Description: Three-way floorstanding loudspeaker. Drivers: 1 (25mm) ring-radiator tweeter, 4.5 (114mm) aluminum-cone midrange, two 6.5 (165mm) Nomex-cone woofers, two 6.5 Nomex inverted-cone passive radiators. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Input sensitivity: 90dB/W/m. Frequency response: 34Hz-40kHz, +0/-3dB. Recommended input power: 25-150W. Recommended room size: 210-420ft2. Connections: rear panel, single-wire terminals, 5-way binding posts. Dimensions: 40 (1010mm) H by 6 (150mm) W by 16 (410mm) D. Weight: 66 lbs (30kg). The Virgo III is a floorstanding three-way and, true to its minimonitor-plus-woofer concept, is essentially Audio Physics Brilon minimonitor mated to a woofer assembly. The minimonitor component consists of ring-radiator tweeter custom-made for Audio Physic by VIFA, and a 4.5 aluminum-cone midrange custom-built by SEAS. The rationale behind a ring radiator—imagine a ring suspended along its inner and outer circumferences and driven along a circle midway between the two—is that it combines a large driven area with a relatively short distance between the point where the diaphragm is driven and either of the two points its suspended. The short suspended distances reduce distortion products, and the large driven area increases sound-pressure-level capability and allows the tweeter to be used at lower frequencies. This last benefit supports APs desire to move the midrange-tweeter crossover from 3kHz—where it could affect female vocal and violin reproduction—to a theoretically less intrusive 1.8kHz. The aluminum midrange incorporates a bit of trickery as well, in the form of APs unique active cone damping system, which puts the cone in tension and thus raises its inherent resonances to well above the audioband. As with earlier Virgo models, the midrange driver is enclosed in its own trapezoidal housing, built within the main cabinet structure. The woofer subsystem is one of the major differences between the III and earlier Virgos, which used two sideways-firing active woofers, one facing each way, and a single port at the front of the speaker. In the III, the port is replaced by two passive radiators and each side of the cabinet houses a vertical array of a woofer and a radiator. The Virgo IIIs come as mirror-imaged pairs, the active woofer below the passive radiator on the speakers inner sides, the drivers flipped on the outboard sides. In another major change, the woofer assemblies are no longer mounted directly to the external cabinet, but housed in their own sealed inner cabinet of MDF, this suspended inside the external structure with elastomer to isolate the midrange and tweeter from the woofers vibrations. System and Setup Audio Physic provided wonderfully straightforward instructions for setting up the Virgo IIIs, the procedure based on a clear explanation of the physics of room reflections, arrival times, and distances—see the October 1998 Fine Tunes. Since the optimum way to avoid sidewall reflections is to keep the speakers away from the walls, and since the way to get the widest possible soundstage is to separate the speakers widely, following APs recommendations will likely result in your speakers firing across a rectangular rooms width rather than down its length. This worked well in my listening area, which—although its actually one arm of a complex, flowing open area—is basically a rectangle 18 wide by 15 deep. Once the speakers are roughly positioned according to the aforementioned physics, they can be moved into and out of the room to achieve the optimal tonal balance at the listening position. Finally, one speaker is moved very slightly forward and back to center the image, then rotated to—Voilà!—fine-tune and lock in the focus. I ended up with the Virgos fronts about 4 from the front wall, 5 in from the sides of my space, and about 8 apart. This put their plane about 8 from my listening chair, which located my ears about 3 in from the back wall and about 38 above the floor—the same elevation as the Virgos tweeters.The Virgos acquitted themselves quite well, thank you very much. I cued up Car on a Hill, sat back, closed my eyes, and Mitchell was right there, solid, tangible, and three-dimensional. I could picture her, eyes closed, leaning into the microphone—so solid was the image that I felt as if I could stand up, lean forward, and look around her to see her from the sides and back. And the soundstage was huge—incredibly wide, deep, and open, with a great sense of clarity and air, and images that were firmly and precisely locked into their places. But rather than my memory of the LS3/5as, the Virgo IIIs incredible soundstage and imaging reminded me more of the Magnepan MG3.6/Rs than of the small speakers Ive heard over the years. Like the Maggies, the Virgos images were wonderfully solid and three-dimensional, but not as tightly focused as Ive heard from top-flight minimonitors in the past. The Virgos images were a little bit larger and not quite so sharply bounded, instead merging