Small foot prints and looks. Very musically involving

none except a 25 wt/ch receiver won't do. :-)

This sh*t ROCKS!!!

It matches very well with my components.
NAD C370 Integrated Amp, NAD C451 CD Player, NAD C420 Tuner, and Kimber 4tc cables.

Vocals are just awesome. Horns sounds like horns, Acoustic guitars sounds like acoustic guitars.

The only weakness, if it is a weaknes is that these speakers need some fairly powered amp.

I use to have a 25 wt/ch NAD receiver. Although it sounded good with it, the receiver gets really hot after about 45 minutes. This receiver did not have this problem with my old speaker w/ same sensitivity. Hmmm. Must be the impedance. My old speakers had 8 ohms.

Anyway, I bought a new 120 wt/ch NAD Int Amp and the problem went away.

Until I purchased the VA Bach's, I had owned several models of Magneplaners. I LOVE the openness of the Maggies, and their ability to "disappear" in the listening room. However, I was never happy with the way they reproduced good ol' rock and roll. The Vienna Acoustic's were the first "typical" speakers I heard (in my price range) that had some of the airiness of the Maggies, but also the ability to rock. I bought the store's first demo pair for $1,000 and have rarely looked back. I also love the finish which, by chance, almost exactly matches my ACI Titan subwoofer (the Bach's REALLY open up if properly connected to a good subwoofer). Haven't tried wiring the tweeters out of phase yet, though. Hmmm . . .

Build and Sound.

No bass below 45 Hz

Dear

Reader


After three months of listening, and review can now be given. This offering by Vienna is an excellent value in the sub 2K price range. It is not perfect, and below are my findings.

Top. Smooth and open. Rating B+

Mid. Natural and clear. One of the best midrange presentations at any price. Rating B+

Low. Tight down to 45 Hz. As logic would apply, a 7" driver cannot produce a 20 Hz sound wave. Rating B

The Bachs offer excellent tonal balance, but need some help in reaching their zenith regarding low end output. Below are some tips on this matter.

Use 30 pounds of lead shot, and not sand.
Use with an amp rated 150 wpc/8 ohms or greater.
Use excellent cables such as M1000i/Monster M2.2s

The afore-mentioned tips will tighten the bass, and help it get down to a "Real" 45 Hz. Sure you can buy a Classe Sigma and some silver Kimber Cable, but do not expect any more bass out of this speaker. The 7" driver just does not go there.

Below is my current setup.

Denon DVD 3300
Monster M1000i
Classe CAP 151
Monster M2.2s
Vienna Bach

While not state of the art, my system is quite respectable. This Vienna offering does far more right than wrong. They can play any type of music with pleasing results. You can play this speaker for days without strain. It is really that good.

A strong "Buy" can be given to this very fine sounding, and well made product from the land of Mozart.

Similar Products Used:

Sonus Faber, Goldmund, and Mission

I've owned the Bach's for 5 months now and its time to submit a review.
The Bach's are terrific speakers. They have the sound I have been searching hard for. Tight bass that is quite powerful and deep for the size of the speaker. Midrange is beautiful, female vocals are what this speaker is all about! The treble is very sweet and detailed, but I love how it isn't harsh as with many other speakers I listened to. The midrange and treble blend together very well, thanks to a nice crossover with a gentle cutoff. The two drivers used make a great team together.
They are also great looking speakers, very elegant indeed! The build quality is definitely solid from top to bottom. I like how these speakers have a small footprint and have fairly narrow front baffles compared with other speakers. They take up less floor space than a pair bookshelves with solid speaker stands. They don't attract too much attention, so they can be placed in almost any room. (I have the beechwood finish and love it!)
Overall, I'm sure you can tell that I am happy with the Bach's. Their sound may not be for everyone. Some say it's laid back and warm. This is why I love them. I can listen to them all day and my ears never get tired, but they are full sounding and the detail is still fantastic. Other speakers I tried sounded good for a little while, and then just got annoying in the high end. This is probably due to inferior recordings, but the Bach's make them sound much more pleasant. The Bach's aren't perfect, but for $1500 they do so many things right! I listen to just about everything but metal, rap, and country.
These speakers must be auditioned in the $1500 price range. Be careful of how they are set up in the stores, and the equipment used. Make sure to keep them at least 16" back from the rear walls. BTW, fill their bottom chamber with fine-grain sand all the way for added weight and improved bass performance. Sand is cheap, just make sure it is dry, and use the spikes.

My 2-channel setup:
NAD C370 integrated amp
NAD C521 cd player
Monster Cable Z1 speaker cable
Audio Quest Sidewinder interconnect

Used in a 10.5' x 12.5' room

Accurate reproduction of material w/out sounding too analytical. Excellent voice, gorgeous highs, beautiful construction.

I can't think of any weakness.

