I have Vivid G1 Spirits. I remember very well what I was thinking the first time I heard them. “Oh hell no!!!” I said at least 25 times. They just seemed like WAY TOO MUCH to me. Too broad a soundstage, also very deep. Just too larger than life. Once I got them home though, YOW! I don’t see myself switching any time soon unless a nice pair of Martin Logan CLX speakers comes available. (again)
The moral of the story is, first, maybe second, sometimes a third listen in a store may not be enough to pick up on what a speaker offers. Some speakers offer things that you might not pick up on if you don’t comprehend their special sound. And some speakers just blow you away instantly, MBL Extremes did that to me. But they take up a lot of space and I would have needed a second Gryphon Apex Amplifier. (and $300K of Stealth cables) When I added the BACCH gear to my system I believe the gap between the Vivid sound and the MBL Extreme sound largely disappeared.
I remember the first time I heard Vivid speakers at a RMAF. To say I was impressed was putting it mildly. To my ears, though, I don’t think the smaller models translate well compared to the bigger. Maybe I just didn’t hear any of the smaller guys with the right setups.
I have upgraded many things on my system. Last week I was interested in a few speakers. When I spoke to the manufacturer, he said that since I have my speakers, my system and lots of optimizations and everything has been fine-tuned over a long period of time, he couldn’t advise me to get new/different speakers unless absolutely necessary. Speakers, amplifiers, cables and the room form a unit. If it sounds satisfactory, and if you change one thing, the whole result can change. Greetings Andreas
And then there is the saga of the Estelon Extremes, a faint memory. Special to my ear, but unrealistic in terms of incorporating them in a typical home.
Having heard the Giya Spirit 1 at AXPONA several years back with a poorly matched amplifier my initial thought was what is all the fuss about. Similar to my audition of the MSB Cascade DAC, poorly partnered with RAIDHO speakers. MEH was my initial reaction. That dealer has now dropped the RAIDHO line, none too fast IMO. Sometimes I do wonder just whom ,or what for that matter, a new product roll-out serves.
These aren’t for everyone but if you have the space and the funds these are fantastic speakers (IMO) and a great deal at $67k (yes sounds ridiculous) but they list for $160k so if I win the lottery they may find a new home.
There is a lot of wisdom here, and the manufacturer is to be commended for not just telling you that his speakers were the greatest thing in the world that you should get right away. I did ask myself once whether some of the changes I’ve made recently, particularly very good speaker cables, would work with new speakers. The PS Audio Aspen speakers might be a good choice since I have so much other PSA gear . . . but no guarantees.
Old speakers does not mean poor sounding or compromized sounding speakers.
I have some 1987 speakers that I “refurbished” and while I was at it , spent about $400 on improving the crossovers… I substituted the electrolytic capacitors w Mundorf capacitors and I could easily tell I got more bass and detailed highs… I do NOT know what Von S speakers do in the crossover department, but since it sounds like aesthetics in your listening room is a priority, and you wanna keep the wood look, you “may” get noticeable improvement by improving the qualiity of parts in your speakers. AND, here is another possibility… since the more modern look of the Aspen line is not acceptable to you, have you considered draping the units such as the FR 20’s w a tapestry material and including an opening for the passive radiators that could be “obscured” w a round black speaker cloth… just thinking out of the “speaker box”…
Thank you for your thoughts. Unfortunately, I do not have the electronics expertise needed to change things like capacitors or crossovers. I have been thinking more about the Aspen speakers. White is totally out, but the black would be less conspicuous although not ideal. And I’m not keen on the design of the bottom half, with the round edges held up by a thin piece of metal. I did actually think about draping them with something, but it just seemed weird.
Obviously “thin“ was not the right word. I have no doubt that the Aspen speakers are well engineered. I was just thinking of the fact that unlike many speakers, the cabinet does not extend all the way to the floor but rests on a single piece of metal. Not my favorite look.
Asthetics are a very personal thing. The Aspen Series’ “floating” base is appealing to me. A positive design and functional feature. Early concepts were “boxy” in nature and, to me, considerably less appealing.
PSA commissioned outside design services for the Aspen speakers. The “out of the box” result shows.
Cudos to them.
