Vienna Mozart Grand or Beethoven Baby Grand

i have heard both the beethoven baby grands and the mozart grands. (i bot the beethovens). they r totally diff speakers sound wise and technically. the mozart is a 2.5 design w/diff crossover. i think the baby grands sound much better. however, the baby grands are very finicky about room placement, and if not set up correctly, u will get bass boom. yes, the impedance can drop pretty low on the beethovens, so b careful. i m not sure about your i-3. i have the i-5 and i really shud upgrade to a more powerful amp.

Good point Dlee. The VA Baby Grands have a rear-firing, which need to engage the rear wall, BUT moving them just a fraction of an inch can produce a bass node or hump that'll spoil the overall balance and the mids. Fortunately, only a little patience is needed to get it right. Better yet, in the US, if you buy from a Sumiko dealer they'll set it up for you using their amazing Master Set method and you'll hear exactly how good things can get.

Dave

Do you mean the closer you are to the wall the less bass node/hump you will get?

How far should they be from the rear wall?

Thanks

08-16-08: Acdvd asked:
"Do you mean the closer you are to the wall the less bass node/hump you will get?

How far should they be from the rear wall?"

It's coomplicated. My left speaker is 16" from the rear wall, but the right is 14" due to irregularity in the shape of the wall behind it. If you move them closer the bass humps up and the midrange gets muddy. If you pull them a few inches further out the same thing happens at slightly different frequencies.

Before Soundings HiFi did my Master Set for me I'd pulled them several feet out into the room, because I had trouble getting both solid bass and clean midrange with great imaging. I was getting clean midrange and great imaging put giving up a ton of bass. Also, though I didn't realize it, the mids were "shouty", causing me to run at levels several dB lower than I do after the Master Set.

If you really interested in this, see the separate thread about the Sumiko Master Set. There's a link in my profile. If you set yours at 16" I'd consider that only a rough starting point.

Dave

ACDVD,
I suggest you give a call to Kevin Deal at Upscale Audio. He is the man. I have my Baby Beethovens hooked up to a Primaluna Dialogue two integrated amp at around 40 tube watts per channel. Upscale Audio has this combo in their main demo room. I could not live without it after I heard it. In fact, Jim Hannon from the absolute sound wrote of the 2007 CES report "The smaller Vienna Acoustics
Beethoven Baby Grand ($3500), in the PrimaLuna room,
was one of the best-sounding, value-oriented systems I heard at the show, driven by PrimaLuna’s Prologue 2 integrated amplifier"
Vienna Accoustics wrote in owners manual "our speakers demonstrate outstanding sonic results with a variety of amplifier types. They feature a combination of high efficiency and gentle impedence curves that allow them to be used with either solid state or tube electronics."
I hope that helps