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Gear / Technical Help => Playback Forum => Topic started by: nickgregory on May 02, 2016, 08:44:31 AM
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Back in 2005 I went to a Michael Millers house to pregame before a Springsteen solo show and he had the most mind blowing setup I had ever heard. Conrad Johnson separates bi-amped to 4Jrs. Fast forward to 2007 I bought a pair of VR-2s from VS directly and have had them happily in my system since then. The past couple of years, I have been looking for 4Jrs in the used market, but either the timing didn't work out or the pair had issues. Happy to say I found a pair yesterday that look flawless based on pics. Cannot wait to get them in my system. Going to be a long couple of weeks as they make it to NC from California...
System comprises of
Nottingham Interspace Jr with Benz L2 cart
Musical surroundings Phonomea ii
Arcam DV-137 CD Player
Rega DAC
Conrad Johnson PV11 Pre
Conrad Johnson MF80 Amp (lower)
Primaluna Prologue 5 Amp (upper)
Needless to say I am pretty jacked....
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selling anything of interest to help fund this?
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selling anything of interest to help fund this?
only thing I will part with is my VR2s, but I currently have a local friend who has expressed interest...if that falls through will be making available for sale...
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selling anything of interest to help fund this?
only thing I will part with is my VR2s, but I currently have a local friend who has expressed interest...if that falls through will be making available for sale...
they're already circling :)
congrats on the big boys
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Where's the shot from the sweet spot. Let's see those beauties.
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Where's the shot from the sweet spot. Let's see those beauties.
As soon as they get here from Cali pics will be posted!
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:drool: At this point, the 4JRs are the only speaker I'd consider as replacements for my 2s. Looking forward to the pics!
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:drool: At this point, the 4JRs are the only speaker I'd consider as replacements for my 2s. Looking forward to the pics!
that is pretty much where I was at as well. A buddy in SC has a set that he recently got the newest upgrade on them from VS, where they basically bring the entire speaker up to current standards...cost is ~$5K from what I hear, but them it is in line with their $20k offering...I wont be making that plunge anytime soon (if at all) but it is nice to have that option!
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Congrats man. Those are some seriously bad-ass speakers. I've always liked that approach to speaker design.
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yep, spent many hours in front of Carls when he had them. Great speakers. Esp. in smaller rooms. Holy Compression !!!
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and they are in. I was nervous with them shipping across the country but these wood crates did a great job protecting them. Arrived without a scratch. Simply perfect condition and sound phenomenal. Admittedly I am a little sad letting the VR-2s go, but these are a huge step up. Looking forward to really growing old with these as I don't see a need to change my speakers at any point now....
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and they are in. I was nervous with them shipping across the country but these wood crates did a great job protecting them. Arrived without a scratch. Simply perfect condition and sound phenomenal. Admittedly I am a little sad letting the VR-2s go, but these are a huge step up. Looking forward to really growing old with these as I don't see a need to change my speakers at any point now....
I'll bring over some Keller tapes and we'll jam out... :P
Congrats!
Terry
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and they are in. I was nervous with them shipping across the country but these wood crates did a great job protecting them. Arrived without a scratch. Simply perfect condition and sound phenomenal. Admittedly I am a little sad letting the VR-2s go, but these are a huge step up. Looking forward to really growing old with these as I don't see a need to change my speakers at any point now....
I'll bring over some Keller tapes and we'll jam out... :P
Congrats!
Terry
I'm sorry do I know you? :)
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same finish ? cool. very pretty
my vr2s get the house shaking, can't imagine what the big boys would do.
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same finish ? cool. very pretty
my vr2s get the house shaking, can't imagine what the big boys would do.
yeah I got real lucky on the finish. My VR2s were African hazelwood and I loved it....these just happened to be my favorite finish as well.
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Score! Big congrats on getting them across the country without damage and actually pumping out tunes in your room.
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Score! Big congrats on getting them across the country without damage and actually pumping out tunes in your room.
thanks! you have no idea how nervous I was with them being shipped. Seeing these crates though the concern was not warranted. Unless someone put a forklift through them they were going to get here!
