YG Acoustics Announces Sonja XV Loudspeaker

[caesar]

A write-up by Paul Bolin of Audio Beat on the new YG: He goes "Valin" on it! And like "Sterile Jon", Bolin is a very good writer.

http://www.theaudiobeat.com/visits/yg_acoustics_sonja_xv.htm

Has anyone here heard it? Is it this good (considering you have same taste as Bolin)? Or did they slip something in his meal or drink?

 

[KeithR]

I heard them at the factory tour during RMAF - stunning. Even though I'm not a particular fan of the amps, they sounded fantastic. Can only imagine what Dartzeel monos would sound like on them.

 

[asiufy]

Really, I haven't see/read anything like Valin's prose on that report...

Yes, it is that good. I've heard it in that same room, and it was indeed stunning, and folks who heard them at the factory also left with the same impression.

Dig up all the assorted audiophile press, they all reported on the Sonja XV, either at GTT or at the factory. You will see that the reports were fairly unanimous that it was the best thing they've ever heard, sometimes by a large margin.

 

[RandyinMpls]

Really, I haven't see/read anything like Valin's prose on that report...

You have to (really, really) step up your parentheses game to play on Valin's court.

 

[caesar]

Really, I haven't see/read anything like Valin's prose on that report...

Yes, it is that good. I've heard it in that same room, and it was indeed stunning, and folks who heard them at the factory also left with the same impression.

Dig up all the assorted audiophile press, they all reported on the Sonja XV, either at GTT or at the factory. You will see that the reports were fairly unanimous that it was the best thing they've ever heard, sometimes by a large margin.

I am not talking about the prose. As a writer, "Sterile" Jon Valin is a Giant walking among the liliputians. It's just too bad for us, fans, that he has analytical tastes, which limits the gear he selects to review...

But I am talking about the orgasm

As a thought experiment, I always wondered how the fortunes of YG and Magico would have been different if Valin was the marketing rep for YG instead of magico...And although Bolin doesn't have the same style as Valin, he is an excellent writer.

If you have links to other writers writing great stuff or going wild, please share.

Also, do you know if the YG factory has built a custom room like Magico has? How big and how good is the room at the factory?

 

[asiufy]

YG has a listening room at the factory. I haven't been to Magico's factory/room, but the YG one is fairly big, with high ceilings. I know they've worked extensively at that room since I've been there, so I couldn't possibly comment how it's sounding right now, but it was already pretty spectacular when I went there a few years ago.

I think a few people from the forums went to the YG factory during RMAF, including Myles and Keith, so maybe they'll have a more up-to-date description/impression of their room.

As for the Sonja XV, here are two more reports:

Greg Weaver for TAS: http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/yg-acoustics-sonja-xv/
"The YG Acoustics Sonja XV sets a new standard in my thirty-plus years of experience, one that still has me reeling as to how clearly and effectively it has accomplished its goals. My hat is off in recognition of a simply superb effort by Yoav Geva and the YG Acoustics team. Regardless of your ability to afford such a product, should you find yourself in a position to hear them, you owe it to yourself to hear a product that truly represents today’s state of the art."

Chris Martens for Hi-Fi+: http://www.hifiplus.com/articles/first-listen-yg-acoustics-flagship-sonja-xv-four-tower-loudspeaker/
Long and very comprehensive report!

 

[tobiasrankin]

Any further thoughts on the Sonja XV? Sorry for bring back the thread from the ether. With magico announcing the m9 I just started thinking of the XV as potential competition.

 

[chuck]

https://soundstageultra.com/index.p...he-pursuit-of-hi-fi-are-two-different-hobbies

As luxury audio, the XV is pretty much overwhelmed by the M9. Judged as hi fidelity audio, the XV is one of the main competitors.

 

[Ron Resnick]

I don't know about that. Four column loudspeakers is my kind of audio luxury.

I certainly agree with your implication that just because something is more expensive than something else does not mean we should assume that the former sounds better than the latter.

 

[cannata]

I don't know about that. Four column loudspeakers is my kind of audio luxury.

Didn't you just declare the XVX (2 columns), the best box speakers you ever heard?
FYI, 4X15" = ~10X10", the XV will need 2 more columns to match that

 

[Ron Resnick]

Didn't you just declare the XVX (2 columns), the best box speakers you ever heard?

. . .

Hmmm . . . no. I wrote that if I had to buy box speakers I would buy the XVX + Master Subsonics. With this I take it as a given that Subsonics would be part of the package, especially in a large room. (I would add subwoofers to literally everything except Evolution Acoustics MM7s.)

