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Vienna Acoustics sounded terrible at Magnolia

I went to check them out, with all the reserve I have when it comes to big box stores, the fact that you can buy VA speakers with their no-interest financing is fairly attractive. I found something quite rare in these stores, a sales-guy who liked and understood sound and music, and he was very helpful.
I listened to the Mozart's in the show room and it was nothing short of appalling. Are those sources that bad? I came back home and looked at the reviews and something must be amiss. The bass was completely disjointed, like a $100 subwoofer with the driver loosened from the rim!! I put in my CD of Beethoven's 4th piano concerto with Claudio Arrau at the Concertgebow and stopped it right away, I though it made Beethoven cry in Heaven! The sound had nothing to do with the actual tonality or notes or anything!!
The sources were Yamaha and Denon receivers in tone defeat. I know they are bad, but that bad?? I did notice the positioning made a big difference, but never got them to sound even decent!
Any ideas? Anyone with any experience? VA owners, what is your experience regarding source sensitivity? BTW, my plan would have been for a NAD 372 as amp.
Thanks
roc_doc
zieman
339 posts
 
Going to a retail store should provide a relative experience. You can compare apples to apples, regardless of set-up. Every speaker you put in the same good or bad location in that store is using all the same components, wire, etc... Invaluable IMHO.
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Yes, Vienna speakers have uhrn. . . interesting impedance curves. They work best with amps with very high damping factors (above 400)( or they will sound overly warm. For this reason, class D amps work particularly well with Vienna. G.
shadorne's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
shadorne
7,477 posts
 
Roc_Doc,

All I can say is I don't like the measurements on these speakers (those that I have seen published and not just the wild impedance swings). Not to say that they cannot possibly sound awesome because many people adore them - they surely do sound fantastic well setup (your problem I expect). However, I think people listen to speakers differently - some listen for precision and some listen to "connect" with the music. In the same way, a precision design with awesome flawlwss performance specs may leave some people totally cold. Horses for courses. These may not be your "cup of tea."
sounds_real_audio
1,013 posts
 

Shadorne

Well said.
stanwal's avatar
stanwal
3,147 posts
 
The last time I bought speakers on audition was Fisher XP10s in the middle 60s. Several years a friend of mine is DC and I went down to Meyer Emco (sp?) To hear early generation of the B&W 801. I was selling them at the time and had mine set up in a live end dead end room in which they sounded great. They sounded so bad there that we had a laughing fit after we left. The sad thing was that the salesman thought they sounded great. To be honest , no commercial business could set up speakers the way I use to , only one pair in the room at a time etc. A store environment is just about the worst place to hear a speaker, but there is no place else to hear them. That said , some make a real effort and some don't.I went to Atlanta in the early 90s to listen to some Apogee Duetta Signatures. They had an exaggerated treble and no bass and were just plain unlistenable. I bought them anyway on the basis of reviews by Martin Colloms and others and they were the best speakers I have owned. I would have a post asking anyone near you to let you hear theirs at their home. It would be beneficial to everyone if we could get up a list of people willing to audition their systems for others and their locations. I can foresee difficulties with this but I would be willing to take part.
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