Taperssection.com
Gear / Technical Help => Playback Forum => Topic started by: EScott on May 22, 2011, 06:23:54 AM
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I had to send in 1 of my cabinets to Von Schweikert for some warranty work and happened to catch Albert on the phone and he mentioned these.
It spiked my interest so I am grabbing a pair of the base line speaker cables to be sent back w/ my speaker cabinet when the repair work is done. I'll report back in after sufficient burn time - I know a lot of people have differing opinions on the quality of cables but I tend to trust these guys, especially with the quality of speakers they produce.
Not sure if I'll put the $$ into the interconnects he recommends, they are close to $1,300 for a 1 meter pair, but I can justify the speaker cable investment.
FYI - if you ever need to send in a cabinet for repairs, remove the buck shot before doing so. It cost me upwards of $150 to have UPS pack and ship, but I was not going to load back into their wooden cases and shipping via freight liner.
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which speakers do you have?
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I have the VR4 jr's which they have replaced with a new product line.
I can't remember the series but I talked to Albert's son a few weeks ago and he mentioned that he had the new ones and they are an improvement on the jr's.
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the vr4jr replacements are the vr33. They seem to only be a replacement in terms of price, though, because they're huge. they also go back to the older vr-4 design with basically all cloth and very little visible wood
http://www.vonschweikert.com/techspecs/11.php
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Here is a follow up from on my cable order - I forgot Albert had told me about his discussion w/ the Delphi engineers about building speaker cables for him:
"We will do a perfect job of rebuilding your VR-4 JR speaker system, no worries. The cables take 3 weeks to build, as Delphi’s small team is swamped with NASA orders at the moment. They are building wiring harnesses for the International Space Station and are prototyping the new space shuttle harness which will be commissioned in a year or two."
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still don't know why VSA speakers aren't more popular. damn these things are nice
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The 1 negative I can say about the juniors is that they were produced in China under VSA quality control.
If I remember correctly, the line above the juniors was the cut off point for being manufactured in the US.
I mention this b/c the foam insert inside the bass trap on 1 of my speakers had started to fall apart.
They told me they had never seen this before, but I take it a quality control issue.
The customer service has been fantastic since day 1 of contacting them.
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I think you have to look at the competition at that price point to see why they arent more popular. whats the price range?
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you have to spend a lot more on the competition's speakers to get similar performance in my experience
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whats the price range?
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the bottom of their price range used to be around ~1000 new for a pair of VR-1's (I got mine for $600-700 used). But some time ago, they dropped their "lower end" models. I think their least expensive speakers now are in the $3000 - 4000 range (although I could be wrong about that). Their most expensive speakers are over $100,000 for a pair, if I remember correctly.
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I shopped around for a lot of speakers before I decided on the 4jr's.
I have a tube pre and tube mono blocks and they fantastic.
It's not the greatest set up for live music, because it exposes the flaws of a recording that has not been EQ'd.
I'm adding a phono stage and turntable this month and I can't wait to hear how all of it comes together.
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i still haven't heard anything for the same price as the vr-2 that sounds better. the 4jrs were great for their price at the time
the vr-33 are supposedly monsters (though they already look like monsters in terms of size)
the unifield 3 was named an editors choice for speakers $5k - $15k
http://www.avguide.com/review/the-2011-editors-choice-awards-loudspeakers-5000-15000-tas-211?page=4
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well maybe the no long carried models compete, but as to what is available on the market now in the range they offer the competition is stiff. I rarely hear them brought up except in circles here. I will look for them at RMAF this yr, they show at that fest right?
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My gen I VR4's are an amazing speaker and were an amazing value used. And I'm coming from Martin Logan CLSs, so my exptectations are high, expecially for a big speaker.
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If I had a little more unearmarked cash I'd pick up the pair of VR-2s Brian has listed but cashflow is a problem at the moment (all out) so if anyone is in the market for a pair check http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=143631.0 then shoot Brian a PM.
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If I had a little more unearmarked cash I'd pick up the pair of VR-2s Brian has listed but cashflow is a problem at the moment (all out) so if anyone is in the market for a pair check http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=143631.0 then shoot Brian a PM.
Thanks for the plug, flipp. Your post reminded me that I forgot to update my YS listing -- change of plans / heart; I'm keeping the VR-2s.
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I will look for them at RMAF this yr, they show at that fest right?
they did last year
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I need to go 2 days this yr, I missed so much last yr.
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loving some tracks off of Hornsby's "Intersections" box set on my VSAs right now
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Hornsby rules!
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My new cables are still 3 weeks out but the repair on my speaker cabinet is complete.
At least I finally got an invoice yesterday.
Also, they no longer manufacture in China - every speaker is made in the US now.
Used to be components were made in US and assembled in China - up thru the 4jr line.
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These came in yesterday along w/ my repaired cabinet.
Cables were packaged very nicely and already broken in - they have a cooker they use for 24 hours before sending the final product out.
Bi wired from the amp connection so there is no problem wiring to each module.
I've changed so many tubes and interconnects that nothing has settled yet, but these speakers image so well it is disgusting.
I was able to get them wired in and had a nice center image w/ in an hour. Sat in it for a solid 3 hours last night.
I'm going to give the system about a month before I start playing with some isolation ideas (I am on tile) and working on tightening up the bass since I use 100 W tube amps on each. I had already installed bass traps in the corner in anticipation of their arrival.
Next up, Rega P5 with a Sumiko Blackbird cartridge...