Severely Damaged (WTF?)
Upon opening the package, which had been shipped from South Africa, we found that one of the two replacement drive-units had been severely damaged. Crikey!
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Transmission Line System
The Vivid G1Giya’s midrange drive-unit is connected to a tapered tube transmission line, which runs the depth of the speaker and attaches at the speaker’s rear via a long hex screw.
Tapered Tube Loading
The Vivid G1Giya, designed by Laurence Dickie, incorporates the “tapered tube loading” concept originally developed for the B&W Nautilus. Inside the tapered transmission line are several strands of damping fiber.
In the Kitchen
In the kitchen, we sat down and took a couple of deep breaths before moving on to the next few steps of the process, which I imagined would be infinitely more dangerous. We set down the damaged drive-unit (seen here) and got to work on its replacement.
The Replacement
We very carefully unpacked the replacement drive-unit (seen here) and connected it to the tapered tube transmission line. <i>Without</i> damaging the new dome. Yikes!
Inside the Giya
With the Vivid G1Giya’s midrange unit removed, we can see a bit of the speaker cabinet’s internal structure.
Itsy-Bitsy Little Hole
See that itsy-bitsy little hole way at the back of the speaker? Properly installing the replacement drive-unit meant lining up that itsy-bitsy little hole with the tapered end of the transmission line and locking it in place with a hex screw. So easy, a caveman could do it.
As Good As...
After several failed attempts, some sweating, and a bit of cursing, we were able to lock the replacement drive-unit into the Giya cabinet. Success! And then we realized we’d forgotten an O-ring…
Careful Measurements
John Atkinson measures the distance from his microphone to the Giya’s midrange drive-unit. For a larger view, visit <a href="http://forum.stereophile.com/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/2218/passwor… Gallery</a>.
Under the Hood
After we lifted the big Vivid Giya onto a rotating platter, JA got under the hood and connected the speaker cables to his test amp. JA <i>loves</i> it when speaker terminals are hidden beneath a speaker. For a larger view, visit <a href="http://forum.stereophile.com/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/2217/passwor… Gallery</a>.