Our much missed baby the VR-1

[JackD201]

Review Excerpts of the Von Schweikert Audio VR-1

“Perhaps the most memorable qualities of these speakers are their warm and intimate tonal balance, and superbly airy, but not sibilant highs. They have a very natural sound quality to them that befits their level of craftsmanship and should certainly be on your audition list if a high quality bookshelf speaker is what you are looking for.” -- Steve DellaSala of Audioholics.com

“The first impression is of sheer speed. These little guys are startlingly quick on transients, and with their correspondingly fast settling time, low-level inner details, especially in the mid-treble octaves, emerge effortlessly. On several thickly orchestrated symphonic works I am astonished to perceive details that I have not heard through my grander but obviously slower Egglestons ... I want to emphasize here that as impressive as the above-mentioned qualities are, the whole of the VR-1 is greater than the sum of its elements. To put it another way, you will have fun fun fun till your daddy takes the speakers away.” -- Wayne Donnelly of EnjoyTheMusic.Com

“I can’t help but say that for the price the VR-1 sells for, I think that the audiophile world has been waiting for this speaker … exceedingly well-built two-way loudspeaker that’s a clear leap over the budget crowd, landing well into the cost-no-object jungle, but it doesn’t sell for nearly as much as a good number of speakers in the same league.” -- Doug Schneider of SoundStage!

“The VR-1 is a ravishing partner who will lead you into a warmly lit soundscape filled with accurate timbre to enjoy all genres of music and dance well into the evening.” -- Nelson Brill of Stereo Times

“Did the VR1s ultimately reproduce good sounding music? The answer is undeniably yes … If you are in the market for a $1000 speaker, or even a speaker two to three times the price, do yourself a favor and listen to these. You will be in for a wonderful surprise.” -- Alvester Garnet of Stereo Times

[conspicuous]

i had a chance to audition these really really fine babies many thanks to jack, keith and rene for making this happen and for adding more confusion to my quest for floorstanding speakers that would give me more bass weight to the sound in my listening room . no typo there. i really am looking for floorstanders for the bass weight. so why audition the VR-1s

well, surprise surprise surprise . these VR-1s can go very low . they are rated at 40Hz at the low end. they also had WEIGHT. in a controlled, tight way. but more than that in my listening room they imaged really well. compared to the dynaudio audience 42s which i'm used to, the soundstage was also wider. very smooth sound, non-fatiguing. hard to fault these reference monitor speakers. well, out of the box, although the bass went down low it was a bit shy. i suppose after 100, 200, 400 hours these speakers would open up and be giant size sounding speakers. the dyns sounded somewhat more forward sounding compared to the VRs. however, as is (out of the box) i was already wondering if floorstanders are really necessary to get the low end weight i'm craving for when this pair was doing a good job at it already .

i only had an evening and a morning to audition the VR-1s but they certainly left a favorable impression. they didn't disappoint. but they did add confusion...

music played on cd: speakerboxx by outkast, riviera paradise by stevie ray vaughn, johnny guitar and circle in the sky by peggy lee, and justice for all - metallica, lea salonga etc.
on vinyl - life for rent by dido, us by peter gabriel (would've played more vinyl but i sold my project phono box se after the first night of listening)

if i had more time i would've tried my classical records and cds. but alas, time is a precious commodity

other details: amp used was a yamaha ax-596 100wpc integrated ss amp controlled by a tono pre-amp with rca cleartop 12AU7 tubes. cdp was a cayin cdt-15a. listening area: small! nearfield listening conditions

[JackD201]

Hi Conspicuous! We're really glad you enjoyed your time with the VR-1s. It's too bad that we weren't able to assist you in setting them up at home. Our Bad, Marty E has them now and via SMS we were able to guide his set up proceedure. The VR-1s require and actually prefer 0 toe-in and a ratio of around 4:2.5, 4 being the distance to side-walls for domestic applications. Don't sweat the black pair we brought in we'll be using that for professional recording/broadcast monitoring applications with Maitani's Flying Moles.

We do hope that you find the perfect fit for you soon. Anyway, you're always welcome to listen to our other models even if just for the fun of it, since your office is so near VSA HQ. Maybe you and VD can take a slightly extended lunchbreak sometime. We recently installed a pair of VR-2s in a small L shaped listening room with the listening zone triangulated with zero toe in (VSA speakers in general do not require toe in unless more than 8 ft apart) of about 6 feet. It is something to behold.

Thank you for your very kind words

[conspicuous]

hi jack,

yes, i spoke to VD and we'll plan that visit to the VS HQ one of these days

as for speaker placement i didn't think of consulting you guys that might have helped . i played around with placement until i realized that placing them in the exact location as where my dyns were gave a pretty good result. this is with slight toe in so that the tweeters are aimed at my ears (same level) and i can just see the inside sides of the speakers. i used the 1:0.67 rule. for every meter away from me, the speakers are 2/3 meter apart from each other. in my small listening area the speakers were roughly 2 meters away and 1.5 meters apart. given the size of my room, i have no choice but to put them relatively close to side walls and back wall. but hey, i loved the sound! confusion is good

[marty_e]

And what a placement tip that was. While I was used to having a slight toe in to give a better sense of depth, I SMS's Keith to tell him that I noted the speakers to be tipped up a bit and forward in the mids but with had that low end that I had been hankering for. Conspicuous was there for a bit but I told him I can't comment until I've placed them properly.

With ~0 toe in and about 7ft apart, things suddenly fell into place. The tonal balance improved immensely as well the bass response. It's tough to describe the timbral character of the speaker since it almost has none. Garbage in/Garbage out kind of thing and I mean that in a good way. Reminiscent of my Vandersteens. Wide open soundstage, transparent, quick. I would have returned them today but with the indulgence of Keith and JD, I'd like another day with them. Thanks guys!!!

