[gammajo]

I am starting a new thread so as to not muddy the excellent thread on the 55 Aktives started by Mountain Joe called VR-55 - First Impressions. Please also check out his thread if interested in the 55's.
I am going to go into detail about arrival, unpacking, and setup to hopefully help others do this the easiest way.

My 55 Actives arrived Friday at the airport. I took delivery there in my pickup to save the time and expense of home delivery. The women working the fork lift was so gentle you could have had a glass of wine on top and not a drop would have spilled. The wooden crates are excellent in design with the bottom 2X4 spacers making the fork lift's job considerably easier. Once home we backed up to the deck and used the type of ramp designed to enable a lawn tractor to be loaded into a trailer. The crates slid down the ramp easily with a person on each end of the crate to guide it. Then we slipped a furniture dolly underneath and into the house we went with out struggle or incident.

Mountain Joe has excellent pictures of the unpacking process and had good tips on how to remove the speakers. We just took the top off (four screws) removed the grills in their packing. We tilted the box so that the speaker was upright (no worry about the speaker falling out - it is very snug in the crate). It was so snug that we found it useful to loosen the four screws holding the side of the crate about a half inch. This resulted in just enough tension to easily remove the speaker without loss of control of the process. We removed the protective bags and then tilted the speaker backward to put on the front spikes, then forward for the rear spikes. I use Herbies gliders under the spikes (they are a great cheap substitute for something like CMS or Stillpoint Ultras for vibration control and being able to move the speakers easily) and with them in place the speaker slid easily off the carpet and unto and across the wood floor into position.

Easy hook up on cables, using some Guerilla Power Cords that are high quality 12 gauge copper with Wattgate connectors, and we were ready to fire it up!

The pictures are of this process. Note that the speaker position will be farther out into the room and the TV covered with sound absorbing and diffusing materials for critical listening. Next post will be on initial listening impressions, particularly compared to my beloved VR5 Anniversary MK2's.

[Mountainjoe]

Hi gammajo - glad you got them unpacked and setup without incident. Looking forward to your listening impressions!

Cheers, Joe

[jab]

Congrats, they look beautiful in your room!  Looks like I'll have to break those big crates down for storage and get the piano movers to move my 55's to the 2nd floor!  My Herbie "giant gliders" arrived last Friday in prep for the delivery of my high gloss Porsche Macadamia painted, 55's.  Can't wait to hear your listening impressions of this fabulous loudspeaker!

[jimdgoulding]

Veddy nice.  Glad to read yer speaker position will be further into the room for listening.  We shouldn't want to truncate the 3-dimensionality of your soundscape should we especially when we're listening to music recorded on location.  By "Aktive" am I to take it that your speakers are internally bi or tri amplified?  Thanks

[gammajo]

Mountain Joe - Thanks - you are leading the way!
Jab - bet you are getting excited - it is worth the wait and I can't wait to see picture of the beautiful finish you selected. When are they expected?
JimG - Thanks and I agree on the soundscape though the ambience tweeter helps with this. Yes, The VR55 Aktives have an adjustable bass amp within and the rear firing ambience tweeter is also adjustable.

[gammajo]

The next posting will be in three parts: Context, Appearance, and Sound

. Please be patient. I have to work today and plan to post sound tonight but want to set the context first so that you can understand my perspective.

Part One - Context:
Equipment used Ayon CD5’s with 1980 NOS Reflector tubes (Transport, DAC and preamp combined). Nuforce Reference 20 with Mosaic boxes on top and mass-loaded with lead bags, isolated mechanically and electrically. All Master Built Signature Power cords, and biwire speaker cables, with Masterbuilt Signature Ultra IC.  Guerilla Audio PCs are currently being used on the Aktives with plans for MasterBuilt Signatures. All cords are off the floor and separated from each other. Power is clean with a dedicated circuit breaker box, PS Audio conditioner, and being the only house on the outside transformer. Comparison speakers Von Schweikert VR5 Anniversaries in the same room with same equipment. Also a half dozen other large floor standers of good reputation in other people's systems