more naturally with the surrounding space. This isnt a complaint. A frequent shortcoming of minimonitors is that their images are simply too small to credibly portray the live event—particularly a full orchestra—and often their compact, tightly focused, sharply bounded images contribute to that impression. The Virgos slightly larger images created a much more naturally scaled portrayal—more important, one that made sense. That is, the sizes of their images and their spacing around the soundstage was consistent with the distances described by the surrounding ambience, and with the perspective between listener and instruments. The Virgos reproduction of detail was another area where it didnt sound like most other minimonitors. There was detail in spades—layers and layers of it—but it was inner detail, small subtleties within the fabric of the music, rather than the laser-sharp, pinpoint-located, count-the-chair-scrapes sort of detail that minimonitors are famous for. True, I could follow Joni Mitchells head moving slightly around the mike, but I wouldnt say I could hear the air moving through her throat and mouth, or the interaction of her vocal cords with the moving column of air. The Virgos detail just wasnt that flashy or gratuitous. Instead, it was a part of what drove the performance forward and made it come alive. One thing that I suspect contributed to the Virgos reproduction of detail was the sound of its ring-radiator tweeter. John Atkinsons measurements may shed some light here, but while the Virgo didnt sound closed-in or dark, it didnt seem to have the nth degree of air and extension, either. Instruments with a lot of high-frequency energy, even some female vocals, didnt pop out of the mix the way they do with the Thiel CS6, for example. When I zeroed in on high-frequency detail—the circular motion of Frank Gants brush on his cymbals in What a Diffrence a Day Makes, from Ernestine Andersons Never Make Your Move Too Soon (CD, Concord Jazz CCD-4147), for example—it was obvious that the Virgos tweeter was doing its job. However, it had a softer, sweeter sound than most tweeters, and reminded me more—again—of the Magnepan 3.6/Rs ribbon tweeter than of a conventional dome unit. Both Magnepan and Audio Physic use unusually low crossover points: 1700Hz for the 3.6/R, 1800Hz for the Virgo. I couldnt help wondering if the Virgos and Maggies softer, sweeter treble responses are related not to shortcomings in the tweeters but to inherently lower distortion. One area where the Virgo IIIs definitely reminded me of good minimonitors was in their wide dispersion and point-source character. Although there was definitely a sweet spot, particularly in terms of focus, their overall sound remained remarkably consistent outside the sweet spot. I found that I could move quite a ways off-axis and still enjoy their performance—a benefit when youve got a new wife to share the music with. Returning to the music, the Virgos did a fantastic job on Court and Spark. Joni Mitchells singing wasnt just notes laid out there, or merely released to progress monotonically across the stage. Each note was crafted and shaped, some breathily released to float away into nothingness, some tightly gripped and manhandled, pulled to and fro, dragging me along with them. With the Virgos, Mitchells singing wasnt just a performance, it was a roller-coaster ride, with her at the controls and me her passenger, hanging on for dear life. Try as I might, I couldnt ignore the music, or just sit back and let it happen. I was always drawn in, further and further, until, inevitably, I would realize I was sitting forward in my chair, gripping the armrests.The Virgos acquitted themselves quite well, thank you very much. I cued up Car on a Hill, sat back, closed my eyes, and Mitchell was right there, solid, tangible, and three-dimensional. I could picture her, eyes closed, leaning into the microphone—so solid was the image that I felt as if I could stand up, lean forward, and look around her to see her from the sides and back. And the soundstage was huge—incredibly wide, deep, and open, with a great sense of clarity and air, and images that were firmly and precisely locked into their places. But rather than my memory of the LS3/5as, the Virgo IIIs incredible soundstage and imaging reminded me more of the Magnepan MG3.6/Rs than of the small speakers Ive heard over the years. Like the Maggies, the Virgos images were wonderfully solid and three-dimensional, but not as tightly focused as Ive heard from top-flight minimonitors in the past. The Virgos images were a little bit larger and not quite so sharply bounded, instead merging more naturally with the surrounding space. This isnt a complaint. A frequent shortcoming of minimonitors is that their images are simply too small to credibly portray the live event—particularly a full orchestra—and often their compact, tightly focused, sharply bounded images contribute to that impression. The Virgos slightly larger images created a much more naturally