soundsgreat
New Member
Hi,
Am very pleased to present to you the latest speakers from Lyrita Audio,This my take on the speakers based on a recent Audition of them at Mr.Viren's place !
The First Look :
The Speakers look stunning with the cedar clad suit,The 2 drivers in the speaker are individually covered with its own grill as opposed to usual full cover for both (or more drivers)
The Full Range driver is used in boxless design (Open Baffle ) and the bass driver is housed a port tuned box with fairly large port (2+ inch)
The Box (for the Bass Driver) is big as its required but doesnt look imposing due to cleaver design and mating with the open baffle !! the speaker looks small from the front and similar from the sides as well !
At the back theres only one pair speaker terminals ( no Bi-Wiring option).
Tech Bit :
The Speaker is blessed with a 6 Fostex (FE 167E) driver which is in open baffle (Box Less ) design,the cone of the driver is treated with some additional stuff( The white dots on the cone) to make the necessary changes to drivers response to suit the open baffle design,This is said to have numerous advantages over the regular boxed designs such as standing waves,internal box resonance,port noise etc... !! This driver is a typical Fostex with usual bells and whistles such as the banana pulp cone and dual cone sort of centre cap (Dust cap),the driver is capable of going as low as 50Hz approx which is very very good for a fullrange driver !
The Low frequency duty is handled by a 12" Eminence (BETA-12A-2) in a regular ported box,The port is tuned to approx 40Hz !! the box was designed with home audio in mind so the size is regular as opposed to very big for the same driver in pro audio use !! The crossover used for this driver is a first order 6dB crossed at 300Hz,so this driver essentially handles all the stuff from 40 to 300Hz while the rest is sent to the Fostex.
The Design :
The Speaker is designed very well with the rounded edges and such,the Speaker box looks very good with the fullrange sitting on top with no box and the woofer at the bottom in a port tuned box,the overall symmetry of the box is well balanced ! the box part of the cabinet although is bit big ( in conventional home audio sense) is cleverly camouflaged with the use of light coloured cedar veneer for the final finish which takes away the bulky looks and gives it a smallish and compact feel ! on the top, the edges are tapered and sort of forms a trapezoid ! The port of the woofer box is located at the back and is situated just above the bottom surface of the box,above the port is the speaker terminal ! overall the back is as neat and as good looking as the front !
The wiring was done using what looked like a twisted pair cable (perhaps done by Mr.Viren himself ) of a small thickness (say 22 or 20 Gauge) with red and black colour wires,similar wires were used to hook the speakers to the Amp.
[BREAK=Set-Up]
The Set-Up :
Marantz CD-5001
Lyrita SET AMP
The Amitys ( But Offcourse)
Custom made speaker cable and Interconnects
The speakers were placed a bit close to the wall and were approx 6+ feet apart,there was a jute mat between the speakers (although Mr.Viren says its purely for the looks I think it does have some quality to add to the overall sound )
[BREAK=The Sound]
The Sound:
We started the Audition with some of my CDs which included Dire-Straits,Allan Taylor,Omar Sosa,Dhafer Youssef and others,we also played some of Mr.Virens CDs
This was short visit and I couldnt spend much time so the below review or my views on the speaker is only based on what I heard in that short period of time ! I also would like to mention the fact that the speakers has had no burn-in at all with only 7 odd hours of play time ! So with the above things in mind please read the following passages !!
The first thing that will hit you is the resolution of the speakers,The sound is very clean and open without much of artifacts !! the instruments sounded fine and so did the vocals,The bass had nice low extension and didnt boom or bloat.
The pure vocals from the opening track of the album from Dhafer sounds clean and has the right timbre to it and sounds realistic,This particular track I have used to judge the vocals as there is no other instrument played and such ! this will give the listener the right info of the speaker ability to reproduce the vocals,coz when the vocals are mixed with music it sometimes will be difficult to judge ! so the vocals were very very clean especially when he hits the high notes with almost nasal and female like characteristics !
Then the track with Oud ( A native Arabic Instrument like guitar) the strings has a sense of depth and realism to it ! the strings were smooth and easy to listen to and one could easily distinguish that the instrument although sounds like a guitar is actually not one !!
The next track featured a indian flute with some tabla and some jazz like percussion ! the flute sounded well rounded and didnt have the glare or the harsh high tinge to it ! the tabla sounded neat too with each tap on the skin reproduced with good accuracy !! although the overall sound was good it was a wee bit less resolved and the tabla which was reproduced well by the fostex lost a bit when Eminence kicked in !
