Living Voice?

Hi everyone.

I'm currently running a pair of old Royd Doublets which in their own way are great little speakers. However, they lack a little of the finesse and detail of more sophisticated speakers, and though they do all the basics right, I'm thinking of something a bit better.

There are loads of big speakers I'd love to have in my room, but due to the fact that good speaker placement wasn't foremost in the minds of the Victorian architects who designed my house, I'm kinda stuck to keeping the speakers either in the bay window (and incur wife complaints) or on either side of the fireplace.

The fireplace is winning the race here, so I'm looking for a nice pair of compact floorstanders which have a highish sensitivity*.

Enter Living Voice...

I'm interested in what you think of the LV range of small floorstanders, particularly whether the Avatar OBX-R (NOT the R2) is noticably better than the current spec Avatar, and also whether these speakers will work well placed within a few inches of the rear wall.

Ta,

john

* I'm considering moving to an 8w valve amp, silly me...

 

Rip out your fireplace and get rid of your wife. Upgrade gear with savings.

 

The LV are a fine speaker John, Careful placement is critical with these units. Kevin at LV even has all the speaker placements marked out on the floor in his demo room.
If you wish an Honest answer (I like em, but find them coloured (fruity bass) I would PM Jonjin, he runs the R2's with Canary 300b's (I suspect your going the BP 20 route)
He's a total valve nut, and I'm sure will happily answer any questions you may have Wm

 

Hi

I found mine wanted loads of space around them. Kevin at definitive runs them well over 2m from the nearest wall.

They are rear ported, but it seems that space either side of them is very important, possibly more important than space behind.

 

TBH I'm not an expert but would be happy to post my experiences As said previuosly, using the classic LV/Canary combo.

The speakers do respond well to good positioning and their relationship to the side wall and distance between them is the most important. Try and get them as far apart as possible, sligtly toed in to a spot behind you. With regards to the side wall, the speakers breathe better with space around them and therefore you get a more natural sound.

Having said that, my current setup is not that ideal as they are about 50 cm from the side wall and 40 cm from the back (again avoiding equal distance). It's actually quite good and the soundstage is pretty impressive. So I suppose it's not the end of the world if you don't have the perfect listening room.

Sound wise, I think it's strengths are great naturalness and transparency with loads of air around the instruments. People describe it as a "hear-through" quality. The sensitivity is a humble 94 dB/m and micro and macro dynamics are impressive. As for the bass, IMHO it is excellent, but bearing in mind it's usually paired with valves. I don't think it reaches down to the deepest and darkest dungeons of bass frequencies but it will rock if paired carefully. Now, I know WM has very high standards for his bass reproduction and will only give his seal of approval for nothing short of the best

Having said all that, why not ring Kevin at Definitive Audio and ask for a demo. He is actually an obliging chap though you'll have to put up with his crazy enthusiam and rather extreme view on hi-fi

Hope that helps...

JJ

 

Strictly speaking, not advisable and I've not tried the Avatar or OBX-R...

JJ