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Welcome to the club! I love my 4jr's!
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Score! Big congrats on getting them across the country without damage and actually pumping out tunes in your room.
thanks! you have no idea how nervous I was with them being shipped. Seeing these crates though the concern was not warranted. Unless someone put a forklift through them they were going to get here!
Listening party? :laugh:
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Yeah, I had a pair of B&W 802 shipped to FL from CT when I bought a second set of them, second hand. They arrived cosmetically fine, double boxed and padded, but one box had obvious drop or other impact damage and the crossover and one of the woofers in that speaker was damaged. Fortunately the shipping company paid for the still available replacement parts and all was good after the repair.
Enjoy revisiting your favorite recordings!
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Congratulations!
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Hardly counts, but I love my old v202 speakers. ;D
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thanks guys! Another point of note, when I was trying to get them dialed in I noticed one of the rear firing tweeters wasn't working. Sent Albert an email, and he gave me troubleshooting instructions and turned out just to be a loose connection. I will never have another pair of speakers given how great these sound and how great Albert has been to work with (he helped me with my VR-2 purchase years ago as well).
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thanks guys! Another point of note, when I was trying to get them dialed in I noticed one of the rear firing tweeters wasn't working. Sent Albert an email, and he gave me troubleshooting instructions and turned out just to be a loose connection. I will never have another pair of speakers given how great these sound and how great Albert has been to work with (he helped me with my VR-2 purchase years ago as well).
until you find some killer deal on VR7s or something :)
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actually I would probably go to the MK4 upgrade first...from albert:
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Hello Fellow VR-4JR owners,
As you know, I have a very fond place in my heart for the VR-4 platform. The first speaker my crew and I designed at Cal Tech was the Vortex Screen, and we spent literally thousands of hours in the lab and computer basement to come up with the original design. We did this as a hobby, as we all had jobs in aerospace or engineering consulting. After several professional mastering engineers bought them, including Robert Harley, we decided to build them in earnest. As the "wide screen" appearance of the Vortex system seemed to hamper wives enthusiasm for the cosmetic appearance, we turned the speaker sideways (to make it look thinner) and renamed it the VR-4, for Virtual Reality in four dimensions: amplitude, phase, time, and space. Our journey began in 1976 with that first model we built as a student project, but the VR-4 was later named "One Of The Best Twenty-Five Speakers Of All Time" by Audio Review magazine two years ago. What an interesting journey it has been!
ORIGINATION OF VR-4JR
Over the years, the large size of the original VR-4 became a hindrance to wide acceptance, so we built a smaller version, known as the VR-4JR (euphemistically called "Just Right" instead of "Junior)." For many reasons, this became one of the most popular speakers in high end audio, with thousands of pairs sold over a period of five years. The cabinets were built in a very cost effective manner in China, while Vifa of Denmark opened up a Chinese assembly plant where the Danish parts were shipped for final assembly. We were one of Vifa-China's first high-volume customers and I had designed all of the drivers in conjunction with the Danish engineers. Vifa/Scanspeak also designed the Dual Ring tweeter for our VR-4SR platform, so between SEAS of Norway (aluminum woofer cones), Vifa-China (doped paper pulp) and Vifa-Denmark (all engineering and lab origination), along with Scanspeak-Denmark and Audax-France (Aerogel midrange cones), we had been using premium drivers intermixed between the JR and SR platforms.
VR-4JR Mk2
Two years after the introduction of the JR model in 2003, the Mk2 came out with stiffened woofer cones coated with aluminum and a re-tuned labyrinth to permit tighter bass and increase midrange clarity. After another year of production, the Chinese cabinet shop had taken on several more clients and became seriously back-ordered, which affected our production in a serious way. A year later, the Chinese factory actually copied some of our technology and so after the clones appeared, we stopped production while we attempted to sort out the legal and financial issues.
