[es347]

You guys must be doing some serious listening and not logging on much these days.  OK here's something to ponder.  The last warm day we had this year, I was out in the yard blowing the last layer of leaves down into the gully behind our house when something occurred to me.  Here I am spending an inordinate amount of money on my audio system and at the same time exposing my ears to well over 100 dbs of noise from my leafblower.  I may as well put those black velvet socks back on my VR4's when I sit down for a listen.  I shut off my leafblower and inserted those little marshmallow-like earplugs and went on to finish the job.  It's serious business--protecting the ears from damaging db levels whether it's a leafblower or a live concert, an upset mother in law....

Perhaps of more interest to you all, my VR4 SR MkIIs have well over 300 hrs. on them and it's absolutely true that they have an extended break in period.  When I go back to some of the cds I listened to early on, they sound very different now...much bigger soundstage, much more defined bass..yada yada (insert Stereophile superlatives here).  You get the picture.  I have yet to set them on the tiptoes that came with the speakers because I figure to still move them around to further optimize the bass.  And speaking of break in, I just replaced the panels on my old ML Aerius i's and have them down here in the next room being driven by some really average amplification and front end, playing in the repeat-all mode.  My wife loves it.

Now fellas, I have this board well-bookmarked and come here multiple times daily only to find messages posted "yesterday".  Please help lift me out of this VSA Board-induced depression and post some stuff.  Let's hear what's going on with you and your audio system.  Heck, let's here what's going on with you and your cat.

[foghorn]

OK - I will bite.

First off es347, let me say that your exeperience in buying the VR4 SR MK II's with out hearing them inspired me to do the same.  I was leery of spending a lot of money on a speaker I had never heard.  But, I had read several reviews of the speaker and spoke with Albert a couple of times and took the leap - they arrived the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.  They are now in my listening room and I am going through the process of breaking them in and also moving them around to get the best sound.  (As an aside I bought two set of those furniture moving "carpet slides" and placed them under the speakers - you know those things that are smooth plastic on one side and foam rubber on the other.  It makes sliding the speakers around much easier). 

Anyway, the VS's replaced a pair of KEF 105/3's I have had since 1992 (yes, 1992!!!).  The KEF's are a good speaker and were always excellent at reproducing vocals.  But the VS's are a whole new story.  In every way they are exceeding my expectations.  The highs are much smoother, the bass is actually there (unlike with the KEF's) and the mid's are so smooth.  In having some friends come over to listen, the fist word out of their mouth was "natural", and these people are not into the audiophile hobby.  While only a week nad a half into the break-in process, the bass is starting to intergrate much better with the mid's and the soundstage is broadening a bit.  I find it amazing to listen to CD's that I have owned for years and discover "information" I never knew was there.  My head has snapped up from my listening chair many times wonder "what did I just hear?".  While I am still playing with the placement of the speaker, I found that toeing them in a bit made a huge difference in tightening up the imaging.

The rest of the system:

Amplifier = Krell KAV 250a
Pre-Amp = Audio Research LS-3
CD Player = California Audio Labs ICON Mk II
Cabling = Audioquest

Matt

[es347]

Hey Matt,

Thanks for biting.  Bravo on buying the VR4s.  Mine are sounding better every day and I have zero regrets.  I notice you are running with ARC and Krell.  I had the LS3 preamp for about 12 years and liked it a lot but I will say there is considerably better sound available.  I went from the LS3 to a McCormack RLD-1 and sorry to say it was better.  More dynamic etc. but the LS3 is very good.  I recently replaced all my electronics with MAC.  Great sound but not inexpensive for sure.  Play your system as much as you can and get those speakers broken in.  The best is yet to come, trust me.

Gavin

[foghorn]

Gavin;

Thanks for the response.  Hopefully, the new speakers are the first step in a complete system upgrade/replacement.  I have been eyeing the ARC HD220 amp and the LS17 pre-amp. 

All of my current equipment has served me well, but is getting a bit old, and as is often the case -once the upgrade bug hits, it is difficult to cure.

Matt

[keith]

Hi Gavin. 

Towards Xmas, it becomes extremely hectic here in Manila. It's been party here and party there. Me, I normally listen to my system only on weekends. As you can guess, in the last two weeks, they've been on all of 3-4 hours only. Because of work, I don't get to listen on weekdays.  It takes about two hours (sometimes more) for the Lamm's tubes to sound at its optimum, by that time my daughter's complaining she can't sleep because of the noise. So I just try not too.    I took off work today after a hectic weekend.  I was hoping to just spend the day vegetating and listening to some new cds, but looks like that's scrapped and will be attending a wedding.   

Hope all's well with you.

Keith

[JackD201]

Hi Matt, Hi Gavin, yo Keith!

