Classical speakers that do violins well??


All my serious listening is classical.

I hate nothing more than steely shrillness on violins or a glare on a soprano's voice.

I love nothing more than the faithful reproduction of the tone colors of unamplified instruments (the wood body of the violin and cello, the felt pad excting the sinewy strings of a piano).

YET, I hate bloated, indistinct, overly warm, billowy lower mids and upper bass (what I gather some think of as "musical").

Do you have any experience with speakers that might meet these needs for $2K, give or take (new or used)? Can be either floorstander or monitor, but with at least enough bass to perform decently on orchestral music. THANKS.
-Bob
hesson11

Showing 5 responses by guidocorona

For classical music, ranging from solo, to chamber, vocal, and orchestra, I am extremely partial to the entire Austrian line of Vienna Acoustics, which like the Italian Sonus Faber, is imported by Sumiko Audio. I listen mostly to classical, and I have recently acquired a pair of Vienna Mahlers, which I absolutely adore: deep and tuneful bass, authority, subtlety, rich harmonic content, extended silky highs. The characteristics are shared by the entire family of Vienna products, and I just noticed there are a couple of Vienna Strausses on Audiogon--the Mahlers barely smaller brothers: e.g.
http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrfull&1206981936
This pair is being offered at $2900 (an absolute steal!). Note that Vienna speakers are rather sensitive to placement for optimizing bass control. The relatively generous size of your room would be perfect for the Strausses. My friend and fellow Agoner PSCIALLI fell in love with the Vienna sound at the last RMAF. He rapidly caved in, and replaced his B&W 803s with a pair of Strausses for his 13 x 15 music room. The only caveat is that Vienna speakers like to be driven rather sternly by amps having high damping factors, or they may sound loose in the bass. What is the damping factor of your Aragon 2004?
If you are seeking a set of speakers that make violins sound like emotional instruments with a soul, rather than fizzy/tizzy/stealy creatures, Vienna speakers are definitely worth considering.
I agree MRT, I will herewith get in touch with Mr. Ma, as I am partial to the sound of Stradivari cellos. I am positive that Mr. Ma will immediately be sympathetic to the plight of this obscure audiophile, and will rush to Austin to facilitate my comparative analysis. I will report to this thread as soon as I have some hard data to share. Oops, I now remember that I really couldn't care less about the sound of his cello recordded in my room. . . I really want my room to emulate the sound of Ma's Stradivari at the Teatro Alla Scala. . . oh dear, this is now getting a little complicated. . . Oh well. . .
Daveyf, I am not at all surprised about your observations on SF Guarneri with violins. Like Vienna Acoustics, Sonus Faber are known for their extreme usicality, and by the way, they are also imported by Sumiko.
. . . back to Vienna. . . Bob, your Aragon 2004 should be in the very safe range for the Strausses or other Vienna offerings. The damping factor of my JRDG 7M monos is just under 200 and work well with the Mahlers. By the way, if the Strausses were still exceeding your budget, the Beethoven Grands or the Beethoven Baby Grands my fit the bill. I have heard the Beethoven Baby Grands at RMAF on my classical test CD and they were delicious. Please do feel free to PM me if you wished more info. Saluti, Guido
Hi Bob, well. . . size is not everything. . . old Ludwig was physically a runt, yet. . .
The Beethoven Baby Grands have no right to sound as good as they do. If you are patient you should be able to source them for under $2K on Audiogon.