Anyone hear Vivid Audio Speakers? Considering Vivid Giya G1 Series 2 from Magico S5 MKII

One of the reasons I was disappointed when I auditioned the Magico A3 was a lack of drive and dynamics.  The A3s are spec'd at the same 4 ohm impedance as my Thiels, but with higher sensitivity.  And yet, even though the Magicos were driven with a higher current SS amp than my own amps, they sounded dynamically reticent vs my Thiels, or any number of other speakers I auditioned.    For me they did the "audiophile" trait of producing soundstaging and transparency and detail, but in a way that sort of just sat back behind the speakers.  They didn't reach out and grab me, or really "boogie" when asked to.

*Post removed* just below mine.
Let me guess:  a certain well known magico-fan-boy who swoops in to every thread where someone said anything less than positive about magico ;-)

@mheinze,

I’m not dissing the A3. It’s a fantastic speaker and I thought it was going to make many people very happy. I’m just reporting my own experience from auditioning it. I’m hardly the last word on the issue.

But at least when I auditioned the A3 it was set up by a very experienced Magico dealer, in a very good space, and he seemed happy with the set up. It excelled in transparency and could at times produce quite amazing detail in instrumental timbre. But, again, when I heard it, it didn’t sound dynamic from top to bottom. I’d put on something like Herbie Hancock’s Chameleon, which I play a lot at home and have heard on tons of speakers, and some of the percussion, synth parts, horns just seemed to "sit" there with little air-moving drive or palpability. When I got home and played the same tracks on my Thiels, all the instruments that sounded limp on the Magicos sounded dense and dynamic and drove the rhythm on the Thiels.


If the Magicos are doing good dynamic things in your set up, that’s great.

BTW, I don’t know why you think I seek the crude "smile" eq in a system, or engineered in to a speaker. Usually that’s as far from the case as possible. My Thiel 2.7s are very neutral from top to bottom, no sizzle on top, and even, firm controlled bass. My Waveform speakers are similarly extremely neutral. The Spendors I was listening to last night and loving also don’t have a "smile" eq built in to them.


One of my favorite speakers, which I owned, are the Harbeth SuperHL5 Plus speakers, which as per the measurements here:

"[The Harbeth SuperHL5plus] extends from 45Hz to 40kHz ±3dB—extension and linearity that are, in my memory, unprecedented. "

http://i.nextmedia.com.au/Assets/harbeth_super_hl5_plus_speakers_review_test_lores.pdf

To my ears, the Harbeths seem to portray a more believably "organic" tone than almost anything I heard through the Magicos.  Not that you should agree.

Even the Devore speakers that I have enjoyed, while rich in the bass, don’t have a "smile" eq built in to them.
And working in pro sound, I’m pretty familiar with neutral studio playback gear.

Anyway, I would never find a speaker that actually sounded lifelike, dynamically and timbrally, to sound "boring." I find real sounds anything but "boring."

I'm afraid I can't remember.  It was a solid state amp of some sort, that the dealer was praising and thought a good match for the A3.  I just remember that it was more powerful than the amp I use at home.

@mheinze

(I should know I am a professional musician).

I play piano/synth, guitar (acoustic/electric), bass, drums, sax.  I come from a musical family - Dad was a jazz musician and music teacher.  We had 3 pianos in the house in constant use, a trombone, various saxes, trumpet, clarinet, flute, guitars, drums, bass, you name it.  Either my father was playing one of those, or one of us where playing instruments. 


I used to use recordings of real instruments I owned, and voices of my family, for live-vs-reproduced comparisons when checking out speakers.I still use those recordings sometimes to double check through speakers I have at home.  (Not to mention, for my job I'm constantly recording real life sounds).


A lot of us here have a good idea of what real instruments sound like. :)


I'm not disputing that the Magicos sound more "right" to you, or that the Harbeths are "more right."  No speaker is perfect and we all tend to focus on certain things that sound "right" to us when we choose our speaker.

I loved the Harbeths and bought them to see if I could replace my larger Thiel speakers at the time.   I sold the Harbeths because in direct comparison my Thiels struck me as a bit better in almost all areas, mostly "cleaner" and more precise - some of which I think was due to the "remove cabinet vibration from the design" in the Thiel strategy vs the "let the cabinet vibrate" strategy in the Harbeth.  The Magicos would definitely, like the Thiels, sound cleaner in the sense of "less box" than the Harbeths.

But, still, to my ears, almost everything sounded essentially "right" through the Harbeths in a way that escapes most speakers - just something about their way with instrumental timbres - whereas almost nothing sounded "quite right" in the sense of "could I believe this is a sax, or acoustic guitar in front of me?" when closing my eyes listening to the Magico speakers.  The Magicos certainly presented something "super clear" in front of me, but it just didn't make me believe I was hearing the timbre of a real instrument in front of me.   That was true again when I recently listened to a very nice Magico set up at a high end dealer. 


