Vapor at the Newport Beach Show

Cheeseboy · « **Reply #20 on:** 31 May 2013, 08:44 pm »

It looks like you painted the walls to match the speakers. SOOOO SHINY and New.
How does the room sound? Can't wait to hear those bad boyz.

Did you guys hook up with Hugh for dinner?

jtwrace · « **Reply #21 on:** 31 May 2013, 10:19 pm »

I don't usually get excited over looks but there's something about these that really speak to me.

harley52 · « **Reply #22 on:** 2 Jun 2013, 02:31 am »

Gee Ryan, I wonder if red wouldn't be a better color for the Aurora's your in the process of building. The Nimbus having the same shape as the Aurora gives me more to ponder. Like a true candy apple red. Boy, I hate these kind of decisions.
Steve

Vapor Audio · « **Reply #23 on:** 4 Jun 2013, 11:35 pm »

I've been hitting refresh on the phone every 20 miles for the last 2 days! Seriously, Pete and I are about to explode from the anticipation! I haven't seen a single impression of the sound from a show go'er, and it would really help these last 6 hours fly by if we had some to read

Wcheng · « **Reply #24 on:** 5 Jun 2013, 12:24 am »

I'll be the first to comment on the sound. My friend and I both thought it sounded fantastic. It was one of the rooms at the show that really impressed us. "Effortless" and "musical" are the first two words that come to mind. Everything had a good balance to it. Clean, detailed, powerful bass without being too overpowering. Good amount of detail while still being very musical. My friend commented on how Sinatra's voice was "right on". I wish we could have stayed longer, but there was so much to see. If I did not have a tiny listening room, I would have left the show with these speakers. I can't think of any other speakers I heard at the show under $20K that I'd rather own.

jhm731 · « **Reply #25 on:** 5 Jun 2013, 01:26 am »

What are the dimensions and sensitivity of the Nimbus?

I don't see this data on your website.

EdRo · « **Reply #26 on:** 5 Jun 2013, 03:21 pm »

Here's some numbers from the Nimbus thread.
Sensitivity: ~92dB/2.83V
Impedance: 8 Ohm
Low frequency cut off -3dB: ~32Hz / 25Hz in-room
Weight: ~250lbs
Dimensions: 53" H (from floor to peak) x 17.5" W (at the woofer center) x 26" D (including rear wall curve)
Recommended amps include everything from low powered SETs to 1000W + Solid State amps.

Meicheng · « **Reply #27 on:** 5 Jun 2013, 04:09 pm »

I was in the Vapor room twice over the weekend and thought it was one of the best sounding at the show. When you played "Another one bites the dust" I thought it was a Hi-Rez track. Made me want to switch to computer audio.

simoon · « **Reply #28 on:** 5 Jun 2013, 04:55 pm »

I was very impressed, especially since they are priced at $8000. I heard several speakers at the show that were twice the price that were not as good.

kbuzz3 · « **Reply #29 on:** 5 Jun 2013, 08:42 pm »

forget the speakers. who makes that av rack. Sweet low and clean looking....

abernardi · « **Reply #30 on:** 5 Jun 2013, 09:13 pm »

I would have posted sooner, but you know... pesky life always interferes! Anyway, I wanted to give a big thumbs up for this speaker and the sound of this room in general. Most of the small rooms at the show were a little overwhelmed by the size of the speakers/systems, but you guys - Vapor/Empirical did a great job tuning the room and producing a very natural, clean and accurate presentation. So many of the systems had a very big and fat bass, which can be initially pleasing, but wears thin (pun intended) fast. This set up fooled me at first because there was no exaggerated low end, in fact, despite those HUGE woofers, I thought they weren't going to go down low because they gave no hint they would go there... until they did! And boy did they, but only when the music demanded it. The lows seemed to wash through the room like an ocean wave, it even seemed to be positioned near the floor. It was startling. Very tight, very disciplined. And as someone already mentioned, I also thought Sinatra never sounded better.

The system was also refined enough for Steve (Empirical) to convincingly demonstrate his claim that WAV files sound better than other lossless formats. I was already pretty sure it was a good idea to keep it in AIFF or WAV, but I was sure there could be no difference between the two, I mean they're essentially the same, right? But in an A/B comparison, there was no question that the WAV was more open, wider, more air, maybe a little more decay. Does that mean more accurate? I'm not 100% sure, but it would seem so.

Great job Vapor!

