Topic: VSA VR4 speakers

[Nick's Picks]

for what?  the stright 4?
I'd say anything 15'x15' or larger would be ideal.  12x12 could work too, but the bass might knock you into the next room.

[scervin]

as long as it's not a square 12x12     Square room=bad 

[pjdavep]

When I read that the VSA warranty transfers to the second owner.. That signals that it might not transfer to a third owner?  If so, I would imagine that there is a ding in value when reselling to a third owner.

Anyone know?  I can't find a copy online and it appears that vsa is off for the holiday..

Officially it's only to the second owner, but when I sold my VRS/1 sub, I spoke to Kevin at Von Schweikert and he said it wasn't a big deal to transfer the warranty so long as they have it tracked at their office (ie. there is a gap in ownership that was not reported to them).  I obviously can't say that's the standard with them, but I did transfer the warranty to the guy I sold my sub to, and he is now the 3rd owner.

Later,
   pjdavep

[scervin]

That "new design coming soon" has been there for a long time.  I'm just waiting to see a new center channel added!  I guess you can special order an LCR-40 or something like that at around $2500

[it-goes-to-eleven]

Here's another one of those "Hi I have my VR4JRs for sale I bought them last month from the dealer."

There have been some threads about the number of vr4jr's on the market and the number of folks who buy them and sell a month later.  Kinda weird.

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrfull&1141094380

Some VR-4 gen2's came up yesterday but they're just a little too far away.

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrfull&1141078947

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

I notice a lot of people saying that they scratched the bass cabinet putting the monitor on top.

They used the wrong damn spikes is the problem.

[scervin]

go get them now!!  Best speakers I've heard to date!!  A guy in Novi has them and he might let you listen if he is still around. 

sc

[carlbeck]

I would agree, when I am ready to go bigger I will sell my Jr's & get the 4's with upgrades.

[carlbeck]

Nick had some ML's & now has the VR4, I am sure he will check in.

[pigiron]

How big is the sound stage with the 4's?  I have no doubt they'll tear the roof off.

I am coming from a funny perspective.. Martin Logan CLS.  Lousy bass but they image amazingly well.  Great 3d soundstage that extends well past the edges of the speakers and has nice depth. Nice transparency.  It is very hard to give that up.

I think I understand where you're coming from... I've demo'd the ML's and Maggies long and hard... and own Klipschorns... all of which have that beautiful imaging to die for... and won't do without... but I kept hearing about these damn VS's.

So as an experiment, I bought the VR5's... which is insane... I never buy a speaker I've never heard before.

Only had 'em for a short time, but so far I'm guessing that VS is probably the only dynamic speaker that may match or better what you've got. There's still that sound that seems to come from the whole back wall (but you may find the "sweet spot" is smaller than the ML's, but it's much bigger than the razor sharp horns)... they're articulate and detailed... and a hell of a lot better bass, but not overly so... in fact, the whole audio spectrum blends together very, very sweet.

But I'm still undecided as to which I like better... it's missing that "in your face" punch that I get from the horns... but I'm guessing they may be under-driven... so the next stage in this overpriced experiment is another amp for bi-amp... 'cause I'm thinking I may keep 'em.

You probably shouldn't do what I did though... don't buy before listening... but you should definitely give 'em a shot if you're considering leaving the ML's... but as always, these thoughts ain't even worth a warm beer

[Nick's Picks]

IMO, all things equal in a great room , large MLs (cls may not apply here) are more transparent and have the most 3-d soundstage i've ever heard.

that said, in "real world" living rooms, the VR4s are awesome.  they totaly disapear in my VERY less than acousticaly perfect room.  A room that I thought my ML sl3's would sing in.  but you need perfection to get the best out of a true bipolar speaker like those.

the VR4s are more dynamic than any panel you'll come across.  they have a big fat sweet spot where as panels tend to have that 12-18" zone of magic.  the bass energy from Vr4s will kick your ass.  You need to run two seperate pairs of speaker cables to these boxes to get the full benefit.  They image like carzy as well, and have no trouble reproducing any PA i've ever recorded.  Including the energy from a large outside venue.

[scervin]

Thanks guys.. Very helpful.

My CLS are old. It is impressive that they can still do what they do. The panels were last replaced around '89.  Yep, they like a Really Big room.  I have to say I have never had a room that did them justice. Still, I have gotten a lot of enjoyment out of them.  Needless to say, I did originally demo them in a room larger than any I have ever had 

Their sweet spot is extremely tiny.  I guess I always need to keep that in mind when thinking about that great sound stage.

I dropped the seller a note. He has one guy in line ahead of me who will decide by tomorrow evening.

So if you do get them, what will you use to drive them?  I've heard them with Rotel>Bel Canto evo6 III and a Spectron Musician (forget the pre).  Both were great, but I'm betting the Bel Canto>VR4 III would have been much better given a good pre. 

I'm getting jelous at all this VSA talk.  Just got to wai until fall until I strat to spend money again.  Hoping a nice Pass Labs X250.5 comes along with an X3

[Nick's Picks]

fwiw fellas, I can get some fairly crfazy deals on B stock Von Schweikert stuff. 

[it-goes-to-eleven]

I have a DNA-125 and a Linn LK280/Spark now.  I'm running straight out of a squeezebox3 into the DNA.  I see a DNA-250 came up on a-gone today for about $1500.  I probably need better amplification (or bi-amp) more than I need 'more watts'.  I still need to do a good comp between those amps.  I have the DNA downstairs on the CLS and the LK upstairs on my Linn SARAs. It is possible that I will keep the CLS.  Not sure what they're worth but they are still impressive even 18 years later.  The VR4's would be upstairs where they would get the most use.

Still haven't sprung for a DAC.  I was leaning toward the m902 or a canto (obviously, they're very different feature-wise). I like the idea of going straight out of the DAC into the amp but I need to accomodate my turntable.

I found a thread where the squeezebox had some problems with some DACs (Canto was mentioned) getting a good lock. Turns out that it was only a problem on much older units.  Another thread mentions some channel swapping problems. Still trying to determine if that is a current issue.

[scervin]

Get a Dodson DAC, smokes the others mentioned!