Vienna Acoustics The Music


I like these speakers but only have heard them in a system very different than mine (less power, no analog, lesser cabling) . I am interested in hearing from owners of this speaker and what their longer term experience has been and what other speakers you auditioned before buying. If you auditioned The Musics and bought something else (Wilson Sasha, Magico or Focal Stella Utopia perhaps)I would also like to hear from you.

Thanks.
teeshot
The Music is that speaker.

I’d also recommend listening to the Paradigm Persona 3F and Focal Kanta.
I’d take The Music over a Salon 2 any day. Not sure what VA speakers you heard, but if you need a speaker to play louder, you probably have bad hearing loss, or are expecting too much out of a speaker for the given room size.
CTFD.

The Beethovens were the best sounding speakers i've owned, but with 200/8 and 325/4 wpc Krell kav 300 il they struggled to achieve 95 spl in my listening room. Revel f52 with the same power would play much more dynamically at concert level and image tighter, but still 2 dimensional while the engineers at VA seem to be the best yet at reproducing individual sounds in space. So while most of my music listening is at or under 90db I occasionally need to 'rock out' and when I had the beethovens I would swap out my kef 105/3's to boogie to, now I want a Vienna acoustics speaker that sounds as awesome as the beethovens without it's spl restrictions. 
I’d take The Music over a Salon 2 any day.  Not sure what VA speakers you heard, but if you need a speaker to play louder, you probably have bad hearing loss, or are expecting too much out of a speaker for the given room size.
Guido,
Can you shed a little light on the sonics of the Mahlers you owned compared to the Muzik. Haven't heard either of them, but good prices on used Mahlers.
                        Thanks,
                          Den
BUMP. My experience with VA loudspeakers that use the spidercone drivers was sacrificing spl for the natural sound ! Is 'The Music' also limited to reproducing small jazz ensembles at live levels or can this speaker match the output of speakers like the salon 2 or 207/2 without losing control? I know the VA will sound more natural at 90db, but how will it sound at 100 db?
Teeshot,
Where the bass and lower midrange are concerned, The Music cannot be described as thin at all. I would say that when properly set up in the room, the sound is very natural and balanced throughout the audio spectrum.
You can of course, tailor the sound to your personal taste and the recording on hand. No worries where rock is concerned. On the Eagles' live recording of Hotel California, bass slam is as good as it gets with no overhang. If you are into rock, better to stay with solid state amps.
Happy listening!
Jon.
Teeshot, Vienna in general seems to have a stronger bass response than Magico. What I seek is a bass that remains perfectly pitched and harmonically extended down to the lower 20Hz range, before we get into the region where our hearing becomes pitch unspecific... DIe muzik, unter the control of amps with good power (400W/8 700W/4 and higher) does exactly that.

Actually, I did not really go up in power.... nominally, my old Rowland M312 500W/8 1000W/4 is "more powerful than M925 (430W/8 850W/4). However, Rowland M925, having a 2500W DC power supply in each chassy, does deliver a larger stage, and images than M312, and the very best authority that I have ever had in my system.

Die Muzik has three toggle switches in the back that are used to emphasize regions of the spectrum, from lower bass to lower midrange. I have the switches at default positions, lest bass becomes excessive for classical music. You might find that with some rock, or movie sound track albums, bass emphasis may fit the style better.

Furthermore, with speaker placement, you can change completely bass and treble response.

Best, Guido
Thanks for the great responses. Guido I guess you never wrote part 2 of your report on these speakers-- I looked for it! My question for you guys is your perception of bass and lower midrange in the VAs. Both the Youman review in PF and Valin's RMAF show report in 2012 indicated that the VA might be a little thin in these areas. Youman suggested that a tube amp was preferred over solid state. Is that why for example Guido you kept ratcheting up the power to feed them? If so I had a similar experience with Thiel 3.7s.

