Vivid Audio Speakers

@verdantaudio  Your analogy to Tesla in regards to not looking under the hood is a poor one, IMHO. The Vivid speakers are anything but high tech if you look inside the cabinets! For those who want to know what the construction and parts are, feel free to PM me. Having said this, like I stated before, they sound excellent. No one needs to apologize for their SQ. 

@daveyf You are certainly welcome to disagree.  You are stating that they are low tech because you looked inside and I assume did not see the bracing you expect when looking at an expensive speaker made from wood.  And, when you remove the crossover and/or drivers, they are quite lightweight relatively speaking.  

The materials Vivid makes their cabinets out of don't behave like other common materials (MDF, Baltic Birch, etc...)  that are used in speaker production.  The combination of the shape and the materials (fiberglass composites) make them behave very differently.  They are largely hollow though the Nautilus portion of the top of the Giya does have bracing.  

The materials they use are commonly used in the transportation broadly but aerospace industry especially due to the extraordinary strength to weight ratio that they deliver.  That, combined with the circular shape leads to exceptional strength and rigidity.  They also state that they heavy up on the composite in certain parts of the speaker where added strength is required.  These are low mass designs which is very different than almost all manufacturers in the marketplace.  

Let's also remember that these are transmission line designs to clear airflow is essential.  

I use very similar materials in the production of my Nightshade speaker which is fiberglass over a DuPont Nomex core.  My other speaker carbon fiber over a Nomex core which is similar to the panels used in the Wilson Benesch.  Mine are prefabricated and flat, thus my cabinets are rectangular.  This keeps costs down as it allows me to avoid expensive molds that Vivid and WB utilize.  It also means my performance is not quite as exceptional.  

Due to the high cost and difficulty of working with the materials, I use an aerospace company to make my cabinets whose primary business is the interior of private planes and helicopters.  

My opinion is that using these more advanced composites that are allowing for them to deviate from traditional designs is pretty high tech relatively speaking.  As I said, feel free to disagree, but IMO, this is one of the truly unique and tech forward designs in the marketplace.  

@verdantaudio-thanks for the summary. Much appreciated!

On another recent thread about Vivid speakers, there were some eye opening complaints from at least one owner about the drivers burning out without  being overdriven, and serious lack of customer support by Vivid.

Their speakers are out of my price bracket, but after what I read there, I wouldn’t even consider them.

I haven't seen this thread with the other customer having an issue and can't speak about the process followed.  Normally, your first line of engagement with any issue should be your dealer.  If you contacted your dealer and received poor support, well...it is Vivids fault I suppose for working with a poor dealer.  

As a Vivid dealer, I will say that they were incredibly responsive.  I had a customer who called me to tell me that they "blew a driver" in their Oval B1 Decades because there was a distinct rattle.  

Laurence Dickey directly offered me advice on how to evaluate the speaker on site and to see how we could get this resolved.  As it turns out, the driver was fine.  There was a panel a few feet away that was vibrating and the reflection of the sound made it seem like it was coming from the back of the Vivids.  

If you have purchased them used, you would need to go straight to Vivid.  But, even then, I directly supported a repair on a used pair of speakers handling the financial transaction which was brought to me by my rep.  

The only thing I see as an issue with these speakers is that the drivers are incredibly delicate and are easy to damage during setup or re-packing.  I have not had an actual issue with speaker I have sold.