scaled portrayal—more important, one that made sense. That is, the sizes of their images and their spacing around the soundstage was consistent with the distances described by the surrounding ambience, and with the perspective between listener and instruments. The Virgos reproduction of detail was another area where it didnt sound like most other minimonitors. There was detail in spades—layers and layers of it—but it was inner detail, small subtleties within the fabric of the music, rather than the laser-sharp, pinpoint-located, count-the-chair-scrapes sort of detail that minimonitors are famous for. True, I could follow Joni Mitchells head moving slightly around the mike, but I wouldnt say I could hear the air moving through her throat and mouth, or the interaction of her vocal cords with the moving column of air. The Virgos detail just wasnt that flashy or gratuitous. Instead, it was a part of what drove the performance forward and made it come alive. One thing that I suspect contributed to the Virgos reproduction of detail was the sound of its ring-radiator tweeter. John Atkinsons measurements may shed some light here, but while the Virgo didnt sound closed-in or dark, it didnt seem to have the nth degree of air and extension, either. Instruments with a lot of high-frequency energy, even some female vocals, didnt pop out of the mix the way they do with the Thiel CS6, for example. When I zeroed in on high-frequency detail—the circular motion of Frank Gants brush on his cymbals in What a Diffrence a Day Makes, from Ernestine Andersons Never Make Your Move Too Soon (CD, Concord Jazz CCD-4147), for example—it was obvious that the Virgos tweeter was doing its job. However, it had a softer, sweeter sound than most tweeters, and reminded me more—again—of the Magnepan 3.6/Rs ribbon tweeter than of a conventional dome unit. Both Magnepan and Audio Physic use unusually low crossover points: 1700Hz for the 3.6/R, 1800Hz for the Virgo. I couldnt help wondering if the Virgos and Maggies softer, sweeter treble responses are related not to shortcomings in the tweeters but to inherently lower distortion. One area where the Virgo IIIs definitely reminded me of good minimonitors was in their wide dispersion and point-source character. Although there was definitely a sweet spot, particularly in terms of focus, their overall sound remained remarkably consistent outside the sweet spot. I found that I could move quite a ways off-axis and still enjoy their performance—a benefit when youve got a new wife to share the music with. Returning to the music, the Virgos did a fantastic job on Court and Spark. Joni Mitchells singing wasnt just notes laid out there, or merely released to progress monotonically across the stage. Each note was crafted and shaped, some breathily released to float away into nothingness, some tightly gripped and manhandled, pulled to and fro, dragging me along with them. With the Virgos, Mitchells singing wasnt just a performance, it was a roller-coaster ride, with her at the controls and me her passenger, hanging on for dear life. Try as I might, I couldnt ignore the music, or just sit back and let it happen. I was always drawn in, further and further, until, inevitably, I would realize I was sitting forward in my chair, gripping the armrests.Another great showcase for the Virgos strengths, and another record Ive had since the dawn of time, was Franz Helmersons recording of J.S. Bachs Suite No.2 in d for Solo Cello (LP, BIS LP-65). Its a wonderful performance through any speaker, with a solid, nicely detailed image, a warm, well-described acoustic, and just the right balance of size, distance, and perspective. With the Virgos, however, it was a lot more than that. Rather than something warm and mellow to sit and sip wine to, the Virgos made this recording feel like a live event. There was that same right there quality Id felt with Court and Spark. The air and ambience seemed to have the sort of electricity that permeates a concert hall, and, as with Mitchells singing, each note was shaped and crafted, rich with detail and subtlety. Okay, so the Virgo III didnt quite have a traditional minimonitors specific strengths and weaknesses—to its credit, in my book. What about the other half of its design brief: full-range performance? JAs measurements will tell the tale, but Id guess that the Virgo was good down to about 40Hz in my room, dropping off pretty rapidly below that. It was articulate and clean at the bottom of its range, but didnt have the power and impact of a much larger speaker. The massive gong a few minutes into Dead Can Dances Yulunga, from Into the Labyrinth (CD, 4AD 45384-2), was a good example. The attack was clean and the initial tone quite pure, pristine enough to hear the individual waves moving across and out from the gong. But the subsonic pressure waves that expanded out to fill the room didnt have the weight and power that Ive heard from other, larger speakers. To be fair, my huge, open space is a lot bigger than the