New speakers

Have passed the Spark baton on my new spacially challenged lounge needed new speakers, specifically - monitors!

Have finally decided on Von Schweikert VR-1 in African Hazelwood.

Haven't done a lot of comparative listening I must confess but anything with the VR-1s has been very pleasant and once sited properly and with decent stands (looking at these or even these but the Tallis not cheap at around £450 !!!!

 

Oops bit of premature posting

but once properly sited etc.. I'm sure they'll pass the sound and WAF tests

 

yep,they will match the fire surround

 

If only it were that simple WAF wise

by the way you have PM Dave

 

They,re a nice looking bit of kit .
Not too sure about the stands that you like though . The Tallis doesn,t look like 450 notes worth .
I think I would rather the stand on the VR1 website . Do you have any idea how much that one is?

 

I think its about £200 but from what I've been told (by several dealers) its not actually a very good stand sonically !! In fact it was strongly unrecommended by one

 

The Tallis were originally designed using LS3/5a's, which some of you will know I have a passing knowledge of. I have had my hands on some Tallis stands. These are no mass produced stands, but hand made by Roger STone and one other IIRC. The attention to detail is amazing and finish first rate, as you would hope.

So do they work is the question? You better believe it ! We listened to LS3 with a Falcon external xover (about £30) on Tallis stands and it out performed a signature pair with Cicable external xover (about (£800) on Linn Kan mk2 stands. Yep the former was better in many ways, mainly in their coherence and ability to make more sense of the music.

Admittedly at £450 a throw that is a lot of money, so a home demo is mandatory. (that's the disclaimer BTW)

 

Lee,

The Tallis stands have been strongly recommended, in fact they have just finished a pair for the previous Von Schweikert distributor's VR-1, and are currently waiting for special VR-1 top plates to be delivered, so they must think that they work.

Also you're right that they're not mass produced, each one is bespoke and (hand) made to order but in the end, will they be worth say, £200 over the same manufacturers next stand down at around £200 (the Tenchi) ?? Unfortunately for the reasons above, a home demo is pretty difficult to arrange. As far as I know they dont manufacture for shop stock. Further discussions with IF may be required !!

 

I suppose if the Tallis work then it,ll end up money well spent , especially if you end up keeping them (the speakers and stands)for several years.

 

Every person I know who has heard them with their LS3's has bought either the Tenchi or the Tallis. Well except me, and that's because I just don't take hifi seriously any more.

I've got mine on Linn Sara stands angled up with acoustic foam. One of the guys from the LS3's list, whose father helped in their design, didn't wince or laugh and enjoyed the music so I guess they're OK.

 

If I may be allowed to comment here, I was the former Von Schweikert distributor here in the UK and as 'badchamp' indicated, iF Designs did indeed make a custom pair of stands for the VR-1 loudspeaker.
In fact, I built up a close relationship with Roger Stone of iF Designs (he is a great guy to deal with BTW), and the final result was the ultimate reference series stand which does retail for at least £450 (Roger needs to be consulted for more accurate and current pricing which does depend on final finish).
Although I stopped distributing audio equipment altogether for deteriorating health reasons I did keep a pair of VR-1's for myself finished in dark cherry and Roger built me a pair of stands finished in a very close dark cherry stain. Together they look fantastic with total WAF in our house!
But the important thing is how they sound. We have tested the VR-1's using Partington mass filled stands which in our opinion muddied the sound somewhat and not worth much more of a mention really.
The second set of stands we have tried and tested is Von Schweikerts own stands which are absolutely terrible. They totally destroy the engineering that's gone into building the VR-1 and when I was distributing this line I stated to Albert Von Schweikert that we would refuse to carry this product in the UK, especially as we would have to mark it up with a retail of at least £200 which is a great deal of money for a non-performing product built out of MDF!
The third stands we tried were from Something Solid, again we had Mark Orr of Something Solid custom build a pair of stands for the VR-1's (which we still have spair), and these for the money offered phenominal performance. Talk about an open sound-stage and letting the speakers disappear in your room. They are certainly not the prettiest things to look at and most wives did not like the industrial open frame look but the performance is superb. The stands we had retail for about £150 but we have a spare pair plus you can contact stores like Noteworthy Audio in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire who deal alot in Something Solid products.
Finally we come back to the iF Design stand. This outshines anything listed above by a long way and once placed in position with the VR-1's you will end up with a sound that you would not think possible from a stand-mount monitor. I personally feel that the VR-1's matched with the iF Design stand will out-perform many floorstanders in the market place today around the £1200 price range.
But like everything you have to get out there and listen. I am not sure what is happening with the UK promotion of Von Schweikert products now and I would like to just clarify that I am in no way connected to the comapny any longer and all my comments are intended without any bias.
For those interested you can always contact Von Schweikert direct and look at their dealers page or if you do have any questions I am more than happy to answer them.

