Living Voice Auditorium Series

Living Voice

Auditorium 2

Living Voice

Avatar 2

Living Voice

Avatar OBX-R2

Avatar IBX-R2

Technical Summary

Shared/Common Features

750 density hardwood composite enclosure

Components matched to two decimal places

Book matched premium veneers

Mechanically isolated crossover

High sensitivity D'Appolito configuration

Hand wound air core inductors

Technical Summary

Avatar 2 versus OBX-R2

Scanspeak D950000

high frequency unit

Proprietary design non-inductive resistors produced specifically for Living Voice

Hovland discrete film

and foil Musicaps

Star earthing

Optimised crossover layout

Scanspeak Revelator high frequency unit

Proprietary design non-inductive resistors produced specifically for Living Voice

Hovland discrete film

and foil Musicaps

Star earthing

External Suspended Crossovers

Stiff Triple Braced Cabinet

Dimensions h/w/d

104/22/28 cm

104/22/28 cm

104/22/28 cm

Frequency Response

35 Hz - 22.5 kHz

35 Hz - 22.5 kHz

35 Hz - 22.5 kHz

17 kg per unit

19 kg per unit

20 kg per unit

Nominal Impedance 

6 ohms

6 ohms

6 ohms

Yes

Yes

Yes

100 watts

100 watts

Auditorium 2

Avatar 2

Avatar OBX-R 2

Recommended Retail Price in UK (GBP)

2100

(Cherry, European Maple, Walnut)

3000

(Cherry, European Maple, Walnut)

3200 (Santos Rosewood)

4400

(Cherry, European Maple, Walnut)

4600 (Santos Rosewood, Bamboo)

4800 (Burr Oak)

5100 (Ebony)

Living Voice Mystic Mat

Technical Summary

"The Mystic Mat is composed of a layer of gel-coated resonance-controlling carbon fiber mated to a layer of CF polyurethane and followed by another sheet of carbon fiber. It’s thin (about 3mm) profile makes it a perfect candidate for any ‘table needing immediate musical improvements from conventional felt or rubber record mats. It fits snugly on your turntable’s spindle and lies nice and flat on the platter with the smooth side down."

The Mystic Mat is a hard mat, is lightweight, and it comes with a Michell Record Clamp as well, which is an optional item, to use with warped or slightly difficult LPs.

Front view - surface where record is placed on

"Anyway, returning with the Mystic Mat, I put it on the Scheu and to my complete amazement, it was like putting on another isolator - or arguably more so."

"I was so thrilled with the Mystic Mat that I immediately tried it on the Garrard 301 for again the same effect - a blacker background, better instrumental definition and a richer harmonic envelope. The special energy that is the secret of the Garrard emerged even more clearly. I was very impressed."

Read more on the Living Voice Mystic Mat review at sixmoons.com (scroll to the bottom)

Stereophile Review Excerpts - Michael Fremer,

Analog Corner

** A Stereophile Recommended Components product **

"Expensive, but the best platter mat Mikey has ever tried ... The Mystic blackened the spaces between notes, and  seemed to allow a lushness and depth to develop that I hadn't had before, while causing no sonic damage in terms of transient speed and detail ... A real find, and highly recommended."

"I have found (or should I say, I was sent for evaluation) the best platter mat I have ever tried."

"I normally use a carbon-graphite mat, but the Mystic blackened the spaces between notes, and seemed to allow a lushness and depth to develop that I hadn't heard before, while causing no sonic damage in terms of transient speed and detail."

"It will dent your bank account, however: the Mystic Mat, which Living Voice claims is difficult to make, costs US$300.  But if your experience with it is like mine, you'll agree that it's worth the money.  A real find, and highly recommended."

We promptly tried one, and we concur with Stereophile writer Michael Fremer's comments that it is an outstanding turntable mat, as it didn't change the original sonic character of the turntable, it just improved on the sonics. We've tried several other mats, and these changed the tonality, unnaturally boosted up certain frequencies, slowed down the pace, or simply deadened the sound.  We also concur on the lushness comment highlighted above in the review excerpt, where it indeed surfaced naturally, without any tricks in changing the frequency balance.  To roughly quote one user, which says it well - "like hearing something through a very good tube system, as opposed to a so-so tube system."

