GruntPuppy
pfm Member
There's a pair local to me for sale, I'd appreciate any and all listening experience that anyone can pass on, I'm particularly interested in how flexible/inflexible they are with room placement.
A friend of mine had their big brothers with 3 woofers (Beethoven ?) driven by a big Audio Research pre and amp and the sound was awesome in my opinion.
They seemed to me to be very easy to place in the room as the woofers are rather small and the enclosure very narrow so soundstage was good.
Nevertheless, after less than two years, he replaced them with some Wilson Audio Sophia as the Vienna sounded too quiet for his taste. Kept the Sophia about 4 years and now runs some Boenick which are outstanding according to him.
He is (not like me !) a big fan of classic music with Gustav Mahler being his favorite and Carmina Burana is part of his weekly listening sessions.
For his rock music, he has a 42.5/110 with some vintage DCM Time Windows in the basement.
they tend to sell very fast !! a number of folks i know have had the VA speakers and enjoyed them . must be something to them if they sell fast !
I had a pair for a while - the problem at the time was that I used an Alchemist Kraken (Class A and only 20w) the result was that music could sound really boomy, though at times they could sound wonderful. It was partly explained by the Ohms and after seeking advice, it was recommended to only use an amp with an output of 100W or so.
I’ve had Bach Grands for many years and I love them. They have a smooth top end, deep bass and a full sound. If you set the up away from the walls they really image like crazy too.
I’ve found the Yamaha AS-801 to be a great match. In my opinion it’s a very clean, neutral amp with a lot of grunt. I’d probably stick with something similar.
What sort of side clearance do you find necessary on the Bach Grands?
I have had a pair of Beethoven Baby Grand SE for three years and they're terrific. A bit too polite perhaps if I were to mention some caveat. I'd recommend to have at least 30 centimeters behind them or else the bass tend to get a bit boomy.
I wish I had a better answer for you but I’m not sure. I never had to worry too much about side wall proximity. They sound good out a couple of feet from the front wall but they really blew my mind (after years) when I pulled them out even more close to near field.
too close to the back wall and the soundstage collapses pretty dramatically and they can sound a little congested
I'm in a flat as well, never had any issues with neighbours or family for that matter that complain. Mine have roughly 50 cm side clearance as well. YMMV of course, but I never found toe-in to do much good with these speakers which is also in line with what VA themselves recommend.Current owner is using these with 50cm of rear and side clearance (but rather agressive toe-in). Sadly he's in a flat (and not the ground floor) and wife and neighbours are not appreciative...
I'm in a flat as well, never had any issues with neighbours or family for that matter that complain. Mine have roughly 50 cm side clearance as well. YMMV of course, but I never found toe-in to do much good with these speakers which is also in line with what VA themselves recommend.
McIntosh MA6900, which perhaps is a bit overkill. Used to have a Marantz PM15S1 that started clipping with the speakers, I never managed to find out if it was something wrong with that amplifier since 90 wpc should have no issues at all driving the Beethoven's. I have also tried a 6 wpc SET amplifier which sounded nice enough but was sadly a bit too weak when listening to larger scale music.sounds good - what amp are you using to drive them?
I had a pair for a while - the problem at the time was that I used an Alchemist Kraken (Class A and only 20w) the result was that music could sound really boomy, though at times they could sound wonderful. It was partly explained by the Ohms and after seeking advice, it was recommended to only use an amp with an output of 100W or so.
The Alchemist Kraken is 50WPC and not class A but is does give the first watt or so in class A hence it gets hot.
Amp power as always has nothing to do with speaker control, boom etc etc.
The Alchemist Kraken is 50WPC and not class A but is does give the first watt or so in class A hence it gets hot.
Amp power as always has nothing to do with speaker control, boom etc etc.
Perhaps, but in this instance it did seem to - I tried lots of options re room placement and so on - eventually Breck Audio undertook some measurements and indicated that it was the lack of power. Whatever the case they did not work all that well in my listening room which is a little on the small size - I think that with a decent sized room that they could sound amazing?