[Mountainjoe]

Hi Joe - these babies do shine when you crank up the volume - tremendous dynamic range coupled with very low distortion and cabinet colorations - with the right recording, the result is breathtaking! 

Regarding the tweeters and listening fatigue, I concur - I invited a couple of friends over about three weeks back (the wife was away  ) and we spent a solid 8 hours listening to various types of music at relatively high levels and none of us experienced any fatigue (granted we mainly listened to vinyl). In fact, I kept playing even after my friends left 

I played the title track from The Doors Soft Parade towards the end of our listening session at a very high level and just today one of the guys mentioned to me that he's still trying to wrap his head around the sound of that track on the VR-55s and that he's never experienced anything like that 

Can't get enough of these speakers - all of my spare time is spent playing music, so much so that my wife has now taken to saying "now you can play your music" rather than "good night" when she goes to bed  I may be in trouble...

[gammajo]

Joe - Yes, for several VR 55 sessions now I have the feeling of fulfillment and satisfaction hours after that I have in the past only gotten from going to an excellent live concert. That is really something. Just finished a rock session and with Santanna Put Your Lights On and Metalica Unforgiven 2, I kept looking behind me as sound seemed to be coming from there too. And when pushed to very high volume, I could detect no hardening, compression, or congealing of the sound. Way cool!

[gammajo]

Spent the day experimenting with speaker placement and tow in. From 3 feet off the front wall to 5.5 feet off, and from flat to front wall to tweeter pointed directly at ears. These parameters plus the adjustable bass and rear tweeter, can be a bit crazy making with all the permutations available.
The good news is the speaker seems not very placement particular with, I would say, one able to get 95% of performance with the speakers only 3 feet from tweeter to front wall. As you move outward from this the sound field seems to recede behind the speaker plane and things get a bit more depth/spacious and holographic. You can control the amount of bass reinforcement off the front wall with the bass control. Likewise in terms of tow in - it can work from flat to pointed at your ears. I settled on about 20 degree tow in. I think the speakers friendliness to many positions is from the dispersion pattern of the tweeters, and the rear ambience tweeter and bass control being able to compensate for position. So my conclusion is the the bass adjustment is very sensitive (even a quarter db makes a difference, and ambience setting less sensitive but useful.

[SundayNiagara]

Spent the day experimenting with speaker placement and tow in. From 3 feet off the front wall to 5.5 feet off, and from flat to front wall to tweeter pointed directly at ears. These parameters plus the adjustable bass and rear tweeter, can be a bit crazy making with all the permutations available.
The good news is the speaker seems not very placement particular with, I would say, one able to get 95% of performance with the speakers only 3 feet from tweeter to front wall. As you move outward from this the sound field seems to recede behind the speaker plane and things get a bit more depth/spacious and holographic. You can control the amount of bass reinforcement off the front wall with the bass control. Likewise in terms of tow in - it can work from flat to pointed at your ears. I settled on about 20 degree tow in. I think the speakers friendliness to many positions is from the dispersion pattern of the tweeters, and the rear ambience tweeter and bass control being able to compensate for position. So my conclusion is the the bass adjustment is very sensitive (even a quarter db makes a difference, and ambience setting less sensitive but useful.

The further you pull those speakers out into the room, the better they will sound. Remember, "Pearson's Rule Of Thirds?"

[jimdgoulding]

Nice to follow yer progressions, jo.  Bodes well to me that yer doing them.  Do you listen to much classical music?  As someone who does, and other stuff made on location, my concern is that early reflection of sound waveforms from our speaker placement, anybody's, could sum in so quickly as to influence or obscure the 3D depth of an orchestra and its layers or roundness of players and singers that may occupy it.  It's worth looking out for, ime.

[gammajo]

Jim. Yes, I listen to about 70% classical and I am a classically trained musician. I have heard Bernstein lead the New York Philharmonic when both were at their peak and have a good auditory memory of such events. Today I was delighted listening to Vivaldi's the Seasons and hearing the strings without artificial edge through the 55s, which also demonstrated the ability to be delicate and then powerful an instant later. As mentioned I have listen to several symphonies in the past few days.

