Vienna Acoustics 'The Music'

Audio Consultants in Evanston.

Owned them. Loved them, but I think there is a reason they were a complete flop. They were over priced. I have liked almost every Vienna acoustic speaker I’ve heard, and I’ve owned a few. The problem with them is that they seem like a company that is about to go out of business any moment. There seems to be absolutely no motivation behind them. They came out with the new Grand SE line, and the Liszt -- and there has been absolutely no hype behind them at all.  The KISS was such an awesome speaker too.  Yet I wouldn't be surprised if they sold three pairs total (exaggerating of course).

They do a terrible job marketing their speakers. I’m not sure if they are just incredibly stingy with their dealers, or their US distributor is garbage, but the brand is about as poorly run/promoted as it gets.  The real problem is that with the way things are today, you can buy a NEW speaker for the same price as a used Music, and likely end up with a better speaker with much better resale value.  

Contuzzi,
The original poster asked a specific question about where he could hear "The Music" speakers, not to hear your rant about how overpriced they are or how you can get better speakers for less than the used price of The Music. I have owned The Music in addition to other speakers in that price range. The build quality, performance and the adjustability of The Music speakers cannot be touched by speakers less than $20K. Read the well respected reviewer Roy Gregory's opinion -- he thinks The Music can easily compete with speakers that cost $75K!

Yeah yeah... And Revel F208’s compete with 20k speakers, ELAC debut competes with thousand dollar speakers, Tekton DI competes with seventeen million dollar speakers, etc.

If you actually paid any attention to what I was saying, you would understand that I was in a way answering his question. They are nowhere to be found because the brand and/or US distributor does an atrocious job promoting them. I’d be surprised if Audio Consultants in Evanston even had them.

Get over yourself. Also, I would hope they can’t be touched by speakers less than $20k as they were priced above that. Not sure what the point of that statement was. Either way, I apologize for offending your speakers.

No need to apologize. I am objective about my equipment -- as I mentioned I have other speakers that I happen to love.
By the way, Roy Gregory did not make that comparison flippantly. He does not say that about other expensive speakers that he reviews.
If you cannot offer a useful reply the original poster's question, why come to the thread and dump all over Vienna Acoustics?The reason I chose the figure of $20K is because you said " you can buy a NEW speaker for the same price as a used Music, and likely end up with a better speaker with much better resale value".The used value of VA The Music is actually less than $15K -- I was being generous. If you know of full-range speakers that sell BRAND NEW for less than $15K and have the same build quality, performance and aesthetics as the VA Music, I am all ears. 

I can’t guide you to a local dealer, but I can comment that there seem to be very few, and even fewer that stock many of the range.

That said, i own the predecessor to the Music - the Mahler. They are superb; open, dynamic, uncolored, deep bass, extended highs. Excellent image. Like any highly resolving speaker, they are fussy - garbage in, garbage comes through clearly; so you need a good amp, preamp, source(s). Fortunately, one thing i have in triplicate is good electronics.

One person commented that distribution is weak, and resale therefore weak - true. I own them in part because they were more or less given up on - fussy, broken, expensive to fix, and i bought them at a steep discount and (mostly) fixed them. I do have one damaged driver to go... and they STILL sound superb.

All that said, I think they are probably well worth seeking out. There are few speakers that are sufficiently revealing for me to use for critical evaluations of other components, and at the same time be musical and involving enough to simply forget what I’m doing and lose myself in the music.

Not to be on a high horse, but be cautious about taking a dealer’s time to hear a huge investment, if you are shopping a used pair... not really fair and one reason there are fewer and fewer places to hear them.
Back to my strange bedfellows of Rubinstein playing the Moonlight, followed by LZII.

G

Steve,It would be best to call the US distributor -- Bluebird Music. They can guide you regarding the nearest dealer who has these speakers available for an audition.

Audio Consultants in Evanston, IL has a pair of Vienna Acoustic The Music in their high end listening room powered (at the time) by a pair of Ayre monoblocks. They sounded pretty incredible to me. The only thing negative I can say is that this dealer doesn’t stream and is limited on demo music, so take your own CD or vinyl. 

WOW, Thanks for the replies! I went thru a situation when auditioning amps I found a hegel h360 that the dealer wouldn't budge on. I went in and showed them an online price for a 6 month old unit for $2500 below list and I told them I couldn't justify their retail price and could I pay them for their time, I think I offered them $500! as I was saving $2500 it eased my guilt, anyhow they refused but the owner came to me personally and we struck a deal on his demo that worked well for both of us. If audio consultants has the speakers i'll figure something out. In the meantime I picked up a pair of ushers on a whim and I didn't expect to be so taken by their sound. 
Contuzzi, I agree with part of your post, there are some new speakers that are exceptional sounding, but when it comes to resale a $30kspeaker is going to fetch more than a new $10k speaker  in the used market.

itsjustme, Thanks for your post. I have the Beethovens mk2 and the Strauss, the strauss use the same drivers as the mahlers with a single 11" eaton woofer I think. Is your Mahler the 1.5? I was surprised when comparing the beethoven to the strauss the music actually decides the better speaker and I'm hoping VA's statement product doesn't compromise. I sent audio consultants an email and will check them out soon.

I just purchased a pair of The Music speakers which are currently going through the break in period. I will tell you this, they are a full bodied speaker with tremendous sound. The sound from the coaxial music center which sits on top of the bass cabinet is phenomenal.