What's your room like, and where are the B1s placed?
I have a pair arriving soon... |
My room... I have bay windows at the rear, left and right windows on angles. The right wall has built-in shelves. LPs fill up most of the space. The left wall, no shelves. 9' ceiling, 16' L x 12' W... BUT behind my sofa (listening position) I have another open 14'x12' room, so I don't get reflections from the source. Have a large area rug on the floor. It's a fairly dead room.
The speakers are about 1.5' from the back wall. Each about 1.5' from side walls... although because of the shelves on the right side, the "cove" makes it about 2.5'.
I've spent about 10 hours or more finding the right position and still not there. I have a weird room. But definitely try toeing them in more than you might normally. That I have found to be a constant for the best imaging.
At times, I've probably got them 90% "there" and when it's right (or close to it it) it's crazy good. Then I screw it up by trying another position.
Lastly, they require a 4 Ohm load, so hopefully your amp has that output option. They need power... I'm cranking up the volume knob on my pre another 20% than I needed to on my Focal speakers.
Please post your thoughts when you get them. |
Cool. There's an app "AudioTools" that has a real-time frequency analyzer that may help you fine tune your positioning. $20 to download, and will work with the mic of your iPhone or iPad.
Dealer says 200hr to break in... How'd yours sound outa the box? |
Sounded excellent out of the box but keeps getting better. My dealer told me 500 break-in time. |
Vivid is one of the few speakers I would consider now...congratulations! What color did you get? I've noticed they used bi-wiring that can get tricky, did you experience that? And more importantly, how low do they really get? Do you have any electronica or other bass endowed music to put them to test?
Thank you |
I got them in Piano black. Looks great. I already had bi-wire cables. They're listed to go to 40Hz but I haven't measured. I've played some stuff with good bass and sounds fine for me... I've never been a bass freak anyway. I'll try out some electronica. I play mostly rock music... nothing heavy though. |
Regarding 500 hours of break in time- you gotta be kidding. How in the world is someone supposed to remember what the sound was like 500 hours ago? Also, how do you track that many hours? I can't imagine a drivers' surround taking 500 hours to change( which to my knowledge is primarily what changes with break in).I used to work for a loudspeaker manufacturer, and if memory serves me correctly, the woofers would change after a few days of playing, and then remain constant after that. Also, what if the driver never changes- how would you know???? |
Regarding the break-in time, that's what I was told... just relaying info. |
I had a pair of 1.5's for about 2 weeks on loan from my dealer...they were pretty amazing, but my wife hates the way they look, so I'm not going to be buying them. Took them back last weekend and he had B1's hooked up. My wife and I sat and listened, and I'll tell you ( to my ears) they imaged better than any speaker I can remember, and I've been at this hobby for 40+ years. Top to bottom sound was unbelievably coherent and smooth. Truly incredible sounding speakers. My wife was completely blown away by their sound. If I had the money to buy them I would, plus, my wife finds them less 'weird looking' than the 1.5's. |
Og33, do you recall the amp used at your dealer? |
F1a,
He had a Rogue amp powering them. Don't know which model, but it was a stereo amp, not the mono blocks. |
My dealer brought a pair of B1 to my home. We used my Nagra PL-L pre together with a pair of Nagra PMA. The detail, the sound stage were amazing. I would buy them if it wasn't for two problems for which I still didn't find a solution:
1. The bass was completely out of control. Someone said it may be due to lack of power from the amps. My dealer says that's not the case. At 200W each, are supposed to be at ease with it. I'd believe it's my living room.
2. The dynamics is exaggerated. Listening to a string quartet I would always feel like wanting to raise the volume when a single violin is playing softly and immediately felt like lowering it when the four instruments go into a crescendo.
The B1 sounded like an untamed beast.
Maybe these 2 problems can be solved with room correction. I have a fairly vivid 30m2 living room with a bookshelf, a large rug, but some clean walls. And if that is the case I'd buy them. But... I won't risk.
I'm currently listening to a set of Avalon Ascent which they brought just for me to try an alternative. Even though the bass is far from controlled, it's still much more "normal". And the dynamics problem is not there. But they lack the detail, de soundstange, de realism of the Vivid Audio. I don't like them. I think once you listen to Vivid Audio speakers... you get hooked to how much detail and presence they achieve without becoming tiring or aggressive.
So, my dealer will now bring back the V1.5 which already sounded amazing at my home except for the lack of bass which we now intend to try to solve adding a subwoofer. But I fear that the V1.5 may be too small for my 30m2 room and that maybe I should be getting a full range speaker instead of a pair of monitors which I then have to complement with a subwoofer.
It would be nice to get some opinions on this.
Thanks in advance,
Nuno |
So you have had two well regarded speakers in your room with bass issues. I do think you have your room to deal with.
Shakey |
Contrary to what makers of side firing woofered speakers contend, I have found them to be trickier with room loading and just plain difficult to impossible to get to work to full potential in many rooms.
Somehow I feel I have not heard the Vivids to their fullest, where the have dynamics, richness when called for, and real life. Yet when I hear them I feel they have real potential. |
I have the Vivid B1's which are powered by diy Hypex Ncore 300 watt monoblocks. I actually had to contact the dealer for room placement help and that made a night and day difference. Mine are about 2.5 feet from the back wall and completely open on the sides. They are toed in slightly about halfway compared to a direct toe in to my sweet spot. The sound is the best I have ever had in my room and I also have been in this hobby for a long time. I first heard class D Hypex Mola Mola monoblocks last year at CES in the Mirage powering the Vivid Giya's. It was some of the best sound I have heard and I knew I would soon build the diy Ncore version monoblocks. Very highly recommended with the Vivid's!
Jim |
