Vivid's new flagship Giya G1 "Spirit" launch in Chicago 11 Feb. 2017

[cjf]

Obviously listening tests are not performed with the speakers placed in this position. Do you think audio reviewers are so stupid ?

Well...I agree that listening tests shouldn't be performed with speakers placed next to each other but would question if this fact should be considered obvious.

While there are certainly some fine reviewers out there with all their marbles in tact I've seen a few that could be considered...umm yes, stupid is a good description

[Rodney Gold]

Mine have arrived .. uncrating happens today...

[Rob181]

Mine have arrived .. uncrating happens today...

Waiting patiently for the photos...

No I'm not...hurry up...

[Steve Williams]

Waiting patiently for the photos...

No I'm not...hurry up...

http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showth...l=1#post447503

[gtl]

First review that I know of published on Soundstageultra. Looks like a real winner.

http://www.soundstageultra.com/index...t-loudspeakers

[tedtag]

I ordered a pair of G1's last summer to pair with new CAT amps and a CAT Legend preamp and they were about to be delivered last December when I heard about the Spirits. George with Kyomi Audio was great and let me upgrade and pay the difference for the Spirits but I've had to wait another 6 months to get them. Although this has been a test in patience, I'm starting to get pretty excited!

The Spirits should arrive soon and I'll report back on how they sound. They are going in a dedicated built from scratch room with ASC double wall construction/resilient channel, isolated power direct to the pole, JPS wiring, Furutech outlets, acoustic carpet, and a bunch of tube traps and GIK panels. I'll be hanging acoustic panels on the ceilings this week. Jim Smith fortunately lives nearby and is helping with the final set up.

Thanks to everyone who posted about room construction; Ron, Steve, and others. Your advise and experiences have been incredibly helpful!

[Rodney Gold]

Ted .. you wont be sorry .. the spirits are a speaker that is way beyond anything you have heard and are a substantial improvement on the G1's. I am busy with a G1 vs G1 spirit review..I am finding it difficult to put into words exactly what the Spirits do .. but they do something magical..worthy of a fully dedicated and treated room.

[Joel]

Two years ago, I was asking me why pointing on a pair of Vivid Audio G2 when it was possible to elude any doubt or question about state of the art in the Vivid line-up, going directly towards the Giya flagship G1.
That was my state of mind at that time, and I could not have imagined that the ticket to serenity would have lasted not more than two years...
Not being among the G1 early purchasers, having owned previously the Oval line flagship K1, it's not really an abnormal situation having since a few month a new pinnacle of sound at the Durban's loudspeaker factory. The wonderful downside of our audiophile hobby is that there will always be something better, keeping our addiction at the top. Here comes her majesty Giya G1 Spirit...

Laurence Dickie is neither a terrorist nor a revolutionist. He's indeed moving slowly and has worked during ten years around a global maturation of his early design. "Change for change" is apparently not Vivid's moto and perhaps "evolution rather than revolution" would suit better the South African company.
Identity is also a key feature, as for other prestigious brands like Ypsilon in the field of electronics : despite tending towards the highest neutrality, there is a Vivid or an Ypsilon sonic fingerprint. All famous brands have indeed their house sound. That's quite a paradox but who will deny the fact that Wilson Audio, McIntosh, JBL or Shindo have their own sound ? Yes they do, and that's why there is such a diversity in the hifi landscape.
Visual identity is also something that cannot be ignored and the organic shapes of the Vivid Audio speakers have remained a corner stone during all this years. Dickie's loudspeakers are perhaps the closest to car industry products if we consider the aerodynamics shapes, the lightness of materials, the power of the "engines", the quality of paintings...
And each release of a new Vivid Audio speaker looks like the outing of a new sport car. Before connecting them to your playback chain, you already know that something special is going to happen...

To be completely honest, I have been a Vivid Audio enthusiast since a long time, so my review needs to be considered from this standpoint and my personal tastes don't pretend to any kind of universality. But my intimacy with the brand provides me with sufficient informative background to assess the new G1 Spirit in comparison of past achievements. I hope almost this fact cannot be denied... and that has probably motivated Philip Guttentag, CEO of Vivid Speakers, to send me a loaner pair.



Moreover, my close relationship with the South African company makes me aware of Dickie's personal quest for improvement of his early designs. Of course, this guy is not the sole and a few other competitors in the field of high-end loudspeakers industry, can pretend to pursue the same goals. But Dickie's particular case relies on the fact that his early designs were already based on very advanced schemes and techniques. And improving what's already can be considered as a real technical achievement becomes subsequently extremely difficult. Other guys should have tried to change a few parameters to promote new products and justify the price increase, within a slight increase of the overall performance. But Dickie is not part of them. He doesn't' stop until he has achieved something really better, that's almost the Vivid Audio strategy in terms of innovation. And that's why the Vivid Audio line-up has not moved or changed radically during the past years despite many projects and prototypes being carried out to replace the older Oval line, or to develop completely new products...

Some may think that beyond my attachment to the company, my admiration for Laurence Dickie has definitely no limit. More than admiration, I am very respectful of his honesty and integrity. But that's enough for the Laurence Dickie's fan club, and let's have now a deeper look to the new kid in town, the Vivid G1S.

Is the Spirit another evocation to the luxury cars' industry ?
Not directly. The "Spirit" name is more about the purest essence of what is the Giya concept, that is to say the "cleanest window into the music" as Dickie said.
Laurence Dickie has also described the new G1 Spirit as a G1 on steroids. The Spirit is in fact 11 cm shorter (4") than the original G1. The G1S is nevertheless fatter to accommodate larger and deeper woofers though their diameter remains unchanged. The two cabinets' volume remains also unchanged. So this new outing looks like a kind of "supercharged G1".

The new flagship has indeed a more muscular bottom-end. The new woofer C225-100 has definitely more power. It uses a completely new die-cast structure with a voice coil increased in diameter from 75 mm to 100 mm, and in length by 50% compared to the original G1's woofer.
Increasing the magnetic flux allows for higher linear excursion by 30% and doubles the thermal power dissipation. The new woofers have twice the power handling, greater excursion, larger diameter voice coil and neodymium magnets that are nearly twice the size of the regular Giya G1's woofers. The magnets are no longer behind the voice coil but encapsulating them for a more efficient transfer of flux.





The new low-mid driver C125-75 is also an impressive technical achievement and has been considerably improved compared to the older C125S unit. That was quite mandatory considering the increased power handling of the bass drivers. This completely redesigned carbon stiffened 125mm driver is given as pushing its first break-up mode over 10 kHz (the previous G1's unit was achieving 4.2 kHz). Having decided to go for the larger 75mm coil, it seemed logical to Laurence Dickie re-optimizing the cone and to include carbon hoops. Changing the magnet topology pointing on a radial structure adjacent to the coil was also a way to strengthen the synergy with the side woofers.

The new D26k and D50k units, already used for the lovely B1 Decade, replace the former mid-treble drivers of the original G1 design. Main changes are about protective grilles and filtering, the catenary shape of the dome drivers being unchanged. But the most important feature from a sonic standpoint is the position of the tweeters which are now at the average listeners ear level for greater focus. It's clearly an improvement despite, in my own case, being clearly above the average height, I was not particularly affected by the previous tweeter and midrange domes' vertical position...



Stay tuned...

[Rodney Gold]

I'm tuned in .. awaiting the rest...

[GMKF]

Wowza....
In my opinion the design has improved.