High&Style - YG Acoustics Hailey 2.2 speakers

AUTHOR ANDREJ TUROK
PHOTO YG ACOUSTICS

You know how it is with first dates. You're excited and full of anticipation. The first testing of the American YG Acoustics™ loudspeakers was carried out with the Hailey™2.2 model from the sales portfolio of the Bratislava-based Dreamaudio company. We knew what we were getting into. The set-up, with a total price of about 150 000 €, promised an extraordinary experience and a lavish audiophile feast. The "booths" themselves, then, with the tomahawk clenched just below the €60,000 mark. That's the kind of money that makes the dolls spin, but... The question will be whether our dials will spin with bliss even when we listen to it. Whether or not we will be raptured.

The Colorado-based company, headquartered in Arvada, was founded in 2002 by Yoav Geva and Dave Komatz. They went into this ambitious project with a clear technological vision and the idea of fulfilling it in the form of audiophile loudspeakers, defined by the motto: "Nothing, but pure Truth." The company's current portfolio today includes six basic models (Carmel, Hailey, Sonja, Sonja XV, Vantage and Invicible) with "upgrades" plus dedicated multichannel systems. Plus racks and tables from the Rack Series, lest I forget. With a passion for music and its mediated display, the YG Acoustics™ team produces technologically innovative arrays, supercharged with patented solutions for the design of transducers, switches and the soundboard itself. All Hand Made and Precision Crafted in the U.S.A.

The new Hailey™2 line comes in three variants - the Hailey™2.1 is defined by its compact solution, the Hailey™2R is a passive two-way speaker optimized for stereo and home cinema, and finally, the Hailey™2.2 we tested is an ultra-high-end column-loaded solution consisting of the Hailey™2.1 tower plus a bass module. The entire Hailey model range is emblazoned with the slogan "Pure Harmony" and many rave testimonials. Key technologies you will encounter here include BilletCore™, BilletDome™ NEW, ForgeCore™, DualCoherent™, ToroAir™, ViseCoil™ NEW, Cabinet Technology and FocusedElimination™. A good portion of gadgets! Hailey™2.2 is described by the manufacturer as a system that delivers the natural, realistic sound of the Sonja flagship at a price point accessible to a wider high-end audience. Identical technologies are mirrored here with premium industrial design. In short - 21st century engineering and ultimate craftsmanship in the service of the best possible perception.

The 76-kilogram sculpture has a silhouette that is cubic in the divided upper tower. But just above the ensuing bass section, it begins to round out - the bowed radius subtly continues all the way to the very bottom of the cabinet. A side view reveals that the front panel projects forward towards the bottom, defining the woofer's beam angle and achieving ideal sphasing of all bands. The cabinet walls are precision CNC milled from aircraft aluminum alloy. The vibration-free pressure assemblage of the cabinet components provides desirable rigidity and resistance. FocusedElimination™ technology eliminates internal turbulence and energy loss inside the cabinet at a rate incomparably higher than that achieved with open-box loudspeakers.

All pairs of columns are precisely paired by the manufacturer, right down to the level of the switch and converter components. The arrays provide a frequency range from 20 Hz to 40 kHz. The BilletCore™ mid-range woofer is similar in design to the smaller diameter mid-bass above. The diaphragms of both transducers are precision (CNC) milled from a monolith of aircraft aluminum in-house. Their stiffness-to-weight ratio is phenomenal as a result. The low distortion BilletDome™ tweeter is driven by a ForgeCore™ magnetic system with a skeleton with sophisticated 3D geometry. The fully passive concept and proprietary DualCoherent™ turnout operate at 65 Hz and 1.75 kHz split frequencies. They are designed based on a proprietary software concept. ViseCoil™ bass inductors reduce residual losses and improve linearity for greater bass impact and ease of interfacing with most used amplifiers. ToroAir™ inductors eliminate crosstalk. Optional NordOst cabling is primarily approved for internal wiring on all Hailey models unless other internal wiring is requested by the customer. All models of the Hailey line are fully modular and therefore upgradable in the future in line with developments and requirements.

So we started listening. From the first notes it dawned on us that we were dealing with some of the most realistic and complex sounding booths on the market. Whether we were listening to Oscar Peterson's sparkling piano and famously rendered double bass, or Mark Knopfler's ringing guitar, Brian Bromberg's virtuosic overdubbing, Brian Bromberg's complex percussion with its incredibly rendered triangle and deep Japanese kettles - everything played with an asterisk - present, enthusiastic, natural, proportional, with realistically rendered space. Here I can't help mentioning that Devialet, whose correction and adaptation software built into its high-end products adjusts the final presentation, stated with the YG speakers that no intervention was necessary or desirable. No wonder. The level of realism and complexity here has reached a new, unheard-of level, where it's just a step away from an authentic live musicians' concert in your living room. It is unnecessary and, from my point of view, almost perverse, to resort to analysing the delivery of individual bands when everything plays so coherently, with obvious musicality, precision and dynamics, and yet you're madly enjoying it and you're "begging" - more, more, more... We couldn't get enough of the acoustic pleasure, conveyed by an exceptionally fine-tuned line-up with a frontman with Mercury's charisma and genius. I have no doubt that the components of the line-up give the best to the booths, just as top haute couture fashion designers dress their best mannequins. We just sat there like five bucks, not even "touching", listening and sniffing bliss like a bunch of kitties over a bowl full of whipped cream. Every tinkle of the triangle, every pluck of the strings, every stab of the saxophone has its place, its color, its meaning in the texture of the picture. The high-resolution recordings were full of aliquot pearl, life to the marrow, and the essential beauty of the music emerged from it all.

If this is how YG Acoustics' third highest speakers sound, then how do the Sonja 2 and Sonja XV sound?! Where can we move to? I can imagine the sound being bigger, like a larger symphony orchestra compared to a chamber orchestra. But I can't really imagine a shift in realism and complexity. Anyway - Hailey's acoustic comet flew in, shone, mesmerized us, and perhaps heralded a new benchmark for the high end world. I'm contemplative, effusive and per plex. This is an aristocratic revolution.

PROS

• utimative processing
• comprehensive and realistic sound
• comprehensive and realistic sound

RESPONSIBILITIES

• price is the only one for our conditions

Chain

Pre amp - Ayre KX5 twenty, Power amp - Pass Labs X250.8, DAC - Chord Dave, power filtration - Torus AVR16, Siltech cable set - spk - Crowne Prince, xlr Crowne Prince, power Ruby Mountain II, USB - Golden Universal II, Rack - ARTESANIA EXOTERYC ER 3+3

Transducers: 3 (bass, mid-bass and treble)
Cabinet: closed
Frequency range: 20 - 40 000 Hz
Sensitivity: 87 dB (2.83 V/1 m)
Impedance: 4 Ω nominal, minimum 3 Ω
Turnout: 65 Hz and 1.75 kHz
Dimensions: 122 x 33 x 54 cm
Weight: 76 kg/pc
Price: 59 000 €/pair
www.dreamaudio.eu