[violetmachan]

hello guys
Anybody done a Mark2 upgrade for VSA Vr 7se/ 9se/11se speakers.......is there any significant improvement in sound.........and is it worth it?........your views.....most wellome.........I am still waiting for the the tenor pre-amps ....hope to have them by the end of oct 2010.......which should prehaps give me a better persceptive to sound in my ecosystem/living space !......uploaded some photos of the vr 7se with mark2 upgrade.

cheers

violetmachan






....

[es347]

Wow, love those VR7 behemoths!

[ceedee]

Not yet Violetmachan,

But, I have been told by Albert there is a nice improvement in soundquality.
The mkII upgrade should give even more realism in the music in your system.

As soon I know more I will report.

Cor

[violetmachan]

hello ceedee
do you still have your 7se with the KR tube amps.......I have been running the upgrade for about a 10days......probably need to speak to albert about the program.....the new silver looking audax midrange driver needs to run-in......I have only managed to do about 30 hours on them......the new resistors in shunts and series may also need time ??.....I am not to sure......with respect to the sound.....the initial response is that the low freq seem to have moved forward a bit and the midrange and highs seems to have recessed and the highs appear to be slightly rolled off......the overall sound.......difficult to put a label on it, probably too early to comment.......coherence......have`nt found it as yet......but must say it does sound a little more real and not analytical anymore and do need more volume to play the music....the upgrade must have made the speaker less sensitive.......but the music still does not seem to have a soul!!!........hopefully will sound a lot better with a dedicated pre-amp.....will keep you updated

violetmachan

[ceedee]

Hello again Violetmachan,

We have the VR 7 SE conected to a set of KR Kronzilla DX at 100 watt pc.
This combination is very spatial and natural. I can recomend the KR tube amplifiers.
Your VR 7 SE mk II need a few hours more to break-in. The new components need this for sure. At your level this is very important.



Show setup with PS Audio Source and Pre.

Good luck and enjoy the growing proces.

Cor

[fplanner2000]

OK guys, - I'll bite.  What's the "Mk II update" for the 7's?  I've already done the V-Caps bypass treatment on the crossovers for both mids and highs. 

[fplanner2000]

For what its worth, when we did the crossover V-cap bypass mod to the mids and highs on my 7's here in Denver about 6 months ago, the results were immediately noticeable for the better.  We got much better lower volume detail along with more air in the mids and especially the highs.  Full break-in took about 300 hours, but I probably got 70% within the first 100 hours, with about 40% within the first 10 hours.

From violetmachan's post above and talking to Damon, I've got a pretty decent idea of what the MkII upgrade entails and it sounds way more involved than what we did, with a new midrange driver, etc.  I'll be interested in hearing how the "Mk II 7's" sound after a few hundred hours of break-in.

Thanks

[Albert Von Schweikert]

Hello Fellow Audiophiles,

We are working on creating a new MODIFICATIONS page on our site, describing the various mods and upgrades available to all models built since 1976.  The VR-7SE, VR-9SE, and VR-11SE were certainly ground-breaking speakers five years ago, but in the last few years, we have managed to come up with several small improvements to each of these models.  However, the latest production models of VR-9SE and VR-11SE have these upgrades installed since 2008, so these mods are only for the original, older models, but includes all VR-7SE models built since 2004.

To answer the particular question about the VR-7SE Modification to Mk2 status, there are two upgrades available: Level One and Level Two.

Level One- This is a V-Cap Teflon capacitor bypass for the existing midrange/tweeter caps and results in the more air and detail to the upper midrange and treble.  This upgrade does not alter the frequency balance between bass and treble and does not employ the internal cabinet damping or new midrange. This upgrade is for customers who have good bass now and don't hear the upper midrange emphasis created by the old Audax midrange. If you use tube electronics and have a damped room, you might only want or need the Level One upgrade.
FPlanner installed the Level One upgrade, as he had good bass power to begin with and just needed better treble detail.  He listens to a lot of music quietly late at night and wanted more resolving power at lower volume levels.  As he states, he is thrilled with the improvement and modest cost.

Level Two - This is the full MK2 upgrade, which not only results in greater clarity and upper end definition, but also "rebalances" the speaker to have flatter response from 16Hz to 50kHz.  Level Two consists of internal cabinet alterations, with the stone damping blocks and new internal absorption material.  The black-coned Audax is changed to a newer driver with a silver-tinted composite cone (see our VR-5 Anniversary for the new midrange photo), and naturally, there is extensive crossover changes, with extremely expensive upgrades done to the circuit boards, including the V-Cap Teflon bypass and some outright circuit changes to the crossover architecture.  This upgrade can only be done at our factory.

