Vivid Audio V1s Loudspeaker

Vivid Audio might be a new name to many people - the company is based in South Africa and was founded back in 2001 - but there's a great deal of audio experience behind the brand. The engineering director used to work for B&W, and engineered the iconic Nautilus speakers. Not a bad thing to have on a speaker designer's Curriculum Vitae, is it? It's fair to say Vivid's V1's are some of the most distinctive-looking speakers on the market. Its a design either you love or hate, but regardless of your feelings, there is a reason behind the design.

The enclosure, made of a composite carbon fiber reinforced polymer, is both rigid and very well damped. It is designed to minimize diffraction, and reduce internal standing waves. The finish is very much like a high end automotive finish, it is of the caliber you would find on an exotic car.

TheV1s's drive units build on the experience gained with B&W's flagship and follow similarprinciples.This is a two-way design with both mid/bass and tweeter using aluminium diaphragms. The larger driver has a carefully honed motor system and an open chassis to let the cone move as freely as possible when subjected to large inputs, such as big dynamic swings at high volume levels.

The midbass driver has a carefully honed motor system and an open chassis to let the cone move as freely as possible when subjected to large inputs, such as big dynamic swings at high volume levels.

The dome tweeter has a tapered tube behind it to absorb rearward radiation. The idea is to prevent the rearward sound from spoiling the purity of the tweeter's output.

Vivid Audio Tech Talk - Read more about what makes Vivid Audio loudspeakers the most advanced and musical designs in the world.

Specifications

Configuration				2 way vented cabinet
Cabinet material				Complex loaded carbon fibre filled polymer
Finish				High gloss automotive
Drive units				26mm metal dome hf unit
				158mm metal coned lf unit (two pairs coupled)
Sensitivity				89dB/1w @1m
Nominal Impedance (Ω)				4
Frequency range (hz)				-6dB points 42 - 42,000
Frequency response (hz)				45 - 39,000 +/- 2dB on reference axis
Harmonic distortion (2nd and 3 rd harmonics)				< .0.5% over frequency range
Cross over frequency (hz)				3000
Power handling (music program) watts rms				150
Loudspeaker dimensions (H, W, D cabinet, D base) mm				25, 10, 7.7
Net mass (kg)				17
Shipping dimensions (H, W, D) mm				55.9, 17.7 22
Shipping mass (kg)				100 lb per pair