Inasmuch as I am contemplating a speaker change from Magico V3 to something different due to a change in my music listening tastes (analog rig has brought on a lot of rock music listening) I am wondering if The Music will fill the bill. I would think with 3 9" woofers bass would be a strong point.
Hi Jon, as far as I know, there is no audible difference between the old DIe muzik with Murata supertweeand the new version with the VA-designed transducer.... I continue to love my own pair! G.
Hi Guido,
I haven't heard the latest iteration of The Music's supertweeter but I am pretty sure both of us continue to utterly enjoy what we still have in our homes. :)
J.
Hi Jon, in recent Die Muzik production, Vienna Acoustics switched the supertweeter to a transducer of its own design. G.
Hi Teeshot,
I have had The Music speakers for more than 3 years now and am still very happy with them. Before I got them, I auditioned equivalent models from MBL, Dynaudio, Focal and Sonus Faber. The Music delivers better than the others in almost every sonic parameter.

I use them with the Bryston 28B SST2 monoblocks rated 1000 watts at 8 ohms, the Jeff Rowland Capri S2 preamp with hi-res DAC card, the Esoteric K-01 as redbook/SACD source and the Marantz NA8005 as a hi-res usb flash drive transport driving the Capri hi-res DAC section. The Music certainly needs lots of power to sound their best.

The midrange-tweeter module can be swiveled to suit your room and listening taste - swivel inwards for a warmer sound or outwards for a bigger soundstage. When you hit the sweet spot, The Music disappear altogether with the optimal combination of bass foundation, resolution, transparency, speed and a capacious soundstage. The Murata super-tweeter comes in handy too, more so for hi-res audio.

With the whole system in complete synergy, I am indeed in audio heaven. It really doesn't get any better than this - for both redbook and hi-res audio.

Cheers! Jon.
Hi Mikey, I did have Cardas Golden Ref power cords and speaker wires at one time. I still have the speaker wires and use them occasionally as backups. Golden ref have a slight swelling of the mid bass, hence the sometimes impression of sluggishness. Furthermore, their treble region can sometimes show just a little bit of hardness from intermodulation of multipart music.

I have heard the newer Clear and Clear Beyond at RMAF with Rowland ELectronics.... Much more extended and linear than Golden Ref, and did not have any treble hardness at all. I am using the Nordost Valhalla 2... Admittedly expensive, but absolutely wonderful. In the past, I drove the Vienna Mahlers V.1.5 with Shunyata CX and and Ztron series, which are also amazing wires.

Unfortunately, I have no experience with MB Audio and Audience wires.

Guido

Guido
I am not familiar with the models they produce. I did hear a demo a couple of years ago with their 25k speaker. I would have to say these were one of the best speakers I ever heard. I would buy them over Wilson or Magico any day of the week.
Hi

I read your earlier review. Weren't you using Cardas Golden Reference cabling throughout? Did that turn out to be too thick sounding?

I don't know if you recall but I was asking about the Kiss and did get a pair. Driving them with a Krell FPB 200c and happy with the sound and looking for speaker cables. I like the Cardas sound but found Golden Ref speaker cables in this set up slightly slow sounding and am unsure if it is because they are not broken in yet.

Am considering MG Audio Planus 2 or Audience 24 SE which can both be had for decent used prices or Cardas Clear Reflection - any experience?

Thanks
Hi TeeShot, I own a pair of Vienna Acoustics Die Muzik.... Currently, the rest of my system consists of Esoteric X-01 CDp, Rowland Aeris DAC, Rowland M925 monoblocks (430W/8 850W/4), and all Nordost Valhalla 2 wiring. The sound of Vienna Die Muzik is musically absolutely spectacular.... I have written a mostly technical discussion of Die Muzik for Positive Feedback a couple of years ago:
http://positive-feedback.com/Issue59/vienna.htm.

I am absolutely in love with them! From a power point of view, Die Music require a great deal of it, and with a reasonably high damping factor. I have used the following amps on them:

Rowland M925 -- absolutely stellar power match.
Merrill Veritas monos -- excellent power match;
Rowland M725 -- very good power match;
Rowland M312 stereo -- very good power match;
Bel Canto REF1000M Mk.2 monos -- very good power match.
Rowland M625 stereo -- slightly underpowered;
Bel Canto REF 500M -- definitely underpowered.

Before DIe Muzik I had a pair of Vienna Mahlers V1.5.

Let me know if you have any specific questions.

Regards, Guido