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
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Had a guy with 22 wpc Line Magnetic bring his amp over…ran snot out of Treo…would be fun…


Ricky,
My bad on the keying. If we gather I will share the results of my trip
to Moab heaven. 
Please don't say you missed Hawthorne Stereo? Best assortment of
British sound in one place. Now he has picked up Dynaudio and Fyne.

tvad,
Have some fun on the Amtrak SkyChief Run. LA to ABQ I believe.
I took it to clear to Kansas once to buy some army surplus.


18 watts of Audio Note  300B PSET would seem an absolutely  beautiful pairing with the Viking Tube Master with power to spare. I strongly suspect that this speaker (high sensitivity and easy impedance load/curve) could driven very comfortably with a good quality 2A3 SET.
Charles 
Great thread.   I have been keeping my eye on Viking Accoustic for quite a while and need to make a trip to New Mexico.