Test of Vestlyd V12C & V15C – ”Vestlyds once again”

Vestlyd already sparks interest with its appearance at first glance. The large, 12 or 15-inch two-way speakers (Vestlyd V15C and Vestlyd V12C) have a look that strongly resembles large and powerful surveillance speakers, but in this case with a stunning faux leather finish.
Lookki stands out from the crowd, whether for good or bad, depending on the viewer. A cold demeanor is unlikely to leave anyone indifferent.

The appearance of the speakers also correlates well with the core of Vestlydin’s design philosophy: according to the manufacturer, the foundation of the sound is dynamic, with a reproduction that is as close as possible to a live performance, and also the ability to produce sound pressure level comparable to a live concert when necessary.

The speakers are reflex-tuned and of large size. The dimensions of the V15C are 468 x 742 x 417 millimeters, and with the optional stand the height rises to almost a meter (the stand height is 242 millimeters). The stand also tilts the speaker slightly. The smaller V12C has dimensions (without the stand) of 392 x 622 x 367 millimeters.

The loudspeakers are based on wideband 12 or 15-inch bass mid-range drivers, with compression toroidal tweeters placed centrally. The compression tweeters have high sensitivity and are usually only used in PA speakers.

Right in front of the tweeter designed for this speaker is a short metal tube that opens up from the center of the bass mid-range driver. The acoustic center of both elements is exactly the same, and thus the time and phase difference between them is as small as possible. The tweeter’s tube and the bass mid-range cone that is kind of its extension form an effective directional element in front of the tweeter. This is important because the reproduction of a large-diameter element becomes very directional as frequencies move towards the high frequencies. The directionality of the tweeter and the bass mid-range cone should be as similar as possible as the reproduction moves from one element to the other.

The rather compact compression discant is opened by a hinge made of aluminum. The mouthpiece of the discant has the typical horn-shaped phase plug for the compression elements. The discant is rotated to the center of the bass mid-range magnet. Behind the discant there is also a separate aluminum cooling plate.

The manufacturer indicates the acoustic frequency response as 1,100 Hertz, which is a surprisingly low but understandable value because the large-sized bass mid-range speaker cannot reproduce anything higher than that. The speakers have slightly different filters. There does not appear to be any electronic low-pass filtering for the bass mid-range, but its reproduction is naturally attenuated. For the treble, there is a 1st-degree high-pass filter with some kind of attenuation circuit. The V12C has a 2nd-degree low-pass filter for the bass and the same structure as the V15C.