Since the Scheu/Eurolab turntables already have a super quiet background, we did not notice much of Fremer's assertion that it gave a blacker background.   This would be probably be more evident in other less quiet turntables.  Rather, we found the Mystic Mat's main contribution was in the improved bass definition, more body and scale to the sound, and improved timbre.  Strings just sound so much more natural.  "Meaty" and weighty are the words to sum up its most profound effect, at least in our system, where the full harmonic bloom in a recording is further realized.

Why are the Living Voice Auditorium range (Auditorium, Avatar, Avatar OBX-R) speakers light in physical weight ?

The idea is that less mass results in shorter energy storage.

Most other speakers are heavy, with a cabinet typically made of thick MDF, and sometimes even heavier exotic materials. 

The  exoskeletons  of  the   Auditorium    range  are made  of 

particleboard, which is much lighter.  Due to the lighter cabinet, Living Voices have stronger bracings than usual.

And this approach succeeds.   We've heard the Living Voices sound as fast as horn speakers, with superb handling of transients and dynamics, both macro and micro.

The entire Living Voice Auditorium range have foam surrounds for the woofer drivers,  will this be a problem in Singapore's humid climate ?

The Living Voice Auditorium range (Auditorium, Avatar, OBX-R) was designed referencing the speed and transients of the higher horn-design models.  Rubber surround woofers were experimented with, but these failed to come close to the horn speed, transients, and dynamics.  Only the currently used Scanspeak foam surround drivers could approach these traits of the higher model horns. 

Rather than compromise on this, the foam surround  drivers were used.  Performance comes first.  In fact, when Scanspeak-Vifa started manufacturing in China, the parameters of the drivers were changed.  Scanspeak now manufactures all LV drivers in Denmark, as per LV specs.  One visitor actually called them "horny", in reference to their transient response.

This was the case with Proac, where the Proac Response 3 Scanspeak foam drivers were replaced with rubber ones which led to the Response 3.5 and 3.8.  But ask the veterans, and they will tell you that the Response 3 was the best of all the three iterations, and is the model more sought after.  Wilson Audio also  once used  foam in  their  extremely popular Watt

The warranty is 4 years, worldwide, and in our experience with Scanspeak drivers, they can last a long time (we can't claim that for other brands of drivers). 

Scanspeak will not re-foam the speaker drivers, but all 4 drivers will be changed instead, as these are all critically matched pairs.  Then the LV owner will have another round of musical enjoyment.   Re-foaming by 3rd parties is not advisable, and can change the parameters of the drivers.

And as part of our service, it is not costly to change the drivers.  Below is a table of driver replacement costs.  As you can see, it is very affordable.

For the Living Voice OBX-R, is it alright to have different speaker cables between the amplifier-to-external-crossover and the crossover-to-speakers ?

This is not recommended, and in tests conducted by a reviewer, having cheap speaker cables of the same brand and model sounded better than very expensive speaker cables but of different model or brand between amp-to-crossover and crossover-to-speakers.

However, one's mileage may vary.  We have experimented mixing cables. and it has worked well.  One has to know his cables, however.

How many watts can be used or can be handled by the Living Voice Auditorium range ?

Recommended amplifier power is from 8 watts to 300 watts, these speakers are highly versatile. 

Room size and composition also has to be considered.

We drove them with 250-watt Goldmund monoblocks, 200-watt

Boulder monoblocks, 8-watt Audio Audio Note 300Bs, 200-watt Krell KAS2, 90 watt Exposures, 30 watt Naims, 75 watt Naims, 25 watt VACs, 30 and 55 watt Lavardins, 100 watt Krell KSAs, 125 watt VTLs, 150 watt Jeff Rowlands, Chord, Gryphons, Gamut, Pass Labs, etc.  Some customers even use  the 3.5 watts Sun Audio 2A3 amplifier.