FSI 2008

Kevin Wolff, Vienna Acoustics' new international sales manager, poses next to the new $25,000/pair The Music loudspeakers.That rotating section of the cabinet contains Vienna Acoustics' revolutionary (hah!) new, flat, concentric 7" tweeter-midrange unit, which handles frequencies from 200Hz to 20kHz. A separate super-tweeter takes over above the audioband.

Called "The Point," the coaxial driver uses a single layer of TPX polymer, reinforced by radial ribs, to create a driver of unusual rigidity without adding mass. The "bass module," which is to say everything up to 200Hz, is first placed within the room and is raked backwards to mate with the listening position, then the coaxial module is rotated to achieve precise focus.

That, at least, is the theory—and, powered by an Audio Research CD-7 CD player ($9000), Reference 3 preamplifier ($10,000), and Primare A3 250Wpc power amplifier ($4495), The Music was pretty convincing. Lots of slam, supported by tones of air. Not to mention, a layered, holographic soundstge that beckoned me to stay seated long past the point where duty elsewhere called.

The Music is the flagship of Vienna Acoustics' Klimt line, so those of us with smaller budgets may benefit from The Point's trickle-down technology.