Just upgraded my VSSR to the markII with the new midrange and right out of the box it sounds smoother and much more natural more soundstage and instrument placement. As it breaks in I exspect it will get better.
Von Schweikert VR4SR vs VR5SE
Oh-no,another vs thread;-)
Anyway I hope someone can share their experience about any of the speakers even if you haven't heard them all.
Here I had a thread that maybe shows some of my preferances,or maybe not ;-)
http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/speakers/messages/25/259278.html
To try and elobarete a little bit more.I'm considering either VR-4SRmkI,mkII or VR-5SE,and I'm very eager to hear what Albert has managed in the VR-5SE,but I'm a little bit worried that the VR5SE might be to forward voiced for my taste.I had the DB99 and I felt it was to "forward" sounding for me in the long run.I also had the VR4genIIIHSE,and I regret I sold that one,but I think its a right step for VSA to go with higher efficiency,and I believe that VR4SRmkII with that midrange should be a clearly better speaker than the 4HSE also in the "always musical" sense.
I bought 2 pair midranges from Audax and one cone looks excactly like the ones used in the VR-4MKI and up to VR11,while the other looks like the one used in VR-4MKII,and to my ears they sound pretty different.I clearly prefer the sort of smoother quality of the cone from the one that looks like the one used in VR-4mkII.The one thats smoother is called PR170M0,and the other one is PR170Z0.The PR170Z0 seems to have an added clarity but to my ears it sounds kind of artificial.Sounds great on good recordings but not so good on worse,and for me a speaker to live with should rather sound a little on the soft side so that even the worst recordings should sound like music,not like "bad sound" as most "high-end" gear tend to reproduce them.I know this is a thin line to balance on and more transparent speakers and gear will always make the differences between recording quality clearer,but I have heard gear that have more real transparency,and the effect when its done right is that the worst recordings actually makes MORE musical sense because one can hear more REAL information from the record.Audio Note seems to be one of the few that manages to pull this off,IMO.
The VR-4HSE also had some of that good quality,while the DB99 seemed to me to be voiced just a tad to forward to my preferences.I even used the nice Consonance Cyber 211 on them.
Its always about voicing since there is no single part in a speaker that is "perfect",so in my view to make a well balanced "musical" speaker one shouldn't exaggerate and voice in, or add, an artificial "clearness".I guess this "clearness" is impressive on mobile-ref-verve show-off recordings,but when one puts on some of the exceptional good MUSIC that has been not so good recorded...then.....well....not so enjoyable any longer....
When I play my drums,bass,guitar or piano I hear real clearness,and the same amount of clearness isn't captured on ANY recording.There is no perfect microphone so allready there are the real clearness lost,so if one try to add the spooky clearness to a speaker playing back a record which doesn't have that clearness,then one exaggerates in my view.
I'm sure many of you know what I'm talking about.
I appreciate any feedback and thoughts even if you totally disagree with me ! :-)
Cheers,
Rune
Anyway I hope someone can share their experience about any of the speakers even if you haven't heard them all.
Here I had a thread that maybe shows some of my preferances,or maybe not ;-)
http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/speakers/messages/25/259278.html
To try and elobarete a little bit more.I'm considering either VR-4SRmkI,mkII or VR-5SE,and I'm very eager to hear what Albert has managed in the VR-5SE,but I'm a little bit worried that the VR5SE might be to forward voiced for my taste.I had the DB99 and I felt it was to "forward" sounding for me in the long run.I also had the VR4genIIIHSE,and I regret I sold that one,but I think its a right step for VSA to go with higher efficiency,and I believe that VR4SRmkII with that midrange should be a clearly better speaker than the 4HSE also in the "always musical" sense.
I bought 2 pair midranges from Audax and one cone looks excactly like the ones used in the VR-4MKI and up to VR11,while the other looks like the one used in VR-4MKII,and to my ears they sound pretty different.I clearly prefer the sort of smoother quality of the cone from the one that looks like the one used in VR-4mkII.The one thats smoother is called PR170M0,and the other one is PR170Z0.The PR170Z0 seems to have an added clarity but to my ears it sounds kind of artificial.Sounds great on good recordings but not so good on worse,and for me a speaker to live with should rather sound a little on the soft side so that even the worst recordings should sound like music,not like "bad sound" as most "high-end" gear tend to reproduce them.I know this is a thin line to balance on and more transparent speakers and gear will always make the differences between recording quality clearer,but I have heard gear that have more real transparency,and the effect when its done right is that the worst recordings actually makes MORE musical sense because one can hear more REAL information from the record.Audio Note seems to be one of the few that manages to pull this off,IMO.
The VR-4HSE also had some of that good quality,while the DB99 seemed to me to be voiced just a tad to forward to my preferences.I even used the nice Consonance Cyber 211 on them.
Its always about voicing since there is no single part in a speaker that is "perfect",so in my view to make a well balanced "musical" speaker one shouldn't exaggerate and voice in, or add, an artificial "clearness".I guess this "clearness" is impressive on mobile-ref-verve show-off recordings,but when one puts on some of the exceptional good MUSIC that has been not so good recorded...then.....well....not so enjoyable any longer....
When I play my drums,bass,guitar or piano I hear real clearness,and the same amount of clearness isn't captured on ANY recording.There is no perfect microphone so allready there are the real clearness lost,so if one try to add the spooky clearness to a speaker playing back a record which doesn't have that clearness,then one exaggerates in my view.
I'm sure many of you know what I'm talking about.
I appreciate any feedback and thoughts even if you totally disagree with me ! :-)
Cheers,
Rune