Stephen Mejias

The Vivian Girls’

perceptive Cassie Ramone

reads Stereophile.

Exactly six months after we’d seen them perform in Puerto Rico, at that strange island bar, Bamboo Beach (see “Records to Die For,” February 2010, pages 71-72), the Vivian">http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/when_im_gone/">Vivian Girls performed on Saturday night, this time so much closer to home, at Maxwell’s in Hoboken. I bought tickets for the whole crew&#151Rizzo, Fritzy, Papi Chulo, Fuzzy, and Tigga&#151so that, together again for the first time since that memorable trip, we could relive">http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/what_happened_in_puerto_rico/… the magic. We ate well, drank too much, laughed, danced, and sang along as the Vivian Girls burned through their energetic set.

We’re currently working on our July 2010 issue, which will include Wes Phillips’ review of the Vivid Audio G1Giya loudspeaker ($65,000/pair). Near the end of Wes’ auditioning, the domes of both upper-midrange units were inexplicably damaged. As you can see from the">http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/damaged_domes/">the picture, it appears the domes were poked by some sort of dull object. Wes didn’t do it; Wes’ wife didn’t do it. We’ll never know how the damage occurred. What we do know is that the aluminum-dome midrange unit is incredibly delicate and has a strong magnetic pull.

Near the end of Wes’ auditioning, the domes of both upper-midrange units were inexplicably damaged.

The replacement midrange drive-units for the Vivid G1Giyas arrived in this well-packed and clearly labeled box.

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.

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.