Pretty, not pretty, pretty cool
The Crystal Dipole is pretty. The smoked plexiglass is a good look, an unobtrusive foil for the stunning Cube Audio F10 Select driver. I am not used to peering through the baffle at cables and subwoofer amps, and it took a bit of getting used to the transparency. It should not cost much to the company, and it may help sales if a solid baffle is offered. Seeing as how the wood selection varies for the Mode 1, why not offer for an appropriate upcharge a complimentary wooden baffle? It would hide the ugly portion of the Model 1. The subwoofer is accepted despite its appearance, while the F10 Select driver fronting the Crystal Dipole is like the Lotus flower that pops out of murky swamps. It’s hard to eliminate all such considerations involving a tinted baffle when the speaker is called the Crystal Dipole. So be it. VPE would do well to hide the amp of the Model 1 better to not disturb the beauty of the Crystal Dipole. The combination of the full-range speaker and subwoofer will appeal especially to budget oriented and DIY types. There is enough bling to satisfy the desire to have an aesthetically appealing speaker.
There is a potential idiosyncrasy to note involving potential low-level hissing from the power amp through the speakers with certain combinations of electronics. It is not an uncommon effect because of the combination of a higher efficiency speaker and powerful amps. Even when no signal is played, there may be some noise associated with the amp. I have found that typically, the higher the efficiency of the speaker and higher the power of the amp, the more potential there is for a hissing sound to emerge from what is expected to be black silence. As an example, the Legacy Audio i.V4 Ultra Amplifier is a class D design. Theoretically, all Class D amps are dead silent, but there are some which manifest low level noise with very efficient speakers. When I used the Legacy Audio Valor Speaker System, the massive and very efficient 12” concentric midrange driver emitted a slight hiss; lZTROP766 6sx776 ikewise, the Crystal Dipole’s Cube F10 Select driver.
It is hardly a case of the amplifier being defective. I have chosen to use long term the i.V4 Ultra Amplifier over some very pricey, very lauded amps because of its holistic performance. When paired with the Kingsound King III electrostatic speakers, which are much less efficient, the amps present no noise at all. There is also potential for differing levels of noise in the system associated with sources, so amps are not the only culprit.
If you think that is bad news, consider the opposite problem, which I have come to consider worse. The lower the efficiency of the speaker and the lower the power of the amp, the more likely that a great deal of the music signal will not be rendered well, that is, several attributes of SOTA sound will suffer. In the worst instances, such a combination is lifeless, without stirring impact and depth to the performance. An under-driven speaker has less headroom, less macrodynamic impact, less resolution, less depth of the sound stage, and is in general less involving. That is a lot of the experience to give up ensuring that not a peep is heard when there is no signal. Remember, in nearly all such situations, perception of the noise completely disappears when the music starts. The only time it might be detectable is in very quiet passages of near silence. I have built systems at both ends of the spectrum, and whereas in my younger years I would not accept any noise in a system, now I tolerate a bit of it to gain impact, vividness, depth of sound field, and higher resolution.
Some combinations of gear result in noise when there is no signal present and others result in silence. One does not know the result until the system is built. It is disappointing to hear any noise intrude upon what is to be absolute silence. However, if you thoroughly enjoy the other aspects of performance of your components and cable set, you likely will enjoy the Crystal Dipole. That is a generalization, but one that has been true with most systems and speakers in my room. If you cannot tolerate the thought of any hint of noise, then stay away from higher efficiency speakers, because at some point you will get noise. I feel the advantages of full-range speakers are strong enough to compromise when it comes to their use. I have learned to see the forest for the trees.
Putting a passive external crossover in the chain?
The one drawback with the Cube F10 Select driver is significant rise in output from 6,000 to 15,000 Hz. It makes the driver sound less colorful and less full-bodied, tipped noticeably toward the upper end. It is tough enough for a full range driver to carry weight in the low end, but when there is rising output in the mid to upper treble, it stands out like a sore thumb. Why would VPE select such a seemingly flawed driver? It’s not so much flawed as idiosyncratic. The driver is terrifically nuanced, very refined, more so than the 10” concentric driver used in the PureAudioProject Trio15 10” Coaxial Speaker. It’s very linear over most of the frequency range, and that makes for stunningly crisp, clean center imaging. If the peak in the upper frequencies can be addressed, it’s a winner.
The rise in the mid to upper treble exacerbates any system noise issue. As such, it was incumbent upon VPE to provide a solution for those who find emphasized upper end intolerable. In keeping with the budget-oriented approach to audio, along with an 8’ set of affordable Kimber Kable speaker cables, VPE provided for this article a low-cost passive equalizer to be inserted into the signal path so the midrange and bass could be raised to a complementary level. For the review, a Schiit Lokius was sent to perform that function. In the following sections, I will have much to say about system development and its impact on the Crystal Dipole and Model 1. Many of the concepts delineated will be helpful to all audiophiles, not only owners of VPE products.
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