VR 2 Setup and Listening Tests

First I placed the VR-2s inside but in front of my current main speakers with plenty of distance from the wall behind them. I wanted to make sure the sound stage and imaging was maximized. I moved the speakers around quite a bit and listened again to the same music. I ended up pulling them 3 feet out into the room and about 5 ½ feet apart in order to give the rear driver plenty of room to breath without being impeded by my speakers.  Connecting the cables was a little difficult since I used standard banana plugs and the VR-2s did not have typical industry spacing on their binding posts. At first I was surprised to see that the binding posts were not gold plated but upon further investigation I found that Von Schweikert Audio used copper binding posts plated with rhodium to decrease oxidation. Rhodium is part of the platinum group metals making it harder and more durable than gold. We removed the banana plugs from my speaker cables and barely fit the 10 gauge wire into the hole on the binding posts but because of the greater than industry spacing anyone could easily get their fingers around them for turning. We learned from Von Schweikert Audio that the reason for this spacing is to get UL approval for shipping the speakers overseas. It seems in some countries it would be possible to plug in an electric connection to the speaker posts had they been spaced to the "normal" US distance. As you know, a high voltage, high current AC signal is not a good thing for any speaker, so we can appreciate their approach. In stead of having two versions of speakers, Von Schweikert Audio opted to meet the overseas spacing, which helped them reduce costs thereby keeping the speaker competitively priced. In order to simplify connection we suggest that the use of spade type lugs for these speakers.

A few important items to note about our review are, lead shot was not added to the chamber and no plinth/spikes were used to isolate them from the carpet during our initial audition as we wanted to explore the benefits of implementing these elements. Our subsequent auditions of the VR-2s were conducted after the addition of the lead shot, plinth and spikes where we were able to note a worthy improvement.

Listening Audition

After connecting the speakers it was time to sit back and listen. We began with a few familiar tracks from Yes "Ladder" with the rear driver turned off. At first listen, the VR-2s didn't sound as open as other speakers we heard, but we knew that the rear ambience speaker was part of the Von Schweikert design, and for a good reason. After turning the rear ambience speaker only half way up we heard a tremendous difference in sound quality and the speaker seemed to open up quite a bit. The listening room was fairly large (at 3000 ft^3) and it required a great deal of energy and sound to fill it. I listened to the speakers for several days so I could get accustomed to their performance. This was prior to my experimentation with tweaking the rear driver. After playing with the rear tweeter, I found the best setting was more a function of the recording and source. The ambience speaker allowed the VR-2s to be extremely adaptable to different rooms ranging from large to small.

The Audition Material

My product reviews are complimented by my variety of musical tastes. During my listening test I like to start with a specific high quality recording from Terence Blanchard called "Malcolm Makes Hajj". This track is all instrumental and it exemplifies the sound stage and imaging of any speaker or system. The track first starts with a sax solo just to the right of the center stage and then continue with a drum solo to the back of the stage. After the drum solo finishes the trumpet player begins his solo which is played to the front left of the stage and finally the track finishes with a piano solo just behind the trumpet player. The VR-2's did a very nice job of placing these instruments side to side and front to back however, I felt as though the sax and trumpet player didn't sound quite as dynamic with perhaps didn't provide as much reverb as other auditions I've held, especially when compared with my own DIY speakers . But after adding the spikes to the plinths, repositioning the speakers and mass loading each speaker to their own plinth using 25-lbs of lead shot, and cycling through the same songs again, we audibly heard a notable improvement in mids, bass and treble frequencies also seemed to slightly improve while providing a more refined sound than our pintail audition. The tonality of the VR-2s was fairly even across the frequency spectrum as can also be seen in the nearfield frequency response curve in the addendum page . The treble and midrange were very smooth, perhaps a little overly smooth for my tastes, but never edgy or grainy. I could hear a fair amount of detail on this track. The drums were particularly crisp without any ringing or muddiness.

Next up was some female vocals from Enya. My "standard" test song for this type of music was her track titled "Marble Halls" from the Shepard's Moon CD. On my reference DIY speakers I normally heard a lot of open air sound on this track which seemed somewhat subdued on the VR-2's during our pintail shot free audition. After decoupling the speakers adequately from the floor, our second round of auditions seemed a bit more lively and exciting. Oddly enough, these very same procedures were all outlined in detail in the 12-page manual which came with the speakers, but being a typical American we opted not to read prior to listening.

During the Enya track, I listened for the great detail in her voice it was able to be heard very clearly on the VR-2's. The sibilance on these speakers was quite articulate and similar to my reference speakers . This sibilance actually comes from the recording and should not be confused with an over abundance of sibilance or hissing sound that results from playback on a poor tweeter. I tweaked the rear mid/tweeter to hear if I could open up the sound stage. As I turned it up, the sound stage did indeed widen and I could hear the sound coming from around the speakers and throughout the room, but they didn't become quite as transparent as I anticipated. At the same time all of the centering of Enya's voice seemed to be subdued to the point where the centering was mellower than my reference speakers. I tried the same experiment listening to Suzanne Vega and Annie Lennox where I experienced the same results. Suzanne Vega's acapella song, Tom's Diner, from the Solitude Standing CD is a great test song for any system even if you don't particularly care for the musical content or voice character. Because there are no instruments in this track, you can get a good sense of realism. It has quiet pauses that enable you to hear how your room reacts along with any noises that may be in the system. I also like to use Vega's voice for some of the lower midrange since I don't currently have any really good CD recordings with male vocals. The Annie Lennox song I listened to was the Oscar winning song "Into the West" from the Lord of the Rings, Return of the King CD. This song has a lot of crescendos for that "grab ya" feeling which played well through the VR-2s. I did not have quite the same involvement with the VR-2's as with my custom tailored and built Reference Speakers, but that would be expected especially considering the price difference. Overall, the VR-2' seemed to have extremely broad dynamics for terrific macro performance, with perhaps a bit of average feeling on the mid range, which ws then made up in the excellent highs through the main tweeter and ambiance tweeter. After runncing throud the tracks after doing the decoupling, our listened auditioners seeded the think it was worth the effort as the tight bass, and detailed highs with the ambiance tweeter turned half volume, opened up a whole new dimension with the VR2s..

I then tried some other jazz tracks that I particularly like for detail including Flim and the BB's. From their Big Notes CD I put on the Fun House track and although it is electronically produced it has great detail, frequency range, and pace. There is definitely imaging on this track but it is what I call "pseudo imaging" because there aren't any people actually on a stage playing instruments. Again, to increase the imaging, I turned down the rear drivers. The VR-2's did a good job with expressing detail, imaging, and pace. In addition, the bass attacks were tight and punchy. It did take several attempts at locating the VR-2 before we were able to adequately hear sufficient low bass. Standing waves can be a tricky thing to overcome and with the VR-2's we were faced with moving them from place to place in order to find their optimum performance location. We learned later that Von Schweikert Audio actually offers their customers an analysis of their room such that their speakers could be optimally placed. It's something they are even trying to implement online.

Another type of music that I like to listen to is new age. Audiophiles always give me a funny look when I talk about new age because it is mostly electronically produced. It can't really be used for sound stage or instrument timbre but it can be used for other listening tests such as bass. New Age music can reach some really low frequencies and Patrick O'Hearn's Trust is one of them. The VR-2's are rated to go down to 25 Hz and the frequency plots found in the addendum page show a flat even response, however in our initial set up without the lead shot, without decoupling it from the carpet with the plinth and spikes, and without moving them around a few times, we were unable to hear the lower frequencies with authority. However after implementing these elements, we were able to accurately measure and hear how the VR-2's truly performed.