Vienna Acoustics
You might expect a speaker company hailing from a music capital like Vienna to draw inspiration from history’s great classical composers; and thus you’d be right to think this about Vienna Acoustics, with its product names like Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven. When creating its stunningly sculptural aluminum-bodied Schönberg series, Vienna Acoustics chose to name the different models after the composers of the Second Viennese School: Schönberg, Berg and Webern. The smaller Berg and Webern models are tailored specifically for use up against a wall, and can be supplied with wall-mounting brackets or a tabletop stand. The various models can be combined in different ways to create a complete
surround-sound package. A typical system might include a pair of Weberns flanking the plasma, with three Bergs handling the center and surround duties, supplemented by the Subson subwoofer.
Paradigm Electronics Inc.
For years, Pardigm's Monitor Series speakers have been widely regarded as some of the best overall values in all of audio. Now, the Canadian company has created special low-profile versions of several of its Monitor Series models specifically engineered for on-wall use. Mounting any speaker right up against a wall will emphasize the response in the lower frequencies, and unless the speaker has been specifically tuned for boundary use, it will usually sound somewhat thick and congested with this type of placement. While the OW versions of Paradigm’s Monitor Series may lack the super-sleek styling of some of the other offerings in this list, they are tuned for on-wall placement and definitely lead the way in the price-for-performance contest. See Brent Butterworth’s review of these speakers in this issue.