Virgos intended environment. In something closer to the recommended 210-420ft2, and with an 8 or 9 ceiling instead of my 20 one, they should be much better able to pressurize the room and bolster the impression of deep, powerful bass. The Virgo III was a solid performer on my other bass tests, sounding more like a good big speaker than a good little one. Listening to Henry Grimes and Bob Cranshays bass lines on Coleman Hawkins and Sonny Rollins Sonny Meets Hawk (LP, RCA/Classic LSP-2712), I noted that they were clean, warm, and woody all across their ranges. The Virgo did have a warmish tonal balance, suggesting that the 80-100Hz region might be a little more prominent than the 150-400Hz lower midrange. For example, Helmersons cello sounded a bit bigger and woodier at the bottom of its range than up near the top. However, there was none of the thickening and one-note character of a speaker that creates the impression of bass by boosting the warmth region. And on fast, stressful passages such as the runs on Fourplays Bali Run, from Fourplay (CD, Warner Bros. 26656-2), the Virgo was always quick and precise, cleanly starting and stopping in plenty of time to keep up with the music. The third aspect of merging a minimonitor and bass unit—the merging—is probably the most difficult of all. The Virgos pulled it off beautifully. Images, whether a single, full-range instrument such as a piano or an entire orchestra within a coherent acoustic space, were seamless from top to bottom. There was no hint of temporal, spatial, or textural discontinuities as the Virgos moved across the instruments frequency ranges. The Virgos handling of dynamics, an area where integration often runs into snags, was similarly consistent from top to bottom, and quite good overall. The Virgos handling of smaller-scale dynamics—the ebb and flow of a woodwind line, for example, or the intricate microdynamics of Joni Mitchells voice—was excellent. However, the Virgo was not as explosive as some speakers Ive used; its dynamic contrasts were not quite as large. But, as with the Virgos bass performance, I attribute this more to a mismatch between my room and the speakers intended environment than to any inherent shortcoming on their part. On Dead Can Dances Yulunga, the maracas that explode out of the dense, swirling mix didnt have quite the snap, didnt take my breath away, as they have with some other speakers. But given the choice between top-to-bottom consistency and that nth degree of impact, Ill take consistency any day. Exploring whether or not the Virgo III actually does merge minimonitor strengths with full-range performance is an interesting way to dissect their performance, but its not really the point. The point is how well a speaker succeeds in conveying the magic of a musical event. That the Virgos did very well. I threw everything at them, from the simple and achingly beautiful Mozart Clarinet Quintet in A, K.581, on Stereophiles Mosaic CD (STPH015-2), to full orchestral works, to small jazz combos, and to all-out rockers from AC/DC and Stevie Ray Vaughan. They were never less than captivating and magical. Antony Michaelsons clarinet was pure, warm, and woody, Vaughans guitar was hot, swampy, and alive, and vocals—particularly female vocals—were as realistic and in the room as Ive heard with any speaker, big or small. As I noted early on, Audio Physics speakers have sounded great in every room Ive heard them in. Now I can enthusiastically add my listening space to that list. Summing Up I wouldnt call Audio Physics Virgo III a perfect merging of a minimonitor and full-range bass extension. It is both less and more than that. I think of the Virgo III as simply a great-sounding speaker—particularly given its compact dimensions—and an interesting point on my timeline between the Magnepan MG3.6/R (which they replaced) and the Thiel CS6 (waiting in the wings). Although the Virgo IIIs technology more nearly aligns with the Thiels, the Virgos strengths, weaknesses, and overall presentation were much more akin to the Maggies. The sweet, delicious highs, the rich, tangible images, and the huge, three-dimensional, walk-in soundstage—all reminded me a lot of the 3.6/Rs most captivating attributes. On the other hand, the Virgo didnt seem to have the incredible precision, focus, and clarity of the Thiel CS6, or its dynamic impact and power, particularly at the bottom end. The bottom line is that the Audio Physic Virgo III is an excellent loudspeaker that I could happily live with for a long time. Its not the perfect match for my room, but even there, a pair of them worked very well, in both the audiophile and, even more, the musical senses. In a smaller room, my caveats about low bass power and dynamic impact would likely come off the scorecard. The Audio Physic Virgo III is a well-engineered, beautifully executed, and great-sounding loudspeaker that is, to my way of thinking, fairly priced at $6995/pair. Very highly recommended. Description: Three-way floorstanding loudspeaker. Drivers: 1 (25mm) ring-radiator tweeter, 4.5 (114mm) aluminum-cone midrange, two 6.5 (165mm) Nomex-cone woofers, two 6.5 Nomex inverted-cone passive radiators. