A visit to Philip O'Hanlon and the Vivid G1 loudspeaker

[DaveyF]

Philip, I guess you are NOT listening as loud as I know the G1's can go. How do I know this, well the glasses behind the speakers would be chiming in nicely...OR they would have rattled off the shelf a long time ago, LOL. I can see you aren't too concerned about ceiling slap either....

 

[marty]

I can see you aren't too concerned about ceiling slap either....

By the time any reflection comes back from that ceiling, you are already listening to the next song, so it really doesn't matter

 

[Philip O Hanlon]

Philip please indulge me and post a photo of the bottles on your bar

Would love to oblige, but currnently I'm unable to upload photos until Imran updates my account - sorry.

 

[Philip O Hanlon]

Philip, I guess you are NOT listening as loud as I know the G1's can go. How do I know this, well the glasses behind the speakers would be chiming in nicely...OR they would have rattled off the shelf a long time ago, LOL. I can see you aren't too concerned about ceiling slap either....

You are not too far wrong; in 2008, while we were breaking in the first pair of Giya G1 (silver) we turned the music up & went out shopping. When we returned a whole bunch of champagne flutes had waltzed off the shelves & smashed themselves into shards.


When you get a chance wander over to Sonic Flare, they have a fun write-up of the G1 debut during CES 2008; the Luxman B-1000f helped us destroy four woofers of the G1 prototype. I was hell bent on destroying the speakers as I knew the customers would do it, if they weren't designed with high SPLs in mind. The speakers generate so little distortion that you only notice the impact on your surroundings when playing Yello's Planet Dada from "Touch" - some of the canned lights in the ceiling fell out. Read all about it, scroll down a little - http://www.sonicflare.com/archives/vegas-08.php Happy Days !

 

[Steve williams]

By the time any reflection comes back from that ceiling, you are already listening to the next song, so it really doesn't matter

I told Philip that each end of the house is in a different area code for phone service

 

[FrantzM]

Hi

A good audiophile friend has been on my case to listen the Giyas and just get over their looks. In his opinion (we have very similar preferences when it comes to Audio) one of the best speakers on the planet is the Giya G2, regardless of price. I am getting slooooowly to a serious speaker-based system and will audition these but ... One has to admit: They are over the top different-looking speakers so much that in my mind the only word that comes is : U-G-L-Y. Perhaps their sound will sway me.

On this, I do not listen loud but welcome the ability ina speaker to be able to play loud with low level of audible distortions. This ability usually translates in better retrieval of details and ambiance cues. Low distortion in speakers in the next frontier , very few speakers and that even for many celebrate brands and designs do not achieve this goal.
I am definitely looking forward to hear these speakers.


P.S and completely O.T. I haven't heard from microstrip for a while . Is he OK?

 

[Diapason]

Just goes to show that beauty truly is in the eye of the beer-holder: I think they look absolutely amazing! Sadly, I'm unlikely to ever have the means to purchase, nor the space to house them, but if I did.............

 

[Philip O Hanlon]

Hi

A good audiophile friend has been on my case to listen the Giyas and just get over their looks. In his opinion (we have very similar preferences when it comes to Audio) one of the best speakers on the planet is the Giya G2, regardless of price. I am getting slooooowly to a serious speaker-based system and will audition these but ... One has to admit: They are over the top different-looking speakers so much that in my mind the only word that comes is : U-G-L-Y. Perhaps their sound will sway me.

P.S and completely O.T. I haven't heard from microstrip for a while . Is he OK?

On this, I do not listen loud but welcome the ability ina speaker to be able to play loud with low level of audible distortions. This ability usually translates in better retrieval of details and ambiance cues. Low distortion in speakers in the next frontier , very few speakers and that even for many celebrate brands and designs do not achieve this goal.
I am definitely looking forward to hear these speakers.

Frantz,

While beauty is certainly in the eye of the beholder. Even the museums are coming around describing the design as "museum worthy". But the Giya's audiophile credentials are superb:
1. Phase coherent
2. Low distortion
3. As fast as horn systems
4. 98dB tweeters playing in a 89dB system, means the tweeters have 9dB of headroom = high SPLs, effortlessly.
5. Three dimensional soundstage, life size

I would certainly encourage you to audition the G2 & bring of your favourite music along. Bring a diverse selection, as the Giyas will play all kinds of music without editorializing. Be great to hear them on two different sets of electronics as the speakers themselves are quite neutral. Let us know how you get on. Thanks, Philip O'Hanlon

 

[Al M.]

Just goes to show that beauty truly is in the eye of the beer-holder: I think they look absolutely amazing! Sadly, I'm unlikely to ever have the means to purchase, nor the space to house them, but if I did.............

I also think they look beautiful!

