High End 2018 • Hot Product

Vienna Acoustics is a company that’s almost as legendary for its evolutionary rather than revolutionary approach to product development as it is for the solid musical performance and astonishing value its products deliver. So when its bread-and-butter Concert Grand series (a range that includes the popular Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn models) gets a major makeover, it’s worth sitting up and taking notice.

The company showed three new models -- a two-way stand-mount (left two speakers in different finishes); a three-way, four-driver floorstander (two 5"/130mm bass units); and a three-way, five-driver floorstander (three 6"/160mm bass units) broadly equivalent to the Beethoven, Beethoven Baby Grand and Haydn models in the existing lineup. The big news is the introduction of new flat-diaphragm drivers, using Vienna Acoustics' proprietary spider cone technology and polypropylene-based cone materials, paired with an all-new tweeter developed in conjunction with Scan-Speak. But the cabinet has also been significantly revised, with attractively contoured edges and more elegant outriggers for the spikes, which remain the same supremely practical and effective design seen on other Vienna Acoustics speakers. Internally, the midrange driver enjoys its own isolated chamber, while the front baffle and walls have all increased in thickness, the material changing from MDF to harder, stiffer HDF.

It’s too soon for pricing to be announced, but current models range from €1000 to €3000 each, and it's probably safe to say that the new speakers will cost even more. This is one speaker line on which to keep a weather eye. We have requested review samples as soon as they are available.