There seems to be some tendencies exhibited on this site to rate against irrelevance - like rating a burger against a steak. I will rate this loudspeaker against its peers at similar price-points.

My tastes in a loudspeaker may change. At this time, my preferences can be summarised by the qualifying phrase: "allow me to listen without fatigue to an emotionally evocative loudspeaker with inherent trancendental conviction. Oh yea, please do so for about 1500 bucks.

There are many good speakers at this price, but do an a/b test on them. In my experiences doing the same, the Vienna's went from the underdog of my perceptions to the leader of the pack. Do it yourself. That pain in your hears / head could be telling you something.

These speakers are moderately sensitive to micro-placement issues. They also should be weighted and locked to station. Off-axis transmission of the silk-domes can create a blurred/smeared image. Absorb the energies or be closer to the drivers than the drivers are to side walls/surfaces to improve staging. These issues hold true for most loudspeakers.

By the way, these loudspeakers accel at home theatre as indicated by review. Their vocal superlatives temper the harshness found in many DD / AC3 tracks...

Thanks VA & Sumiko.

Ps - I'm not trying to imply any timid nature to this speaker - I have a sub in this sytem whose performance is currently a positive benchmark from a freq / spl standpoint. These speakers play as powerfully as you're apt to desire - and they don't hurt you doing it. See ya.

Similar Products Used:

Many.

See below

See below

This is a follow up to my review below. After listening to these speakers for several hours a day for the last three months, I have to admit that they have not grown on me. The treble is too "sweet" and laid back, loosing some of the finer details in the highest octives. It remains a fair bargain, but I think I am going to be looking to upgrade soon. I will be looking at B&W and Paradigm Reference. Overall 3 stars here, 4 below, to average at 3.5 stars

Remarkably deep bass, very muscial sound

imgaging could be better, detail is good, but not the best

These speakers are very musical--they are not overly bright, and the bass suprises me, revealing a depth to music that I didn't know was there in some pieces. The detail is fairly good, but doesn't compare with the Martin Logans--which are, unfortunately, not an option in my smallish office, where these speakers are positioned.
Bass is very substantial, much better than the other speakers I auditioned, listed above. I am constantly surprised how low they go, while staying tight and accurate.
Imaging is good, but in terms of soundstage, I was much more impressed by the B&W, which were out of my price-range. Overall a very competent speaker. They do not draw attention to themselves, and exhibit fair neutrality. Not the last word, but a good bargain.

Similar Products Used:

Mission 774, Mirage OM9, Paradigm reference 40s, Martin Logans, B&W N804, ADS, Klipsch, Sonus Faber Concertos

clear overall sound, very smooth high

needs carefull placement to avoid boomy bass, amplification will need some breathing space

I am very pleased with these. I have got them for a few weeks now and still I don't know what to listen first from my CD collection. Out of the box they sound good but they do need some playing hours to come to full-strength indeed. I totally agree with the filling part.
It does need a firm amplifier. I'm using the Marantz PM 78 now and its not really fit for the job. As of soon the Krell KAV300i will drive them to get rid of that problem.
If you're really in it for the music you'll have to love them and there's is no serious competitor for the price.
So do yourself the favor.

Similar Products Used:

mission 783, proac 125

Takes attention away from your system and draws you to focus on what's important...the music

slightly limited dynamic range

I was a little leary of these at first. Of course, there is no way in hell you can get a decent demo from the knuckleheads at tweeter, so I kind of went out on a limb. Having suffered from the audiophile syndrome of swapping many pairs of speakers over the past 10 years, I've become a bit jaded. I've just become accustomed to sonic compromise at the price point that most of us are willing to spend on speakers. Sure, I've come across some very audiophile-sounding speakers in the past, but none has ever made me tear through my music collection like these babies.
I'll spare the typical audiophile descriptives. These will make you forget about imaging, extension, dynamic range, focus and elicit the one thing that is most important about listening to music, emotion. It's funny how an expensive pile of boxes, when hooked up to a speaker such a this one, can draw a genuine smile from you when you're listening to your favorite recording...amazing. For the first time ever, I don't want to touch a thing in my system. Sorry Audio Advisor, but you won't be hearing from me for quite some time! Do yourself a favor, take a chance and try these, they are remarkable. The tweeter is simply magical and bottom end is quite surprising for such a small speaker!
system:
marantz cd-67se
msb link dac III
classe cap101
vienna acoustics bach
mit mh-750 speaker cables

Similar Products Used:

tannoy r2, magnepan mg12, nht 2.5i, etc.

I auditioned a number of speakers (B&W, Vandersteen, KEF) and found these floor standing speakers to have the best transparency, sound image, and range of comparably priced speakers from the others. At $1500 (negotiable to $1350) a pair, tehy are not cheap, but as soon as I heard them I went up from my previous price limit of $1000. The bases fill with sand, providing extended bass response.