Without intending to be coy, I feel more comfortable writing "if I had to buy for myself" than writing "the XVX is the best box speaker I've ever heard," since I cannot hear the Von Schweikert Audio Ultra 11 and the Evolution Acoustics MM7 and the Rockport Arrakis and the YG XV in the same room in the same system. So it just does not make any sense to declare, and it is analytically defective to declare, that the XVX is the best speaker I have ever heard.

So, if I am picking this apart, I would say that my view that if I had to buy a box speaker I would buy the XVX + Subsonics is a combination of what I heard from the XVX, what I vaguely remember from hearing these other other speakers in other systems, and my slight prejudice against ceramic drivers which I would be worried I might find uncomfortable over a long period of time. (I would worry the same about beryllium drivers and about diamond encrusted drivers.)

PS: Thank you for making me examine my statement more critically. I will copy and paste some of this reply to my XVX impressions post.

 

[cannata]

My point was your preferences to 4 vs 2 columns, which I was not following. I didn't consider the subs to be part of the speakers, you can always add these .

 

[chuck]

I thought of the XV watching the movie Ford vs. Ferrari. "Old man Ferrari spent all his money chasing perfection and you know what, he got there but now he is broke." Is that what Yoav Geva did?

Just speculation, but Yoav Geva sold the company not long after spending two years developing the XV. It was released to great acclaim but maybe not great sales.

Wilson hasn't released a speaker designed as a four tower speaker in decades -- a speaker that only works as four towers, like the XV. Neither has Magico, the new M9 is a two tower speaker. Maybe their market research shows that most luxury audio customers do not want four towers, that a commercially successful flagship speaker has to work as a two tower design even if a four tower design is the best sounding.

 

[Ron Resnick]

While the XVX certainly can be played without the Master Subsonics, if you're paying that much for the XVX -- and you have the space -- it makes no sense not to consider it to be a four tower system.

 

[KeithR]

pretty easy to make the argument that few, if any, 4-tower speakers have been successfully maintained on the market in real quantities.

the line array guys: Infinity (gone), Genesis (gone and now basically one-off only), Alon/Nola (gone, basically gone), Pipedreams (gone), Scaena (basically gone). I don't recall any of the big dynamic driver manufacturers (B&W, Focal, Dynaudio, etc.) even making a system like these.

it's hard to sell people on the room real estate required for these systems not to mention the integration difficulties. Ron's a panel guy so used to requiring more bass - but I struggle to understand why dynamic driver systems that cost as much as a Ferrari need towers of subs for best execution.

fyi- I heard Steve Williams old X2s w/ Wilson sub towers and, when asked, thought they sounded better without. i believe he actually didn't use them for 2 channel sound at some point. we also did something similar with his JL Audios in his new room.

 

[Mdp632]

The Sonja XV price to performance ratio is off the charts .

Surely, a matter of taste and personal preference. All things considered and system synergy playing a big part as what one is subjectively "better"

However, YG's Dual Coherent crossover is most likely the reason that this 4 tower monster sounds so cohesive and disappears in the room.

I heard it once powered by 4 Audionet Heisenberg mono blocks.

A transcendent audio experience for sure.

 

[KeithR]

Yeah, I heard them on amps I don’t even like and was pretty wow’d.

 

[tobiasrankin]

I've seen them only through youtube they looks truly incredible. I wonder how they would do against even more pricey competition. What other TOTLs are there in the dynamic space?

Gryphon Kodo
Tidal La Assoluta
Magico m9
Focal grand utopia
Wilson WAMM
Marten Supreme 2
Goebel Divin Majestic
stenheim reference statement
T+A Solitaire CWT 2000
Kharma Veyron 1
Nola Grand reference VI Gold
Kef Muon

 

[Ron Resnick]

Also Evolution Acoustics MM7 and Rockport Arrakis and Von Schweikert Audio Ultra 11. And Verity Audio Monsalvat.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

it's hard to sell people on the room real estate required for these systems not to mention the integration difficulties. Ron's a panel guy so used to requiring more bass - but I struggle to understand why dynamic driver systems that cost as much as a Ferrari need towers of subs for best execution.

don't need Ferrari money, just Turbo Porsche.

but there is no replacement for displacement......of air that is.

in a purpose built room twin tower cones fit fine, and offer driver surface in the mid bass 'almost' any single cone tower can only dream about. and if that twin tower is fully integrated then it can be fully coherent.......and go deeper than any music recorded might go.

the word is effortless. it's why you go to the trouble.