I just may not be as sensitive to this as some people, or maybe my between speaker treatment and glass absorption treatment is working well, and maybe the 55 design is forgiving in that the tweeter does not beam like many do, but while I do get an enhanced holographic effect with the speakers farther out into the room, trust me, it is not that truncated closer in as to ruin the enjoyment. It is like many subtractive errors - they are easier to live with than additive errors. The closer to wall listening position is not unlike sitting closer to the orchestra in a live performance and the speakers further into the room is similar to taking a position further back in the hall in a live performance. So my point is that if a person had to place the speakers closer to the front wall than ideal, I would still highly recommend the 55s because they are so stellar on so many dimensions. The 55s have more depth of field and separate instruments better into their own bloom of sound even in the close to wall position than many more expensive and well-regarded speakers I have heard do when they were placed far out into the room.

[jimdgoulding]

I imagine we all have our benchmarks.  Most recently mine has been some Avalon -oh, heck, I can't recall the model except to say it is their flagship- speakers in a custom built room for the purpose of listening from the ground up.  You lucky sot!  You own your benchmark!  I have no complaints, however.  For my size room, my system can sometimes be pretty amazing.  Best to you my listening brother.  I'd love to visit should I be in your neighborhood sometime.  Which is where if you don't mind saying here or in a PM.  Plus, sounds like we share a love for certain types of music.

Can't beat the end of the room behind your speakers as everybody has commented.  Plus, if I haven't said so previously, my wee Meridians are active, too.  Internally bi-amped they are. 

[gammajo]

Jim - will PM location. I enjoy having visitors -the fellowship plus usually discover some great new music that they bring along! I also love going to other's homes and hearing what they have developed if it has been well thought out regardless of price range and room limitations. Have heard some amazing results that way that shoot well above price point.

[jimdgoulding]

Thanks and likewise.

[gammajo]

Finally got my wife to sit down and listen carefully to one song. I selected Eva Cassidy's Fields of Gold at moderate volume. My wife smiled and pronounced it very clear and beautiful. Earlier in the day I boogied to the Best of the Cars! Having tweeters that have no harshness or ringing, plus stellar bass and a clarity of natural detail makes each session a delight as I re-discover much music that I have not played in a long time - all of it sounding more alive and real that ever before - Yeah!

[Rocket_Ronny]

I nominate 12' off the wall. Be careful, your brains may leak out your head.

Rocket_Ronny

[SundayNiagara]

I nominate 12' off the wall. Be careful, your brains may leak out your head.

Rocket_Ronny

In a 38' room 12' is about the distance those speakers should be out in the room.

[gammajo]

Ok, OK. When my wife goes away for a few days, I will move all the furniture and try the 12 foot  experiment and report back. You further into the room guys are sure relentless

[jimdgoulding]

 

[SundayNiagara]

Ok, OK. When my wife goes away for a few days, I will move all the furniture and try the 12 foot  experiment and report back. You further into the room guys are sure relentless

My educated guess is, you'll see the orchestra like you've never seen it before.

[John Casler]

Hi Joe,

Fantastic write up, and since you are using the NuFORCE (NuPRIME) Reference 20 monoblocs, I will place a "link" to this thread in the NuPRIME Circle.

GREAT STUFF!!   

[gammajo]

Thanks John, As break in continues every few days there is another delightful enhancement of the strengths already mentioned.

[gammajo]

Update - I have just returned from a two week business trip. The break allowed a shift from the analytical listening that I had been doing when the speakers arrived, and now with about 700 hours on them, I sat down today to just enjoy. After a two hour equipment warm up, I started with some musical at low volume with delicate chime and treble bell work - beautiful!. Next up was moderate and higher volume works, both classical and pop including some very heavy drum work. Wow - I thoroughly enjoyed all the music and am hearing even better naturalness and subtlety along with great punch and power.