The City of Music (and Art) 

Many Vienna Acoustics loudspeakers are named after famous Viennese-connected musical composers and visual artists (e.g., Beethoven and Liszt, and Klimt). This nomenclature courts hubris as it entails the obvious (and very real) risk of falling short. However, Vienna Acoustics’ slogan -- “The art of natural sound” -- is much less audacious. 

Beethoven’s connection to Vienna was profound as it was where he lived for the last 35 years of his life and created many of his most important works. Which brings us to Vienna Acoustic’s Beethoven Concert Grand Reference floor standing speaker ($14,995/pr. All prices USD), which I will simply refer to as “The Grand Reference.” 

Beethoven, the Loudspeaker 

The Grand Reference is a 3-way floorstanding loudspeaker weighing 83 pounds per channel. At its top sits a 1.1” hand-coated silk dome tweeter which features a ferro magnet that is common to all Vienna Acoustics reference series speakers. This tweeter design is derived from the company’s flagship speaker, The Music ($49,995/pr.). Positioned beneath the tweeter—both within the frequency range and physically—are a 6” midrange driver and three 7” woofers. Two of the woofers are housed together in an enclosure. The third woofer is separately housed in its own enclosure.  Both enclosures are ported to specific frequencies. This, Vienna Acoustics states, allows the speaker to produce deep and controlled bass. 

The midrange and woofer drivers feature Vienna Acoustic’s patented flat Spidercone webbing. Said to be extremely light and rigid, it’s sandwiched between two cones in a geometry that the company calls Composite Cone. The sandwich is further strengthened by the application of the company’s XP4 polymer and glass fiber mixture. According to Vienna Acoustics, this design reduces unwanted vibrations within the diaphragm of these drives, thus allowing them to move pistonically with great precision. The drivers’ rear bracings are constructed in a way that is said to evenly distribute impulse energy throughout the entire surface of their cones, thus further reducing such vibrations.  

According to Vienna Acoustics, the Grand Reference’s crossover takes advantage of the simplicity of soft filters. A pure first-order, 6dB per octave slopes to Bessel second order. Specifications indicate 90dB sensitivity and a 4-ohm load. Though not widely known, Peter Gansterer, the company’s founder and chief designer, mandates that every Vienna Acoustics loudspeaker be internally wired exclusively with pure copper. 

Vienna Acoustics states that the Grand Reference’s cabinet, heavily braced from within, is the product of what the company calls “advanced, European joinery technology.” Veneer options for the cabinet are Piano Black, Piano White, Cherry, and Premium Rosewood. 

The front of the Grand Reference’s cabinet contains a square, silver, metallic logo. Around the rear are the terminals and bass reflex ports. Above the terminals is a golden, metallic plaque that lists the manufacturer, model, and certain key information, such as the speaker’s rated impedance, power handling, and serial number. There’s also a cool drawing on the plaque of Beethoven from the neck up.  

Getting Started 

Unpacking the Grand Reference was a pleasure. Even things like the speaker’s grills and footers were clearly labelled and well packaged. Included to assist with the task of setup were white gloves. The review sample, decked out in the Premium Rosewood veneer option, looked stunning and suggested not only high-end design, but even instrumental lutherie. Gorgeous looking gold-plated terminals milled directly from pure copper, common to all Vienna Acoustics speakers, only added to the impression of quality.  

The Grand Reference’s towers were slightly toed-in and positioned 64" from my system’s front wall and 44” from its side walls.  A slight rearward rake yielded gains in vertical sound staging. 

No audition with Symphony No. 5 in C minor, but...  

Starting with “Spiegel im Spiegel” from Alina by Arvo Pärt (7318590014349 BIS, Tidal), the Grand Reference was off to a very good start. With this recording, the violin's upper registers were lustrous and metallic without sounding unnaturally harsh. Similarly, with “Last Train Home” from Still Life (Talking) by the Pat Metheny Group (0075597994865 Metheny Group Productions, Qobuz) shimmering cymbal sounds hovered like fine vapor and their decays were extended and finely resolved.  

With “A Case of You,” from Blue by Joni Mitchell (0603497921805 Rhino – Warner Records, Tidal), the singer’s mezzo vocals were reproduced with body and intimacy. Here, the Grand Reference highlighted the intimate, close-mic'd, and detail-ladened nature of the recording, but never overly spotlit Mitchell’s voice. The beginning of Gustav Mahler’s “Urlicht,” from Symphony No. 2, conducted by Pierre Boulez (0028947922735, Deutsche Grammophon, Qobuz), has been characterized by some as glowing vocal tenderness swelling into the orchestral ascent. Whether one agrees with that interpretation or not, the intensity of the climax was reproduced without strain or congestion. 

