Audio Physic Virgo3's

I have my beady eye on a pair of these....

just come up on the web. Anyone have any experience of these? (before I trek 150 miles to go see/hear them).

They have excellent reveiws (incl stereophile) so I know that I'll prob get my money back if I sell them on (they also have a large chunk of manufacturers warranty left on them).

Any input as per usual - greatly appreciated.

Cheers folks //lamboy

 

Hi Lamboy

Try PM'ing Badchamp. I think he has a pair.


Cheers
Chris

 

Hi,

I'm using the Virgo III at the mo' and I can most definitely recommend it. It's an excellent combination of round and flat earth virtues.

My pair sound a little bright initially, to the point where I considered padding down the tweeter a bit. At the designer's recommendation, I mounted them on some SSC isolation feet and have no problem with brightness anymore.

 

Great imaging Craig, speed is ok too, nice vocal range too & real, these were one of the choice of 3 before I purchased the shearwaters (had them at home for 3 weeks), they have one pain in the arse thing the bass, the side firing bass drivers, and lack of deeper bass, Hence why those lovely minos subs are sold with them, the next up in the range (can't remeber the name sorry), wasn't really any better by a large amount. and not justifable at £7K?
The chap selling those in wales, uses chord amps, he had the Virgo 2's before, so he likes the A/P sound, I'm surprising he selling them so soon, he can't of had them long?
worth a listen mate

 

ap virgo 3

Hi Lamboy - had a pair in my old house but they are very , very fussy about positioning - their relationship/distance to a sidewall is critical. In my new house , they wouldn't work at all so I had to sell them to Top Cat on the pfm forum . They are very detailed and I really missed them when they went . I now a have a pair of Virgo 2s - much easier to place , bigger bass but lacking the ultimate musicality of the 3s.
There's a review in this month's Stereophile if you are interested - pm me for a copy.
Cheers
Tony

 

Hi Glenda, you have PM.

cheers //lamboy

 

Thanks folks for the inputs.

I am a tad dubious of these Virgo3's as the ad says that they have a black front and cherry sides - I thought that was only on the Virgo2's???

Hmmmm.

I am also arranging a demo of my 'avatar beauties' the Amphion Xenons.

Both 2nd hand (Xenons are from a dealer), both around the same price. Can get the Xenons on loan, but not the Virgos.

Xenons have high WAF, the Virgos have higher resale prospects and a higher original rrp.

Choices choices

I dont know which one to go for (or alternatives), and I want to get my speakers this week????

 

I agree with W-M that the Virgo IIIs are not for you if you have to mount them close to a side wall (which, IIRC, is a must chez him).

If you can give them a little space either side, the side-mounted woofers perform quite nicely. I also can't agree with the "lack of deeper bass" remark. The Virgos may not match W-M's room as nicely as the Shearwaters, but in many other rooms, they do give more than adequate low bass. If I played you some Midival Punditz tracks, you wouldn't believe this much clean low bass could come from the relatively small (but passive radiator-augmented) woofers.

I'm currently trying out the big AP subwooofer, the Minos. I'm not convinced it's at all necessary, but have to do some more sysem changes before I'm ready to pontificate on the sub.

And if you get the Virgos, do try them on the SSC feet. A superb value for money improvement.

 

Marcus, I did first hear the 3's in a top notch system before taking them home, they produced the first truely 'Layered' soundstage I've heard, but still need a pair of minos to firm up the image and give depth, and they had more than enough room to breathe (unlike my current place), will agree on the feet upgrade also
They're also very high on WA factor, slim and good looking. Wm

 

What! I've heard everything now! You been on a diet big man?

 

If I could get back to my old Fighting weight of 115kg I'd be happy

 

So would the rear tyres on my car!

 

stop tieing him up in the boot then

 

Sorry P, no room, I've only got a hatchback. I'd need as S4 Avant for that

 

I got some space for either side (1 to 1.5mtrs) so this shouldnt be an issue.

I just dont know if to go AP V3's 2nd hand or Amphion Xenon Dealer (still 2nd hand but with demo option)??

My head hurts. //lamboy

 

Flip a coin. Or get both and sell one of them on. Or, better yet, buy a cheap pair of speakers and yearn so much for something decent that you no longer care whether it's from one company or the other.

 

Just to add a little bit...

I bought the Virgo III from glenda back in - oh, must be April or May of last year. They are an upgrade from my previous Neat Petite mkIII/Gravitas on custom-made Mana stands, in all departments.

However, as some have said, they're very fussy about positioning and though there is little to fault about the sound - very fast, much faster than the Petites for example, detailed, even-handed and they go very very loud with ease - there are times that I wish I had more flexibility over where to put them.

At first, I found their bass to be a little iffy compared to the Neats isobarically loaded bass units, but that turned out to be a room thing and now they are really tight. Driven with a Naim 250 amp, there is little to criticise, and being relatively efficient, it's rare that the 250 even gets warm to the touch, so perhaps a more powerful amp would be wasted. In fact, my 23wpc DNM that's now sold drove them very well too, though in fairness the Naim has a better solidity to the bass (if being perhaps less transparent and a bit slower in the mids up).

Drawbacks? Can't find any - a speaker that I'm very happy with, and one that seems to be more than capable of keeping up with any front-end changes. I really doubt that within the modest realms of 52/SC/250 I will ever find a fault with these speakers, except perhaps the ultimate bass extension, which is to around 32Hz I reckon.

jtc