VR-4JRMk3
While it appeared that we would not be offering a new version of the JR model that had any ties to China, we continued to design and test upgrades. The Mk3 was an upgrade for my own personal pair of VR-4JR Mk2's and consisted of custom-designed Scanspeak- Denmark drivers. The Mk3 was a really good sounding design, getting another 25-40% more transparency and clarity from the JR platform. These were never built in mass production, as the cost of building these cabinets was prohibitive in the US. Most of the models sold were done as upgrades for existing JR owners and the total cost of the upgrade was practically the raw cost of the parts and labor. Our accountant told me that I was "giving the upgrades away" to our existing customer base, but that is how I decided to keep our customers happy and not switch brands. It worked and we eventually received hundreds of orders for the Mk3 upgrade. Alas, two of the key drivers for the Mk3 upgrade became discontinued since Scanspeak had been working on the development of better cone materials and lower distortion "motors" (voice coil, pole piece, top plate, and magnet). After a few months of testing and listening, we realized that the new drivers were not only better, they were in a different league than the originals.
Mk4 DRIVERS
The pulp/plastic/aluminum oxide composite coatings of the Mk2 and Mk3 drivers were replaced with pure aluminum-coned woofers, woven carbon fiber midranges, and Dual Ring Radiator treble drivers. The Mk4 drivers have approximately 3 times less distortion and the crossover design has been upgraded to a far higher level to take advantage of the latest driver technology. As with the Mk3 upgrade, the Mk4 upgrade also features our Triple Wall noise reducing cabinet lining, along with Delphi Aerospace Single Crystal Wire called Master-Built. This is the same wiring as used inside our VR-55 and higher models. I know that wire is not a super popular item with some audiophiles, as it is often difficult to comprehend "why" the price of wire can get ridiculous. This Master-Built cabling is easy for anyone to hear; even non-audiophiles can hear a big difference, so we've been using it throughout our product line. In fact, we use Master-Built for every demo we conduct and that is one of our secrets to winning the "Best Of Show" awards that are now becoming routine.
VR-4JRMk4
About a year ago, I decided to further upgrade my JR Mk3's to a higher level, which is now called the Mk4. We weren't sure that we could find a cabinet maker in the US that would enable us to keep the price as low as originally envisioned, but on-going discussions with cabinet factories in Eastern Europe seem promising and naturally, to ensure that this combination of ingredients would be popular before sinking $250,000 into the new project, we wanted to offer 100 sets of upgrades to our existing customer base for beta testing.
One of the first beta testers on this forum has prompted me to publish this information, declaring that this model has far exceeded his expectations. We at VSA can confirm his findings, as on a side-by-side comparison with a very expensive two piece stacking speaker system, the VR-4JR Mk4 has proven itself to many visitors to our Design Studio. At this point, only a handful of audiophiles have had a chance to experience the new model at our Studio, but the acceptance has been overwhelming. To us, it's not as much of a surprise, as we have been working with the VR-4SR components prior to the JR's release back in 2003.
PRICING
I always questioned the motto of one of my first engineering professors, who spoke of "there's no free lunch" on a project that we all had worked on. Naturally, over the years, I came to learn that it's easy to design something with no budgetary concerns, but when price is factored in, you can't quite stay in business selling parts and labor for less than the raw cost of these parts. If you're wondering if this is leading up to an expensive price tag, you're right on the money. (Couldn't resist that one). Based on the cost of the parts and labor, the Mk4 upgrade should be priced in the neighborhood of $5,000/pr. After all, this model will replace the now-discontinued VR-4SR platform, which last sold for $16,000/pr.
Please contact us if you have the slightest interest in this upgrade, as we can lower the cost if at least 20 customers purchase the upgrade at one time, since a quantity purchase of the drivers will reduce our costs. For more information about the process, please call us at our Design Studio at (951) 682-0706.
Thanks for taking the time to learn about this new upgrade; I do tend to be quite wordy but I wanted to answer the many questions that have been sent to our website and Audio Circle inboxes about this new project. Be watching for the new VR-4 Mk4 release (with an all-new cabinet design) in late Fall of this year if you are interested and don't own a pair of the JR's you'll need for the upgrade.
Happy Listening,
AVS
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DAMN! Enough said! +T Nick! Those are my DREAM speakers!!! Wish I had a "bubble" in my listening room ;D
Amazing that VSA started from a $5k loan, and is now a multi-million dollar company ;D