Room 38 by 22 feet with  10 foot peaked ceiling with maple floors on trusses and soft pecky cypress wood walls. Front wall treated with a home made system that sets up in 30 seconds (Doggy bed leaned against the TV with six inches of foam with soft lambs wool covering, then draped in two thick cotton blankets (see picture - not pretty but effective and materials are used conventionally when watching TV). Side wall first reflections treated with wood blinds and heavy drapes, floor with rugs, and windows treated  with Marigo dots (very effective) for absorbing reflections off glass.

Speakers set for first listening with Tweeters 38 inches from front wall, 9'8" apart, 6'4" from side walls, 10 feet to listening position with 20 degrees tow in, aiming tweeters just past shoulders. Bass boost set at +1.5db, rear ambience ribbon set at 10 o'clock. Have option for critical listening (when wife is not home) to move speakers out about 5 feet from wall and listening sofa back, as everything is on gliders. Doing so deepens and further clarifies the sound stage.  Impressions are after more than 500 hours factory burn in and two days of home play. Manufacturer and reviewers are saying speakers will continue to improve for the next 500 hours.

Part Two - Appearance:
I was reluctant (and my wife very reluctant) to sell my VR 5 Annis because of great sound and how beautiful they were in light African Hazelwood with the space between the two modules adding lightness and line. I have never seen a speaker more attractive than the new 55's in person!  The black finish on mine is flawless on careful inspection. The finish is a very deep mirror, so much so that standing above them looking down the side all you see is a perfect reflection of the carpet underneath with all colors accurate in the reflection and no distortion. These babies shine and sparkle with a wonderful inner light. The fancy V on front is made of mirrored glass that also sparkles. The drivers in some pictures look harsh white because of the camera flash. In person they are gentled by the metal honeycomb protectors and look more soft light grey. These are the first speakers that I have ever seen (except perhaps Sonos Faber) that look attractive without the grills on. The back is well designed and the plate holding the IEC, binding posts etc is elegantly finished in a brushed metal. The spikes are solid high quality brass finished in an attractive pewter color. Interestingly with grills on the speakers also look great, but thinner and  very modern. Both with and without grill the speaker has great lines and just looks and feels very expensive. Definitely not just another black box. My wife (who was set to hate them) and daughter both commented that they look very attractive. I love how they look!

[kingdeezie]

 

That whole room looks down right amazing. Listening to music with that view, it must be most excellent. I would likely never leave.   

[SundayNiagara]

In a 38' room, why are the speakers so close to the wall behind them?

[jimdgoulding]

I would nominate 54" to 66" off the wall behind them to experiment(!) with.  Mine are the former from my tweets but I don't have a cabinet between them in a room only 15' deep but I'm "in the hall" nevertheless on orchestral music.  I move my chair and/or adjust my volume control to give me whatever perspective (whatever row) suits the music to my tastes at the time.  Near, mid, or far hall or a table in a jazz club.  Oh, waitress . . 

I do this to try and get lifelike size, perspective, and ambience in whatever the setting.

Two weeks ago I got to listen to some top of the line Avalon's in a bigger room than mine and they were out probably 6'.  At my recommended volume control setting, it was so lifelike it was scary.

I bet your system could scare me, too.

[gammajo]

Response to positioning speakers: Thank you all for your concern. I know that you want me to get the most out of my system. I do understand that the sound stage is enhanced by placement further out into the room. I do move my speakers and listening position to further out (about 5.5 feet front wall to tweeters) when I am going to listen critically for a hour or more. But the room is a living space.
I have a 21X24 foot space that I could use as a dedicated room (with no stellar views) but I prefer the system to be in the room used by family over the isolation of a dedicated sound room. This allows more interaction and enjoyment of the system when hosting dinners and for casual listening while the family is reading or doing projects, etc.  Also I work from home and listen often during the day when I can appreciate the view. The large volume of the room (see picture) solves many bass nodal problems, and the Annis and now the 55s fill it with great sound evenly at any volume without breaking a sweat. Some day I may increase bass pressurization with rear wall VSA subs a la Kernel Bob.

