[Mountainjoe]

Hi There - I'm a new member on the forum and wanted to introduce myself. My name is Joe and I live in the beautiful Santa Cruz Mountains in northern California 

I've owned VSA speakers for many years, starting with a pair of VR4-MKII's I bought in 1999 and had upgraded to VR-44 (passive) status a year or so ago by Albert. I'm now waiting for delivery of a set of piano black VR-55s which will hopefully be shipping this week! 

Like others on the forum who are interested (or have purchased) these speakers, I demo'd these at Albert's facility late last year and Albert was kind enough to host me and my wife Debbie when we came down from northern cal. I have to say I was really impressed by these speakers - Albert's really outdone himself with this design! These speakers are incredibly dynamic - the transient response (attack and decay) is the best I've ever heard on any speaker bar none. In my view, this highlights the complete lack of cabinet colorations (and very low moving mass drivers) Albert's been able to achieve with this driver/cabinet combination.

In regards to the rest of my system, I love tube gear and run VTL preamp and amps, which I think will pair up very nicely with the VR-55s. I also love vinyl and though I don't shy away from digital, I do find myself listening to analog most of the time.

Hope to hear from other folks' experience with these speakers and to exchange ideas with the folks on this forum.

Cheers, Joe

[jab]

Hi Joe!  Welcome to the VSA forum... Have a good buddy (Paul Braga) that lives in your neck of the woods.  I had a chance to visit VSA last wk and it really was a WOW moment.  I've been around VSA speakers for 20yrs and just when you think Albert cannot move the bar much further, along comes the VR55's!  You'll be getting yours ahead of me so pls keep us informed of your listening experience and set-up tips!  You are surrounding your new speakers with some fantastic gear!  Enjoy and,,, congratulations!  Jack

[Delacroix]

Welcome aboard Joe -- am impressed with folks moving up to the 55s...looking forward to hearing more of your experience with these in due course. And as a fellow vinyl lover who listens to lots of digital too, I also find that there is something about vinyl that just makes listening to music more of an experience. What do you spin on?

[mresseguie]

Hello, Joe.

Welcome to AC. Feel free to post. It's probably a bit intimidating at first, but you get addicted fairly quickly. 

[Mountainjoe]

Hi Joe!  Welcome to the VSA forum... Have a good buddy (Paul Braga) that lives in your neck of the woods.  I had a chance to visit VSA last wk and it really was a WOW moment.  I've been around VSA speakers for 20yrs and just when you think Albert cannot move the bar much further, along comes the VR55's!  You'll be getting yours ahead of me so pls keep us informed of your listening experience and set-up tips!  You are surrounding your new speakers with some fantastic gear!  Enjoy and,,, congratulations!  Jack

Hi Jack - thanks for the welcome - I'll be sure to post my impressions as I get the VR-55s setup and broken in!

[Mountainjoe]

Welcome aboard Joe -- am impressed with folks moving up to the 55s...looking forward to hearing more of your experience with these in due course. And as a fellow vinyl lover who listens to lots of digital too, I also find that there is something about vinyl that just makes listening to music more of an experience. What do you spin on?

Hi Delacroix - I do get more satisfaction from vinyl in terms of pure musical enjoyment and just falling into the music, so to speak. I recently acquired a lightly used Clearaudio Innovation Wood TT and added a Triplanar tonearm with a Koetsu Urushi Black cart - very sweet sounding! 

Looking forward to posting my experience with the VR-55s - stay tuned!

Cheers, Joe

[Mountainjoe]

Hello, Joe.

Welcome to AC. Feel free to post. It's probably a bit intimidating at first, but you get addicted fairly quickly. 

Thanks! Looking forward to interacting with this group and sharing experiences and preferences.

Cheers, Joe

[gammajo]

Welcome to from Gammajo - I think you will find this forum as a highly positive and supportive place filled with great experience and infomation. I am also behind you in the 55 line - so keep us posted. Did you go for piano black?

[Delacroix]

Hi Delacroix - I do get more satisfaction from vinyl in terms of pure musical enjoyment and just falling into the music, so to speak. I recently acquired a lightly used Clearaudio Innovation Wood TT and added a Triplanar tonearm with a Koetsu Urushi Black cart - very sweet sounding! 

Looking forward to posting my experience with the VR-55s - stay tuned!