Yet like you I will not have the means to purchase, nor do I have a large enough room to accommodate them. I actively work on upgrading my acoustics, and plan to upgrade the source and power conditioning some time in the next few years, and will likely leave it at that. I am actually quite happy with what I have at present.

 

[Diapason]

I am actually quite happy with what I have at present.

Heh, I couldn't say the same, but that's a story for a different thread.

 

[Al M.]

Heh, I couldn't say the same, but that's a story for a different thread.

Regrettably it seems many audiophiles share your sentiment. Why don't you start that thread? I'd really be interested since you appear to have superb components.

 

[Philip O Hanlon]

I also think they look beautiful!

Yet like you I will not have the means to purchase, nor do I have a large enough room to accommodate them. I actively work on upgrading my acoustics, and plan to upgrade the source and power conditioning some time in the next few years, and will likely leave it at that. I am actually quite happy with what I have at present.

"nor do I have a large enough room to accommodate them" - the interesting thing about Laurence Dickie's design is that he has managed to scale it across four models, so there is a Giya for pretty much every listening space. The smallest Giya - G4 is a mere 39.5" high (1 meter), primarily designed for the Japanese market. Our best selling Giya is the G3, a diminutive 45" tall. It is taller when you mount it on a granite block of course, but certainly gives it the museum look. The pearl white G3 in the photo are in Pete Roth's office - he writes for SoundStage by night and is a successful lawyer by day.

 

[Al M.]

"nor do I have a large enough room to accommodate them" - the interesting thing about Laurence Dickie's design is that he has managed to scale it across four models, so there is a Giya for pretty much every listening space. The smallest Giya - G4 is a mere 39.5" high (1 meter), primarily designed for the Japanese market. Our best selling Giya is the G3, a diminutive 45" tall. It is taller when you mount it on a granite block of course, but certainly gives it the museum look. The pearl white G3 in the photo are in Pete Roth's office - he writes for SoundStage by night and is a successful lawyer by day.

Wow, that G3 looks awesome!

 

[Steve williams]

I love the pearl white color and quite honestly I have no problem with the look of the speaker.

I always felt that they were patterned after the look of the Diva in The Fifth Element





Vivid G1 with designer Laurence Dickie

 

[MadFloyd]

Truly gorgeous speakers. What's the MSRP on the various models?

 

[spiritofmusic]

I'm still not sold on the design, but it looks a whole lot better in that white satin finish. Takes some of the bulbousness out of the form that darker colors seem to accentuate.
Is the G1 a speaker that can be reasonably driven by 75W/ch 211 SETs?

 

[Steve williams]

IIRC the G1's have an MSRP of $68K.

They can give most any speaker in magnitudes of cost higher a run for their money.

 

[mauidan]

I'm still not sold on the design, but it looks a whole lot better in that white satin finish. Takes some of the bulbousness out of the form that darker colors seem to accentuate.
Is the G1 a speaker that can be reasonably driven by 75W/ch 211 SETs?

From JA's measurement: http://www.stereophile.com/content/vivid-audio-g1giya-loudspeaker-measurements

"I estimated the G1Giya's voltage sensitivity as 88dB(B)/2.83V/m, which is 3dB lower than the specified 91dB. The G1 is specified as having a 6 ohm nominal impedance, with a minimum value of 4 ohms. Fig.1 shows that the minimum impedance magnitude is a little lower than specified, at 3.27 ohms at 20Hz and 3.35 ohms at 60Hz, though the electrical phase angle tends to be large only when the impedance is also high, thus mitigating its effect. While there is a fairly demanding combination of 5 ohms and –42° at 15Hz, there will be no musical energy in this region to lead to drive problems. The impedance remains above 8 ohms throughout the midrange and above 12 ohms in the treble, which might make the G1Giya sound a little uptilted when driven by a tube amplifier having a typically high source impedance."

 

[spiritofmusic]

Thanx Dan, v.helpful.

 

[Philip O Hanlon]

Truly gorgeous speakers. What's the MSRP on the various models?

G2, G3 & G4
The G4 @ US$33.5k, G3 @ $40k, G2 @ $50k and the G1 @ $68k. There is also the Oval series: V1 wall or desktop model @ $7k, V1.5 (floorstanding) @ $8k, B1 @ $17k, K1 @ $26k. There are a couple of center channels as well.
All the speakers use the same tweeters, and a 6" woofer, which is used in some models as a lower midrange and in others as an actual woofer, though there are motor differences between the two - they look identical. The Giyas are made from a cabinet that is a stressed skin composite sandwich, quadraxial glass skins with a balsa wood core, shaped in a mold with vacuum infusion of resin & fiber. The advantage of the light & super stiff cabinet is that the resonance node of the cabinet itself is quite high and far out of band as possible. The oval series are made from a plastic cement, similar to what another high end loudspeaker manufacturer uses. Both series make use of the matrix bracing front to back and side to side, that Laurence Dickie developed while he was at B&W during the previous century.