We then played a track from a Jazz disc that Mr.Viren recommended, the instruments in the track had good attack and depth to it and was pleasure to listen !
The track from Dire-Straits Romeo and Juliet the drums sounded neat and Mark Knopflers voice had that right tone ! The same phenomena was observed,the bass driver had wee bit of leanness to it !
The track from Allan Taylor So Long which has guitar and vocals and not much of other instruments,the vocals again excelled and was very pleasant to the ears,the guitar again was excellent ! the highs and mids were real neat considering the no burn-in factor ! I can only imagine how it might sound when its completely burnt-in !!
In Omar Sosas La Tra a typical jazz piece with piano and drum set ( as in typical Jazz),the Sax was real good with it hitting highs and lows on and off,the same was translated by the speakers,the occasional Oud piece thrown in was neatly communicated !!
The track Reposo the bass goes very low and the speakers did handle it with care apart from the aforementioned hickups,The Oud sounded neat and clean without a hint of harshness or brightness !! overall presentation was superb !
[BREAK=The Final Words and Conclusion]
This almost sums up my time spent there,it was real pleasure to listen to such fantastic speakers at such phenomenal price that Mr.Virens offering !!! As always it did have some minor issues which could be attributed to the fact that it hardly had the hours on it and also the fact that this is speaker which is made to certain type of audience in mind ! Mr.Viren told me that although the crossover is being fine tuned the version I heard would probably be the last revision !! The main thing that I noticed was the very small amount of lag from the Eminence,it was also as mentioned above a bit leaner (at least to my taste ) but apart from that I hardly had and have any issues with the speakers ! Again at the asking price for these beauties one can certainly overlook them ! you cannot get the whole world at 55K now can you ????
The Conclusion :
I highly recommend this speaker to anyone and everyone who want a solid sound without going bankrupt !! These speakers will do what others do at twice or thrice this price (and some even fail at that price )
A real nice sounding and looking speakers from a person who needs no introduction and needs all the applauds that he can get for his contribution to Audio community :clapping:!!
Finally i would like to thank karan aneja who was very kind enough to take me to Audition the speakers else this whole review wouldnt have been possible !!
If I have by mistake forgotten anything to add please do not hesitate to ask
!!
Hope you guys like what I had to say
!
Regards.
Am very pleased to present to you the latest speakers from Lyrita Audio,This my take on the speakers based on a recent Audition of them at Mr.Viren's place !
The First Look :
The Speakers look stunning with the cedar clad suit,The 2 drivers in the speaker are individually covered with its own grill as opposed to usual full cover for both (or more drivers)
The Full Range driver is used in boxless design (Open Baffle ) and the bass driver is housed a port tuned box with fairly large port (2+ inch)
The Box (for the Bass Driver) is big as its required but doesnt look imposing due to cleaver design and mating with the open baffle !! the speaker looks small from the front and similar from the sides as well !
At the back theres only one pair speaker terminals ( no Bi-Wiring option).
Tech Bit :
The Speaker is blessed with a 6 Fostex (FE 167E) driver which is in open baffle (Box Less ) design,the cone of the driver is treated with some additional stuff( The white dots on the cone) to make the necessary changes to drivers response to suit the open baffle design,This is said to have numerous advantages over the regular boxed designs such as standing waves,internal box resonance,port noise etc... !! This driver is a typical Fostex with usual bells and whistles such as the banana pulp cone and dual cone sort of centre cap (Dust cap),the driver is capable of going as low as 50Hz approx which is very very good for a fullrange driver !
The Low frequency duty is handled by a 12" Eminence (BETA-12A-2) in a regular ported box,The port is tuned to approx 40Hz !! the box was designed with home audio in mind so the size is regular as opposed to very big for the same driver in pro audio use !! The crossover used for this driver is a first order 6dB crossed at 300Hz,so this driver essentially handles all the stuff from 40 to 300Hz while the rest is sent to the Fostex.
The Design :
The Speaker is designed very well with the rounded edges and such,the Speaker box looks very good with the fullrange sitting on top with no box and the woofer at the bottom in a port tuned box,the overall symmetry of the box is well balanced ! the box part of the cabinet although is bit big ( in conventional home audio sense) is cleverly camouflaged with the use of light coloured cedar veneer for the final finish which takes away the bulky looks and gives it a smallish and compact feel ! on the top, the edges are tapered and sort of forms a trapezoid ! The port of the woofer box is located at the back and is situated just above the bottom surface of the box,above the port is the speaker terminal ! overall the back is as neat and as good looking as the front !