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Input sensitivity: 90dB/W/m. Frequency response: 34Hz-40kHz, +0/-3dB. Recommended input power: 25-150W. Recommended room size: 210-420ft2. Connections: rear panel, single-wire terminals, 5-way binding posts. Dimensions: 40 (1010mm) H by 6 (150mm) W by 16 (410mm) D. Weight: 66 lbs (30kg).  The Virgo III is a floorstanding three-way and, true to its minimonitor-plus-woofer concept, is essentially Audio Physics Brilon minimonitor mated to a woofer assembly. The minimonitor component consists of ring-radiator tweeter custom-made for Audio Physic by VIFA, and a 4.5 aluminum-cone midrange custom-built by SEAS. The rationale behind a ring radiator—imagine a ring suspended along its inner and outer circumferences and driven along a circle midway between the two—is that it combines a large driven area with a relatively short distance between the point where the diaphragm is driven and either of the two points its suspended. The short suspended distances reduce distortion products, and the large driven area increases sound-pressure-level capability and allows the tweeter to be used at lower frequencies. This last benefit supports APs desire to move the midrange-tweeter crossover from 3kHz—where it could affect female vocal and violin reproduction—to a theoretically less intrusive 1.8kHz. The aluminum midrange incorporates a bit of trickery as well, in the form of APs unique active cone damping system, which puts the cone in tension and thus raises its inherent resonances to well above the audioband. As with earlier Virgo models, the midrange driver is enclosed in its own trapezoidal housing, built within the main cabinet structure. The woofer subsystem is one of the major differences between the III and earlier Virgos, which used two sideways-firing active woofers, one facing each way, and a single port at the front of the speaker. In the III, the port is replaced by two passive radiators and each side of the cabinet houses a vertical array of a woofer and a radiator. The Virgo IIIs come as mirror-imaged pairs, the active woofer below the passive radiator on the speakers inner sides, the drivers flipped on the outboard sides. In another major change, the woofer assemblies are no longer mounted directly to the external cabinet, but housed in their own sealed inner cabinet of MDF, this suspended inside the external structure with elastomer to isolate the midrange and tweeter from the woofers vibrations. System and Setup Audio Physic provided wonderfully straightforward instructions for setting up the Virgo IIIs, the procedure based on a clear explanation of the physics of room reflections, arrival times, and distances—see the October 1998 Fine Tunes. Since the optimum way to avoid sidewall reflections is to keep the speakers away from the walls, and since the way to get the widest possible soundstage is to separate the speakers widely, following APs recommendations will likely result in your speakers firing across a rectangular rooms width rather than down its length. This worked well in my listening area, which—although its actually one arm of a complex, flowing open area—is basically a rectangle 18 wide by 15 deep. Once the speakers are roughly positioned according to the aforementioned physics, they can be moved into and out of the room to achieve the optimal tonal balance at the listening position. Finally, one speaker is moved very slightly forward and back to center the image, then rotated to—Voilà!—fine-tune and lock in the focus. I ended up with the Virgos fronts about 4 from the front wall, 5 in from the sides of my space, and about 8 apart. This put their plane about 8 from my listening chair, which located my ears about 3 in from the back wall and about 38 above the floor—the same elevation as the Virgos tweeters.The Virgos acquitted themselves quite well, thank you very much. I cued up Car on a Hill, sat back, closed my eyes, and Mitchell was right there, solid, tangible, and three-dimensional. I could picture her, eyes closed, leaning into the microphone—so solid was the image that I felt as if I could stand up, lean forward, and look around her to see her from the sides and back. And the soundstage was huge—incredibly wide, deep, and open, with a great sense of clarity and air, and images that were firmly and precisely locked into their places. But rather than my memory of the LS3/5as, the Virgo IIIs incredible soundstage and imaging reminded me more of the Magnepan MG3.6/Rs than of the small speakers Ive heard over the years. Like the Maggies, the Virgos images were wonderfully solid and three-dimensional, but not as tightly focused as Ive heard from top-flight minimonitors in the past. The Virgos images were a little bit larger and not quite so sharply bounded, instead merging more naturally with the surrounding space. This