Cheers, Joe

Oh baby -- the Urushi....now that's something special. Sweet it is!   That cartridge on a Triplanar deserves a new pair of 55s

[Mountainjoe]

Welcome to from Gammajo - I think you will find this forum as a highly positive and supportive place filled with great experience and infomation. I am also behind you in the 55 line - so keep us posted. Did you go for piano black?

Yes - piano black! The wife chose it 

[vinylfreeze]

Greetings Mountainjoe,

What a beautiful area you live in. I fell in love with that region as a boy and always figured I'd end up
living in that vicinity, or at least somewhere in Northern Cali. Alas, here I am still in glorious(and usually
cold)Anchorage,Alaska.

I'm envious of your 55's you await and look forward to "hearing" all about them. If your 44's get lonely
I'd be happy to keep them entertained

Thanks for sharing your experience with meeting and demoing with Albert. I hope to have similar experience one day in my future.

Good listening,
Matthew

[Mountainjoe]

Greetings Mountainjoe,

What a beautiful area you live in. I fell in love with that region as a boy and always figured I'd end up
living in that vicinity, or at least somewhere in Northern Cali. Alas, here I am still in glorious(and usually
cold)Anchorage,Alaska.

I'm envious of your 55's you await and look forward to "hearing" all about them. If your 44's get lonely
I'd be happy to keep them entertained

Thanks for sharing your experience with meeting and demoing with Albert. I hope to have similar experience one day in my future.

Good listening,
Matthew

Hi Matthew - we do love this area and the majestic Redwoods! I grew up in Canada so am no stranger to cold - that's why I live in California 

Regarding my VR44s, I sold them off in December, otherwise I would offer to have you keep them company 

Thanks for the greeting - looking forward to sharing my experiences with the VR55s.

Cheers, Joe

[Mountainjoe]

Oh baby -- the Urushi....now that's something special. Sweet it is!   That cartridge on a Triplanar deserves a new pair of 55s

Thanks - I was a bit concerned about the low compliance of the Koetsu cart on the low effective mass Triplanar - I do see some low frequency resonance on a test disk around 26Hz but in practice, I've not noticed any pronounced impact to the lower bass registers. Given the very articulate bass performance of the VR55s, I'm curious to see if this becomes noticeable.

If anyone has experience with this arm/cart combination, I would be interested in hearing about it.

Cheers, Joe

[jimdgoulding]

Hi Delacroix - I do get more satisfaction from vinyl in terms of pure musical enjoyment and just falling into the music, so to speak. I recently acquired a lightly used Clearaudio Innovation Wood TT and added a Triplanar tonearm with a Koetsu Urushi Black cart - very sweet sounding! 

Looking forward to posting my experience with the VR-55s - stay tuned!

Cheers, Joe

Pretty nice analog front end you have there, Joe.  Wouldn't mind if I did.  I have an ages old Koetsu Black which I am remiss to improve upon because I think its upper end depression is consistent with what I hear live of unamplified music.  I would like to audition a Rosewood Signature, however, tho its cost is about 10 plus times what I paid and my income is about 10 plus times less.  I am retired.  You wouldn't happen to have one laying around, would you?

[Mountainjoe]

You wouldn't happen to have one laying around, would you?

Hi Jim - sorry no, but I do have a used Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood and though it's a MM cart, it's one of the best I've heard!

[jimdgoulding]

Thanks for your reply, Joe.  Enjoy that Urushi.  I'm pretty sure I could manage to.  I may make a trip to SF next Fall.  Was there in November year before last.  Used to live there.  Your Santa Cruz mountains are highly tempting.  Soes yer system.  Stay well.

[Mountainjoe]

Thanks for your reply, Joe.  Enjoy that Urushi.  I'm pretty sure I could manage to.  I may make a trip to SF next Fall.  Was there in November year before last.  Used to live there.  Your Santa Cruz mountains are highly tempting.  Soes yer system.  Stay well.

Hi Jim - let me know if you're in the area - happy to demo my system to you. I also have a Rega RB300 tonearm available if you're interested 

[jimdgoulding]

Thanks and I likely will.  I'm happy with the arm I have. 

[es347]

Hi Jim - sorry no, but I do have a used Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood and though it's a MM cart, it's one of the best I've heard!

..running the Clearaudio Ebony Maestro 2 with an Audiomods arm.  Very nice IMHO..