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Old 06-01-2013, 01:25 AM
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Briz Vegaas Briz Vegaas is offline
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Default Vivid audio - partnering gear

I had forgotten this manufacturers thread was hidden down the bottom here.

So fellas, ( i think i can say that safely) what partnering gear do you use and how does it work for you.

I ask because I have heard G3 and B1 on Luxman, K1 on Audio Research tubes and G3 on Devialet ( which on the day didn't work for me or others)

At home my B1s started with the 300 watt into 4 ohm CJ CA200 (preamped with a CT5 instead of its more natural passive pre stage), and now use CT5 and LP70s which has 70 tube watts. I am the Nordost tweak king so the system is fairly well pimped out with Valhalla in most places. Source is Naim DAC with lots of effort expended in feeding it well. I had the solid state for about 5 months before borrowing the tube amp, more by accident than anything, and preferring the sound, particularly at lower volume levels. It was just better balanced.

The setup at home has never sounded remotely like the B1s on Luxman solid state gear in the shop or the K1s on Audio Research tubes. The Luxman was very hifi sounding, where as at home I get a much more solid presentation, particularly on the all important vocals. Fortunately I like this presentation so no complaints. I have been pleasantly surprised with the bass on the B1s with tubes. While it lacks the ultimate grip of the solid state it's still very satisfying and punchy enough when required for poppy stuff like Austra or Fever Ray. I certainly don't feel the system needs any bass augmentation, although I do have bass traps.

I am particularly interested to hear if folks have tried different amps at home and what worked best. It's all subjective of course, but interesting none the less.
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Old 06-01-2013, 05:35 AM
Cellindo Cellindo is offline
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BMC amps work pretty well with VIVID speakers. It is a common association here in France or Germany/Switzerland.
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Old 06-01-2013, 10:15 AM
Lee3 Lee3 is offline
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I've been delighted with my krell cast/nordost system below for a few pairs of speakers though admittedly don't swap gear remotely like i did 10-15 years ago. I do a lot of listening at polite volumes (though not nearly polite enough for my better half) and have found that krell hits me where it counts at lower volume levels. I have a tube based system for analog downstairs that is nowhere near as engaging but satisfies my nostalgia from time to time. I should note that I haven't tried my g2s with tubes yet though have heard others on audio research that were delightful.

Admittedly, i was never particularly successful or satisfied when matching different brands' components as my ears wandered towards trying to tweak/improve the sound as opposed to just listening. ~10 years ago or so i saluted the mentality of utilizing the same brand from source through amps and have been more satisfied since.

Last edited by Lee3; 06-01-2013 at 10:48 AM.
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Old 06-01-2013, 09:57 PM
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Briz Vegaas Briz Vegaas is offline
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Oh, they make amps as well :-)



I agree that it's easier to get amplification right if you go with one brand. I tried the matching Conrad Johnson DAC recently, and while it was fine I liked what I have more.

Oddly, its the seemingly poor recordings that often benefit most from good synergy. Robert Johnson and Jimmy Hendrix are compulsory listening if you like the blues. On my old 804s (to be fair this was before I got the rest of the system sorted) both were thin, harsh and virtually unlistenable. Now I'm happy to put them on any time and for anyone that is a blues fan because they sound so good, I mean right there good. You feel you are on first name terms with the guy who sold his soul to the devil down the crossroads back in the 1930s.


I find moving to tubes has done wonders for vocals and for overdriven guitar tone ( eg Hendrix! amongst many others) to die for. Stereophile said the B1 might be tipped up in the highs by valve amps, I guess it depends on the valve amp, 70 watts vs 7 watts could produce quite different results.

Possibly the amp is the most critical element when talking bout leakers but its amazing the journey you can go on when you have revealing speakers. I stream from a MacBook and adding a SSD made a significant improvement. In fact i think you need to be careful with every component and the room if you want to unlock the potential of high end speakers. For example, the Weiss interface and MacBook come with wall wart supplies. Can't wait (well its a loooong wait so I will have to be figurative here) for my linear shunt power supply to arrive from the Outer Hebrides. The B1s are sounding excellent but I know there is more potential that can be unlocked with a proper power supply.
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Old 06-02-2013, 06:37 PM
ChrisG ChrisG is offline
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Until recently, I was using Parasound products (JC1 monoblocks and JC2 BP preamp) with the B1s with great success. After moving my amps into the listening room so I could use long interconnects and short speaker cables, SWMBO said that I had to do something about the amps "look", so despite my signature, I'm currently transitioning my electronics to all Linn for 2-channel listening.

So the JC2 is out of the system now and I'm still using the JC1 monoblocks until my Linn amps arrive. I've only had the KK in the system for about a week and it is starting to open up...PRaT is much better with this preamp than with the JC2 (it better be for the price difference!). So, at this point, I can say that it appears the B1s like solid state products from Parasound and Linn.

Speaker cables are Transparent Reference MM2s and interconnects are Transparent Ultra MM2s.
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Old 06-03-2013, 02:32 PM
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Heard Vivid Audio with: ARC, Classe, Ayre, Belles, Chapter Audio, and Burmester.
Mostly with great results.
I think Vivids aren't very difficult speakers to drive, and go together well with a lot of amp brands, but they reveal any shortcomings in the chain!
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Old 06-03-2013, 03:21 PM
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I'm driving my G3 with Ayre. The system sounds great to me. Don't know if it would sound better or worse with different electronics.
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Last edited by Portugal; 06-03-2013 at 03:29 PM.
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Old 06-03-2013, 03:30 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cellindo View Post
BMC amps work pretty well with VIVID speakers. It is a common association here in France or Germany/Switzerland.
Don't know much about BMC. In fact it's the first time I've heard of them. What's their reputation?
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Old 06-03-2013, 05:05 PM
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Briz Vegaas Briz Vegaas is offline
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Macho I think



At least that's what I have read, big power supplies that's for sure.


Last edited by Briz Vegaas; 06-03-2013 at 05:07 PM.
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  #10  
Old 06-05-2013, 03:53 AM
oros oros is offline
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Have heard G1's on big Halcros with DCS and Continum Audio labs front end's when the first production ones were out.

Flippen Magic, Also had a long chat with Lawrence Dickie. Great guy gave us a run down on his design ideas and how they got production going on these amazing speakers.

Have known Philip Guttentag for years used to by from him when he as stii in retail here in Johannesburg a real gent.

Have heard B1's on localaly made Valve Audio amps they work well. Lot of guys here use Valve Audio with Vivid's.
Have also heard them on a Vincent amp also sound very good.

Can agree they are not a difficult drive just got to get it right as always.
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