isnt a complaint. A frequent shortcoming of minimonitors is that their images are simply too small to credibly portray the live event—particularly a full orchestra—and often their compact, tightly focused, sharply bounded images contribute to that impression. The Virgos slightly larger images created a much more naturally scaled portrayal—more important, one that made sense. That is, the sizes of their images and their spacing around the soundstage was consistent with the distances described by the surrounding ambience, and with the perspective between listener and instruments. The Virgos reproduction of detail was another area where it didnt sound like most other minimonitors. There was detail in spades—layers and layers of it—but it was inner detail, small subtleties within the fabric of the music, rather than the laser-sharp, pinpoint-located, count-the-chair-scrapes sort of detail that minimonitors are famous for. True, I could follow Joni Mitchells head moving slightly around the mike, but I wouldnt say I could hear the air moving through her throat and mouth, or the interaction of her vocal cords with the moving column of air. The Virgos detail just wasnt that flashy or gratuitous. Instead, it was a part of what drove the performance forward and made it come alive. One thing that I suspect contributed to the Virgos reproduction of detail was the sound of its ring-radiator tweeter. John Atkinsons measurements may shed some light here, but while the Virgo didnt sound closed-in or dark, it didnt seem to have the nth degree of air and extension, either. Instruments with a lot of high-frequency energy, even some female vocals, didnt pop out of the mix the way they do with the Thiel CS6, for example. When I zeroed in on high-frequency detail—the circular motion of Frank Gants brush on his cymbals in What a Diffrence a Day Makes, from Ernestine Andersons Never Make Your Move Too Soon (CD, Concord Jazz CCD-4147), for example—it was obvious that the Virgos tweeter was doing its job. However, it had a softer, sweeter sound than most tweeters, and reminded me more—again—of the Magnepan 3.6/Rs ribbon tweeter than of a conventional dome unit. Both Magnepan and Audio Physic use unusually low crossover points: 1700Hz for the 3.6/R, 1800Hz for the Virgo. I couldnt help wondering if the Virgos and Maggies softer, sweeter treble responses are related not to shortcomings in the tweeters but to inherently lower distortion. One area where the Virgo IIIs definitely reminded me of good minimonitors was in their wide dispersion and point-source character. Although there was definitely a sweet spot, particularly in terms of focus, their overall sound remained remarkably consistent outside the sweet spot. I found that I could move quite a ways off-axis and still enjoy their performance—a benefit when youve got a new wife to share the music with. Returning to the music, the Virgos did a fantastic job on Court and Spark. Joni Mitchells singing wasnt just notes laid out there, or merely released to progress monotonically across the stage. Each note was crafted and shaped, some breathily released to float away into nothingness, some tightly gripped and manhandled, pulled to and fro, dragging me along with them. With the Virgos, Mitchells singing wasnt just a performance, it was a roller-coaster ride, with her at the controls and me her passenger, hanging on for dear life. Try as I might, I couldnt ignore the music, or just sit back and let it happen. I was always drawn in, further and further, until, inevitably, I would realize I was sitting forward in my chair, gripping the armrests.The Virgos acquitted themselves quite well, thank you very much. I cued up Car on a Hill, sat back, closed my eyes, and Mitchell was right there, solid, tangible, and three-dimensional. I could picture her, eyes closed, leaning into the microphone—so solid was the image that I felt as if I could stand up, lean forward, and look around her to see her from the sides and back. And the soundstage was huge—incredibly wide, deep, and open, with a great sense of clarity and air, and images that were firmly and precisely locked into their places. But rather than my memory of the LS3/5as, the Virgo IIIs incredible soundstage and imaging reminded me more of the Magnepan MG3.6/Rs than of the small speakers Ive heard over the years. Like the Maggies, the Virgos images were wonderfully solid and three-dimensional, but not as tightly focused as Ive heard from top-flight minimonitors in the past. The Virgos images were a little bit larger and not quite so sharply bounded, instead merging more naturally with the surrounding space. This isnt a complaint. A frequent shortcoming of minimonitors is that their images are simply too small to credibly portray the live event—particularly a full orchestra—and often their compact, tightly focused, sharply bounded images contribute to that impression. The Virgos slightly larger images created a much more naturally scaled portrayal—more important, one that made