One of the genuine pleasures within the high-end audio industry is the inherent duty to keep legendary and beloved brands alive. (The most recent example of this, of course, is Acora Acoustics‘ purchase of Audio Research.) Another example slipped by in recent years, underneath my radar–YG Acoustics. When Mark Sossa of Well Pleased Audio Vida invited me to attend the YG Acoustics and Vinnie Rossi event for the grand opening of Alma Audio East in Sterling VA, my old stomping ground back in the ’90s, I didn’t even notice the “lull,” as everyone seemed to call it, that has marked YG’s presence in the market during the last few years.
Words and Photos by Marc Phillips
I attended an Alma Audio event in San Diego back in 2018, when I had only been at PTA for a few weeks. I covered the debut of the D’Agostino Relentless monoblocks, which were powered by YG Acoustics Sonja XV speakers. Over the last five years I assumed that YG was still around, doing their solid aluminum billet thang, and I went about my business without hearing anything new. That, of course, was the “lull” that I mentioned.
YG Acoustics wasn’t torn down and built back up by new owners. New owners did come in, but they were all fans of YG. In some cases, such as new designer and CEO Dr. Matthew Webster, they were already enthusiastic owners who had a clear idea of how the products might be improved. With the help of Duncan Taylor, Marketing, and Steve Huntley, VP of Global Sales, they stuck to the original design principles while taking advantage of modern technical innovations to make every aspect of the product the best it can possibly be–especially in 2023.
Yoav Geva, the YG in YG, started the company back in 2002 and stayed on during the transition. He departed in 2020. The new team is running everything now in Arvada CO, and YG Acoustics is now focused on preserving the original strengths of the speaker while addressing past criticisms–the new designs now have wider dispersion characteristics, and modern CNC machining and computer modeling are now used extensively to refine every square millimeter of these loudspeakers. The new YG speakers are also easier to set-up. Not easy, per se, because these aluminum sculptures still demand precise placement. But it’s easier than before thanks to those forgiving dispersion characteristics.
It shouldn’t be a surprise that YG Acoustics and Vinnie Rossi are such an ideal match. Both companies are dedicated to constant research and improvement. For example, YG Acoustics uses that computer modeling to examine 15 million individual points on the tweeter waveguide to determine the proper shape for the best dispersion. Vinnie Rossi places the 300Bs in the preamp stages in a horizontal arrangement to shorten the signal paths. It’s fascinating to listen to the impossibly long list of design features for both YG Acoustics and Vinnie Rossi, and the mutual respect between the two companies is palpable.
Alex Siufy installed two stunning sound rooms for his new Alma Audio East location–there is a large dedicated substation transformer in the back of the store next to the electrical equipment, the walls and doors are built according to their superb acoustical properties. (There’s also a large open room when you first walk in where the more affordable systems are placed.) Alma Audio East is not one of those cluttered audio stores where you’re constantly tripping on and bumping into expensive gear–every square foot is clean and full of purpose.
We’re talking, of course, of a medium room and the “big” room, with YG Acoustics and Vinnie Rossi set up in each one. In the smaller room we had the Vinnie Rossi Brama integrated ($38,900) matched with the new YG Acoustics Talus ($14,500/pr), from the company’s newer and affordable Peaks line. Analog was supplied by the Bergmann Magne turntable with a Hana Umami Blue cartridge, and digital was supplied by a Nagra Classic 2 DAC and an Innuos Pulse Mini, with both systems run by an Innuos server in the front room. All cabling was supplied by Kubala-Sosna.
The big room featured the Vinnie Rossi separate preamp and stereo power amp ($36,000 each), mated to the brand new YG Acoustics Sonja 3.2 loudspeakers at $99,000/pair. Another Bergmann ‘table, the flagship Galder with Odin tonearm and an Air-Tight Opus 1 cartridge, handled the analog duties while the magnificent MSB Select DAC and that Innuos server acted as the digital source. Cables, again, were supplied by Kubala-Sosna.
We started with the smaller YG Acoustics and Vinnie Rossi room, of course, and I was mightily impressed with the two-way floorstanding Talus speakers. Duncan Taylor informed me that the seemingly modest Talus had some of the best back wave impulse response in the YG line, which underlined the theme of the Peaks series. It’s not about buying speakers that get bigger and better and more expensive as you move up the line–each model has its own unique strengths. (For instance, the Talus has an impedance of 7 ohms, the only model in the Peaks line with that spec.)
The Talus also focuses on isolating the crossover boards in the base section–it’s the closest thing to an external crossover as you can get without interrupting the flow of the visual design.
