Floorstanding loudspeakers — Vivid MOYA M1

The Vivid Audio Moya M1 is the largest loudspeaker in the Vivid Audio catalogue, designed by Laurence Dickie and hand-built entirely in-house from the company's carbon-reinforced sandwich composite. This five-way system with 13 drivers was created to demonstrate Vivid's finding that extending bass response also improves the perception of the higher frequency bands. Its stack of eight bass drivers defines the look of the speaker.

Key specs that matter

At the top are a D26DLC 26 mm tweeter and a D50DLC 50 mm upper midrange, both alloy domes with a diamond-like coating. Below them work a C100SCu 100 mm carbon-reinforced alloy midrange, two C175-76 175 mm lower midrange units and eight C225-100H 225 mm alloy woofers with 100 mm voice coils. Crossover frequencies are 125 Hz, 550 Hz, 1.7 kHz and 4 kHz. The frequency range extends from 19 Hz to 42 kHz at -6 dB. Sensitivity is 93 dB at 2.83 V/1 m, nominal impedance is 5 ohms with a 2.5 ohm minimum at 40 Hz, and music power handling is 3000 W RMS. One speaker is 1660 mm high, 660 mm wide and 1210 mm deep and weighs 346 kg.

Engineering and use context

Four heavily braced enclosures make up the bass section, each holding two woofers in a horizontally opposed arrangement. A steel tie-bar joins the magnets of every pair, cancelling reaction forces so that the enclosure does not need to be massive, and reaction-cancelling ports keep turbulence down. Each woofer is rated for 800 W. The diamond-like coating goes onto the aluminium domes at a temperature well below their melting point and makes them stiffer, and the D26DLC dome stays free of break-up until above 50 kHz. All drivers above the bass use tapered tube loading to take up the rear wave, the magnet systems are radial, and the midrange units have copper shielding. The cabinet is a balsa-cored, carbon-reinforced sandwich produced by vacuum infusion. The passive crossover is a five-way fourth-order Linkwitz-Riley network built in three sections. Harmonic distortion is lower than -60 dB above 100 Hz. Standard finishes are piano black, pearl white and oyster grey matte, and automotive colours are available on request. A pair weighs more than one tonne when packed for shipping.

Pairing

With its impedance falling low in the bass region, the M1 needs high-current amplifiers or bi-amplified monoblocks, while its high sensitivity keeps the power requirement reasonable. Its depth and mass suit a dedicated listening room.

Alternatives

Vivid Audio's Giya G1 Spirit is the largest Giya model, a four-way floorstander in a much smaller cabinet.