XAVIAN Giulia
Floorstanding loudspeakers
The Giulia is a beautiful loudspeaker. It does not feature state-of-the-art technologies. It is not designed by a flamboyant architect. The Giulia is the complete "back to the roots" of loudspeaker building - it features fine craftsmanship, natural materials and time-tested solutions. Such designs are virtually timeless.
Function and form
Enclosures of the Xavian Giulia are simple rectangular shapes made from 22mm thick MDF board. Inside the enclosures are damped by tar sheets and polyurethane foam. Xavian also provides an interesting option: the bottom part of the cabinets can be filled by sand or lead pellets to increase the mass of the speaker. The MDF is covered by walnut veneer which creates and attractive combination with the matt anthracite finish of the paper cones.
The Giulias are 2.5-way system. Midrange and bass is covered by two 180mm Scan-Speak Revelator drivers, highs are covered by 29mm Scan-Speak fabric dome tweeter. The tweeter and the upper driver work in full, the lower driver, which works in a dedicated chamber, is filtered at 300Hz.
The Giulia does not support bi-wiring; using no binding posts plate has become Xavian's tradition - top of the range WBT 0730 Platinum terminals are mounted directly into the rear wall, padded only by a small leather tag with Xavian's insignia. I only regretted that the speaker terminals were too high. If this is a speaker of your choice than you pay extra lengths of a speaker cable to reach them.
Bass management
On paper the Giulias frequency response is 45Hz - 32000Hz. This corresponds to what the Giulias in fact are: monitors with integrated bases instead of stands. Still, the bass of Giulias was tuneful and I did not miss its weight as the low-end was in right proportions with the midrange and the treble. With Pink Floyd (Mobile Fidelity's remaster of The Wall, which is heavy-handed in lows) the bass was strong and rounded, but also a bit loose and overhanging as if the enclosures were too lively. Maybe the lead pellets would really help. It reminded me of good SET amplifiers with its warmth and generousness with the lack of punch and definition.
Clarity & delicacy
All the Xavians that I auditioned were quite laid back in highs - the Giulias' highs had much more spark and prominency. I used all the tricky recordings that I had to test the sizzle and sibilants and to convict the Giulias of too much brilliance but no success. Sometimes they walked the thin red line that divides spark from nuisance but never crossed it. I would call the Giulias treble presentation "silky brilliance", they never caused any listening fatigue to my ears and remained transparent and detailed.
A flute can be quite an annoying instrument that may sound aggressive and shrieky in real life. It never sounded aggressive through the Giulias, just alive. I could savour tiny details like air flowing through the openings before it was stopped by the felt of keys.
Tonal accuracy
When I was listening to an a capella piece Gloucester Wassail (Loreena McKennitt) I missed more fleshy presentation - the vocals were clearly generated by throats rather than chests. However, the Giulias wonderfully portrayed the spatial image vocalists within the wide and deep soundstage.
Spatial resolution
Xavian is traditionally good in imaging and the Giulias are not an exception. The images are stable and delineated withing three-dimensional soundstage that better what e.g. French Focal is capable of. If a triangle rings then you know exactly where it is, if a harpist touches strings then you know exactly what is the sequence of the strings in space. The presentation of the Giulias is very visual.
Recommended resellers
Nisel SK, Bratislava, tel. +421 905 203 078
Manufacturer's website: http://www.xavian.cz
Associated components
- Sources: Accuphase DP-510
- Amplifiers: Luxman L-590AX
- Interconnects and speaker cables: Krautwire Fractal, Nordost Purple Flare and Kimber Monocle XL
Gallery
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