sense. That is, the sizes of their images and their spacing around the soundstage was consistent with the distances described by the surrounding ambience, and with the perspective between listener and instruments. The Virgos reproduction of detail was another area where it didnt sound like most other minimonitors. There was detail in spades—layers and layers of it—but it was inner detail, small subtleties within the fabric of the music, rather than the laser-sharp, pinpoint-located, count-the-chair-scrapes sort of detail that minimonitors are famous for. True, I could follow Joni Mitchells head moving slightly around the mike, but I wouldnt say I could hear the air moving through her throat and mouth, or the interaction of her vocal cords with the moving column of air. The Virgos detail just wasnt that flashy or gratuitous. Instead, it was a part of what drove the performance forward and made it come alive. One thing that I suspect contributed to the Virgos reproduction of detail was the sound of its ring-radiator tweeter. John Atkinsons measurements may shed some light here, but while the Virgo didnt sound closed-in or dark, it didnt seem to have the nth degree of air and extension, either. Instruments with a lot of high-frequency energy, even some female vocals, didnt pop out of the mix the way they do with the Thiel CS6, for example. When I zeroed in on high-frequency detail—the circular motion of Frank Gants brush on his cymbals in What a Diffrence a Day Makes, from Ernestine Andersons Never Make Your Move Too Soon (CD, Concord Jazz CCD-4147), for example—it was obvious that the Virgos tweeter was doing its job. However, it had a softer, sweeter sound than most tweeters, and reminded me more—again—of the Magnepan 3.6/Rs ribbon tweeter than of a conventional dome unit. Both Magnepan and Audio Physic use unusually low crossover points: 1700Hz for the 3.6/R, 1800Hz for the Virgo. I couldnt help wondering if the Virgos and Maggies softer, sweeter treble responses are related not to shortcomings in the tweeters but to inherently lower distortion. One area where the Virgo IIIs definitely reminded me of good minimonitors was in their wide dispersion and point-source character. Although there was definitely a sweet spot, particularly in terms of focus, their overall sound remained remarkably consistent outside the sweet spot. I found that I could move quite a ways off-axis and still enjoy their performance—a benefit when youve got a new wife to share the music with. Returning to the music, the Virgos did a fantastic job on Court and Spark. Joni Mitchells singing wasnt just notes laid out there, or merely released to progress monotonically across the stage. Each note was crafted and shaped, some breathily released to float away into nothingness, some tightly gripped and manhandled, pulled to and fro, dragging me along with them. With the Virgos, Mitchells singing wasnt just a performance, it was a roller-coaster ride, with her at the controls and me her passenger, hanging on for dear life. Try as I might, I couldnt ignore the music, or just sit back and let it happen. I was always drawn in, further and further, until, inevitably, I would realize I was sitting forward in my chair, gripping the armrests.Another great showcase for the Virgos strengths, and another record Ive had since the dawn of time, was Franz Helmersons recording of J.S. Bachs Suite No.2 in d for Solo Cello (LP, BIS LP-65). Its a wonderful performance through any speaker, with a solid, nicely detailed image, a warm, well-described acoustic, and just the right balance of size, distance, and perspective. With the Virgos, however, it was a lot more than that. Rather than something warm and mellow to sit and sip wine to, the Virgos made this recording feel like a live event. There was that same right there quality Id felt with Court and Spark. The air and ambience seemed to have the sort of electricity that permeates a concert hall, and, as with Mitchells singing, each note was shaped and crafted, rich with detail and subtlety. Okay, so the Virgo III didnt quite have a traditional minimonitors specific strengths and weaknesses—to its credit, in my book. What about the other half of its design brief: full-range performance? JAs measurements will tell the tale, but Id guess that the Virgo was good down to about 40Hz in my room, dropping off pretty rapidly below that. It was articulate and clean at the bottom of its range, but didnt have the power and impact of a much larger speaker. The massive gong a few minutes into Dead Can Dances Yulunga, from Into the Labyrinth (CD, 4AD 45384-2), was a good example. The attack was clean and the initial tone quite pure, pristine enough to hear the individual waves moving across and out from the gong. But the subsonic pressure waves that expanded out to fill the room didnt have the weight and power that Ive heard from other, larger speakers. To be fair, my huge, open space is a lot bigger than the Virgos intended environment. In something closer