"Small" UniField Model 3 versus "large" VR-4 SR Mk3We receive about 10 emails per week asking about the differences in sound quality between the UniField Model 3 versus the VR-4 SR Mk3. Since both models are similar in price, many audiophiles wonder why we have two completely different types of speakers at similar price points. Even more emails are generated by folks who wonder why the UniField Model 3 is so expensive when it is only 1/3 of the size of the iconic VR-4 model. Doesn't smaller size = less cost to build? Well, no. Look at a Porsche 911 Turbo vs. a Cadillac Escalade..... not that they have anything to do with our speakers, but it's all relative.
This short article will illuminate the goals of each model listed in the title of this article and will also attempt to describe the sonic characteristics of both models.
ROOM SIZE - Since many of our affluent customers live in small condos that are frightfully expensive, their listening rooms are very small compared to US standards. While my personal sound room is 20 feet wide x 30 long x 15 tall, many customers in Hong Kong, London, and NYC have rooms that are 10 ft x 12 ft with 8 ft ceilings. Since the VR-4 model is 24" deep and has enormous bass power, it has the potential to overload a small room. Although the user can stuff the front port, which will cut the bass down by 6dB, the 24" deep cabinet is still physically too large to fit into a small room, since it will visually be obtrusive. In a small room, the UniField 3 will look better, but most importantly, it will sound better due to the better matching of the output of the small speaker with the small room. In fact, we used an office of 8x10 to design the Uni 3's during the gestation period, with the goal of filling a small room with extremely realistic sound quality. Our goal was to achieve an extremely transparent "sound field" that didn't sound like a typically "boxy" or "compressed" mini monitor. (Although we do like
some of the characteristics of a very famous $26,000 "magic" mini monitor, we find that it is lacking in bass power, making it a poor value when compared side-by-side to our UniField Model 3, which has tremendous bass power down to 32Hz and costs 1/2 of the price.)
In rooms with 10 x 14 feet or less, the UniField Model 3 will outperform the VR-4 in terms of NOT overloading the room with excessive bass power. In a small room, the UniField 3 will also look better aesthetically, especially to house wives who are "decor conscious." For small to medium sized rooms, the UniField Model 3 simply can't be beat, due to the extremely high quality of the world-class drive units, expensive crossover parts required for ultimate transparency, and 2.5" thick Triple Layer cabinet wall construction. For those folks who believe that a cabinet can't make much difference in the clarity of the sound, please read my upcoming White Paper written for the Journal of The Audio Engineering Society, to be initially published on this website within several days, entitled "The Audibility Of Cabinet Panel Resonances." The "extreme" engineering we utilize for the UniField Model 3 is the key factor in the $15,000/pr selling price, and pound-for-pound, we don't think there is a better speaker in existence. For more information, please visit our website.
Although we did optimize the design of the UniField Model 3 for small rooms, this does not mean that the UniField 3 won't work in a large room (especially in the event that you later move to a larger room). Due to its high power handling and high SPL capability, Gary Lea of
www.dagogo.com found that the UniField Model 3 sounded great in his extremely large room that leads into his entire 4,000 sq. ft. two-story home. After Gary wrote his rave review of the Uni 3, I was invited to his home to listen to his system. When Gary played "Tin Pan Alley" by the late guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughn at 105dB, I was almost blown out of the couch fifteen feet from the speakers! The sound was spookily "alive" and dynamic, with no distortion of any kind. In fact, the sensation was that
I was in the nightclub, sitting a few feet from the band stand - I could almost smell the beer and cigarette smoke. Gary uses 100-watt tube mono block amps made by Jolida, and they were certainly up to the task of 'lighting up the room.' The UniField Model 3's small 7" woofer put out an enormous quantity of bass, on both the drum kit and the electric bass. Amazingly, at 15 feet, we could both "feel" the bass notes as well as "hear" them, while the midrange and treble sounded extremely clear, with no distortion.
However, I will state that the UniField Model 3 requires very high power to achieve high volume levels, and you must be very careful not to run your power amp into clipping when driving the UniField 3 in large rooms. As a matter of fact, if you have a room larger than 12 x 16, we highly recommend that you try our VR-4 SR Mk3, since it has twice the efficiency and far larger drive units that are capable of moving more air.
SONIC CHARACTERISTICS - Like most manufacturers who base their speaker designs on science and measurements, our speakers tend to have a similar "house sound." In other words, our speakers sound very transparent, have low coloration and low distortion, and have wide bandwidth (i.e., deep bass to extended treble). All of our speakers also feature very wide dispersion, since we don't like speakers that "beam" or sound "boxy." Many competing speakers have inadequately designed front baffles and crossovers that allow excessive driver overlap, and many speakers do not use Time Alignment nor Phase Coherence - all of these design flaws tend to give the speaker a "boxy" or "beaming" type of sound quality, which is not accurate nor pleasing to the trained ear.
Since all of our speaker designs use Time Alignment, Phase Consistent crossovers, and use extremely high quality drivers with wide dispersion, our speakers tend to have a very "alive" sound which envelopes the room. In fact, the "open" and "natural" sound quality of our speaker designs is what sets them apart from all others.
However, even though all of our speakers have "flat" frequency response, with "fast" transient response and low distortion and coloration, each model has its own character and sonic signature. In truth, the UniField Model 3 and the VR-4 SR Mk3 have different "characters" based on their intended application and respective specifications. Here is a short summary:
UniField Model 3 - Designed for small rooms, with extended bandwidth (32Hz to 50kHZ) and extremely low distortion (less than 1% at 90dB) for a small speaker system. Since this is an "augmented one-way" design, the sound is extremely "fast" and extremely transparent due to the drivers used. In fact, the UniField 3 is far more transparent and "alive" sounding than our reference Quad 989 electrostatic speakers. It is also an extremely easy speaker to place in a small room, against the walls or even in a room corner, simply easy to use and enjoy.
VR-4 SR Mk3 - Designed for medium to extremely large rooms. This is a physically large speaker using ten large speaker cones (per pair) in a large acoustic volume; this arrangement gives extremely high dynamic range, enormous bass "punch" and a very large sound field that will make you believe you are listening to a symphonic orchestra or live rock band in your living room. The VR-4 design also uses our pat.pend. Acoustic Inverse Replication (A.I.R.) technology, which generates a "bubble" of sound instead of "beams" of sound, enabling a feeling that the speakers are invisible, no matter where you sit in the room. The generation of spherical sound waves is based on our minimum diffraction cabinet design, Global Axis Integration Network crossovers, and our rear-firing Ambience Retrieval System. However, all of these features work best in a large, open room.
No other speaker system, at any price, offers this blend of features, sound quality, and realism. We believe our VR-4 SR Mk3 to be the "ultimate bargain" if you are shopping for speakers in the $10k to $100k price range. However, make sure you have a listening room large enough to handle this speaker, since our UniField Model 3 might have a better result if your room is smaller than 12 x14 ft.
If you have questions about the suitability of our speakers for your particular room or system, please don't hesitate to call me personally at our office at (951) 696- 3662. Sincerely, Albert Von Schweikert, Chief Design Engineer, Von Schweikert Audio Corp.
