Curious to hear your experience with Viking Acoustics Berlin R speakers

[rubinken]

Have you listened to, or own David's Viking Acoustics Berlin R speakers? I'm curious to hear your impressions, and your placement explorations. I have an order in for a used pair of his Berlin R MKiii.

I will be driving them with my Vitus SIA 025ii integrated. My room, unfortunately, has tall cathedral ceilings and is lined with windows. I'm still treating it for acoustics & aesthetics. The Consensus Audio Conspiracy loudspeakers I own just don't work well in that room, even though they're phenomenal speakers.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Willgolf]

I heard the Berlin's in David's studio. His studio is really big and lacks any acoustical treatments. The Berlin's sounded good. I have the exact same room problems but maybe worse. My room is 25'W x 40'L with 16-foot cathedral ceilings. I have a 16' sliding glass wall on one side so I am acoustically challenged. I ended up going with his Grande Voix Dual horn speakers. We love them!! David makes great products. You can always upgrade if the Berlin's do not work out. He has a great line of speakers.

 

[rubinken]

I heard the Berlin's in David's studio. His studio is really big and lacks any acoustical treatments. The Berlin's sounded good. I have the exact same room problems but maybe worse. My room is 25'W x 40'L with 16-foot cathedral ceilings. I have a 16' sliding glass wall on one side so I am acoustically challenged. I ended up going with his Grande Voix Dual horn speakers. We love them!! David makes great products. You can always upgrade if the Berlin's do not work out. He has a great line of speakers.

Thanks for your response. Ha! We, too, have an acoustically challenging space: Great room w/very high wood beam & wood ceilings, wood floors with rugs, open design into kitchen & dining room, a wall of doors & windows, with a perpendicular wall of windows. Views are awesome, but there's terrible echo. Solving the reverberation issues requires a total compromise of the visual aesthetics. I'm hoping the Berlin R MKiii's will work a bit better than my (discontinued) Consensus Audio Conspiracy speakers. My main listening room will be my smaller study. Your Grande Voix Dual horns are *huge*! Glad that they work for you.

 

[bazelio]

I think @djsina2 has the Viking Berlins. He's definitely a fan of the Viking line, so maybe he'll see this thread.

 

[rubinken]

I think @djsina2 has the Viking Berlins. He's definitely a fan of the Viking line, so maybe he'll see this thread.

Thanks. Hope he sees the thread and responds.

 

[Willgolf]

Thanks for your response. Ha! We, too, have an acoustically challenging space: Great room w/very high wood beam & wood ceilings, wood floors with rugs, open design into kitchen & dining room, a wall of doors & windows, with a perpendicular wall of windows. Views are awesome, but there's terrible echo. Solving the reverberation issues requires a total compromise of the visual aesthetics. I'm hoping the Berlin R MKiii's will work a bit better than my (discontinued) Consensus Audio Conspiracy speakers. My main listening room will be my smaller study. Your Grande Voix Dual horns are *huge*! Glad that they work for you.

I am attaching the video of my room. The reason for the 16' sliding glass door is that I look directly to the Superstition Mountains. You just have to make the best of the situation and as long as you enjoy the music no one else matters.

Thanks. Hope he sees the thread and responds.

Here is my room. The reason that I have the 16'sliding door is that I overlook Superstition Mountain. I don't have a lot to work with but as long as I am happy that is all that counts. See if you can ope the video of my room below


https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vGsbc91GDpdrfQm8EXEhJxYzbx9w5-M9/view?usp=sharing

• 
  
• 
  
• 
  

 

[rubinken]

I am attaching the video of my room. The reason for the 16' sliding glass door is that I look directly to the Superstition Mountains. You just have to make the best of the situation and as long as you enjoy the music no one else matters.