to the recommended 210-420ft2, and with an 8 or 9 ceiling instead of my 20 one, they should be much better able to pressurize the room and bolster the impression of deep, powerful bass. The Virgo III was a solid performer on my other bass tests, sounding more like a good big speaker than a good little one. Listening to Henry Grimes and Bob Cranshays bass lines on Coleman Hawkins and Sonny Rollins Sonny Meets Hawk (LP, RCA/Classic LSP-2712), I noted that they were clean, warm, and woody all across their ranges. The Virgo did have a warmish tonal balance, suggesting that the 80-100Hz region might be a little more prominent than the 150-400Hz lower midrange. For example, Helmersons cello sounded a bit bigger and woodier at the bottom of its range than up near the top. However, there was none of the thickening and one-note character of a speaker that creates the impression of bass by boosting the warmth region. And on fast, stressful passages such as the runs on Fourplays Bali Run, from Fourplay (CD, Warner Bros. 26656-2), the Virgo was always quick and precise, cleanly starting and stopping in plenty of time to keep up with the music. The third aspect of merging a minimonitor and bass unit—the merging—is probably the most difficult of all. The Virgos pulled it off beautifully. Images, whether a single, full-range instrument such as a piano or an entire orchestra within a coherent acoustic space, were seamless from top to bottom. There was no hint of temporal, spatial, or textural discontinuities as the Virgos moved across the instruments frequency ranges. The Virgos handling of dynamics, an area where integration often runs into snags, was similarly consistent from top to bottom, and quite good overall. The Virgos handling of smaller-scale dynamics—the ebb and flow of a woodwind line, for example, or the intricate microdynamics of Joni Mitchells voice—was excellent. However, the Virgo was not as explosive as some speakers Ive used; its dynamic contrasts were not quite as large. But, as with the Virgos bass performance, I attribute this more to a mismatch between my room and the speakers intended environment than to any inherent shortcoming on their part. On Dead Can Dances Yulunga, the maracas that explode out of the dense, swirling mix didnt have quite the snap, didnt take my breath away, as they have with some other speakers. But given the choice between top-to-bottom consistency and that nth degree of impact, Ill take consistency any day. Exploring whether or not the Virgo III actually does merge minimonitor strengths with full-range performance is an interesting way to dissect their performance, but its not really the point. The point is how well a speaker succeeds in conveying the magic of a musical event. That the Virgos did very well. I threw everything at them, from the simple and achingly beautiful Mozart Clarinet Quintet in A, K.581, on Stereophiles Mosaic CD (STPH015-2), to full orchestral works, to small jazz combos, and to all-out rockers from AC/DC and Stevie Ray Vaughan. They were never less than captivating and magical. Antony Michaelsons clarinet was pure, warm, and woody, Vaughans guitar was hot, swampy, and alive, and vocals—particularly female vocals—were as realistic and in the room as Ive heard with any speaker, big or small. As I noted early on, Audio Physics speakers have sounded great in every room Ive heard them in. Now I can enthusiastically add my listening space to that list. Summing Up I wouldnt call Audio Physics Virgo III a perfect merging of a minimonitor and full-range bass extension. It is both less and more than that. I think of the Virgo III as simply a great-sounding speaker—particularly given its compact dimensions—and an interesting point on my timeline between the Magnepan MG3.6/R (which they replaced) and the Thiel CS6 (waiting in the wings). Although the Virgo IIIs technology more nearly aligns with the Thiels, the Virgos strengths, weaknesses, and overall presentation were much more akin to the Maggies. The sweet, delicious highs, the rich, tangible images, and the huge, three-dimensional, walk-in soundstage—all reminded me a lot of the 3.6/Rs most captivating attributes. On the other hand, the Virgo didnt seem to have the incredible precision, focus, and clarity of the Thiel CS6, or its dynamic impact and power, particularly at the bottom end. The bottom line is that the Audio Physic Virgo III is an excellent loudspeaker that I could happily live with for a long time. Its not the perfect match for my room, but even there, a pair of them worked very well, in both the audiophile and, even more, the musical senses. In a smaller room, my caveats about low bass power and dynamic impact would likely come off the scorecard. The Audio Physic Virgo III is a well-engineered, beautifully executed, and great-sounding loudspeaker that is, to my way of thinking, fairly priced at $6995/pair. Very highly recommended. Pictures sell! Auctiva offers Free Image Hosting and Editing. The complete eBay Selling Solution.