One of the reasons that I select Von Schweikert speakers is their rear ambience tweeter and front tweeter dispersion patterns provide a sense of spaciousness even when the speakers are close to the front wall. Depth of sound field is one of the least important parameters for me, following behind excellent transparency and dynamics, natural timbre, liquidity, quiet backgrounds etc. I know that others feel differently. I hope this helps explain my choices.

[gammajo]

VR55 Aktive Review
See previous posts this thread for equipment, build quality etc. I used three demo discs that I have ripped with cuts from favorite classical piano, large orchestral, organ, male and female pop vocal, rock, and world music. All cuts are very well recorded. As mentioned this will mostly be in comparison to the already excellent VSA VR5 Anniversary MK2 model. I play piano and my ultimate reference is strong familiarity with live music.
Right out of the box I was a bit disappointed, compared to what I had heard at the VSA showroom. Then I realized that all my equipment was cold and the cables had not been used for three months and the power cords for over two years. Within a hour things began to settle in and get interesting! Most of these comments were after the first two days.
The first thing that delighted me is the 55 tweeter. It offers up about 10% more detail and 30% more air and at the same time is never glassy, harsh, edgy, and just sounds right and natural. The Annis have a excellent Revelator tweet, but the 55 tweeter with the rear ambience ribbon outclasses it and all others that I have heard. This results in many things such as too closely miked female voices and treble piano, single and massed violins, fingers sliding up the frets of guitars, etc sounding more natural with accurate bite but no screech or cringe.  It also allows more precise location within the soundstage and more bloom and air and an improvement of the general feeling of relatedness and position of all the sounds occurring in complex pieces. As I adjusted the ambience tweeter up a bit, my friend in the listening chair smiled and said that the cymbal on far right and back just became three dimensional! I had a three hour listening session last night at loud volume and experienced none of the listening fatigue associated with a tweeter that is ringing or too hot. Instead I enjoyed liveliness, excitement and the beauty of natural treble. And I was delighted to hear that most of the liveliness and all of the beauty was conveyed even at much lower volumes. When you turn down most systems, it is like you turned down the lights and everything gets dull - not to as great a degree here.  I spent much of the session grinning and moving to the music, and while planning to just sample many cuts, I listened to every one of them straight through because I was so delighted with what I was hearing - not so much a bunch of new sounds, but rather a better balance and naturalness within both micro and macro detail. 
The midrange was harder to get a bead on, as the speaker is so well integrated (no crossover points could be identified, all scales from lowest to highest sounded seamless in position, loudness, and character). Everything including voices, brass, strings, and percussion sound right, accurate and properly fleshed out.
The bass is where I am least confident that I have a handle on things yet. My Nuforce Reference 20s have the best SOTA bass that I have heard. Yet in the showroom I heard the 55 Aktives being run by Constellation pre and amp, and heard bass guitar etc sound uncannily more real than ever before. The Annis are front ported and the driver is off the floor, the 55s are rear ported and one of the bass drivers is close to the floor, so it is requiring a different approach to set up. First I set the bass too high and experienced bloat, then too low and it was thin. I think I am in the ball park now at a 1.5 db boost. Here I am getting more weight and feel more chest, gut and butt pressurization than I had with the Annis and a touch more warmth, yet still enjoying the excellent articulation, slam, and fastness of the Annis with the Nuforce. In fact I think that the articulation is better too.
It is really hard to dissect the 55's because they are so well integrated from top to bottom. They also disappear better than the Annis. With the Annis certain sounds really localized in the tweeter, with the 55's not so. The place I see the most dramatic difference is that with all other speakers that I have heard, symphonies are disappointing - these other speakers simply did not convey the height, depth, width, air and excitement of a live symphony - enough to feel there or that the symphony was here in the room. The frustration was so great that I seldom listened to symphony recordings (though I love them in person except for the coughing and candy unwrapping) and stuck with smaller ensembles and solo instruments. With the 55 Aktives, so far every symphonic piece I heard in the small show room and in my large room has been a true surprise at how much more of the pleasure of a live symphony the 55s are able to convey. Similarly, never before have massed violins, lost thier steeliness and sounded as natural and real. That, and a treble that does not hurt the ears, yet is extended and detailed are what I am in love with so far. As best I know Albert was trying to convey much of the magic of very large (and expensive) speaker systems in a speaker of more realistic size and price. He felt that it would be important that such a speaker exhibited the ability to convey dynamics without compression as well as the big boys did. I my view Albert has hit one so far out of the park that no one will even be able to find the ball! He has succeeded well beyond price point. In fact, when you hear the whole 55 package and how beautifully it conveys music of all types, he might just have established a new state of the art.