 

Hello!!

I have just bought Rogers very own VR-1s,and his own Tallis stands.Luckily for me I don't live too far from him.I pick them up after Christmas and the anticipation is killing me!

Some questions............I have read the VSA site,and some of the technology is a bit beyond me;

Global Axis Integration Network crossover design and driver radiation pattern allows the speaker to radiate a "bubble" of sound instead of a narrow beam, enabling 3-D imaging over a very wide listening area. Combined with our rear-firing Ambience Retrieval system for spatial depth

can i rightly assume the above simply means the speakers are made to be unfussy with positioning,and go close to walls? What is your opinion on the claim they work well off-axis and pretty much anywhere in the room? It was the big selling point for me,I am compromised in a new house and I begged the wife to give these a try before she banned speakers all together

 

sounds like a rear port to me Saab.

Ive never heard a rear port yet that likes stuffing next to a wall, but maybe it can be bunged without compromising the sound?

Chris

 

they specifically say this is not a port,more like a blow-off valve! actually referred to as a 'pressure release cabinet'

 

from soundstages review

Hope that helps. They sound interesting to say the least

 

Albert Von Schweikert will get very annoyed if he hears us calling his 'pressure release' a port!! hehehe
Anyway, as lordsummit rightly pointed out via his copied text from the VSA web site, Albert's design basically provides the listener with a much larger and open sound that most would ever expect from a monitor.
The whole idea is that we should not be listening to Hi-Fi components but the performance/music. Once setup correctly (and I personally feel that using the right stands is critical), the listener will be lessed with an exceptionally wide soundstage.
We did a demo with the VR-1's once with a customer at his home and he had been using Tannoy red-line monitors for years and he was so used to having the Tannoy's close up and toed-in with a very narrow sweet spot that when we set up the VR-1's the openess just totally upset his listening experience as he was just not used to having such a wide-open soundstage.
Don't get me wrong, you do not end up with such an open sound that they do not image well, quite the opposite, the VR-1's extract every little detail and place it exactly in the right position per the performance being listened to. You will know exactly where the vocalist and each member of the band is on live performances
As for the Global AXIS integration network this is one of the special designs on the VR-1's, even the review we had HiFi News do (January 2004 by Keith Howard), they did not fully explore the design and performance of this clever cross-over.
Many people will know that some designers are famous for using a particular crossover order, even so far as speakers coming from certain Countries being famous for having say 4th order, but what Albert has done is combine designs of different orders so that the weaknesses apparent in other desings are minimised or even removed.
All I can say is that you really need to listen to them, and if they work with your system then great. I always used to say to all our customers whether they were dealers or end users that there is not, and never will be a product that does all things for everyone, but get a good balance within your system and if something is not to your taste try something else.
We were never about selling products because they gave us the largest profit margin, needed minimal time to understand, or looked fashionable, we were always about offering people musical products without huge inflated price tags.
Sorry, I will stop ranting now!!
Enjoy your music people.

 

mmmust resist...... mmmust..

Oh sod it, I cant.

Im sure they are excellent... BUT!!!!.....


That marketing hyperbole 'global interaction network crossovers' 'rear firing ambience release device' they make musical fidelity look coy!!

 

lol,he could harder call them 'big crossovers' and 'rear hole' though[]

he will need to play the marketing game just like anyone else,but I agree,global interaction is a great/bad name,depending on your pov[]