[John Casler]

I have many e-mail me and asked about the new VLA and why they don't hear much about them.

First they are not out there by the hundreds, at $4960 per SUB, and not all the owners are members of AC except Dave (Housteau) who posts when he is in town.

However, I did receive an e-mail from an AC member who just recieved his pair and placed them "in service" with his RM v60's yesterday.

I will cut and paste a portion of his comment to me.  I don't think he will mind.

My initial response for the first 2 seconds listening to them was "Where the hell is the bass?" Then --WHOAAH!!!!  It's there, is it ever there -- clean, tight , impactful and going down to somewhere near the center of the earth! The VLAs are as clean on their end as the RM-V60s are on the top. Brian absolutely outdid himself on these!
 
     You are going to have a ball at CES. More later, got to get back to my listening.

I think this was his way of saying Deep, Clean, Subterranean BASS   

[Housteau]

I believe that a part of the VLA magic is that they act in a much more subtle way with what they do than their looks would imply.  A first impression might be that they would tend to overpower a room in a bombastic way and draw attention to themselves.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  With the V60s, the VLAs become as an extension of their expressions and nuances.  They do not draw attention to themselves at all.  Their size and geometry of drivers allows them to pressurize my room in a very smooth and uniform manner that I had never been able to achieve previously.  This 4 piece system speaks with one voice.



Speaking of Journey to the Center of the Earth, one of my original favorite progressive recordings, did you know that Rick Wakeman did a followup recording titled Return to the Centre of the Earth a few years back?  Patrick Stewart narrates with a slew of different artists with songs and music written just for them by Rick Wakeman.  Some of them include:  Justin Hayward, Trevor Rabin, Ozzy Osbourne, Bonnie Tyler, and Tony Mitchell.  I still prefer the magic of the original (and remember seeing it performed live on TV back then), but this newer version of a second expedition is still pretty good.

[Brian Cheney]

I did promise some time back to say more about the VLA and its design philosophy.  I'll be brief.

Bass is the foundation of all music and its accuracy and extension are paramount to high fidelity reproduction.  That said, it's hard to know how far to go in woofer design and where to stop.  There have been some extremely elaborate subs built over the years, at very high prices, and yet few have ever had performance I found satisfying.

I also thought a state of the art bass reproducer had to be affordable and fit in a fair-sized living room.  It would move a lot of air, have minimal enclosure output, be physically stable (a solid platform) and visually un-overwhelming. 

I decided that a tall, narrow column of 12" drivers in a heavily-braced 2" MDF cabinet should work.  I envisioned a user-adjustable PR system with as many as 7 woofers, most active, some tunable passives.  Each driver could be of different moving mass and compliance of suspension, thus spreading system resonance over a span of one to two octaves, rather than the two high-Q humps of the typical vented enclosure.  Big motors, heavy high power voicecoils, stiff cones of relatively high mass (possible because the column would not go higher than 80Hz or so) and high driver sensitvity would provide a good combination of transient speed, extension, low distortion and visceral impact.

Given the time-consuming thought experiments that preceeded the construction of prototypes, plus the experience gained from the woofer section of the STIII SRE (designed in 1997), the VLA went together rather easily.  My thanks to the hard work of Mark Shifter's Sound Art factory in Guangdong, China, for producing a massive cabinet with such an attractive look and finish at low cost.  The flush round grills (instead of  attached grillframe) were a late cosmetic addition suggested by Dave Housteau which I happily adopted.

The outboard 1000W amp adds flexibility with its continuously variable xover frequency and single band parametric EQ.  Once the worst room mode is notched out, the VLA integrates easily even into a small space.

State of the art bass is what separates those quarter-million-dollar systems from the much cheaper very-good variety.  Now ambitious audiophiles can have such without breaking the bank or supersizing their listening environment.

Owner response has been most gratifying.

[PLMONROE]

I just emerged from the subterranean depths somewhere near the center of the earth for some sustenance. But before I return I will make one quick comment on the RM-V60s and VLAs, which aren't even dialed in yet. I would  place them any day up against a system I listened to at RMAF whose speakers had a MSRP of $250,000 without the slightest fear they would be embarrassed!  aa

Paul

[Housteau]

Paul, I am glad you finally have them in your room to enjoy.  You have been waiting for a while and you certainly deserve what they have to offer.

Did you have any trouble moving them into place?  I know that had been a concern.

