The last room that I
visited housed the Lumen White / Viac
setup. The Lumen White Light
speakers are a five-driver, three-way
monitor system in handsome 1.2-inch
maple wood cabinets and are not cheap
with a sticker price at $28,000. If you
were to look down at these speakers from
the top, they would appear to be
somewhat bottle shaped. From the front,
both sides are curved inward so as to
form a small rectangle at the rear. This
unusual shape is probably what accounts
for the absence of any audible cabinet
resonance done through a very unusually
shaped cabinet. The claimed frequency
response is 28 Hz to 35 kHz. The nominal
impedance is 4 ohms with a sensitivity
of 91.5 dB. Active shielding eliminates
noise. The design calls for no other
cabinet damping. The crossover is
likewise kept simple.
Driven by the Viac
52B single-ended, class A, tube
monoblocks, the sound of this system
bordered on sonic magic. The speaker's
coherence is amazing given the fact that
it uses five drivers. The bass was the
best I've heard from any one box system
as well as a number of systems
incorporating outboard subs. The
midrange was quite smooth and
transparent, with a sweet top. The
overall tonal balance was just on the
warm side, which is fine with me. Of
course this sonic manna does not come
cheap: the White Lights go for
$35,000 and the Viac 52B's for
$18,000 the pair. If you ever get to
hear this combo, you will understand
why.