P.S. Yes they are on my short list.

[cia]

I was one of the very first to purchase the VR1 and have used it for around 230 hours. The sound has changed more in the low end. Before, I could hear the bass now I can also feel it. Amazing bass for a bookshelf.
I have also tried the VRs using solid state and amps with EL34s, 6550s and KT88. The VRs did not seem to have any amplification preference.

Placement for me is no toe in and equilateral triangle position. Being near back or side walls affect bass but not to the point of being boomy.

[conspicuous]

cia,

thanks for your feedback. as is, i could already feel the bass. that's the weight i am looking for. with more hours of breakin it really comes out more eh?

in my small listening area there was no boominess either despite the speakers close to the side and back walls. i didn't find them too fuzzy in terms of placement.

marty_e,

too bad i couldn't stay longer to hear the effect of the recommended placement on the sound. give us a more detailed listening impression when you have time.

jackD201,

don't write me off just yet. these are on my short list as well although i'm still not done with my auditions.

[JackD201]

As you say, Confusion can be a GOOD thing! And FUN too!

[JackD201]

Yesterday, I set up the out of the box black VR-1s in accordance with the tips of Grant and Ichabod aka LS3/5a style. Way into the room, equilateral triangle, very little toe in, except as allowed by Albert's crossover design, spread a good 7 feet apart. The room looks plain silly now much to Commander's consternation but DANG!! You LS guys got it goin' on!! I was very pleased by the holographic effect of your placement recommendations. It's a good thing monitors are easy to put away when the wife gets fed up! Just beg her to let you keep the masking tape out line of your stand's base on the floor!

I added just one more twist. I made sure that because there would be a decrease in boundary reinforcements I did a VSA recommended reverse twist. I kept the ratio of the distance from the rear wall and side walls at app 45:55 or 9:11 to move the location of the reinforcement node closer to the listening position. This gave surprisingly deep bass without much boom thanks to the sofas.

[cia]

Hi Jack,

I am currently trying the VR1s using the Tono Personal which as you know is a 8wpc SET integrated amp. At first, being used to more watts I thought hindi kaya nito ang VR1. To my surprise, at a volume position of 12 o'clock, I got suficient volume to hear all sorts of details, imaging, soundstaging and what have you. I guess with the clarity of both the Tono and the VR1s, one does not really need to listen at high volume. The bass, given the low wpc, was again surprisingly tight, low and full.
Since you also mention your Commander, the first time my wife hears the Tono playing she makes a very simple comment....maliwanag yan ah! Being my General, I cannot argue with her...

[JackD201]

Hi cia,

Keith and I are looking forward to spending sometime with the Tono Personal as well. Salisi lang with VD on the scheduling. After your comments, we're even MORE excited!

[vintage_dog]

Thanks cia for testing the Tono personal with the VR1s. the Tono personal is a very special and unique amp: it's class A single-ended penthode (SEP) with a single triode (1/2 of a 12ax7) along it's signal path and exactly 1 capacitor into a vintage 807 tube. it has a minimalist design to avoid any coloration and we believe that is resposible for the clarity and transparency. from the CDP or phono to the speakers, there is only 1 passive component (capacitor) to affect it's sound. the rest is tube power and the OPTs plus the cables of course.

The Tono personal is intended as a 2nd or 3rd system ideally for smal spaces like a den, bedroom, study, etc., but a few use it now as a main system! It is a small, unassuming integrated amp that costs only 18k but has premium parts and the sound quality of amps costing much more.

the Tono sounds best with better speakers. they sound wonderful with good speakers and terrible with the bad ones. the VR1s are indeed very good speakers to really draw-out the music using the Tono.

[keith]

Hmmmm, now that's got me thinking

[conspicuous]

Hmmmm, now that's got me thinking

what? a tono personal to drive your db99s coming in a month or so?

[conspicuous]

... It's a good thing monitors are easy to put away when the wife gets fed up! Just beg her to let you keep the masking tape out line of your stand's base on the floor! ...

jack, the african hazelwood finish of the VR-1s are gorgeous but like i said it didn't faze my wife one bit to her speakers are electrical/electronic pieces of equipment and hence should be black (or ughh.. silver gray ) anyway, i'm sure the black ash finish looks awesome.

[keith]

Hmmmm, now that's got me thinking

what? a tono personal to drive your db99s coming in a month or so?

conspi,

Actually I was thinking more in the lines of another system using the Tono personal and a VR-1.

[arnoldc]

yang DB99 pang SET yan, the likes of 2A3, 50, 10Y, 45, 71A

[vintage_dog]

i agree with arnold, i'd feed those DB99 with single-ended triodes.

correction on my earlier post, the 807s is technically, "an indirectly heated beam power tetrode", not a triode or penthode. it was originally designed for PA amps.

[JackD201]

Keith, who was once a nephilim, that sounds like a very good option nga. Kick butt at well below P100,000 cables and cdp and maybe a simple 2nd hand turntable.

Somewhere along the line WS Projects will make a no-holds barred statement model. The upgrade path is secure.

Ano kaya? The Tonomen come up with a Tono Statement SET using Audio Consulting Silver wire Trannies in a solid Billet Aluminum CNC chassis. Teka almost 4500 Euro pala OPT pa lang!

Boss VD puwede ba magpa-commission ng custom model? Just curious, may nakausap kasi ako.

[arnoldc]

sir jack, gusto mo ng statement model? 26 preamp and 50 power amp with your OPT of choice and solid stainless steel chassis!

that will give you mighty 4 POWERFUL WATTS

separate power supply, Lundahl plate choke for the drivers, Lundahl grid choke, Lundahl power tranny... then your OPT.

type?