[JackD201]

They look alike. In many ways they sound alike. One is designed to compete at a critical price point the other designed with a cost no object approach to max out the platform.

Here's something we see a lot with automobile makers but hardly ever in audio. I'm talking about sharing platforms. With grills on these two loudspeakers are almost identical. You'd have to go behind them to see the subtle differences. These being the binding posts and the tiny badges. With grills on you could say you could spot more differences between a BMW 330ci and an M3. Take the grills off however and suddenly you know they are very different. But how much different?

Please share your impressions here. I'll chime in later

[tc]

I bought the first pair of VSA 5's that Albert built. I power these speakers with Halcro electronics and love this combination. Also have the Vision Signature which I belive to be the best center I have ever heard. The most important thing to remember about Alberts speakers is they need several hundred hours of burnin. This makes a hugh difference,

[JackD201]

I bought the first pair of VSA 5's that Albert built.

So that's where that pair went! Lucky you. Albert almost kept that for himself. We got the first regular production pair in Ebony.

The most important thing to remember about Alberts speakers is they need several hundred hours of burnin. This makes a hugh difference,

This is so true. It took me around 400 hours to get the SRs straightened out and stable in character. When the VR-5 SEs came it took only about 40 hours for the VR-5 to overtake the SRs in midrange and treble definition and refinement and another 150 to overtake the SRs in bass definition. I found that in absolute terms the SRs went deeper but at the expense of low pitch definition. The VR-9s on the other hand overtook the VR-5s out of the box but that's another story........

[randybarba]

The most important thing to remember about Alberts speakers is they need several hundred hours of burnin. This makes a hugh difference,

I totally agree. My jr's took around 250 hours or more before plateauing out to their present sound. Before that, it was a roller coaster ride with the sound sometimes great and sometimes dull. Now, I just play lp after lp and enjoy the music  .

[Delacroix]

I have a pair of VR5's (anniversary, perhaps the first but definitely one of the first pairs) and I always thought this product had an odd place in the VR line since it rarely seemed to be advertised, lived in essentially the VR4's body and had the legacy of the data link between the two modules that in my case did not even come with a cable since I was told not to even bother listening that way. I note from the new site that one of the drivers has changed since I received mine and the data link has, I believe, gone too. Mine sound great but I find myself wondering what might be different in the 'current' version of the 5's. There really are few reviews out there. I recall Six Moons having the VR-5 in the 'coming' reviews section a year or so ago but it disappeared from there without being published. I'd have run a review of my own pair but now the model has changed a little, it would not make sense. 

[economides]

I used to own a pai of VR4 SE's and I upgraded to VR 5 Anniversry The difference is almost as huge as the differnce in price!

The 5's are world class speakers maybe IMHO the best up to 60K euros (at least of those I have heard - Verity Sarastro , Wilson MAXX , Hansen Prince, Magico V3, Sonus Faber Amati, Rockport etc)

Andrew a happy VS owner and fan from Greece