That said, when I auditioned the A3s, there were a few classical guitar pieces, and a soundtrack of closely-recorded woodwinds and brass, that sounded phenomenal through the A3s!   But then, those tracks tend to make most speakers sound good.  But I did leave thinking "those speakers are going to make lots of happy audiophiles."

LOL, the Magico-didn't-sound-perfect-to-me bat signal went up and
the frothing dog has been released for a run to snap at the heels of evil-magico-dissers!

Are you paid by Magico sciencecop, or do you do this pro bono?


Now that you have that off your chest, can you let the adults who are in control of their emotions discuss our impressions of speakers we've heard? 


@mheinz,

 I always survey the amplification to compare it to mine and see if it seems a reasonable choice for the speaker in question.  But once that is satisfied, I simply concentrate on the sound, not taking notes of all the associated equipment.   I had auditioned a great many speakers over that year and could hardly remember every bit of electronics associated with every audition.  I couldn't tell you every amp used in auditioning the Devore, or Joseph speakers, or many others.  


If you look at my "Contemplating Devore" thread where I reported my impressions of auditioning many speakers, you'll see I praised the A3 for various traits.  They truly do sound amazingly low in coloration, especially lack of "box" effects, the way they produce instruments so cleanly and even hard-panned sounds don't "stick" in to the speaker, but float in a distinct position around it.  Very impressive!   If the A3 can sound even better than what I'd heard, with different equipment, that's great.  I simply comment on what I heard during my own audition, which is what forums like this are for; exchanging notes, seeing various reports and impressions of various gear.  I don't doubt your A3s sound awesome.

Cheers!

(Putting aside the fact I could afford the Magicos when I auditioned them, and in fact was looking at other even more expensive speakers...)

You mean the adults that actually have the money to buy the models you can only dream about? 

Wow, mocking someone on the presumption they can not afford expensive speakers!
Congratulations on exemplifying the worst caricatures people have of audiophiles as stuck up audio snobs.  You're doing us proud.

Keep digging sciencecop.  You're almost at the bottom.  You can do it!

fsmithjack,


I hear you about the Harbeths. It’s not "judging" at all to say you are bored by the Harbeths. It’s your opinion and we are here to share our opinions. I’m happy to hear what other audiophiles enjoy. What a boring place this would be if sound were totally commoditized and we all liked exactly the same product.



It’s probably normally the case that if you like the magico-type sound you aren’t a Harbeth customer, and visa-versa. (Though I myself like a variety of different "sound types" in speakers).


Likewise, although I’m really enjoying vinyl these days, I totally get why there are people wouldn’t touch it.


I know you would ideally like to hear from people who have compared the particular speaker models you mentioned. But in the spirit of sharing experience and opinions...


I’ve heard the Giya G1 Series 2 briefly. (One of my local dealers sells Vivid, so I’ve heard Vivid speakers at his shop, and when he’s shown at audio shows). Genesis’ "Squonk" was just massive and dynamic on the Vivids. Just crazy good if one wanted to experience leading-edge detail, soundstagind WITH dynamics and acoustic force that invoked the real thing - especially a real drum set being played.

I’ve heard some big Magicos playing some of my favorite demo tracks, like Earth Wind And Fire live which has some killer drum sounds. It was also really "transparent" with great soundstaging, but they didn’t produce that "holy cow this could be live" sensation as the Vivid speakers.

On a smaller scale: I auditioned the Vivid Oval speakers (B1 I think?).Also, I spent some time listening to my selected music, over a month or so on and off, on a pair of Vivid Kaya speakers at my friend's place.



Again, especially with the Kaya speakers, it was "clarity/transparency and DYNAMICS" that really stuck out. Even at the sane levels I was listening at they kicked some butt. My friend, who plays music louder than I ever would, said "you just would not BELIEVE what these sound like loud. Teeth rattling power, but clean and uncompressed sounding."


On a personal note, ultimately I’m a "tone/timbre first" guy. I have found the sound of every Vivid speaker I’ve heard to be astonishingly transparent and clear, but somewhat anti-septic. There is more obvious "wow" factor to the transparency of the Vivids, and I find them on the brighter end. Smooth...but a tad lightened up in tone. I think I actually prefer the tone and timbre of voices and instruments through the Magico speakers. I would take the Magico A3s over the Vivids I’ve heard.


But, again, that’s a very personal account. I can completely see someone thinking the Vivids sound "more right"with instruments and voices.



I hope you get to hear those other speakers,so you can come back and tells us how you think they compared to your Magicos.

Cheers!