Audio Physic Virgo loudspeaker Measurements part 3

To examine how these quasi-anechoic responses sum, fig.6 shows a spatially averaged response trace taken for the pair of Virgos in my own listening room after I had experimented for a while to get the optimal integration with the room acoustics. There's a slight energy excess in the upper bass, which is only partly due to the room; note, though, the excellent low-bass extension, the Virgo being flat to below the 31.5Hz, 1/3-octave band. This gave both rock and orchestral recordings a secure musical foundation, I found. Though the midrange and treble in-room meet superb ±1.5dB limits between 200Hz and 4kHz—about the best I have ever measured in my room—there's a slight in-room peak in the mid-treble, the bottom of the tweeter's passband where it will have its widest dispersion. I didn't hear this as brightness as such, nor did it add any sense of grain; but it did make the Virgo's balance sound a little vivid. But oh, the detail and depth to be heard!

Fig.6 Audio Physic Virgo, spatially averaged 1/3-octave response in JA's listening room.

In the time domain, the step response (fig.7) reveals the upper-frequency drive-units to be connected with the same positive-going polarity. The woofers, however, are connected with inverted polarity. The associated cumulative spectral-decay, or waterfall, plot (fig.8) is superbly clean throughout the upper midrange and treble. There's your freedom from treble grain!

Fig.7 Audio Physic Virgo, step response on tweeter axis at 50" (5ms time window, 30kHz bandwidth).

Fig.8 Audio Physic Virgo, cumulative spectral-decay plot at 50" (0.15ms risetime).

I agree with MF: this a superbly engineered loudspeaker that happens also to sound quite wonderfully musical!—John Atkinson

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