I had been looking for a small floorstander that would mate well with my small listening room and my SET amps(Cary CAD 300 SE Signatures).In my room, the Vienna Acoustics Bachs sound great IF they're given plenty of room away from the back wall. I've also found that, like the Vienna Acoustics Mozart model reviewed by Robert Deutsch in Stereophile(Jan.'97), they image MUCH better when the tweeter polarities are reversed. To accomplish this I removed the supplied links and made some jumpers with ofc and gold spades. Bi-wiring is probably the way to go, however. Once attended to, these babies will handle anything you want to throw at 'em. With the sweet yet wonderfully detailed ScanSpeak silk dome tweeter handling the highs, listener fatigue is just impossible! Although I was actually looking to spend a little more for speakers, once I heard the Bachs in my listening room with my equipment, I was sold.

Since I've been getting email asking for advice regarding the purchase ofthis speaker, I feel it only fair to report back to this forum on some new opinions I have formed over the past year of ownership.
In my original post I stated that reversing tweeter polarity improved
imaging. After re-arranging my speaker and listening positions, I find that
the original configuration is now vastly superior. Maybe it was just one of those strange acoustical phenomena with the original speaker placement(or
the fact that my ears are a year wiser)but there is certainly a lot of depth
and breadth at least in my nearfield listening position. I hope the moderator
of this site will excuse me for this second post. My high opinion of this
speaker stays the same.

I auditioned these for many hours and although they are really pleasant to listen to, I'm going with something else. They have a smooth, warm midrange, and are sufficient, though not that well defined, in the bass. They lack some detail, imaging, and dynamic ability that others in the less-than-2k class possess, but they are easy to listen to and if they err in the natural reproduction of music, it must be said that they are still tuneful and very enjoyable.

Midrange,imaging,fit and finish

These speakers sound great! They have excellent imaging and and the midrange is very accurate. It can play difficult instruments like the piano quite accurately and vocals sound awesome. Bass is tight and well controlled. The speakers bottom cabinet are hollow and can be filled with sand. I highly recommend filling them to improve bass response. While first hearing them (without filling with sand) I felt they lacked bass somewhat. After filling with sand they really make the sound complete. The bass improves tremendously afterwards. The speakers are rated at 6 ohms and you'll need a good amp/reciever that can drive them. We ran them with an NAD T760 A/V reciever which ran them good but got a little hot after prolonged use. The model I listened to has a beautiful cherry wood finish that costs about $250 more, which I think is well worth it. Overall an excellent pair of speakers.

In my first review I gave the Bach's a 4 star rating ONLY because I think they're a little pricey at $1,500. Upon further reflection, however, I decided they deserved better, especially since I only paid $1,000. So with this five star review, I'll end up with a 4.5.

clarity of sound and range

This is the first set of good speakers that I've bought and I love them. I have a CAL DX-2 CD player and Jolida SJ-502 amp. I can't believe all this sound comes from just two speakers in each cabinet. Contrary to what other people have experienced, I found no problem with the bass and in fact on newer recordings find the bass overwhelming. This may be because I have the speakers in a fairly small room in an apartment. Compared with other speakers I demo'd at the store these speakers seemed to give the most lifelike reproduction of the music. My wife was happy with appearance as well, and the finish is very high quality. Definitely add the sand, everything sounded much clearer after adding it. Each speaker takes about 2 "gallons" of sand. I've had them for 6 months and expect to keep them for a long long time.

Great clarity, musicality, sweetness, presence, sound stage

A bit in the bass

I love these speakers. They are warm and musical with good presence and soundstage. I listen to mostly classical and it is wonderful to look in between the apeakers and see the whole orchestra solidly placed from left to right and front to back. I wondered if the Mozart's were worth a $1000 more and sat and A-B'd the two. NO!! The tweeters are the same as is the overall luciousness of the sound. The bass of the Mozart's is firmer but I intend in the future to get a good sub-woofer. Five stars all around!!

Similar Products Used:

Locally created speakers

Smooth, rich musicality with resonant, clear sound

Not the strongest bass in the world

I auditioned these against several other brands and chose them because they revealed the most detail in the music. You never get the sense that the speakers are "coloring" the music; they just let it come through with exquisite transparency.

I wouldn't count on the Bach's to punch out a ton of bass, but that's no problem for me, because I have them hooked up to a Marantz SR-18 receiver with front speakers set to "small" and all the bass going to my subwoofer. The whole system sounds great on a wide range of music and also on DVD movies. My only regret is that I couldn't afford the VA Mozart speakers. Oh well, that's my trade-up.

Absolutely gorgeous highs and mids, solid bass

none that I've found

I was set to buy the Paradigm Monitor 11s when my wife found these at an A/V shop in town. These speakers are unbelievable. I had never heard silk-domes before and, at least in my opinion, knock the socks off of metal dome tweeters. If all of the speakers you've heard are metal dome, do yourself the favor of hearing soft-dome tweeters (Viennas are a good choice :-)). You'll hear what I'm talking about.

The midrange and treble are so sweet, they're undescribable. Awesome clarity without being bright. Outstanding imaging and soundstage. There are entire subtleties in my music collection that I had never heard before.

Bass is fine.. in fact, the mids and treble is so good that I've started liking less bass. It gets in the way of the sweetness of the rest of the sound. That said, subwoofer is recommended, esp. for HT. For most music (most meaning NOT rap or heavy-bass rock), the bass is perfect and well matched for the rest of the sound. Like a previous review said, definitely fill the bottom chamber with sand and spike these things down. It'll help.

These speakers could not come more highly recommended. Solid construction, reasonable price for this quality of speaker, and a sound that will make you melt. I'm still getting shivers all the time when I listen.

Similar Products Used:

Listened to Paradigm, Vandersteen, B&W, Meadowlark, DefTech