Mind if I crash this party? aa

I've been here in Hawaii for almost a week now for a bit of R&R meaning lots of Golf and zero Audio save for streaming to a circuit city bought receiver and a circa 1995 JBL home-theater-in-a-box thing. This set up makes a strong, strong case for apple's supplied earphones 

Prior to leaving however I went through a week of intense listening and evaluation of VSA Masterbuilt bi-wire speaker cables  (like yours Gavin) and the VSA Masterbuilt Signature Interconnects. -Gulp- I owe AVS his eval report but it's in my other computer      Anyhow this meant leveling the playing field by putting the VR-9SEs back on their golden dots. That's Niner speak for setting them up according to the factory presets. This takes about as long to do as it would take Manny Pacquiao to knock me on my @ss, but it did take a couple of days to get me comfortable enough for critical listening. I find as I get older I'm finding it more difficult to switch on the Nitpick switch.  With the speakers set flat I went about tweaking them the old fashioned way by moving the 9s around on their smooth casters. Once satisfied I hunkered down to the business of AB'ing the VSA cables vs. one of VSA's former in-house cables the Verbatim Signatures. I used these two cables so Albert could understand where I was coming from. Don't worry I'm not gonna get into the review now....I wus jus' sayin'.     

After AB'ing and dutifully packing away my notes, I picked up a new Phono cartridge. This is when all hell broke loose. I think my wife thought I'd turned into a hermit of the non-religious variety as for days she'd get her peck on the cheek in the morning and when I got home. Come to think of it since I was always gone before she woke and in bed when she was asleep I think I could've gotten away with going anywhere I darned well wanted!    Okay so getting cart rolling isn't anywhere as sinister as a night on the town but I rather geek-ly admit I was having as much fun.  My turntable has two arms and I have 5 main MC cartridges all on interchangeable arm wands. So for a few days I was just swapping carts around and shooting them out against their stable mates. LP selection was so random that if you had witnessed it you might have questioned my sanity. I was just pulling out LP after LP. One time a guitar lick reminded me of another song then I remembered something about one of the musicians who played on "that other song". I ended up selecting an LP from the same label that the artist was signed to but without him in the session. Come to think of it the Session didn't even have a guitar in it hence no guitar lick.    It was quite a ride! 

Then I had to pack. 

Hey Matt, congratulations! If you're looking at staying within the ARC family, the Ref 3 / Ref 110 is very good match for SR Mk.2s. Keith and I installed such a system for a client (ARCs from another dealer who's a mutual friend of ours). If you can find a good deal on a Ref 3 skip the 17 If this means you'll have to upgrade the Krells later I still think it would be worth the extra wait.

[keith]

Gavin,
Headed to a wedding in three hours ... but I scrapped my scheduled massage this morning.  Been listening for 2 hours now and am finally relaxed listening to some new SACDs bought 2 weeks ago.  Many thanks Gavin for reminding me that I don't have to leave my room to enjoy.   


Yo braddah Jack,
You owe me that narrative  aa

Matt,
Good luck on the ARC.  Jack's right though, the ARC Refs match well with the VR4 SRmkIIs.   

[JackD201]

I scrapped my scheduled massage this morning.   

Trade your couch for a massage table that way you get the best of both worlds sans the happy ending 

C'mon bro, I'll take that couch!  aa

[keith]

I scrapped my scheduled massage this morning.   

Trade your couch for a massage table that way you get the best of both worlds sans the happy ending 

C'mon bro, I'll take that couch!  aa

You forget I already have a massage table.  We are entitled to our own happy ending, aren't we?   aa

[es347]

Thanks to our buddies in on the other side of the world for interesting updates.  Jack I swear it would be worth the airfare just to witness a listening session like you describe.  Not sure I've ever met a man with a 5 cartridge garage.  Impressive.  Be sure and post your evaluation of the VSA cables, as long as the new ones win out    Keith, you don't need some old hack like me to remind you to stop and smell the components.  I gotta admit to enjoying critical listening more than ever before.  This new system is da bomb.

If anyone else out there has anything meaningful (or not meaningful is good) to post, fire away.

[Delacroix]

What's going on here? I am having my Xmas party for work colleagues at my house and I expect 70 people in here by 6pm this evening.....I always leave my system on playing music and it's amazing how that many bodies soak up volume...by the time it's over and people have left I usually find the volume control has slipped way up, without complaint. My biggest concern, other than supplying enough drinks for this many people, is that nobody mess with or spill stuff on my gear. And of course, there will be comments about the number of cables, the size of the VSA speakers ('you know you can get small ones now'...) and incredulity that I still spin vinyl from the uninitiated!  God help them if they saw tubes!!!

[es347]

Tubes, vinyl and Christmas....all seem to go together.  Sort of a throwback thing as if perhaps Bob Kratchet spun vinyl and warmed his cottage with monoblock triodes.  They may have even hung stockings from them.  Seriously Delacroix, sounds like you are really getting into the Christmas spirit at your place.  Did all that dancin' and carryin' on play havoc with your TT?  For a particularly raucous party, you may want to revert to...gasp...a cd player