[harley52]

Is it advised or not advised to use a room treatment behind the VR series of speakers? Not talking about bass traps. My way of thinking says it's counter productive since they are designed for close placement to the front wall. But, as in everything I could be wrong in this instance. Thanks

[JackD201]

Hi Harley,

Yup, they are meant to be a few inches from the front wall. The density of the front wall affects the distance you will ultimately choose to place the loudspeakers at. Personally I think that the use of treatments behind the speakers is not necessary and as a result is not advisable particularly from an economic standpoint. Best to just spend the dough for corner, side, floor and ceiling treatments as may be needed in that particular case.

I believe there is one case here at AC where the 33 owner needed the speakers to be away from the front wall due to architectural considerations (doors). In his case IIRC, he had smooth, solid standees, what would be considered the opposite of a room treatment product, built and put them behind the 33s. It brought the balance back. That was a really creative and smart solution.

As for the VR-2s, Jrs,  4s, 44s and others that have the rear ambience tweeters, the supercardiod radiation pattern can be dealt with similarly to that of dipole planars. Some people prefer a dead front wall while others like live ones electing to drop RT on second, third, and 4th reflection points instead. Since the rear ambience tweeters are fully adjustable, you have the choice of full power to tweeter with a dead wall on one extreme to attenuation with a diffusive surface (me) to more heavily attenuated with a live front wall, the other extreme.

HTH 

Jack

[gme109]

Is it advised or not advised to use a room treatment behind the VR series of speakers? Not talking about bass traps. My way of thinking says it's counter productive since they are designed for close placement to the front wall. But, as in everything I could be wrong in this instance. Thanks

I had the bass dialed in pretty good on my VR 35's, but was still not completely satisfied. There was still a little too much bass energy, and the bass wasn't as tight as I would have liked it.  Two things helped turn that around, doing a little fine tuning with speaker placement, and adding bass traps. It seems the closer I was able to get the speakers to the wall behind them, the tighter and more controlled the bass became, I also ended up moving them a few more inches away from the side walls. My room is 13' wide, and the speakers are now 8' apart, center to center, and 4" from the wall behind them. I placed the bass traps in the corners on the same wall as the speakers. The bass is now to die for, fast, tight, and very articulate, and as an added bonus, previously obscured fine details, along with spatial cues have now been greatly enhanced.

As for any other room treatments besides bass traps, I found that the VR 35's sounded better after removing most of the other panels and defusers I had behind the speakers.

[gbeard]

Hello Harley,

Echoing the others here: I had the VR-22s for the better part of a year for a review. They take a VERY long time to fully break in, but once they do, they sound incredible for the $$. I found 9" to 11" was the sweet spot in my room, but that changed with width apart and, not surprisingly, the amp. It is very much counterintuitive to our normal idea of set-up. Move closer for tighter, deeper bass!

I have VR-35s now. They are more difficult to set-up because they are more refined and use different (and more) drivers). Still the end result is the same. Move closer to the wall, the sound becomes better. There is a point where the goodness locks in, and moving them closer is not necessarily a good thing. In my room, with my gear (again, depending on the amp used), I find 7" to 9" is my range of sweetness.

Of course, your room and gear will be different. Leave the spikes off and start about 15" or so (no magical number here--whatever you want) and listen. Start moving them around, but don't get too concerned until they have some hours on them. When you get the spacing between speakers dialed in pretty well, start moving them in small increments closer to the wall--sometimes as little as a half inch makes a difference. If after listening a while you feel the bass is overloaded or wooly, you are likely too far out...move 'em closer to the wall!  Seriously, it is weird, but it works! There is, of course, a point of no return. You will hear when you are too close, but that could be closer or farther out than any of the rest of us. I do not use any room treatments behind the speakers, just a drywall wall.

Wordy here, but I hope it helps. It is my experience with setting up two of the three in the series. This is really important: If they don't sound that great, don't give up, break 'em in, move them around, and if all else fails, call Albert for help. Good luck!

[RafD]

I recently acquired a pair of VR 22s 

I truly wish I had the necessary skills to write you a review that would be commensurate to the performance of these speakers. Since I do not have those skills, here is what I have to say:
I am extremely happy with how musical they are.
My room seems to shrink when I close my eyes while listening
They are so easy to drive, my 50 Watt amps have no problem at all.
This is the best value for money I have ever had in purchasing a pair of speakers.
These speakers perform way, way above their price points. They truly punch above their weight!
The finishing used, sock and wood laminate caps, do not remove one bit from how enjoyable the speakers are, in fact, the finishing is so unique that it surprised and impressed a few of my friends.

Thank you so much, VSA !!!

[JackD201]

See ya Wednesday Raf! 

[ASMAN]

RafD,
Word for word my experience with the VR-22's after two years with them.
I added a DSpeaker Dual Core to help tame my room. Can't say enough good things about it also.

[RafD]

@JackD thank you very much Jack and Keith for helping me with speaker placement!!! It was such a pleasure to have you both over!!! 

@Asman thanks for sharing

[keith]

Always a pleasure Raf!!! Jack and I enjoyed immensely.  I NEED to borrow some of your discs.   

[RafD]

Anytime!! You were correct in your fearless prediction that the 22s would match the Valvet Monoblocks and that placing the 22s closer to the wall ( 7 inches...counterintuitive) would improve the low frequency definition:)

[JackD201]

 

Had a blast Raf, you lucky dog!