Audio Physic's "New" Virgo---Better?? How So??

In various demos, I have found the new Virgos to be inferior to the old ones. And I base this on the one criteria by which the Virgos have (historically, at least) earned their reputation: imaging and soundstaging. In repeated demo sessions, I've found the sound to be disconcertedly "locked" to the two speakers, rather than floating freely between them.

So. In went upgraded drivers and corssovers. But out went the magic, at least to my ears.

I've owned Virgos for a very long time. The III does goes
deeper and may be a bit more dynamic. They are too close to justify upgrading for me. Instead, I bought a used Audio Physic Terry subwoofer. The combination is far superior than the new Virgo's alone.

Wendell

I auditioned the new Virgo 3 in my system which consists of BATVK75SE, BAT50SE, Electrocompaniet ECM-1 mk2. Listening to them for almost three days I found them very,very thin in the bottom end. No matter where I placed them in the room, the problem was the same. They did a very nice disappearing act, which they are known for. Good soundstage with plenty of depth. To me, they do not sound like a full range speaker, could probably use a sub woofer,but for $5500.00 there are plenty of other speakers to listen to.I think a used pair of Verity Audio Fidelios are a far superior speaker in every aspect and I have seen them on the used market for about the same price as the new Virgo 3. It all comes down to your system and your ears, not reviews by anyone. There are alot of people who in the past have loved this speaker and continue to do so.Good luck!

Be patient with them. It took me 4 days off non-stop running them to start hearing their glories. Superior to the MK II so far...

I have to agree that the Virgo III is definitely better than the original Virgo. I think there is a lot to be said for the new ring radiator tweeter they use now. In addition, I found the mids to be very smooth and detailed.

All the reports of being really transparent speakers is true. My wife and I felt so comfortable listening to them that at one point when I was listening to Radiohead's Amnesiac CD I actually forgot I was in the audio store. I only "woke up" when the salesman came back into the room.

I really got into these speakers - they are very likeable IF you have the source components to back them. I've read several posts from people who didn't like them. In a few instances, I didn't feel (my opinion) the source gear was correctly matched for the speakers. You need to be careful on what you run them with, but if you do you'll be in for quite a treat.

However, I also found the bottom end to be very thin. I heard them in an acoustically treated room, and didn't feel their frequency responce matched what I heard. I don't feel it was a source or amplification issue either. I heard them on the Classe CAM-350 monoblocks, Classe CP-47.5 preamp, and the Musical Fidelity Nu-vista 3D CD player (cables were all Tara Labs.)

They would be a perfect match with a really good subwoofer such as a REL or even an Audio Physic. I found the combination to be very good, and definitely do yourself a favor and audition them. The worst that could happen is you decide not to buy them.

After all that, I ended up not buying the Virgo III's because of the lack of LF response, and I didn't want to deal a subwoofer (which would have been a perfect match in my opinion.) In the end, I actually decided to spend the extra bucks, and buy the Avanti III's instead which have plenty of low frequency response to throw around plus a fuller midrange (however all that comes at a very substantial price difference compared to the Virgo's.)

I'd like to add one additional comment about the Audio Physic speakers. They require at least 1-2 weeks worth of constant playing to fully break-in. I actually thought I made a mistake when I bought the Avanti's as they didn't sound as wonderful as the Virgo's did out of the box. However once they broke-in, they're absolutely wonderful speakers that I have no plans of ever parting with for many years to come.

Now if I could just make-up my mind so easily on new pre-amp and amp, life would be good...

Good luck.