Von Schweikert VR-1

...they have been watching out for years, ever since the Meadowlark founder learned his trade from Albert Von Schweikert and then ran off to do his own thing!

Can't remember the exact story but there is 'history' between Meadowlark and VSA, from what I was told the Meadowlark guy was not exactly ethical in his move away from Albert Von Schweikert, and from my PAST encounters at CES the Meadowlark people stay well clear of VSA and have generated alot of negative spiteful vibes against VSA.

All childish games if you ask me, Meadowlark do have a nice range of speakers, would probably fit in with alot of peoples systems but not my taste.

 

Hey My Ear,

My plate is a rectangle narrow end at the front,no cut out.They are a perfect fit for the VR-1s,is that just a fluke?ie are they the LS3 5A top plates? Doesn't matter,they are a spot on size anyway

 

just seen you pic,mine look identical

 

Whereas good old Albert just ran off from Watertown owing considerable amounts of money, and set up in another state.

Amazingly a con also purpetrated by Pat.

 

All I can say here is, the chap I bought my Blue Heron II;s off dived into a pair of Vr4 SE's?? which promply hacked him of, he imediately offer me $400 ontop of the purchase price to buy them straight back again.
Upon hearing those 4 SE's I can under stand why

 

...the fact that Albert left Watertown was down to the industrial estate he operated from being flooded by another business on the same estate who was dumping waste into the drains.

This whole scenario has been one that has been blown out of all proportions since the start by various vindictive individuals!

 

Have heard the Blue Heron's and they did nothing for me, would take the 4-SE's (although there have been a few 'special edition's' I can only presume you refer to the Gen III SE) anyday over the Heron's, as I would over any of Meadowlark products.

The Heron's are just nice, they just don't do enough for me. Just goes to show that we are all individual's and each have our own tastes.

Mind you, we don't know why he was 'hacked off' or why you can 'understand why'?! If they were the Gen III SE's I would be interested to know whether he purchased them new or used, what room size and components he/you were using. The only time I'v ever heard these speakers sound bad is in too small a room and with weak electronics/components.

Set up the VR4-SE's with some KR Kronzilla's or VAC amps and I think you would have a different opinion,...but then maybe not

 

LE,
The electronics were more than match for the speakers (Manley neo classics 300's? & meitner trans/dac & Cat Pre) and the room was er plenty big enough 24' wide by 33 long
The SE's we closed in and boxy by comparsion (BHII"s), lacking punch and drive and timing (both speakers were fully run in)
Bass was a touch fuller on the VR's and the mid band more presence
However they just arn't any where near as musical or involving
The BH II's require a stupidly long time run in and can sound pretty average I admit until this period has passed.
Anyone that heard the BHII's in the Avid room last year will easily testify to that

 

So I take it you don't know which generation SE's they were? I will confess that I'v not heard the Manley's with the any of the VSA speakers so I am at a loss as to what to say, although checking online, you will see reviews on sites like 'Enjoy The Music' that have tested Manley amps with the Gen III SE's and got similar results as yourself but this was not put down to the speaker but just further clarification that any tube amp fan has to think very carefully about amplifier to speaker matching (ETM concluded that in this type of situation with a speaker like the VR-4 SE it is the inadeqaucy of the amps that causes the problems). I did meet a reviewer from TNT at the Rome audio show a couple of years back who was a big fan of the VR-4's (and owned a pair), and was convinced himself that despite VSA's own statements that they worked well with single-ended amplification, he felt that to reach their full potention 300b amps for him were totally out of the equation. I think he eventually went solid-state in the end.

As for the speakers sounding closed and boxed in there had to be something more to this, pity you didn't get a VSA expert on the case because this is the first sign of trouble, either somewhere else in the system or with speaker tampering!

