Loudspeakers

You'd expect a speaker the size of the Giya G1 Spirit to have high sensitivity, and that is reinforced by Vivid's 92dB specification. But we recorded a pink noise figure all of 5dB lower at 86.9dB. In part this reflects the fact that Vivid has declined to eek out maximum sensitivity through punishingly low impedance. Although the minimum of 3.1ohm doesn't square well with the 6ohm nominal figure, this occurs at low frequency and, as Vivid claims, where the impedance phase angle is low (we measured just 5.5°). As a result the minimum EPDR (equivalent peak dissipation resistance) of 1.9ohm occurs above the bass range at 261Hz and is higher than that of many high-end speakers, giving the partnering amplifier an easier time.

The forward frequency response, measured at 1m on the axis of the upper tweeter [Graph 1] demonstrates an essentially flat trend to 4kHz, beyond which a gentle rise to a shelf at 14kHz has the effect of increasing the response errors to ±3.0dB and ±2.8dB respectively – but these are good figures which will be further improved by listening a little off-axis. Pair matching over the same 200Hz-20kHz is good at ±0.8dB. Measuring its bass response using the nearfield method was complicated by two factors: the banana-like shape of the reflex ports (which makes it more difficult to determine their area) and the curvaceous cabinet (which makes our diffraction correction less certain). So our measured bass extension of 56Hz (–6dB re. 200Hz) is subject to some uncertainty. More important is that the roll-off below 70Hz is slow and easy to correct with a little boundary gain. Finally, the CSD waterfall [Graph 2] reveals some mild treble resonances. KH

Sensitivity (SPL/1m/2.83Vrms – Mean/IEC/Music): 88.3dB / 86.9dB / 86.5dB
Impedance modulus min/max (20Hz–20kHz): 3.1ohm @ 20Hz / 18.4ohm @ 1.6kHz
Impedance phase min/max (20Hz–20kHz): –11° @ 11.2kHz / 51° @ 457Hz
Pair matching/Response Error (200Hz–20kHz): ±0.8dB / ±3.0dB / ±2.8dB
LF/HF extension (–6dB ref 200Hz/10kHz): 56Hz / >40kHz / 28.1kHz
THD 100Hz/1kHz/10kHz (for 90dB SPL/1m) : 0.2% / 0.2% / 0.1%
Dimensions (HWD): 1600x440x820mm
Price: £64,000-£71,950