From B&W to Vivid Giya

[Briz Vegaas]

Trimira in Brisbane Australia. I have visited a home of a friend where the G3 was visiting. Dealers will make sure ( to their satisfaction) you are a serious buyer before allowing a home demo. Its a serious undertaking, but so is a pair of $40,000 speakers.

They will want to avoid the tyre kickers, and there are lots of those in the audio community.

[BillK]

Originally Posted by ariess

Ok, who was your dealer? Which Giyas did you home demo?

My dealer says "nobody ever home demos Giyas" so I wanted to see if there were other experiences out there.

My dealer is/was Tweek Geek in Golden, CO. I home demoed G3s and G2s.

Certainly Music Lovers in Berkeley, CA also does home demos of Giyas, as there's no speaker I would ever purchase without a home demo, whether Vivids, Magicos, Wilson or any other high end speaker; there are just too many variables between a dealer showroom and your own home.

Note that some dealers will charge a fee for a demo simply to offset their time in delivering, installing and retrieving a speaker system weighing as much as speakers do at this level, not to mention at least an hour or two of setup time in your home (particularly for Wilsons.)

[Art Vandelay]

Originally Posted by bmwmcab

The B1's are already top to bottom better than the 802N's. The Giya's would be "overkill".

If I was upgrading from 802 Diamonds I would definitely opt for the G2 or G3's.

The B1's are good but not outstanding enough IMHO as an upgrade path for a 802 diamond owner.

The other point is that they're a very different sounding breed of speaker, so potential buyers would need to be happy to embrace a more 'clinically' accurate tonal balance.

And finally, with B&W releasing a new series 800 later in the year I would be inclined to hold off trading my diamonds until I'd heard the replacements.

There are other options too such as the latest Kef - Blade 2.

[Briz Vegaas]

I have heard the Kef Blade series one and the Magico Q5. Both were sounding very very nice at dealers in Singapore. Both were running on very different equipment. It was the Q5 that nailed it playing Sofie Mutter's Violin off a Vinyl LP. The Kef was demoed with rock music from a digital source which is a very different proposition.

Ideally you listen to all three brands before deciding, but i don't think you can go far wrong provided your amp can happily drive the speaker load.. For the perfectionist a home demo is definitely necessary before making a final decision.

[Art Vandelay]

I spent some time listening to the G2's yesterday at a friend's place.

A great speaker no doubt; Excellent imaging, tonal accuracy, transparency etc.

There was one caveat though. Perhaps it was the electronics driving them but there as no magic or 'wow' factor.

[bart]

Art, I think you are exactly right, no 'wow' factor.

That is what some people are looking for: reproduction of the sound as it is. Nothing more, nothing less. Pureness.
I don't want a saxophone sound bigger than it is, or a voice.

I've heard a lot of speakers that at first sound spectacular, but after a while, you realize: this is not how it would sound in reality.

When I first heard the G1s and the G2s, I thought: Oh... that's it? That's nothing extraordinary?!
After 2 hours, I knew: Yes! That's it. It is like it is in the concert hall (or nearly so).

[Vico26]

Yeah, Bart was faster than me, and he is completely right. This is exactly how it works with Giya.

When I showed my speakers to my brother, he said it sounds right and could not add anything else. He could not describe anything as extraordinary. But you should have seen his face, guys. Smile from ear to ear, but of course, no wow factor... BTW the biggest wow factor was when we first heard Q Acoustics 5.1 setup in my 5 years ago, hehe.

As for me, first I did not find anything extra in listening to them neither. But the devil is in the detail. When you realise that the piano finally sounds as piano and not a synthetizer or piano made of glass. Or when you can totally clearly hear the ambient where the recording was taken - studio, hall, live. I could not hear that so clearly on my 5k USD cans setup neither.
And let me tell you one more comparison, before Giyas I had Olympicas III and my cans setup was miles better in all aspects. So I was using my headphones everyday. Unfortunately now, I dont even bother listening through cans...

[Down Under]

Originally Posted by Art Vandelay

I spent some time listening to the G2's yesterday at a friend's place.

A great speaker no doubt; Excellent imaging, tonal accuracy, transparency etc.

There was one caveat though. Perhaps it was the electronics driving them but there as no magic or 'wow' factor.

Out of curiosity could you tell us about the electronics briefly.

[Art Vandelay]

Originally Posted by Down Under

Out of curiosity could you tell us about the electronics briefly.

Driven by Gryphon amps / preamps but not the latest models, and the source was a Bricasti M1.

Points taken from bart and vico26. I felt the same when listening, that sheer accuracy was at the expense of excitement and goose bumps etc, but at the same time I wasn't "seduced" to the same extent as I've been with other great speakers.

Anyway, I'll get to hear them again soon driven by the latest Gryphon amps and Pandora preamp and in a different environment, so I'll reserve final judgement until then. I'll also be able to compare directly with a pair of Revel Salon Ultima 2's, which are a nice reference.

My feeling is that they need / deserve the very best front end and amplification, and to be working within as ideal a listening room as possible.

I'm hoping to be seduced and not just highly impressed.

[Douglas]

Totally agree with Bart and Vico26. My current speakers have even less WOW factor then the amazing Vivids.

There are very few speakers with the power handling, bass quality and dynamic ability of Vivid speakers. These speakers dont change character when you play them loud, and I mean very loud, with clean punchy bass. In that respect they have plenty of Wow factor, yet sounding utterly musical at normal listening levels.