The original VR-7SE was designed in our semi-anechoic design studio, and with our electronics, measured and sounded "flat" without any variations in bass, mid, or treble.  However, in a few customer's rooms, the VR-7SE sounded sterile and bass-shy, with too much treble and not enough bass power.  In a poor sounding room, the bass response would not quite blend with the midrange and treble due to alterations of the frequency response created by room reflections.  If you have this type of sound, you need the Level Two upgrade.

THE NEW MIDRANGE DRIVER
With some solid state electronics, the original Audax Aerogel midrange cone would sound a bit thin and bright on upper registers of female vocals.  Although the driver itself was flat in measurement, it was easy to drive it into a "hard" sound especially if the signal wasn't the best possible.  The driving electronics and cables, along with room reflections, either "made" or "broke" the sound quality, so the Level Two upgrade replaces the frequency balance with a deeper, richer tone quality, with a less strident upper midrange.  The end result is a speaker that has less sensitivity, but far more musicality and bass power - if your room and electronics need this change. 

Please note that both Level One and Level Two upgrades require 500 hours to break in.  Please contact us at (951) 696-3662 for further details and cost.

Happy Listening,
Albert Von Schweikert

[Antoine]

Thank you, very interesting Albert! I hope you will also include a summary of the changes/modifications in VR5 SE -> VR5 SE MKII -> VR5 Anniversary. I haven't been able to find any documentation on these and I have the VR5 SE MKII and am wondering what to do when I want to upgrade mine to the latest Anniversary edition.

It's all very confusing, do I have a real MKII or some "in-betweener"? The foto below is the mid driver in my VR5 SE MKII's, it isn't the black Audax this can be seen when I look at photo's of the original VR5 SE. But what are they (B&C 6PEV13?) and in which way is the VR5 SE MKII different from the original MK1 and Anniversary? Inside the bass cabinet I can't find the stone damping blocks or new absortion material. There's also no dacron filling only some black foam glued to the walls. Can I just have the new white mid driver installed or do I also require the crossover modifications/cabinet changes? (if it helps the serial numbers of my VR5's are: 0427+0428)

Hope you can answer all these questions because this somehow doesn't feel right. If you do thank you in advance!

[Albert Von Schweikert]

There have been 3 different versions of the double-stack VR-5 model since 2003.  The first version featured an Audax Aerogel midrange driver, which was eventually discontinued due to harsh chemicals used in its cone fabrication.  The VR-5 SE Mk2 used an Italian-based mid unit, developed with an Audax engineer, and had a black rubberized cone, using the same Audax frame, magnet, and motor system.  The Mk2 version you own has the stock original crossover, which was an Acoustic Fourth Order setup using very high quality parts by Hovland, V-cap, and Mundorf resistors.  Both the VR-5SE and VR-5SE Mk2 had a very flat frequency response, which made the speaker difficult to integrate with bright electronics, and naturally, it would not play bright CD's with pleasure. 

The 3rd version, the VR-5 Anniversary, has an upgraded midrange driver using some Audax and some B&C parts, with final assembly done at our plant. The new mid has a silver-tinted cone.  The new midrange requires a new crossover system, which is the "Anniverary" designator, using Mundorf oil caps, and has more powerful bass and smoother treble than the VR-5SE or VR-5SE Mk2 due to extensive crossover changes.  The Anniversary sounds great with any type of electronics and can even play a bright CD without hurting your ears.  It is a more forgiving speaker design but is actually far more transparent than both original models.  Your VR-5SE Mk2 does not have any Anniversay parts except for the twin 9" woofers and the tweeters - the rest of your speaker is the older version. Since you bought your pair used and "long in the tooth," it would be natural not to expect that your version is the "latest and greatest" but it is a very fine sounding speaker none-the-less!

[es347]

The Anniversary sounds great with any type of electronics and can even play a bright CD without hurting your ears.

Amen to that 

[JackD201]

It was a pleasure working with Albert on the custom work that later turned into the full blown Mk.2 versions of the 9s and 11s. There are currently 2 pairs of 9s and a pair of 11s here that are just that. The 11s mentioned are the very ones on the website.

If you guys aren't aware, over here we sell VSAs much like one would expect at Aston Martin. All 9s and 11s are customized including color finishes and some internal parts. Something we've had to stop doing because especially the internals because it took way too many man hours to do.

All I can say is you lucky blokes get all this for the same price, when we had to pay extra  I do think you'll still have to pay extra for special paint finishes as some of these can be extremely expensive like the Bronze pair of 9s in the website.

I could tell you more about what goes into these upgrades, particularly the _________'s  but Albert would kill me.