[PLMONROE]

Oddly enough my fears were unwarranted. I finally gave up and hired a local moving company. I had told them that the VLAs would arrive in sturdily made plywood cases with two handles on each side and thus could be handled with relative ease (assuming that they would have the same type crating as the V60s). To my shock they arrived in Masonite crating with the top, the bottom, one end, and one side of one crate askew (ie had all come apart). One outside and one end of that was crate was completely missing and the foam packing of the speaker exposed! In fact the only thing that was holding everyting together on the pallet was yards and yards of tape the shipping company had wrapped around everything to keep it all together. It was a total shambles. So the moving company assuming they would be handling two crates with handles only sent two people. Fortunately one was about the build of John Casler but the other was pretty much a skinny runt of a kid. I was almost afraid to watch but one grabbed each end of the VLA and they waltzed it right into the house -- all 385 pounds or so! Then they got smarter and strapped it into an appliance cart. With that they took it straight up the circular stairway without even stopping. I couldn't believe it!
The whole process couldn't have taken them more than 30 minutes and that included getting the speakers out of their wrapping. Gad, it took me that long to attach the bases! But at last it was all over except for the applause.

[John Casler]

I believe that a part of the VLA magic is that they act in a much more subtle way with what they do than their looks would imply.  A first impression might be that they would tend to overpower a room in a bombastic way and draw attention to themselves.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  With the V60s, the VLAs become as an extension of their expressions and nuances.  They do not draw attention to themselves at all.  Their size and geometry of drivers allows them to pressurize my room in a very smooth and uniform manner that I had never been able to achieve previously.  This 4 piece system speaks with one voice.

Hi Dave,

That is an "excellent" point.  If someone simply wants "OVERPOWERING" bass, they might be better served purchasing 8 "basic" 215's and stacking them 4 high on each side. $5000 and you'll have 7.1 on the Richter Scale.

But, along with power one wants "majesty".  That is a quality, detail, and integration to the bottom octaves that "complete" the sound.

2000w going to 8 12" drivers, and 4 15" passives is going to effortlessly provide a foundation and ambiance to the sound that most will never achieve in their listening rooms.

While I doubt if B, has taken any measurements, I might suggest that these maybe some of, it not THE lowest distortion Subwoofers ever.

It would make sense, that when properly tuned, that with that much power, and that much cone effort, that Distortion would be taking a nose dive, along with the frequencies, to those SUBterranean depths.

[John Casler]

Oddly enough my fears were unwarranted. I finally gave up and hired a local moving company. I had told them that the VLAs would arrive in sturdily made plywood cases with two handles on each side and thus could be handled with relative ease (assuming that they would have the same type crating as the V60s). To my shock they arrived in Masonite crating with the top, the bottom, one end, and one side of one crate askew (ie had all come apart). One outside and one end of that was crate was completely missing and the foam packing of the speaker exposed! In fact the only thing that was holding everyting together on the pallet was yards and yards of tape the shipping company had wrapped around everything to keep it all together. It was a total shambles. So the moving company assuming they would be handling two crates with handles only sent two people. Fortunately one was about the build of John Casler but the other was pretty much a skinny runt of a kid. I was almost afraid to watch but one grabbed each end of the VLA and they waltzed it right into the house -- all 385 pounds or so! Then they got smarter and strapped it into an appliance cart. With that they took it straight up the circular stairway without even stopping. I couldn't believe it!
The whole process couldn't have taken them more than 30 minutes and that included getting the speakers out of their wrapping. Gad, it took me that long to attach the bases! But at last it was all over except for the applause.

Hi Paul,

Like to say publically, congratulations on having one of the truly best speaker systems in the world. 

Also Brian and I want to thank you for your patronage, patience, and belief in the product line.

For those who don't know, Paul was the FIRST purchaser of the RM v60.  His Odyssey began well over a year ago when he order a pair of fully loaded BCSE RM40s.

It was before the RM v60 was announced and in fact B, had Paul's RM40s finished and ready to ship, when he decided to go "sight unseen" with the RM v60, based totally on his faith in Brian and the VMPS sound.

Along the way he/we added the VSS, and then decided to go VLA, to complete the system which "I" call THE INVICTA (Pr of RM v60's and Pr of VLA SUBs)

We will have the 3 RM v60 in Vegas this year (Maybe call it the TriVICTA).

Paul (and I have posted this before) is without a doubt the most patient customer on the planet and understands that delays happen.

Well it gratifies me to no end, that my encouragement and his patience and confidence, has paid the sonic dividends and will give him hours of listening enjoyment.

THANKS PAUL, and ENJOY

[John Casler]

And in the spirit of expressing customer appreciation, I also have to include Dave (Housteau) who is also a VMPS INVICTA owner, and who also has demonstrated patience and commitment that make it rewarding and a joy to work with him.

He is the type of customer that has the experience and knowledge to guide him to know exactly what he wants, and after many years of being spoiled with an incredible (but aging) world class speaker system, he too made the move and like Paul "sight unseen" he bought into the RMv60 (pre-legend I wove for him)

He then stepped all the way in the fire and too, committed to the VLA, and never looked back.

I salute great customers like these who make being a VMPS dealer such a great experience.

Hope those aren't too mushy