The wiring was done using what looked like a twisted pair cable (perhaps done by Mr.Viren himself ) of a small thickness (say 22 or 20 Gauge) with red and black colour wires,similar wires were used to hook the speakers to the Amp.
[BREAK=Set-Up]
The Set-Up :
Marantz CD-5001
Lyrita SET AMP
The Amitys ( But Offcourse)
Custom made speaker cable and Interconnects
The speakers were placed a bit close to the wall and were approx 6+ feet apart,there was a jute mat between the speakers (although Mr.Viren says its purely for the looks I think it does have some quality to add to the overall sound )
[BREAK=The Sound]
The Sound:
We started the Audition with some of my CDs which included Dire-Straits,Allan Taylor,Omar Sosa,Dhafer Youssef and others,we also played some of Mr.Virens CDs
This was short visit and I couldnt spend much time so the below review or my views on the speaker is only based on what I heard in that short period of time ! I also would like to mention the fact that the speakers has had no burn-in at all with only 7 odd hours of play time ! So with the above things in mind please read the following passages !!
The first thing that will hit you is the resolution of the speakers,The sound is very clean and open without much of artifacts !! the instruments sounded fine and so did the vocals,The bass had nice low extension and didnt boom or bloat.
The pure vocals from the opening track of the album from Dhafer sounds clean and has the right timbre to it and sounds realistic,This particular track I have used to judge the vocals as there is no other instrument played and such ! this will give the listener the right info of the speaker ability to reproduce the vocals,coz when the vocals are mixed with music it sometimes will be difficult to judge ! so the vocals were very very clean especially when he hits the high notes with almost nasal and female like characteristics !
Then the track with Oud ( A native Arabic Instrument like guitar) the strings has a sense of depth and realism to it ! the strings were smooth and easy to listen to and one could easily distinguish that the instrument although sounds like a guitar is actually not one !!
The next track featured a indian flute with some tabla and some jazz like percussion ! the flute sounded well rounded and didnt have the glare or the harsh high tinge to it ! the tabla sounded neat too with each tap on the skin reproduced with good accuracy !! although the overall sound was good it was a wee bit less resolved and the tabla which was reproduced well by the fostex lost a bit when Eminence kicked in !
We then played a track from a Jazz disc that Mr.Viren recommended, the instruments in the track had good attack and depth to it and was pleasure to listen !
The track from Dire-Straits Romeo and Juliet the drums sounded neat and Mark Knopflers voice had that right tone ! The same phenomena was observed,the bass driver had wee bit of leanness to it !
The track from Allan Taylor So Long which has guitar and vocals and not much of other instruments,the vocals again excelled and was very pleasant to the ears,the guitar again was excellent ! the highs and mids were real neat considering the no burn-in factor ! I can only imagine how it might sound when its completely burnt-in !!
In Omar Sosas La Tra a typical jazz piece with piano and drum set ( as in typical Jazz),the Sax was real good with it hitting highs and lows on and off,the same was translated by the speakers,the occasional Oud piece thrown in was neatly communicated !!
The track Reposo the bass goes very low and the speakers did handle it with care apart from the aforementioned hickups,The Oud sounded neat and clean without a hint of harshness or brightness !! overall presentation was superb !
[BREAK=The Final Words and Conclusion]
This almost sums up my time spent there,it was real pleasure to listen to such fantastic speakers at such phenomenal price that Mr.Virens offering !!! As always it did have some minor issues which could be attributed to the fact that it hardly had the hours on it and also the fact that this is speaker which is made to certain type of audience in mind ! Mr.Viren told me that although the crossover is being fine tuned the version I heard would probably be the last revision !! The main thing that I noticed was the very small amount of lag from the Eminence,it was also as mentioned above a bit leaner (at least to my taste ) but apart from that I hardly had and have any issues with the speakers ! Again at the asking price for these beauties one can certainly overlook them ! you cannot get the whole world at 55K now can you ????
The Conclusion :
I highly recommend this speaker to anyone and everyone who want a solid sound without going bankrupt !! These speakers will do what others do at twice or thrice this price (and some even fail at that price )
A real nice sounding and looking speakers from a person who needs no introduction and needs all the applauds that he can get for his contribution to Audio community :clapping:!!
Finally i would like to thank karan aneja who was very kind enough to take me to Audition the speakers else this whole review wouldnt have been possible !!
If I have by mistake forgotten anything to add please do not hesitate to ask
!! Hope you guys like what I had to say
!Regards.
hyeah:!!
Hope to hear lyrita in person someday!
