Напольная акустика — Vivid GIYA G3

The Vivid Audio GIYA G3 is a four-way floorstanding loudspeaker with five drivers, designed to bring the GIYA approach into rooms of ordinary domestic size. Its enclosure holds just over a quarter of the volume of the GIYA G1. It has since been moved to the legacy catalogue, and the GIYA G3 Series 2 evolved from it.

Key specs that matter

Crossover points are 220 Hz, 880 Hz and 3.5 kHz. Response is 36 Hz to 33 kHz within 2 dB on the reference axis, and the usable range reaches 33 Hz to 36 kHz at -6 dB. Sensitivity is 87 dB at 2.83 V RMS and 1 m on axis. Impedance is 6 ohms nominal with a 4 ohm minimum and low reactance. Power handling is rated at 800 W RMS. The speaker stands 1161 mm high, 341 mm wide and 578 mm deep, and weighs 41 kg net. Vivid describes the enclosure material as a polymer filled with carbon fibre and complex loaded.

Engineering and use context

Treble comes from the D26, a 26 mm metal dome whose first breakup mode lies at 44 kHz, and the midrange from the D50, a 50 mm metal dome. Both use a catenary dome profile, a radially polarised magnet, tapered tube loading and an isolating compliant mount. The lower midrange is a single 125 mm C125S unit, also tube loaded, whose motor pairs a short coil with a long gap and a 50 mm CCA ribbon voice coil on a highly vented former, and it is built on a highly aligned chassis and a radial magnet. Bass is handled by two 135 mm C135 metal cone drivers with the same short-coil long-gap principle, 75 mm copper ribbon coils on vented formers and radial magnets, fitted on reaction-cancelling compliant mounts.

Vivid designer Laurence Dickie first used tapered tube absorbers in the Nautilus to remove resonances and reflections inside driver enclosures. In the GIYA series the technique is applied to all four driver subsystems, including the bass, and the tapered bass enclosure coils around to form the curved top of the cabinet. The patented bass loading pairs this exponentially tapered absorber tube with two reaction-cancelling, critically tuned vents, combining low internal resonance with the efficiency and moderate size of a reflex design.

Pairing

A low minimum impedance with low reactance poses no special difficulty for a competent transistor amplifier, while the moderate sensitivity and the high power rating reward one with generous output into low loads.

Alternatives

The GIYA G4 is the most compact GIYA, keeping the four-way, five-driver layout at 1021 mm tall with 125 mm bass units.