Vapor Audio Cirrus?

They look pretty nice but $3500 for a set of bookshelfs? YEESH! I don't care how nice they are that's a whole lot of cash. I know I could easily beat them at less than 1/2 the price.

I'm the guy who builds them ... anybody around St Louis is free to come by anytime and have a listen. I have close to 10 pair under construction right now of all different upgrade options, so I always have a few different pair that could be listened too.

So flying_fool, how would you go about beating them for 1/2 price? Just wondering.

I'll have reviews on Positive Feedback, Stereomojo, and 6moons all coming up very soon.

I have recently talked to a few people who heard the Vapor Audio Cirrus at RMAF this year. They were displaying after hours in a room with the YG Acoustics Kipod II's and not one of these guys liked the YG's over the Cirrus. The top end of the Cirrus was the deal breaker. According to most of them there were only two other speakers at this show that could compete with the top end of the Cirrus and they were very exotic speakers priced over 50k. The Cirrus was discribed to me as an instrument rather than a speaker and is not cold or anylytical like some other dynamic speakers. Extraordinarly fast with superb refinement on top and a very musical rich tone in the mids. The speakers were spread out around 10' apart in the room and still disappeared. If this is true then that in itself is pretty remarkeable for the price of admission. I don't own these speaker and just recently heard about them and started researching a bit. Looking at the build I would guess they are a serious contender in the high end of things.

Look, I'm not saying they're not nice speakers, but a pair of Magnepan 1.7's would kill them for 1/2 the price. Now if you're talking strictly bookshelf speakers then it would be very difficult to beat them for less, but I bet I could get 95% there at half the price.

For a bookshelf with a $3600+ price tag theres no measurement listed on the site. Just your basic everyday specs is all. If I would drop that much money on a pair of bookshelfs it better have every measurement or charts possible.

As some one who went to the demo i'll answer some questions.


I don't think it's "common" but there were a few rooms that after hours swapped out gear that was part of the official room set up. The owner of the room that the speakers were demoed in is friends with Ryan, the maker of the speakers. Since it was their room and i'm guessing YG paid them to use YG speakers during the show, I don't see the issue of playing what they want after show hours. My special arrangement was pming Ryan over on AudioCircle where he made a post offering to demo his speakers at RMAF. Wasn't just a special demo for only people who loved his speakers, any ways I'd never even heard one of his designs before. I was more interested in the driver combo, Raal and Audio Technology.


As some one who likes Magies and owned 1.5s for a bit i'm going to say a strong no to this. Honestly these speakers are at the level of the 20's.

Any one with questions please feel free to ask.

Just as full disclosure, after being at the demo I fully plan on buying 3 of these to front my home theater, which is about 50/50 music/ht.

Vapor Audio is doing well and building a solid reputation. If the Cirrus is too rich for your blood, consider the Breeze. That is a pretty good price for a RAAL equipped speaker.

http://www.vaporsound.com/#all

Sorry, there's no way little bookshelves can approach the 1.7's. Physics has a lot to do with it. There's just some things you can't get around.

There is a measurement posted on the site ... and for anybody who writes interested in purchasing a pair, I have many many more I can share.

I'm pretty sure YG didn't pay to have their speakers featured, they were offered for use to the people who paid for the room. Honestly there are so many details that would only be known by the people involved, that I can't imagine why somebody with no awareness of them would possibly think they have any place raising question. Why would you have any opinion of a situation you know nothing about?

Seriously, there's no reason to try and create a problem where one doesn't exist. Nobody at the show had any issue with how things were conducted.

There's a pair heading to their new owner in Dallas soon. I'm sure he'd gladly have you over for a listen when they arrive, I imagine they would challenge your preconceptions. Anybody 'in the business' like myself has heard Maggies countless times. They are of course great speakers, but by no means magical or unbeatable.

Oh, and thanks for all the kind words guys!

Can the Cyrus be built with ordinary box or curve cabinets from part express to lower the cost of the speaker? The Cyrus cabinet sure do look nice but it add quiet alot of cost.

Not unbeatable by any means. Just not beatable by little bookshelves. Although I'm sure the vapors probably sound really good for what they are, a great larger speaker will always outdo a great smaller speaker. you can't get around the laws of physics regarding cabinet and driver size differences. You can push them around a bit with innovative ideas, but when push comes to shove, you cannot squeeze giant speaker sound, dynamics and SPL into a little box.

i guess it all comes down to what you are looking for from a speaker and your application.
The cyrus though small, extend boths ends higher and lower then the mag. It is also more sensitive, works better with ordinary receiver that dont handle 4ohm, and is more suitable to small place like bedroom. The only complaint, of course indeed is quiet expensive.

