[StereoNut]

There's no way I can do the VR-4 Gen.III to VR-5 upgrade for $14,000.00 (?), but I do have my sights set on the more affordable VR-4 Gen.III to the new VR-4 SR Mk3 level upgrade.

While I continue to save my pennies for this; has anyone done this specific upgrade and what were the results?  Is it worth it?

Thanks!
SN

[ceedee]

Well mr. Nut,

This is interesting.

I know them all.

I just visit a client owning a set of VR 4 gen III HSE due to a upgrade to the VR 5 SE. Wow, big difference.

I can imagine you are a bit worried about the price there is to be payed.

Who am I to deside about your effort and pennies.

What I can suggest is to talk to the owners who have the opportunity to listen to all the VR's you have in mind.
I also have a client owning both, the VR 4 gen III (as rears) and the VR 4 SR mk III (as fronts).

See these links:

http://www.htforum.nl/yabbse/index.php?topic=41321.0

http://my.hifi.nl/index.php?user=945


Regards,

Cor

[StereoNut]

Hi Cor

"Mr. Nut" isn't necessary... too formal! 

Your comment "What I can suggest is to talk to the owners who have the opportunity to listen to all the VR's you have in mind." is exactly why I initiated this thread.  I have been lead to believe that V.S.A. has performed this VR-4 Gen.III to the new VR-4 SR Mk3 level upgrade for many of their customers, but I haven't been able to get any feedback from any of them regarding their experiences with this conversion.

I thought that the V.S.A. owner's circle here on A.C. was the best place to start... unless you (or anybody else here) know of any other place or forum to initiate a conversation with others about this upgrade?

Nonetheless, thanks for taking the time to reply.
"Mr. Nut"
 

[ceedee]

Hey (mr.) Nut,

These links leads you to the owners of both systems.
Antoine is one of the forum visitors also is wimck who also owned a set of VR 4 gen III.

Feel free to contact them.

Good luck.

Cor

[StereoNut]

Cor

The links are in Dutch (I think?)  Regardless, I have no #@$!%! idea what any of it says!

I will try to find both Antoine & Wimck on A.C. and PM them.

Thanks!
SN

[ceedee]

Yes Nut,

Dutch is a beautiful language, ok a bit difficult to read

You can use the Translator Babylon http://translation.babylon.com/

See the link to our friends from Holland:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?action=profile;u=52884

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?action=profile;u=39306

Good luck,

Cor

[StereoNut]

Thanks for the shortcut, Cor!   

[StereoNut]

Bump!

I have PM'd Antoine & Wimck without any response. 

Has anybody else "out there" had this upgrade done?

Thanks!
SN

[Antoine]

Hi StereoNut,

Sorry, I completely forgot to answer to your PM. I'm reading you'd like to upgrade your GenIII to VR4 SR MK3 level. If I understand you right you want to send your pair back to have it factory upgraded right? I can't really comment on that specific upgrade because I've never had that done. I own the GenIII HSE but they are for sale now because in May 2010 I bought a pair of VR5 SE MKII's so I can only tell you about the differences between these two models (which are huge BTW!  ) I also have never heard the VR4 SR MKIII's.

Have you considered to sell your HSE's and buy a used pair of VR4 SR MKIII's of VR5 SE's? Wouldn't that cost you less in the end? In the US both are offered 'used' a lot more often than here in The Netherlands or Europe and when they are the prices in the US are much lower too so that would be what I would do if I could (if I lived in the US I mean )

Good luck!

Best regards,

Antoine.

[StereoNut]

Hi Antoine

Thanks for your reply.  In answer to your first question, yes I am contemplating returning my VR-4 Gen.III's to VSA for the upgrade to Mk.3 status.  As far as selling mine and buying a used pair of Mk.3's or VR-5 SE's, I don't know how the "numbers" ($) would work out.  I don't know what the re-sale value of my Gen.III's would be nor do I know what the going prices are on used Mk.3's or VR-5 SE's.  I don't think that the money I can get for selling my speakers, added to what the upgrade costs from VSA would have cost me would be enough to buy a used pair of Mk.3's and I certainly doubt it would come close to the cost of used VR-5 SE's.  The other thing to consider is warranty... getting my Gen.III's upgraded to Mk.3's would give me a "brand new" warranty from VSA and a lot of peace of mind. 

Considering that VSA has told me that they have done a lot of these Gen.III to Mk.3 upgrades, I find it hard to believe that I haven't found anyone on this forum to comment about it first-hand.  If there are any VSA owners that have done this upgrade, they certainly haven't taken the time to reply here on AC and tell me if it was worth doing.

I guess, it's just a matter of me getting up enough "guts" to call Albert and tell him that I'm ready to do it on "blind faith".

Again... if anybody out there has done this upgrade, please tell me of your experiences with it.

Thanks!
SN

[Hoosierdaddy]

SN,

There are two mk3 listed now on Audiogon for 9.8k.  There seems to be a market value of about 1.4k on your current models. If you can get 1.4k for yours then you could get a demo pair from an authorized source for 8.8k excluding paypal, delivery, etc. Good luck!

Hoosierdaddy

[Hoosierdaddy]

SN,

Sorry about the mistake on recent pricing for your model...it is really more like 2.5k from the prices that I have seen.  I hope to be in the market soon for a pair of VR-4HSE as my first pair of VSA.

Hoosierdaddy

[StereoNut]

Hoosierdaddy

If I add up what my VR-4 Gen.III's cost me, plus the cost of the upgrade to Mk.3 status, I'll have less invested that if I bought a pair of the Mk.3's on A'gon that you mentioned.  Plus, I'll have a brand new 10 year warranty from VSA on my upgraded ones.  I doubt I will get a better set of speakers (or value) for the same money... and if anybody does have a better way to spend my hard-earned ¢a$h speaker-wise, please let me know.

Thanks!
SN