Ric Schultz · « **Reply #31 on:** 6 Jun 2013, 12:08 am »

Ryan,
Did you show the basic model or did it have amorphous core trannies, better caps, inductors, wire, jacks, resistors?

lowtech · « **Reply #32 on:** 6 Jun 2013, 12:32 am »

With all the 'phile phrase spewing out from everywhere, I wonder if anyone can comment how these compare sonically to the GedLee Abbey. Or, are we not able to discuss such things here?

jtwrace · « **Reply #33 on:** 6 Jun 2013, 12:34 am »

Quote from: lowtech on 6 Jun 2013, 12:32 am

With all the 'phile phrase spewing out from everywhere, I wonder if anyone can comment how these compare sonically to the GedLee Abbey. Or, are we not able to discuss such things here?

I doubt anyone that has heard these has heard a properly setup GedLee setup.

Pete Schumacher · « **Reply #34 on:** 6 Jun 2013, 01:31 am »

Quote from: lowtech on 6 Jun 2013, 12:32 am

With all the 'phile phrase spewing out from everywhere, I wonder if anyone can comment how these compare sonically to the GedLee Abbey. Or, are we not able to discuss such things here?

I've not heard the Abbey, but I've heard plenty of pro-woofer/compression tweeter 2-ways with flat response and smooth off axis output. The Nimbus has something the Abbey could never touch, and that's pure low end dynamics. That 15" Acoustic Elegance woofer is simply in a league the Abbey can only aspire to join. And there is no other tweeter on the planet that can deliver the detail and realism in the top octaves that the RAAL provides. I would not hesitate for a minute to put Nimbus in a room with Abbey and feel confident that Nimbus would present itself as a more natural sounding, and overall more dynamic speaker system.

Of course, this is all conjecture since no such head-to-head evaluation has taken place. But if anyone wants to bring a set of Abbeys by for our Saturday listening party, we'd be glad to entertain a challenge. Steve seems to think Nimbus is better than anything he's heard after 15 years attending shows. I wholeheartedly agree even though my experience pales in comparison to his. I've heard the Rockports, Sonus Fabers, Majicos, MBLs, and without hesitation would rather listen to a pair of Nimbus driven by 40W SETs than any of the others driven by whatever amp you name.

jhm731 · « **Reply #35 on:** 6 Jun 2013, 01:42 am »

EdRo-Thanks for the specs.

TomS · « **Reply #36 on:** 6 Jun 2013, 01:56 am »

Pete,

The Abbeys are not designed as full range speakers. They are typically used with multiple subs as a system, thus Jtwrace's comment about "properly setup", so they can't just be plopped down at a listening party. Dr. Geddes sells accompanying subs and a tuning service to make the system complete and it works well, so your speculation about it's low end dynamics doesn't really play.

That said, the Nimbus looks like a very nice speaker, just not a natural competitor to the Geddes system at all. Very well done and I hope to hear them at RMAF this year.

Tom

poseidonsvoice · « **Reply #37 on:** 6 Jun 2013, 02:24 am »

Pete,

I realize you are at a show right now, but when you do return and have settled, please post the horizontal off axis response of the Nimbus as the two midrange drivers hand off to the RAAL tweeter in the crossover region. A polar plot would be better but please post what you can. I think jtwrace had once asked for measurements, but it was probably at a time when y'all were packing up for the show.

Sounds like everybody is having a good time!

Best,
Anand.

Pete Schumacher · « **Reply #38 on:** 6 Jun 2013, 02:44 am »

Quote from: poseidonsvoice on 6 Jun 2013, 02:24 am

Pete,

I realize you are at a show right now, but when you do return and have settled, please post the horizontal off axis response of the Nimbus as the two midrange drivers hand off to the RAAL tweeter in the crossover region. A polar plot would be better but please post what you can. I think jtwrace had once asked for measurements, but it was probably at a time when y'all were packing up for the show.

Sounds like everybody is having a good time!

Best,
Anand.

We haven't done an off-axis set. But we did do an in-room ARTA measurement when looking for bass modes during setup. Suffice it to say that the room response at the seated position looked like the on-axis response except for a downward sloping top octave. Steve commented that it was the flattest room response he's ever measured with only 40Hz and 80Hz bass modes to tame (small room). He also stated that he had to have 3 EQ adjustments for the TAD response above room modes, and none at all for Nimbus.

Here's the on-axis response. The room response (power response) looked just like it except for the top octave sloping down due to room absorption of high frequencies.

Vapor Audio · « **Reply #39 on:** 6 Jun 2013, 02:52 am »

Quote from: TomS on 6 Jun 2013, 01:56 am

That said, the Nimbus looks like a very nice speaker, just not a natural competitor to the Geddes system at all. Very well done and I hope to hear them at RMAF this year.

You're right Tom, the Nimbus and Geddes designs aren't really in the same class. Our Arcus however is designed in a very similar vein, but we feel offers advantages of a higher quality cabinet and drivers resulting in superior resolution and transparency. Mike Galusha's review of the Arcus will be coming out very soon.