Christie Vive Audio Line Source Speakers

[Chris Wehrman]

Has anyone seen and herd these speakers in use? Particularly the LS1 screen speakers and LS2S surround speakers? I have an opportunity to purchase some used LS2S surround speakers but I don't know what they sound like or if they are any good. The fact they use ribbon tweeters interests me, wondering if they really are as good in cinema as they claim to be. I didn't even know Christie made speakers untill yesterday.

Any input good or bad is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Chris

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

I like ribbon tweeters as well. But I always reccomend to my customers to shy away from products that are "me too" type things, where that is only a small secondary business for a given company... that could disappear next month because sales are slow and all of a sudden you need some drivers. After JBL went down hill I switched to QSC cinema because the made in China stuff for sure had some issues. I also would not sell a D-Cinema projector from QSC if they made one.

[Steve Guttag]

I have definitely heard them.

I've yet to hear a ribbon speaker in cinema that I've liked. They all seem to have a real hard time with higher SPLs They get crazy harsh.

QSC's use of the dual concentric diaphragm compression driver for their 4-way systems was a stealer move. Its crossover point is right about where the screen's attenuation comes into play. It allows the speaker to play effortlessly through the screen (e.g. SC-424). Listen to that speaker and then listen to what you are considering and decide for yourself.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

In the 1990's I owned a pair of Apogee full range ribbons. Those are the ribbons that I liked... Till I discovered Dynaudio, so back to conventional drivers I went. I have resisted ribbons in Cinemas from day 1 and I am pretty sure these Christie speakers are a carry over of the Ribbon speakers that Big Sky was selling

[Chris Wehrman]

Thanks for the information. These would be installed in my screening room at home. Im trying to have a high end system while on a budget and I could get these for 75 bucks a piece. Wpuld high SPL still be an issue in a 20x15ft room for these ribbon tweeters?

Chris

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

I still wouldn't vote for them, but if you do buy them... buy at least one or two extra for parts. Ribbon drivers are VERY fragile. Personally I would stick with used JBL 8340, or even the old 8330. They are available on Epay for about the same price. You can still get parts for both those through any JBL dealer. On any of these speakers pay attention to the foam or rubber woofer surrounds. Rubber ones tend to dry out and the cone can't move. Foam surrounds dry rot, but are actually pretty easy top preplace your self. And they are very easy to get. The rubber surrounds can generally only be replaced with foam. That changes the driver characteristics. .

[Steve Guttag]

8330 parts are pretty well exhausted. I think the tweeter is still available but definitely not the woofer or mid and the mid often bites it on the 8330. The 8340A does suffer from foam rot but last I checked, everything for that speaker remains available.

I, personally, not a fan of any VIVE system I've heard. But you need to listen with your own ears to determine if you would like them. Nobody here can tell you what you hear or like. I suspect that you would be able to find a great many adequate speakers for your room that sound better than the Vive. But only you can determine that.

If you want to try a surprisingly good speaker for your stage channels without breaking the bank...check out the QSC SR-1590 though you will likely find that the SR-1290 is sufficient too. I, recently, used SR-1590s as screen speakers in a commercial 7.1 system with bass management (rolled the lower frequencies into the subwoofer). It came out rather well with zero complaints. I guarantee that anyone watching movies in those auditoriums have no idea that there are just the three "surround" speakers behind the screen (plus subwoofer) instead of traditional screen speakers.

[Chris Wehrman]

Thanks for the link Mark. I'll probably go with those. Can you suggest a Jbl model for the screen chanels that would be appropriate and compliment the 8340As? My screen is 12x5.

Thanks.

[Chris Wehrman]

Steve, very true. What sounds good to one person may not sound good to another. I've never heard a ribbon tweeter but have always been told they are very easy to listen to but can be very delicate. I can't see how they could survive a cinema environment.

I hate buying speakers with out listening to them. Unfortunately there aren't any showrooms that demo cinema speakers, let alone used equipment. I always liked jbl, I used them when I did sound for several churches and small bands in my area. Paiired them with QSC amps and a dbx drive rack processor and was always impressed with the sound.

Chris

[Steve Guttag]

If you want JBL...the M2 is the da-bomb. However, they are diametrically opposed to your "thrift" factor in purchasing. They are extremely easy to listen to. I don't know if JBL has any commercial systems I'd use in a home-theatre aside from something like the M2, which is a Studio Monitor. So, I would suppose that other studio monitors should probably be listened to. For surrounds, from JBL, I'd think Control 1 or Control 5, if you want something larger, would be sufficient. They also have the Control Contractor series with things like the Control 25-1L and the Control 28 (stay away from the Control 23). There are some HiFi nuts that like the older JBL 4671 and you might be able to pick on of those up for cheap, somewhere. If you're REALLY lucky, you might find an old theatre that has leftovers from the Fox 360 days and they have Altec 604-8Gs...now those would be sweet in a home cinema applicaiton.

[Carsten Kurz]

It would be more fun to buy these Vive surrounds and test them. If you don't like them, I don't think it will be a problem to sell them again (probably even with some profit), there is a large crowd buying second hand cinema speakers, and there are people with a special interest in ribbon speakers. You can even advertise them as original Dolby Cinema ATMOS speakers (because, initially, Dolby Cinemas used Christie Vive exclusively). People can find this through Google.

[Steve Guttag]

Hold up there. Dolby, to the best of my knowledge, NEVER had an exclusivity deal with Christie or the VIVE for Atmos. They did have a joint promotion and there was exactly 1 CinemaCon (and I would presume the other shows of that year) where they featured the VIVE (which, let me assure you, did not change my opinion of the VIVE...in fact, quite the opposite, they fell in stature, for me). One can look in the DAD or DART and see all of the speakers that have been thrown at Dolby ATMOS (note, I didn't say "approved," they are not THX, and test every make/model...they are going to go by manufacturer's specs). They even have "Hotsound" speakers listed.

[Marcel Birgelen]

Some of the earliest Dolby Atmos installs in Europe didn't use Christie Vive speakers, although there was some cross promotion between Christie and Dolby. Also, their first Dolby Cinema builds use Christie Vive speakers, they only later switched to Dolby branded speakers based on the SLS speakers, which they acquired.

I don't have a lot of experience with the Vive speakers themselves, but those early Dolby Cinema installs used a lot of mini-line-arrays for their surround speakers. I'm not going to pretend those are the best sounding Atmos installs on the planet, but they surely don't sound all that bad in those configurations.

[Steve Guttag]

Marcel, I was given a semi-private Atmos demo with a Vive system and I, especially since my opinion was solicited, offered my opinion. As you may be able to deduce from this thread, it wasn't a flattering one. I have heard that my opinion was not in the minority either. I've been in actual, Dolby owned screening rooms (with Atmos)...no Vive in there either.

[John Thomas]

I have tuned a few small-ish rooms with Vive systems. Their surrounds are pretty good. Not a fan of the screen channels.

Hard to go wrong with QSC.