[Escott1377]

Finally got my 1st glance of my modded jr's which should be picked up today.  1st pair to be done in the piano black gloss.  Excited for their return.

[jab]

Congratulations Brutha!  I'm sure they will sound as spectacular as they look!!! 

[htradtk]

Big Congrats! Enjoy them! Like I just said earlier, what other speaker manufacture would take an older model and bring it up to current specifications? Great job VSA, they look great!

Henry

[kernelbob]

You'll love that piano black finish

[leif8660]

 

[jazzMD]

How much from Mk III to Mk IV?

[Escott1377]

The MKIV is advertised @ $5,000, not including shipping both ways.

I have seen someone else ask this same question since some of the cabinet reinforcement was part of the previous upgrade.

The response was to contact VSA for a quote since there should be less work involved.

My speakers were destroyed by UPS on their way to California so the repair and new finish was an additional $4,200.  However, UPS paid for this portion of the work.

[Escott1377]

Speakers arrived safely yesterday.  VSA did a wonderful job with the finish, they were hard to even recognize.

My 1st impression out of the box was how bloated they sounded, almost like being underwater.

Leif called and the upgrade now makes the speakers rated for 4 ohms, so a quick change to 4 ohm taps on my tube blocs and then pulling out some in line attenuators I had to match sensitivity to bi amp and BOOM!

Speakers were singing.

Overall impression is worth the wait.  Quality of the new drivers both in appearance and performance is apparent.

Greater detail coming from the mids / tweets - listened to David Gilmour Live from Gdansk today and could hear much better top extension on subtle things like cymbal crashes which I did not notice before.

Very happy camper with this purchase.

[jab]

Awesome news! Will only get better!  Congrats!!

[SundayNiagara]

When will the new version debut?

[len]

When will the new version debut?

Could it already have arrived as the Endeavor E-3 MkII?  The drivers seem to be the same.  Are they?

[JackD201]

I believe they are.

I don't see any new Jrs on the horizon but of course I may be wrong. That wouldn't be a first. The upgrade is available only to existing owners because VSA no longer makes the cabinets. I don't know how many times I've contemplated buying back one of the pairs we've sold before. That is until I took delivery of E-3s one pair of which I decided to keep for myself. Okay, it's a perk for being a distributor. Sue me 

Driver similarity aside, a revitalized Jr like Escot's have the rear ambience tweeter and the aluminum drivers are in a QTL body and not the ported one of the E-3. This alone makes them pretty different. Also, given that Albert has a knack of extracting his house sound extremely consistently regardless of driver type and material from aerogels (4,5,9,11), polymers (U1,U2), magnesiums (100) or ceramics (U3, 55). I doubt he'll not do the same with Kevlar in the Jr upgrade package #4.

Finally Endeavor is a separate company and Leif has his own voice and voicing. Big, bold, electrifying. He did inherit something big from Albert and that's been the ability to be subtle and refined as well.

The overlap is in the 44 and the E-5. Talk about having to make a tough choice there. Damon's baby the 44 and Leif's the E-5  are both heavy hitters. Ultimately I believe the rooms and listening distances those rooms will allow would most possibly be the deciding factor. 

[roscoeiii]

Ultimately I believe the rooms and listening distances those rooms will allow would most possibly be the deciding factor.

Go on...

[JackD201]

I think you need more distance from the E-5s than you would with the 44s for best coherence.

[leif8660]

Could it already have arrived as the Endeavor E-3 MkII?  The drivers seem to be the same.  Are they?

It was when I working at Von Schweikert that we took delivery of sample drivers from Scanspeak.  When Albert and I listened to the 7" anodized aluminum woofers we new they were something special.  Albert had used Kevlar mids in the past and had always been fond of them.  When we listened to the mid we were also very impressed.  The tweeter is Vifa(Denmark) and Albert had used these tweeters in production models before.  I knew these were the drivers I wanted to use for Endeavors first production model the E-3 and now the E-3MkII.  At this time, Albert didn't have a use for these drivers and he was already working on another woofers,mid,tweeter design which developed into the VR-55.  So in August of 2013, Endeavor debuted it's first production model the E-3 at The California Audio Show.


My inspiration for the E-3 actually stemmed from the VR-4jr.  I had always loved that speaker.  Especially when you looked at it's price/performance.  But this is a very popular driver configuration with several manufacturers using 2-woofers, a mid and tweeter.

I wanted the E-3 to be able to work close to the walls where the VR-4jrs can be pulled out into the room.  So the E-3 and the VR-4jrs are obviously very different designs even though the drivers are the same.  Of course due the differences in cabinet design of the VR-4jrs (slanted mid,treble cabinet, front port, time alignment, and different internal volume)  Albert had to design an entirely new crossover network to integrate all the above into what is now called the VR-4jr MkIV, which was released a little less than a year ago.  Believe me, I would love to use those drivers from the VR-55 in an Endeavor model lol.  Oops, I'm already using the Beryllium tweeter in the E-5:)  Best Beryllium tweeter in the world IMHO.  NOT CHEAP!!!!!!

I may be a little biased lol, both speakers are very good and their performance is way above their price.  But they are obviously VERY different.  One is voiced by me and the other by Albert. Considering that 100% of my High End Audio education came from Albert, especially his approach to crossover design and other aspects of his design process, we have something in common,  Albert and I look for the same sound from a loudspeaker.  But it was Albert who taught me to how achieve this.  I use the exact same approach and know exactly what I am looking for when it comes to voicing the speaker. 

Using these drivers for the VR-4jr MkIV was an excellent choice.

Leif

[leif8660]

I think you need more distance from the E-5s than you would with the 44s for best coherence.

You definitely need more distance with the E-5's than the 44's