First Impression: Vivid Audio B1 Speakers


I'll start by stating that these speakers only have about 50 hours on them, so they're not even close to being broken in but, wow, what a speaker.

If you want to detail and transparency these speaks have them in spades. Depth, soundstage... superb. Put on a good recording and you'll be bowled over.

Sure, the low-end doesn't plunge the depths put they have GREAT bass punch. They definitely like some power but my Cary 211AEs work well.

You'll hear everything with these speakers so good front-end gear is a must.

Speaker placement is a bit tricky and I still don't feel I"m there yet but experimentation is part of the fun.

I'll post more in the coming weeks.
marty97x

Showing 4 responses by marty97x

My room... I have bay windows at the rear, left and right windows on angles. The right wall has built-in shelves. LPs fill up most of the space. The left wall, no shelves. 9' ceiling, 16' L x 12' W... BUT behind my sofa (listening position) I have another open 14'x12' room, so I don't get reflections from the source. Have a large area rug on the floor. It's a fairly dead room.

The speakers are about 1.5' from the back wall. Each about 1.5' from side walls... although because of the shelves on the right side, the "cove" makes it about 2.5'.

I've spent about 10 hours or more finding the right position and still not there. I have a weird room. But definitely try toeing them in more than you might normally. That I have found to be a constant for the best imaging.

At times, I've probably got them 90% "there" and when it's right (or close to it it) it's crazy good. Then I screw it up by trying another position.

Lastly, they require a 4 Ohm load, so hopefully your amp has that output option. They need power... I'm cranking up the volume knob on my pre another 20% than I needed to on my Focal speakers.

Please post your thoughts when you get them.
Sounded excellent out of the box but keeps getting better. My dealer told me 500 break-in time.
I got them in Piano black. Looks great. I already had bi-wire cables. They're listed to go to 40Hz but I haven't measured. I've played some stuff with good bass and sounds fine for me... I've never been a bass freak anyway. I'll try out some electronica. I play mostly rock music... nothing heavy though.