I presume as you stated they were well run-in that he bought them second-hand. I know for a fact that there were some VR-4's floating around over here that were shipped in by an independant buyer using Audiogon (totally unapproved of). One of my former dealers called me in to their shop one day to investigate an 'offer' a customer of theirs had been given for a pair of VR-4's, turns out they were first generation and had their drivers swapped out for non-VSA ones. I also know of other VR-4's that have been 'modified' shall we say by less than experienced individuals. However, to my knowledge, I have not heard any negative issues sorrounding the VR-4 Gen III SE (this is easy to tell apart as the top cabinet has the sloping outside face).

I'v heard the Heron's having been fully run in (I lived in the USA for four-years and was familiar with this product range over there), for me they are the totally un-involving speaker, but then again, I don't rate the Living Voice range either which are also very popular.

Trouble is, all of us will at some point judge the bigger picture by just one bad experience. I am sorry that the VR-4's did not work out for your friend, hope they have found some level of enjoyment since then. Maybe there's a lesson there for all of us to be less impulsive and think very carefully about component matching, especially those of you that use tubes!

BTW. I always check out the Meadowlark and Living Voice rooms if I can make it to any of the shows in the hope that I maybe able just to catch a glimpse of what others find so enjoyable,...

 

Ah thanks.

No possibility of him settling his loans with the local authorities prior to fleeing I suppose?

I'd buy speakers from reputable companies personally, but maybe that's just me.

 

...haven't I gone through all this before with you SM? Maybe it wa another forum member, but you need to get your facts correct before using slanderous accusations.

To keep it brief, this was all settled through the US legal system so I suggest that you think before quoting misinformation that exists elsewhere on the web (why not see if you can find the statement of retraction for all these slanderous words!)

As for buying from a reputable source, I could not agree more, that's why VSA have always honoured their ten-year warranty on their speakers and offered a full upgrade service to previous generations of products, have telephone support lines to assist in setup problems, and partner with some of the leading high-end manufacturers at all the US shows. I can also quote companies like Steinway (as in piano's) who commissioned a loudspeaker fro VSA that has the looks and beautiful sound of their top of the line grand piono!

If you prefer to buy other products, then great, but get your facts correct before misleading others!!

 

I can't find any retraction - care to link to it? The only thing I have found before is an on line destruction of their misleading sales literature which turned out to be pure BS but I'm sure you have seen that too.

 

I presume the 'BS' you reference was the Audio Physics article published on the 6Moons web site back in 2003?

Again this was something the 6Moons people retracted through follow-up articles. They were actually (if my old grey matter serves me correctly), quite anti-VSA for some reason during the 90's spreading malicious and ignorant reports about the company and the product. Following a call to the self titled 'Dr.' who runs 6Moons by Albert Von Schweikert, it turns out that the 6Moons guy had little if any technical qualifications to be offering any advice at all let alone condemning a product he does not understand.

Funny, as it's all water under the bridge now (no pun intended), as the 6Moons people have been very favourable over the past few years about the VSA products,...slight change of tact there!

 

Again , care to link to these retractions?

 

Guys, can we please stick to facts. Unless you can back up these comments with facts, please retract them.

 

They were listed on the 6Moons web site last year in their archives section, I can't find them right now

I have nothing to fabricate here or lie about, what I state was based upon my own research when forming my business model to distribute the product here in the UK. But as you don;t really know me as a person then it will most likely be natural for others to be doubting.

However, for articles written here in the UK about the VSA design (GAIN) and the VR-1 speaker, see back copies of Hi-Fi News, two articles written by Keith Harris (one of the UK's leading technical writers - not just on audio, he also writes for the F1 magazine too):

This is a general article about manufacturers that use a 'global' theory:
http://www.testreports.co.uk/music/hifi/basket/add.asp?Stock_ID=1192

Here is the UK VR-1 review:
http://www.testreports.co.uk/music/hifi/stock/Model.asp?Model=3094&ModelPage=true

 

Dev,

the facts are laid out in this article, which has not been withdrawn amid claims of factual innaccuracy or threats of legal action

http://www.stereophile.com/news/10413/

I'm still waiting for these links to the retractions???;-)

 

the link redirects to www.microsoft.com. what has bill gates got to do with it?

 

Should work now. Great story.