YG Acoustics and Vinnie Rossi–Sound
The sound of both YG Acoustics and Vinnie Rossi systems at Alma Audio East were superb, and for different reasons. We started with the smaller system, of course, and I was immediately impressed with the seemingly modest Talus and its ability to provide everything audiophiles want from a high-end audio speaker–deep bass response, superb detail retrieval and an expansive soundstage that easily matched the performance I’ve heard from big YG Acoustics speakers in the past. It didn’t take long for me to realize that the Talus is a screaming bargain for the price.
The Vinnie Rossi Brama integrated has long been one of my favorite integrated amplifiers. It’s certainly not inexpensive, but it offers some of the best amplifier performance I’ve experienced–even from separates. While the YG Acoustics designs are all about delivering the pure signal while minimizing the effects of drivers and the enclosure through pursuing a perfect phase slope, the Brama still offers the type of warmth I need from my system. Not a lot, mind you, but enough where I can still chase all the stress out of my body and fall under the spell of the music. So the YG Acoustics and Vinnie Rossi teamed up to deliver a sound truly tailored to my personal tastes–an incredible level of detail presented with a warm and memorable embrace of pure sound.
YG Acoustics and Vinnie Rossi–the Big Room
By the time we finished up in the medium YG Acoustics and Vinnie Rossi room, I had that vague sensation that this was enough, and I could go home happy knowing that I had just heard one of my favorite systems of a very long and busy year. But wait, there’s more!
The larger YG Acoustics and Vinnie Rossi room was astounding. The YG Acoustics Sonja 3.2 enclosure has no parallel surfaces, an entirely new front baffle from previous Sonjas, incredible tight tolerances in respect to all the machining, and a new lattice tweeter design. (The aluminum cone of the Sonja is perforated, in a way, that sounds like a silk dome while preserving the incredible stiffness of the aluminum.) The Sonja 3.2, as well as the other YG models, concentrates on the idea of inter-driver phase coherence through an entirely new crossover design, custom capacitors and better isolation from vibrations than ever before.
When it comes to the aluminum machining, those classic YG Acoustics practices are still in place. For instance, the drivers are still machined from solid aluminum billet. In fact, YG Acoustics starts with a 14 pound block for its cone woofer, and machines it all the way down to 7 grams. That sounds like a lot of waste, but all aluminum is recycled. (As someone noted, the aluminum comes in at one price, and goes out at a very different price.) That’s the only way to create drivers with that combination of stiffness and low mass.
I’m not 100% sure, but this might be the first time I’ve heard the Brama separates. I’ve heard the Brama integrated a number of times now, and I feel like I know it well enough to recommend it as a top integrated pick, so what do you get when you jump up to the separate preamp and power amp? More power, of course–350 watts per channel into 8 ohms. The signal paths are even shorter, and there are four output devices per rail. With the Brama line, Vinnie Rossi achieves his goal of increasing the current without relying upon more resistors in the signal path. You still get the fabulous Belles regulators, of course, and one of the finest remote controls in the industry–it operates in the analog domain while giving you an incredible array of features. The casework is exquisite as well, milled from high-grade aluminum 6063.
The sound was so compelling that I spent the better part of two days in that room, playing everything I could imagine through that world-class MSB server. (If you’ve been distracted by newer state-of-the-art digital gear, you should remind yourself that it’s still chasing after the same sound MSB has offered for a long time.) While everyone was happy to play my usual demo tracks (yes, we’re talking about “Chocolate Chip Trip” again), I may have discovered a new love, one that came from an unexpected place–the recent remastering of Linda Ronstadt’s Canciones de Mi Padre. It seems that everyone at the Alma Audio event had recently re-discovered this recording, and we all couldn’t get enough of it. If you dream of sitting in a room and listening to Linda sing live, this is incredibly close.
From YG Acoustics and Vinnie Rossi to Europe
I’ve been looking so forward to my 2023 road trip through Europe–by the end of it I had visited England, Portugal, France, Switzerland, Germany and Ireland–that I hadn’t considered how impressive the first stage of the trip in the good ol’ USA would be. I’ve loved Vinnie Rossi amps since the first time I heard one, back in the Red Wine Audio days. I’ve always liked YG Acoustics–I was a huge fan of the first generation of the petite two-way floor-standing Carmels a good dozen years ago.
But now, under the new guidance of a passionate team, YG Acoustics has suddenly leaped into Land of My Favorite Transducers. I’ve been planning on reviewing a pair of YG Acoustics speakers all year long, and now that I have a big listening room to accommodate them that will be happening soon. In fact, I will be reviewing the Sonja 3.2s. As for Vinnie Rossi, I’ve been waiting to review the Bramas since they appeared, and again I will hopefully have the integrated in my listening room shortly.
As for YG Acoustics and Vinnie Rossi together, all I can say is “What a combination!” I think the two companies are proud of the collaboration at Alma Audio East. If you see a high-end audio show room in the future with these two brands together, I highly recommend that you go inside and take a listen for yourself. It’s superb in every way.
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