Vienna Acoustics Bach Grand

Good to know I'm not going to need a new receiver...yet! A couple more questions:

For those who have heard the line, does moving up to, say, the Mozart improve the midrange with the additional midrange driver?

Can anybody suggest another speaker comparable in price, footprint, and - maybe most importantly - WAF? I'm really liking the silk dome of the Viennas. Needs to be a floorstander.

Hi Murz,
I don't think moving up the Vienna line will make any difference. As for recommendations, they may be tough to find but the Opera Quinta are a gorgeous speaker around $3,000 new. I had them in my home and would have bought them but for my trip to Silverline Audio where I bought the Sonata III. These are expensive but there are some II's that can be had on A'gon, Sonatinas as well, for a good price. Alan uses silk dome tweeters. He uses the best drivers available for the price range of the speaker he creates. Mostly Dynaudio. Dynaudio makes wonderful speakers. However they are not bi-wireable (if there is such a word) because there is only one set of binding posts. Dynaudio is of the philosophy that their crossovers are so good bi-wiring would degrade the sound. They may be right. Let us know how your search progresses.

Just a tip from a fellow Vienna owner... spread them apart a little bit further than you normally would. This should lean out the lower midrange-midbass area. Vienna typically favor larger spacing than other 2 way designs. Also, moving them a little further out in the room may help(18" or more), rake them back a few degress using the spikes (you are using the spikes, right?) while getting them level, and toe them in about 15 degrees. I've found they need to about 7-10 feet apart for best results. The excess warth your hearing now, can translate into a HUGE, dynamic soundstage.

I've owned the older Bach, and currently own the Beethoven Concert Grand. A little time spent in setup yields great results. Don't underestimate that little guy- some of the best sound I've ever heard. The tweeter is made by Dynaudio, and the woofers are also assembled by them (using Vienna designs).

With VA's you have to go against the grain a little bit in terms of associated equipment set up etc. Much of today's electronics cables etc. work well with leaner more analytical speakers. With Viennas you need neutral electronics and arguably silver interconnect and/or speaker cables. As mentioned earlier they do need to be spaced further aprt than many other speaker brands to minimize the a thickness or warmth. Also they are very sensitive to toe-in; more toe-in = thicker sound. I have Beethoovens and a friend of mine owns the Mahlers all I can tell you is that our other audiophile friends are blown away with the sound of our systems.

Agreed with the previous poster. I have 2 pairs of the old Bach's and 1 set of Beethoven's. My Beethoven's are 10' apart at the outside front corners for a listening position that's only 9 feet away. They're a full 2' away from the back wall and toed in surprisingly little (not sure on the exact angle though). Both of these speakers can sound muddy when toed in too much or spaced too close together--and they can sound very muddy when too close to the back wall. I spent an enormous amount of time fiddling with the position, but it was well worth it.