[WGH]

A friend sent me some information he received from VSA regarding the MK3 mod for his VR-2 speakers. I have made very similar cabinet mods to my VR-2's and agree with Victor that the quality is greatly improved. I am still thinking about the Scanspeak drivers but the VR-2's are so good now I hate to change them.

3-10-2010

"I spoke with you regarding a possible mod for your VR-2 and LCR-15 last month, and today with our owner and two engineers that help with the designing.  Since we have designed a mod for the VR-4 JR to the “Mk3” level, using Scanspeak drivers, I believed that we could also accomplish this with the VR-2.

"It took a few weeks for the engineers to test the VR-2 with the new drivers, crossovers, and cabinet improvements, so we have just finished our preliminary testing.  It appears that the VR-2 is a great candidate for the same type of upgrade as the VR-4 JR.  The main issue is that the VR-2’s only cost $2,500/pr while the JR’s were priced at $4,000/pr then went up to-5,600/pr during their life cycle.  The reason I mention this is because the Scanspeak mod is very expensive - everything from  Europe is now doubled in price and shipping has gotten very expensive to get the parts here.  In addition, the design costs and US labor is expensive when compared to Asian prices.

"Most VR-4 JR owners see the value in the mod due to the resemblance to the big VR-4 SR series, which rivals the $27,000 Wilson Watt Puppy Sasha.  However, we don’t know if an expensive VR-2 mod will sell, based on price alone.  The VR-4 JR Mk3 mod costs $2,500, and the only difference with the VR-2 is that it has one less woofer.  Our buyer estimates the mod would cost $1,000 for a driver upgrade (which is about half of the sonic improvement) and about $1,500 for a full upgrade (cabinet and crossover work).  See the attached paper on how we now upgrade all of our cabinets with a triple laminate wall construction.  This can be added to an existing speaker, with pieces glued in from the woofer holes.

"The LCR-15 can also have the same drivers installed, but 5.5” instead of 7.”   Once again, the price of the Scanspeak drivers and the cabinet and crossover mods would be a big factor, making an expensive mod “uninteresting” or simply ”unaffordable” to most customers.  That mod would cost around $800 for the full blown version.

"If these prices don’t deter you, please contact us for more info, shipping costs, etc.

Best regards,
Victor Martell

Assistant to Mr. Albert Von Schweikert
Von Schweikert Audio Corp."

 

[stong]

Thank you for the info.

Interesting read! It does show that most VSA models has rooms for improvement or upgrade.

But any info on the VR-4 JR upgrade to Mark3 and what is the extend changes? The VR-4 JR Mark 2 is already very very good sounding.

Regards.

[shmuyator]

interesting.. i might wanna have this done for my vr2. i also wander if there's a way to change the crossover and make vr2 not go so low, but have more punch in the bass.
i always find it a bit lacking in the attack of the bass drums, especially when music gets complex (like double-bass blast beats in metal).

[WGH]

i also wander if there's a way to change the crossover and make vr2 not go so low, but have more punch in the bass.
i always find it a bit lacking in the attack of the bass drums, especially when music gets complex (like double-bass blast beats in metal).

Good questions. A call or email to VSA will get you the answers then please report back and let us know. I think the low bass is a plus and would hate to loose any, it is one reason I bought the VR2's.

The punch and attack is a combination of speaker cone stiffness and cabinet stiffness. I went to extremes and added both bracing and a dense inner layer similar to the triple wall construction now used in VSA speakers and my speakers now have punch, definition and low bass when called for by the music (Link). A knuckle tap on the top of the speaker now sounds very similar to a tap on the sides of the speaker, the unmodified speakers sounded very hollow. Adding  1 oz. of Kapok directly behind the bottom woofer improved and tightened the bass response and kept the VR2's from becoming too boomy in my small room.

Wayne

[Russell123]

NICE INFO. I READ IT IT IS GOOD. I ENJOY IT

[mhconley]

interesting.. i might wanna have this done for my vr2. i also wander if there's a way to change the crossover and make vr2 not go so low, but have more punch in the bass.
i always find it a bit lacking in the attack of the bass drums, especially when music gets complex (like double-bass blast beats in metal).

One of my favorite tracks for assessing a speaker's bass "slam" is Lars Ulrich's rapid-fire double bass drumming on One from Metallica's ...And Justice for All album. 

Martin