Vivid Audio Giya G2 S2 review

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I'm a seldom contributor but often reader of AAF and thought I'd post my impressions of a pair of Giyas I recently purchased.

A bit about me: I'm a long time audiophile with some 30+ years on and off purchasing swapping and enjoying equipment (I started young). Since moving from New York to Austin, TX about 20 years ago I've reignited the audiophile in me listening to great music that hopefully sonically sounds great. Since in TX I went from Carver AL IIIs to ML SL3s, a short stint with Thiel CS3.6s to ML Summits to Usher BE20Ds and now to the Vivids G2s.

On to the star of the show: After listening to many speakers at RMAF, in audio stores and fellow Aphiles' homes I narrowed down my search to 4 speakers: TAD CR1s, Vandersteen 7s, Magico S5 Mk IIs and EA MM2s. While at the Dallas EA dealer he also had a pair of Vivid Giya G1s driven by a Gryphon Coliseum stereo amp in a well - treated room similar to my own and I was smitten. This was my kind of sound - dynamic, effortless regardless of volume, realistic (not overly warm or sterile - just right) and accurate. Some four months later I purchased a pair of what I'd call "reconditioned" Giya G2s from Six Audio, the home base for Vivid in England. The speakers were a demo pair with some serious scratches and we struck a deal to have them repainted (color of my choice) with upgraded Series 2 tweeters and mid - tweets installed. After some break - in I am thrilled with the sound.

Devil in details: After reading via forums, contacting reviewers and correspondence with Vivid versus my hands - on experience, listening, measuring and adjusting / tweaking below are a few areas where I hope I can add some good advice:

- Take the grills off for the best experience. I've read that it doesn't make a difference - it does, spacial cues are more solid, overall imaging is better solidified and less amorphous.

- Raising the speakers off the ground is as important as toe - in/out and placement. IME the best height for my sweet spot chair and room is where the front 3 drivers' height very closely matches the height of the G1 Spirit. For me, the speakers can be a bit tipped up in the highs when on the floor and more so with any toe - in. How much is my upstream equipment, is TBD. Either way the benefit to the sound stage and ability to relay a "wall of sound" is better raised ~4". Makes sense since Laurence Dickie had stated the G1 tweeter was a bit too high for most listening chairs' height and he accordingly adjusted the G1 Spirit tweeter and front driver array lower. I listened and measured before finding this fact and ended up ~1" from the G1 Spirit driver array height. Bueno!

- Treatment matters - much more so with the Vivids. My assumption is that given the catenary shape of the smaller drivers + overall design the off - axis output is huge, much more than with other speakers I have heard and owned. First and second reflection points are key to get the most out of the Vivids. I recommend absorption unless your room is large enough to benefit from diffusion.

- Bass sensitivity to placement: With side firing woofers you now have 4 sources in 4 different locations dispersing bass into a room. Good news is - it definitely helps with evening out bass across low frequencies, the bad news is - highly sensitive to placement. In my case I was able to recover ~5 DB from a 60Hz dip in my room versus the Ushers' front - firing woofers.

That's it for now. My next step is to fine tune and work to procure better amplification like Luxman M800 or M900 monoblocks. I hope this helps any new owners or current owners of Vivids. Happy Listening!