Excellent speakers that are beautifully designed and built. The design of the Mahlers with their slanted rake is compact versus other speakers in this category, however the sound they produce no matter the music is wonderful. Mine are the version 1.5 and are used for 2 channel music as well as home theater. The speakers have extended highs with excellent voicing in the mid-range. They incorporate 2 Bass drivers which are very capable, however I'm using JL Audio subs to further enhance the Mahler's bottom end. If you find these, you will most likely keep them for a long time. No matter if it is Pop, Jazz, Classical, Funk, or Rock you'll fall and stay in love with these! Al

I do not believe they have a weakness other than if you are listening to music with volume at extremely high levels, they may sound somewhat congested in regards to bass reproduction.

Imaging, non-fatiguing high end, excellent mids and bass. Very nice looking speaker.

Heavy and may be too large for some rooms.

I've had the Mahler's for a couple weeks now and I know I'll be keeping these for a long time. The fit and finish is superb. Their performance is amazing. Bass is full and extended, the midrange is warm and detailed, and treble is detailed and non-fatiguing. I've had some well known speakers in my system including MG 3.6's, Revel Salon and Studio, and Legacy Focus HD but these Mahlers perform, as a total package, better than any of those models. Transparency and imaging is excellent. Their high frequency reproduction is extremely impressive. Excellent performance in both 2 channel and home theater. I'm glad VA kept these in their line up.

Similar Products Used:

Revel Salon
Revel Studio
Legacy Focus HD
Magnepan 3.6R

They make you forget about spending any more money on other speakers; "you have arrived" !

For this weight it would be good to have a better way of moving and positioning them, but I have not seen other speakers that got smarter in this specific area.

These speakers sound divine ! and they look beautiful too.

Customer Service

I have only contacted them by email and they were very responsive.

Similar Products Used:

I have tested a variety of other high end speakers in the $8-120K range

They make you forget about spending any more money on other speakers; "you have arrived" !

For this weight it would be good to have a better way of moving and positioning them, but I have not seen other speakers that got smarter in this specific area.

These speakers sound divine ! and they look beautiful too.

Customer Service

I have only contacted them by email and they were very responsive.

Similar Products Used:

I have tested a variety of other high end speakers in the $8-120K range

Sweet highs. Precise midrange. Deep, articulate bass. Beutiful built. Piano lacquer option is delicious.

Piano lacquer quite sensitive to the touch.

Excellent full-scale speaker providing fantastic sound while sporting outstanding build quality

Similar Products Used:

ProAc 3.8, Revel Performa F30, QUAD ESL 63, Rogers LS3/5a / AB1, Wilson Witt.

none

This is the best speaker you can get , same whit the strauss .

Similar Products Used:

INF beta 1B R90 , Logan ,Mirage M1SI M3SI ,B&W 801 802 800 ,wilson witt witt2 watt ,sonus ,dynaudio C2 C4 ,

Bass extension and impact, midrange is totally neutral but not overly analytical, treble is the perfect balance between detail and musicality. Non-fatiguing and beautiful to look at in the stunning rosewood finish, great WAF for such a large speaker.

Must have the amp to drive them, the room to house them, and a strong back to lift them.

I have lived with these beautiful speakers for a couple months now and every time I listen I still wonder how they make them look and sound so good for comparably little money against the Avalons, Wilson's, etc costing often over twice as much and offering less involvement and excitement of music. These speakers and the entire Vienna line seem to be greatly overlooked. They are in my mind one of the top two or three certainly in the under $20k speaker class as unlike the Kharmas and the Quads and most all the other speakers the audiophile rags drool over, these speakers are actually full range. The bass extension, impact, and clarity simply cannot be matched by many other speakers available anywhere near $10k. Along with this you also get incredible and completely neutral mids, smooth extended and airy highs, and an absolutely enormous soundstage. I listen to a variety of music, and no matter if you are listening to solo acoustic guitar or hard rock you are enveloped by the soundstage and marvel at the music these speakers produce. Dynamic contrasts are so vivid and dramatic that most people who listen to them, audiophile and non-audiophile alike are stunned. The caveat for these speakers which was brought out in the Stereophile review as well is they need three things, about 4-5 feet minimum from the back walls, room treatment to remove standing waves and bass nodes which will cloud the picture, and a stout amp capable of delivering massive current. I have an EAD powermaster 2000 powering them and 800 watts per side into the 4 ohm load of these speakers makes them really open up. Listening to Dire Straights On Every Street, one of my favorite discs, the dynamics, detail, and space make you feel like you are listening to a live performance. On material like Hugh Masekela, each instrument stays focused and true even through dynamic onslaughts like Stimela. Though they can absolutely deliver a slam to the gut, on vocal music like Norah Jones or Diana Krall you lose none of the delicate beauty of their voices, the brushes on the drums, or the timbre of the piano. $10k isn't cheap, but for what these speakers can deliver it is reasonable, and if you can find a great deal like I did, you have to jump at the chance to own these beauties.

Similar Products Used:

None, these outclass all the B&W's, Monitor Audio, Audio Physic, and other stuff I have owned by a large margin.

Open, dynamic, depth of sound stage, slam, all you expect in a premiere speaker.

Must have excellent components to get the full monty.

The Vienna Mahler speakers have set a new benchmark for my previous system. ML Requests have given me years of articulate and believable 2 channel musical enjoyment. The Mahler’s have taken listening to a much more believable level. I will have to say that these are expensive, but are worth the $ spent in attaining musical nirvana. Set up is critical and yes, burn in or break in time is needed to achieve the best for these speakers. Expect to not hear the best for at least 200 hrs. I set my front end to repeat and let it play for 2-3 days. Build quality is as good or better than any speaker I have seen. Premiere components will be required, so, be aware, trash in, trash out. For those who really desire a true and revealing speaker, Vienna Mahler can give you a realistic and spacious 2 channel experience. Don’t take it from me, go and see for your self.

see my earlier review

This is a follow up to my review below.

I just wanted to make a correction on the breaking in times for these speakers,

I have discovered the tweeter only really becomes truly smooth and integrated after 500-600 hours and that once this happens a whole new level of low level detail and air and space opens up and a *slight* veil of harshness / thinness completely dissapears and the speakers seem to "breath" better. 500-600 hours may sound like a long
time but honestly its not that bad and certainly still far less break in time than the b&w nautelis series requires

Also I must say playing with different interconnects upstream has had amazing improvements too :) as well as
removing the front grille (of course)

Heard these today at Harvey Electronics driven by a Krell amp. It is a VERY smooth and detailed loudspeaker that is never harsh. However, the midbass pretty much overpowered everything else, and the bass didn't go as deep as I would expect from a cabinet that has two 10-inch woofers. The Sonus Faber Amati Homage that I listened to afterwards also at Harvey (see review) was considerably better.