[john925]

Congratulations Joe, you still got the Ref20 to drive VF-55?

[Big Red Machine]

A wonderful pair of speakers.  Beautiful room.  We are all jealous.  Congratulations and I hope you enjoy the heck out of them!!

[gammajo]

Kingdeezie, Big Red and John 925 - Thank for for the kind words and well wishes. John - Yes, still have the Ref 20s driving the 55s.

[jimdgoulding]

Good post, jo.  Think I'm getting your big picture the better for it.  I was concerned that your love of what your rear firing tweeter is giving you might compromise the "wholeness" of instrumental three-dimensionality and purity full scale were your speakers too close to the wall behind them especially with it being highly reflective- floor, too- but at 5.5' sounds like I needn't have worried.  Listen well.

[gammajo]

Thanks Jim - you have a excellent system too by the way!

[Rx8man]

Joe, I'm really happy for you     I'll have to re-visit you this summer. 

I wonder how the 55's would have sounded hooked up in the bed of your pickup, cruising around town?

[jab]

Great write-up!!! I too am multi-use room challenged and look forward to "gliding" my way to the most optimal speaker position given aesthetics and audiophile needs.  Can't wait to hear more of your impressions with the variety of music you'll no doubt enjoy.

[gammajo]

Rxman -I will look forward to your visit and your golden ears assessment. Playing a large variety of music today with great pleasure of discovering what these 55s can do. Bass is dialing in with greater impact and definition and I have been delighted today with recordings that on previous speakers were too hot such as Dylan's harmonica's work and harpsichord sounding terrific.  The 55s are definitely capable of the sweetest most liquid nuance and then tremendous punch and power.

[gammajo]

Update - I think I have the active bass and ambience tweeter now dialed in correctly for my room. I wanted to see what were the capabilities of these new speakers, so what next? As Tim the Tool Man Taylor would say - MORE POWER!
So I changed my preamp setting from low to high gain (12v setting)  to drive my Nuforce Reference 20's (Peak 440W into 8 ohms, 800W into 4, and 1600W into 2) and cranked the system up to high concert levels.  I first listened all the way through to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with full Ode to Joy chorus, then Fanfare for the Common Man, and finally the Cirque de Soile's KA.

Wow!, Glorioski! Shazam! . Everything took on an inner light, the bass (even lowest notes) was stupendous in definition, weight, and impact - it filled my large room, and resonated in my body from my throat all the way down to my seat. In fast Koyoto drum and kettle drum rolls I could feel and hear each individual stroke! The treble and mid range stayed perfect and everything opened up. I found myself jumping up and air-conducting the orchestra (something I have not done in twenty years!). This listening session was truly a transcendental. Two hours later I am still glowing from the experience. I think I found my speaker for life!