Thread: Vienna Acoustics Bach

Originally Posted by Msmoto

Through some trading I was able to acquire a pair of Vienna Acoustic Bach speakers for my bedroom, and have made a couple observations. First, the grille cloth is horrid, speakers sound fine if removed. Second, without spikes and without any ballast in the lower compartment the bass is emphasized considerably. Placement helps a little, but the cabinet resonance seems excessive.

Thus, changes I have made: Added 20 lbs. of fine sand to each lower compartment, sealed with silicone (removable). Then fabricated spikes, about 41mm rear, 44mm front. Once all is secure will test these out, but I suspect these may be one of the best bargains I have made as these speakers are indeed, pristine.

Without charges, they were imaging less clearly than what I listen to in my main listening area, but with some work cutting down on the secondary reflections I anticipate these will be remarkable for the investment. I was able to trade a pair of ADS L810's with stands, some AR bookshelf speakers and a hundred bucks. These little things look so cute in my bedroom.

Any thoughts on the Bach's would be appreciated.

Bach is not Bach until the entire fill chamber is filled completely. Sand should come all the way up to contact with the chamber plug. Also need to make sure that you are using play sand, completely dry and sanitary. Even slightly wet sand can ruin the box. Also, things begin to grow if the sand is not clean.

Bach is a great value that will really sing with the appropriate amplifier. Though sensitive, the load is not easy. Toe in and rake are critical (most don't rake enough) but once you get it right, wow. Some small tube amps can also be a lot of fun!

Originally Posted by Msmoto

Thank you metaphacts, you are absolutely correct. After the plugs had cured, the spikes were installed, the grills removed, these are nearly the same sound as a pair of Totem Acoustics Forest's, slightly darker, but with a tighter bass, IMO. I could not be happier with my trade.

The room is a bedroom, and I need to add some sound absorbing on the walls which I think will bring the imaging into a more clearly focused picture. But they present a sound stage which is huge even now.

I am driving these with an Onkyo TX-8160 Receiver (about 110 watts RMS into 6 ohms) which allows me to simply Bluetooth the music from my iPhone. And even with this poor quality source, they are still excellent .

Positioning is about 0.5m from the back wall, 2.3m center to center, listening position about 2.7m out. No toe in, as this seems to work best for my room.

I am planning on providing a high resolution source using FLAC files, all for the future. The room will be receiving several sound absorption panels as well.

You can see in my signature what I have in the main room, and while the Bach's are not able to give the "size" of the main room, the performance is quite intriguing and suggests I may need to investigate other Vienna Acoustic products.

Thanks for your input.

Happy to hear you are enjoying the Bach.

Just a word of caution. Proper toe in (not straight ahead) and rake bring Bach to the level of whch it is capable. Correct rake is actually rather steep - close to having front spikes fully extended with rear spike fully in.

FYI this is one of the speakers we used for Sumiko's MASTERS speaker set up training.

Originally Posted by Msmoto

Rake...about 12mm back from bottom to top of face at present. Is more better?

Toe-in, I will work on this for awhile, and in setting up every speaker I have ever done, mm differences can be striking.

Thanks for the help.

For rake, listen for proper tonal balance. It will vary set up to set up but is typically steeper than other speakers.

You are absolutely correct about toe in. Generally speaking, the closer the speakers are together the less toe. The corollary is that if you get them too close together, the midbass will color the mids. Proper distance gets you linearity and extension.

Have fun!