Here is my room. The reason that I have the 16'sliding door is that I overlook Superstition Mountain. I don't have a lot to work with but as long as I am happy that is all that counts. See if you can ope the video of my room below


https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vGsbc91GDpdrfQm8EXEhJxYzbx9w5-M9/view?usp=sharing

• 
  
• 
  
• 
  

I was able to open your video. Thanks. Those speakers certainly don't look huge in that space. Your room looks like a very comfortable, relaxing space. And it's great that you have a view of those gorgeous mountains. I'm the yin of your your yang, as I live in Olympia, WA in the Pacific NW with a view of Henderson Inlet.

 

[Willgolf]

I was able to open your video. Thanks. Those speakers certainly don't look huge in that space. Your room looks like a very comfortable, relaxing space. And it's great that you have a view of those gorgeous mountains. I'm the yin of your your yang, as I live in Olympia, WA in the Pacific NW with a view of Henderson Inlet.

BTW, I am also working with Vicoustic Acoustics as we speak to look at Bass traps to help a little

 

[Willgolf]

Let us know when you get the speakers and I would love to hear your review.

 

[djsina2]

Thanks. Hope he sees the thread and responds.

I didn’t end up with them. If you’re looking at the maple pair those were the ones slated to be mine. I have had 3 other pairs of Vikings though, although in a small room, so not sure how they would be in your space.

 

[rubinken]

Let us know when you get the speakers and I would love to hear your review.

I didn’t end up with them. If you’re looking at the maple pair those were the ones slated to be mine. I have had 3 other pairs of Vikings though, although in a small room, so not sure how they would be in your space.

It is the maple ones. They sure look phenomenal. I'll find out how they work in my room. Which Vikings did you have? Thanks

 

[bazelio]

I didn’t end up with them. If you’re looking at the maple pair those were the ones slated to be mine. I have had 3 other pairs of Vikings though, although in a small room, so not sure how they would be in your space.

What did you end up with instead?

 

[djsina2]

It is the maple ones. They sure look phenomenal. I'll find out how they work in my room. Which Vikings did you have? Thanks

The 3 I had were various models in the Briton lineup which are no longer made.

 

[djsina2]

What did you end up with instead?

Audio Tekne SP-8716-3.5C

 

[jeff1225]

Audio Tekne SP-8716-3.5C

You really need to post all the updates on your awesome system.

 

[John57]

I owned the Berlins for three years or so. They were in a small to medium size room, powered by various amps, PassLabs XA25, Esoteric F05. Appearance: they were my wife's faves. I liked them so much I upgraded to the L'Instrument model. They are soundstage kings, the Berlins since first hearing them it was obvious how expansive they are when dialed in, which was quite easy... and gave full strength to the entire range down to about 40Hz. I'll post more later, hopefully, busy right now.

 

[loki1957]

I agree with everything John 57 said. I had a pair for about a year.

 

[rubinken]

I agree with everything John 57 said. I had a pair for about a year.

What are your thoughts about them filling a large space?

 

[loki1957]

My room is 17x17. They had no trouble filling that space. I guess it depends by what you mean as large.

 

[rspyder]

I have the Berlin R Mk. IIIs. I got them in May of this year. I'm really enjoying the sound, subject to the caveats noted below. They have great presence from inner detail (with a good source of course) to full and slightly forward mids. Their greatest strength is veracity of vocals. They really shine in that arena. The singer is "right there".

Break-in and set up has been a bit challenging in my dedicated listening room (16' wide x 18' long) to dial in an accurate soundstage. VA states no toe-in is required, but I need to experiment with that. The spec sheet for the R III's states that the bottom end is 19 Hz, but they don't go nearly that low. Actually, I question most of the specs provided by the manufacturer. Some things in the spec sheet, such as horn size and cabinet dimensions, are clearly wrong based on simple measurements.

As noted in a different WBF chat, the finish of my Berlin R Mk IIls cabinets is very substandard, boarding on amateurish (open plywood ends, uneven surface, surface cracks, paint runs, not properly centred on the stands, etc.)

In short, I'd like to be able to listen to my Berlins with the lights on.