I have a story to tell. I'm not financially involved with Vapor Audio, but I certainly want to buy one of their speakers.
Two years ago I was exhibiting at RMAF, using this time some well-known megabux speakers. (We got a best sound of show from TAS that year BTW). One of my partners in the room knew Ryan Scott of Vapor Sound and told me he was at the show. Ryan had brought some speakers to the show to be used in another room, but that arrangement evidently fell-through. Lots of flakes in this business. Anyway, I met Ryan and decided to audition his Cirrus speaker on the included stands in the room after show hours.
Well, we just plopped the Cirrus speakers down outside of the other floorstanders, not trying to optimize this at all. We played a track and immediately I knew we had a winner here. The 2-way Cirrus actually crushed the megabux speakers at 1/10 the price. Even the bass from the 2-way was impressive, and fast. Only had a 7 inch woofer. The vocals from this speaker were more live than anything I had heard, either in my own systems or other rooms at all of shows that I exhibited at for the last 15 years, including RMAF, CES, Newport and Stereophile. Imaging was superb and dynamics off the charts.
Anyway, after this experience I just had to have some Vapor speakers in my room at my next show in Newport, CA.
Ryan had something very special in mind this time. He was developing a new speaker, the Nimbus, which is a 3-way floorstander with high-efficiency. He would also supply some SE tube amps to power them. I would have been happy just with the Cirrus 2-ways.
Most exhibitors would shy away from something new like this for a show, but not me. I had complete confidence in Ryan to deliver the goods. He is one of the few people in this industry that are serious about his work and definitely not a flake.
Well, the result was no less than spectacular. The Nimbus speaker IMO is a complete game-changer, a revelation. This is the very first speaker, much less high-efficiency speaker that I have heard in all my years in this business that gets it right from top to bottom. The bass is unbelievable. Not just sufficient, but clean and low-distortion bass. These actually create "shaped" wavefronts of low-frequency information that you can actually sense as they expand into the room. We played some classical tracks that had crescendos that contained a lot of bass and they were truly amazing. There was literally no bass bloat or boominess and yet the 15" woofer delivered it in spades when there was bass present. Some of it was infrasonic so you only sensed it rather than hearing it. The off-axis imaging was also superb, as good as any ribbons I have heard and as good as the TAD references.
JA of Stereophile evidently liked it as he grouped our room in the top rooms at Newport. He had never heard of Vapor Sound, but he will remember it now.
Ryans speakers not only have the finest finishes I have ever seen in any loudspeaker, he uses the best drivers and crossover components of ANY loudspeaker. Even the most expensive loudspeakers do not use these components in their crossovers. For example, Jensen air-core paper-in-oil ribbon inductors and Dueland capacitors. Having modded for more than 10 years, I discovered the best capacitors and inductors to use in speakers. I have recommended these to other speaker manufacturers in the past, but not one of them ever even tried them, even though the samples are usually free. Idiots
Well, Ryan had an open mind. He had no problem trying these parts and ended-up using most of them in all of his speakers and now they are up there with the best on the planet. Most folks that listened to the Nimbus at Newport thought the speaker was a $30-50K speaker. Its under $8K believe it or not:
http://www.vaporsound.com
Steve N.
Empirical Audio
Two years ago I was exhibiting at RMAF, using this time some well-known megabux speakers. (We got a best sound of show from TAS that year BTW). One of my partners in the room knew Ryan Scott of Vapor Sound and told me he was at the show. Ryan had brought some speakers to the show to be used in another room, but that arrangement evidently fell-through. Lots of flakes in this business. Anyway, I met Ryan and decided to audition his Cirrus speaker on the included stands in the room after show hours.
Well, we just plopped the Cirrus speakers down outside of the other floorstanders, not trying to optimize this at all. We played a track and immediately I knew we had a winner here. The 2-way Cirrus actually crushed the megabux speakers at 1/10 the price. Even the bass from the 2-way was impressive, and fast. Only had a 7 inch woofer. The vocals from this speaker were more live than anything I had heard, either in my own systems or other rooms at all of shows that I exhibited at for the last 15 years, including RMAF, CES, Newport and Stereophile. Imaging was superb and dynamics off the charts.
Anyway, after this experience I just had to have some Vapor speakers in my room at my next show in Newport, CA.
Ryan had something very special in mind this time. He was developing a new speaker, the Nimbus, which is a 3-way floorstander with high-efficiency. He would also supply some SE tube amps to power them. I would have been happy just with the Cirrus 2-ways.
Most exhibitors would shy away from something new like this for a show, but not me. I had complete confidence in Ryan to deliver the goods. He is one of the few people in this industry that are serious about his work and definitely not a flake.
Well, the result was no less than spectacular. The Nimbus speaker IMO is a complete game-changer, a revelation. This is the very first speaker, much less high-efficiency speaker that I have heard in all my years in this business that gets it right from top to bottom. The bass is unbelievable. Not just sufficient, but clean and low-distortion bass. These actually create "shaped" wavefronts of low-frequency information that you can actually sense as they expand into the room. We played some classical tracks that had crescendos that contained a lot of bass and they were truly amazing. There was literally no bass bloat or boominess and yet the 15" woofer delivered it in spades when there was bass present. Some of it was infrasonic so you only sensed it rather than hearing it. The off-axis imaging was also superb, as good as any ribbons I have heard and as good as the TAD references.
JA of Stereophile evidently liked it as he grouped our room in the top rooms at Newport. He had never heard of Vapor Sound, but he will remember it now.
Ryans speakers not only have the finest finishes I have ever seen in any loudspeaker, he uses the best drivers and crossover components of ANY loudspeaker. Even the most expensive loudspeakers do not use these components in their crossovers. For example, Jensen air-core paper-in-oil ribbon inductors and Dueland capacitors. Having modded for more than 10 years, I discovered the best capacitors and inductors to use in speakers. I have recommended these to other speaker manufacturers in the past, but not one of them ever even tried them, even though the samples are usually free. Idiots
Well, Ryan had an open mind. He had no problem trying these parts and ended-up using most of them in all of his speakers and now they are up there with the best on the planet. Most folks that listened to the Nimbus at Newport thought the speaker was a $30-50K speaker. Its under $8K believe it or not:http://www.vaporsound.com
Steve N.
Empirical Audio
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