One of the biggest and most common errors in evaluating speakers is that they can cross the barriers established by physics to compete directly with larger speakers...

This is the only measurement I could find
Freq Response 37 - 38,500hz +/-3db, 45 - 26,000 hz +/- 1.5db

A bookshelf that costs that much should have it measurements posted without the customer needing to email to get them. Other brands much less expensive offer this and show them on there site without hassle.

Anechoic On-Axis Frequency Response
Horizontal & Vertical Off-Axis
Impedance
Cabinet Resonance

True, but picking the magies doesn't show this:

Using the upper end 3.7 (The 20 is still using older tech):
35Hz - 40 kHz (No plus minus given)
86dB/2.83v @ 4ohms

Cirrus
37 - 38,500hz +/-3db, 45 - 26,000 hz +/- 1.5db
87.5db/2.83v @ 8ohms

So right off the bat if we use 1 watt of power the mags are at 83db and the cirrus are at 87.5. Granted the open baffle of the magies will add more but that depends on the room.

If you dig you can find the Freq Response:
http://www.vaporsound.com/wp-content..._with_Port.jpg

But more numbers would be useful (maybe something like what Rick Craig does with Selah), I personally was willing to give him a break since he is a one man show, also he has pm'ed me numbers when I asked.

True, very true. I'd like to see an independent review. 37 Hz is awfully low for a 6" driver at the -3 dB point. Looking at their cabinet construction and their weight, it's obvious they spared no expense. Like I said, they seem very. very nice. It just that $3500 for some bookshelves is awfully hard to swallow for a cheapo like me.

How about these specs? http://www.klipsch.com/rb-61-ii-bookshelf-speakers-pair

Almost as low and well above the limit of human hearing. But I would never suggest they sound anywhere near as nice as the Cirrus. Specs can only tell you so much. It's really all about the sound. If your limited to bookshelves and have that kind of cash to spend, the Cirrus might be just the thing you're looking for.

You're right of course Jon in that size really has nothing to do with end performance. There is no law of physics that somehow says larger speakers are better. In fact I could come up with plenty of reasons based on 'physics' of why small speakers have advantages too. Hoffmans law is the only principle that I can think fool is refering too, but that deals with enclosures ... the Maggies don't have one, and so it really doesn't apply.

When real customers start writing asking for more data on the website, then I'll add it. But that hasn't happened. I've taken as many measurements as anybody on this forum in my life, and can tell you without question they simply don't tell the story of how a speaker sounds. The people who've been around, heard a lot of high end stuff over the years, and are interested in buying a pair of my speakers, know this. Please just leave it at that whether you agree or not.

flyng_fool - You obviously like Maggies a lot, and that's fine ... there's plenty of reason to. However I know from my own personal experience exactly what they do well and don't do so well, and I know what my speakers do. If you want I'll let you know when the pair is delivered in Dallas. If you have an open mind I'm pretty sure you'll agree that the Cirrus is on a different level.

It's a 7" woofer too btw, .8cu/ft cabinet ... they're actually pretty big for a stand mount. About 17.5" tall and 55 pounds each.

Don't know where I got the 6" woofer diameter. Thought I read it on your website but couldn't find it. Guess I'm just getting old. I would like to hear the Cirrus. I'm always open for a new listening experience! I had a pair of Toby's with 8" drivers that rolled off at 37Hz with a modified transmission line cabinet that was a good 36" tall. I would really be interested how you got .8 cu ft cabs to dip all the way down to 35.

You have to realize not all woofers of equal size deliver equal bass performance, nothing is that simple. The AudioTech woofer is simply the best on the planet, and just like ScanSpeak 7" woofers, easily outperform many 8" drivers in bass extension and impact. That's what you get for $400 per driver!

I have 1 pair of these Dali's, the Helicon 300 MK2 and a pair of the 300 MK1's. They are $4k a pair. Sound wonderful and can beat most floor standing monitors. Given the right power they have deep lows and just a great sound across the whole spectrum.
http://www.dali-speakers.com/en-US/L...N-300-MK2.aspx

So these at only $3k are a good price.

not exactly 3000 but more like 3600 or 3700 + shipping. it sure isnt a cheap bookshelf but i dont think cheap was part of the design. It competes with salk and selah, now i wonder how each stands.

No, cheap was never a consideration. The ONLY goal was to make the best possible 2-way monitor ... best tweeter available, best woofer available, best cabinet possible, and using the best internal components. After all those things were decided upon, then the price point was set. Most companies set the price first, and work within that constraint.

Jim and Rick both build great stuff as well. I'm go a bit more crazy with my construction and component selection than they do, but it's up to the customer to decide if those things are worthwhile or not. Choices are always a good thing!