, but even Aerosmith sounded great, but still loud. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but for my money, Richard Vandersteen is still the one to beat. I get to listen to the 7's and 5's at a store in Verona, NJ whenever I'm down there and they just sound 'right'...every time regardless of what front end gear or amps he's using. I've heard the Rockports, top of the line Utopias, Magico's and many of the really smaller companies out there. When you listen live at various venues, the music really isn't quite holographic is it? You SEE where the instruments are and you can hear where they come from, but maybe not as much as we want in our systems. I think we want to HEAR holographic to make up for what we SEE when we are there live....Im not sure, but this thread has made me think about that. There was a person at Goodwin Audio who made that statement to me a while ago and it's stuck with me. Just thought I'd share...
