Viking Acoustic - Fantom speakers


My wife came with me to Washington State from West Texas on a road trip, to millercarbon's Chuxpona 21. My wife and I have been fortunate to travel the least few years for our wedding anniversary each year, with a road trip. I’m seeing more of America (I’m Australian, she’s Belarusian).

Our first night stop was in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Audiogon member wilgolf (willgolf?), wanted me to have the opportunity to meet with the designer/owner of Viking Acoustics in Santa Fe, who made his speakers. Fortunately, it was Saturday (my wife sleeps in on Saturdays whenever she can) and I left early to meet David Counsell at his workshop, like pretty early. I was warmly welcomed and we’d already discussed allowing me to use my digital front end with his amp and speakers.

I’ve been to Scandanavia; Denmark, Sweden and Norway, and like the ships they built, David didn’t deliver small, not a bit. After I managed to get my digital gear assembled, we got straight into listening to his speakers, he was so accommodating I was allowed to also use my FoilFlex cables.

I’d guess nearly all who might read this already know that generally, we should consider that loudspeakers are designed for a reasonably varied size of listening room. Designers will know that different sized rooms will load differently and speakers of appropriate sizes and designs work better in different environments.

It’s not unreasonable to see speaker choice as a solution to enjoy music in your specific environment. The Viking Acoustic Fantom horn speakers (I have not heard any of the rest of his arsenal) are a larger room solution for music pleasure. I am not a polished, seasoned reviewer, though I love this sport and have heard some pretty fantastic sounding gear in my days.

I was given the privilege to hear the Fantoms with my digital front end, giving me the chance to have at least something of a reference. The room interaction, and the horn speaker sound were all entirely foreign to me. I told David at the end of our listening session, as I rushed to gather my wife as I’d stayed longer than expected (which actually does say something about the sound), I don’t know if I’ve come across the Bugatti or Ferrari of horn speakers or not, because this is my first listen to horn loaded speakers.
128x128rixthetrick
So, what did I hear?
The room was a large factory of sorts, if you ask me the sizes, I’m going to have to ask David too. I’ll just say these deliver a big controlled sound, and as I’d not encountered loaded horns before, I didn’t previously know that the horn itself controls how it loads the room.

David is a bass lover, he outright told me that, and they were not lacking in authentic sounding musical bass. After going over his design with him, and as he showed me where the speakers port and load into the horn (oh hell, I don’t know the technical jargon) I was shown that the cabinets weren’t entirely inert, he’d designed a baffle in the back port area, I would imagine acting like a passive driver configuration? Either way, the sound they produced was exciting, clear and still controlled well by the horn.

As far as a large room solution goes, these were obviously created to play large orchestral movements with authority, and to be fair, it was a workshop, without thousands invested in room treatment and it was more like a cathedral shaped open plan living room. And yet it sounded very good to me, with everything I played on them.
His German amplifier, the build may have been an ex-tank manufacturing plant, it was big and bold in keeping with the rest of his gear. He had a reel to reel player on the rack, if you want to know his reference.

If you have a largish room, and you need a quiet touristic place to take your wife as an excuse to go hear some extraordinary loaded horn speakers, this is a winner. You might just leave with your wallet a little lighter though, just saying. I have a small room, thankfully!
I personally love hornspeakers and Viking Acoustics looks very interesting. I don't doubt it was an excellent ear opening audition. And very nice of David to let you bring some of your own gear in to use.
When I went on my original cross country speaker search, I never thought I would end up buying a horn speaker.  Once I heard the AvantGarde Uno Fino it just totally changed my mind about horns.  So my journey changed to a horn search.  I had at least 25 recommendations from fellow A'Goners and WBF's.  

One of them mentioned Viking Acoustic, which I never heard of.  After meeting David Counsell and hearing them in his studio and studying his craftsmanship, I was sold.  There is something about a boutique speaker maker which I like.  One, the personal attention and communication you get.  Two, being able to discuss my musical nuances so that he can tailor the speaker to your desire. And finally, to be able to upgrade within his line.

You can read about my impression about Viking Acoustic in my thread called " Viking Acoustic L'Instrument Grande Voix first impressions".

Viking Acoustic has a very diverse set of speakers.  Rixthetrick talked strictly of the Fantom which I also heard in his studio.  But for smaller sound rooms or budgets he has the Berlin R ranging all the way up to the Gottenburg (my dream speaker).  In addition, they have their own line of amps, cables, interconnects and power cords.

I am not a shill for Viking.  I had Wilson Audio and Sonus Faber Amati Tradition Homage speakers before.  I can tell you that my Grande Voix blows them away by a country mile.  If nothing else check out their website.  

Anyone in Arizona or the local audio club is welcome to hear a demo at my house.