I have always felt that the sounds of a piano reveal a speaker’s soul. On “Resignation” from Elegiac Cycle: June 1999 (Nonesuch, 0603497092864, Tidal), Brad Mehldau’s pedal technique and soft hammer impacts were reproduced with startling realism. Notes suffered from little detail-masking haze. Rather, they were not only beautifully fluid but were produced with their often-complex crystalline structures impressively intact. 

With careful placement, the Grand Reference vanishes. It does not place you in front of the music—it places you within it.  The Köln Concert by Keith Jarrett (0042281006722, ECM, Tidal) offers not just the instrument, but the venue—its walls, its reverberant decay, the space between audience and performer. With “La Mer” from La Mer / Images by Debussy (Boston Symphony, conducted by Seiji Ozawa; 0090266150021, Living Stereo, Tidal), the positions of the orchestra’s players were layered left to right, front to back, and subtly upward.  

Finally, too many speakers confuse bass quantity with quality. With “The Host of Seraphim” from The Serpent's Egg by Dead Can Dance (0652637270969 4AD, Qobuz), the subterranean low drones were not smeared. Rather, each had its own harmonic structure and decay envelope. The descending synth in “Limit to Your Love” by James Blake (from James Blake, 0602527554709 Polydor Records, Tidal) hits with force, but its edges, as rendered by the Grand Reference, were sculpted, never bloated. The room shook, but the speaker never lost its poise. 

Comparisons   

Sonic memory is fickle. However, I couldn’t help making certain comparisons between the Grand Reference and several similarly priced competing speakers which I have had in-house or are otherwise very familiar with. Magico’s A3 delivers high-precision and lower distortion than does the Grand Reference, but it also exhibits an almost laboratory-like sterility. The Grand Reference, by contrast, offered more harmonic texture. Focal’s Sopra No2 offers a flashier and faster sound, particularly in the upper midrange, than did the Grand Reference. That speaker, though, is less linear in performance. Also, the Grand Reference sounded older in the very best way—like parchment instead of PDF.   

Sonus Faber’s Olympica Nova III featured romantic voicing as does the Grand Reference, but has slightly more mid-range bloom. The Grand Reference’s midbass was tighter, and its top-end was less decorative and more honest. Finally, at around $27,000, Bowers & Wilkins’ 803 D4 costs a bit more than the Grand Reference. It sounds wonderfully bold and energetic. However, it lacked the Grand Reference’s organic nature and chamber-like intimacy.  

This all points to the fact that no speaker is perfect. Some may argue that the Grand Reference is a little demure, soft-spoken, and reticent. It’s certainly not an in-your-face speaker or one that ostentatiously shouts its proposition. Luckily, this is a hobby where we can pick our own version of sonic nirvana from an almost unlimited number of choices. 

Natural Sound? 

The Beethoven Reference is not an “audiophile” speaker in the classically clichéd sense. It’s not a flashy, look-at-me, or glitzy sounding speaker. Whether you call it “natural sound” or something else, the listener’s reward is not airbrushed detail, overstated bass, or an otherwise hyper-exciting sound. Rather, its payoff is accurate and beautiful music, which are things that don’t simultaneously co-exist with many speakers.  Now playing on my recommended list. 

Vienna Acoustics Beethoven Grand Concert Reference Loudspeaker 

Price: $14,995 USD 

Warranty: five years parts and labor 

Dimensions: 8.1”W x 44.5H” x 15”D, 12.1”W x 46.9”H x 15”D (with and without base assembly) 

Weight: 83 pounds per channel 

Manufacturer 

Vienna Acoustics 

Weigelsdorf, Austria 

www.vienna-acoustics.com 

Associated Equipment 

• Source: (Digital): T+A MP3000HV Mark 2 Media Player (Tidal & Qobuz via ROON) 

• Amplification: T+A PA3100HV integrated amplifier with PS3000HV Power Supply 

• Speaker: Magico S5 on SPODS 

• Cabling: Synergistic Galileo power cords, Audioquest Fire XLR interconnects, Clarus Crimson speaker cables 

• Room: 40x18x18ft., acoustically symmetrical, treated with wall absorbers and diffusors