Looking at a pair of these speakers right now i have a polk tsi400s and a McIntosh Mc152 Mx113 preamp tuner .has any heard these or own a pair ?
I bought a pair of the original Bachs about a year ago for $250. They are fantastic speakers IMO. As I love pics, here's mine in action. I found placing them on 2 inch risers and tilting them back just a bit made them even better.
I'm using an SVS SB3000 with them. My room is 24x28 and the speakers are nearly 6 feet into the room so they need the bass enhancement. If they were in a smaller room, I'm not sure how much they'd need it. With that said, I have listened to them without the sub and they held there own. I love the imaging these do. About my particular pair though, when I got them one of the woofers was wired incorrectly. After fixing that, and checking the woofers, I'm pretty sure they aren't the original woofers. They are Vienna Acoustic woofers, just not the originals. I believe they're the same woofer used in the Bach Grand. I don't care, as they sound wonderful.
Jeeze, I'm surprised the forum comedians didn't weigh in with "No, but I like the Goodnight Vienna Barbara Bach Speakers." I'm so disappointed.... Bee-you-tee-ful setup, Tim!
My living room is longer than it is deep and i can only put them about 4 ft apart the price is right on them so i think ill give them a shot
Can you tell me your opinion about the back ported bass sound on the speakers if you ever tried getting them close to the wall? what is the size of the woofer? and how many watts is this floor stander? Thank you.
My thoughts on the Bachs need to be taken in this context, I bought the speakers from a guy who said he only used them as rear surround speakers, and he bought them used. He delivered them to my basement, but I didn't hook them up for a week or so. When I did, I immediately noticed something was off and thought I had wired one speaker out of phase. After some troubleshooting which required removing the drivers, I found one of the woofers was wired incorrectly. Once I fixed this problem I listened briefly for a few days, then put them away as I wasn't expecting much for $250, and I had something else to listen to. I also discovered a bit later that the woofers in the speakers weren't original. They had been replaced, explains why one was wired backwards. They are labeled Vienna Acoustic woofers, probably the woofer used in the newer Bach. So anything I say about the speakers needs to be seen through this lens. As for your questions, the back of the speakers are 5 ft from the wall, and I've never had them closer. I listened to them for a bit without the subwoofer, and they had decent bass for their size, but the room is 24x28 so I don't expect them to shake the walls. The woofer is a 6 inch woofer, and the speaker is rated as 6 ohms. I'm not sure of the wattage rating, it's not something I pay much attention to. It took me nearly a year from the time I bought the VA speakers to finally put them in my system and appreciate them. I've been searching for a speaker that matches my preferences in this large room. What really sold me on the sound of these small speakers was my experience with Harbeth C7ES-3s. I thought they would be the end game for me. I listened to the C7s for 3 or 4 months before deciding they lacked something I craved, 3D soundstage and imaging. No matter what I did with the Harbeths, I found I was hearing the speakers. When I swapped in the Bachs, I was amazed at how they disappeared, and let the music through. If you find a good deal on a pair, I say go for it. They are a wonderful little speaker.
Thank you for the input. Yes I went ahead and picked it up. This speaker feels like my rauna in a small package. it feels rock solid and heavy. Looks like I'm gonna be needing some serious power on this one. Shortly I'll plug it into the primaluna. I notice there is no feet below just like an allen wrench screw and a hole in the middle. I wonder what was that all about. So it seem like I can plug this in to either 8 or 6 ohms output if I'm correct.
The large hole on the bottom allows you to fill a chamber with sand, or whatever, which supposedly helps tune the bass output. I filled mine, but can't honestly recall if I noticed a difference. I believe these are the spikes I bought for mine: "Dayton Audio DSS3-BK Black Speaker Spike Set 4 Pcs." from www.parts-express.com!
I have a pair of the Bachs in the Palisander Rosewood finish. In my experience, they need room to breathe to sound their best. In my space, they like to be about 30" from the back wall, toed in and tilted back. My didn't come with the spikes or the plug for the ballast chamber. I haven't gotten around to that yet, but will eventually.
Gorgeous speakers, VA really knows how to make cabinets and veneers! Cool setup too are the other monitors with exposed drivers Snell's maybe? And what are the off-white speakers in the back?
@MCM_Fan, that finish is beautiful. Don't know how high your listening position is, but raising them up on plinths, along with tilting them back worked wonders for mine.
Unfortunately, they have some deep scratches in the finish on the sides of the cabinets. The finish is very thick, so the veneer does not appear to be damaged. However, I think it's some type of spray on polyurethane based finish. Normally I refinish my own cabinets, but I'm not sure I want to tackle these myself. I may end up taking them to a professional furniture refinishing shop and let them deal with it. My listening space is small and my listening position is pretty close. When I played around with positioning them, tilting them back by raising the front about an inch seemed to yield the best results.
Snell Type K and the ones in the back are some JBL L36 Decades I restored, rebuilt and re-imagined. With the white washed oak finish and beige grills, they don't look like your standard JBL Decades.
I also have two sets of speakers at the moment: Bach Grands and Snell J’s. I like them both for different reasons
Sorry I got side track a bit. Okay I understand about the hole. I will try to find that sand they use for this. what does the cap looks like for the hole. is it like a rubber expansion type of thing? No wonder the top part of this speaker is way heavier than the bottom.
I don't have the foot/spikes and the cover for the sand and I wanna get it as soon as I can. Her in my music room upstairs its around 324 sqft. looks like an modern office in an attic. Any back ported speakers that I run here, the bass tends to reverberate not just here but also going down stairs. Its probably got to do with my system too. These speakers has a very nice super clear sound. very nice imaging. But I have to run some power in it. seems like my amp with 42 watts tube power. I have a 1981 onkyo tx-6500 100 wpc integrated amp that may work on this speaker for it has a quad output lets say I get another 2 sets of subsonic speakers hide it behind my couch in the living room.
I notice a difference. every year my equipment's are getting heavier. or maybe its me. I just plugged this speakers in my solid state amp and I'm getting a lot different experience. The onkyo amp has a very wide spacey sound and it really compliments these speakers. I'm probably gonna set this up on my living room like kind of like the way how you guys set yours up. So going back to that foot you @timind mentioned, Ive never used those before. is that the only thing I need to order and should fit right on? where do you think I can get the plugs for the hole (sand hole)
