[penthouse-D]

Very funny es347. I've decieded to keep the "Annies" and put the Nola's on hold for the moment. It absolutely amazes me that no one even made me an offer on these things. I invited anyone to come over and inspect the crates before making me an offer. Quite transparent and honest, wouldn't you say? I also would have sent anyone interested a photo of the crates and shipping lables showing they were shipped on 10/26. I had a friend of Alberts come over to my apartment yesterday to help me unpack and set up the speakers. I must say, they look very nice. My new amp will be delivered Wednesday. I'll let you know. The only negatives were some of the ridiculous comments from people who had no interest,and probably no money about a simple for sale post. An additionally negative fact that I've been following is the very low resale value on VS speakers. More to come. Hopefully, all good,

[es347]

The reason for the lack of interest is that fact that VSA continues to be a well kept secret.  It's a shame too as they kick the crap out of every Wilson speaker I have compared them to.  To be fair, I haven't yet heard the Sashas but my money is on the Anniversaries.  Not sure I agree with your comment regarding poor resale value penthouse.  In any event, you now have some ridiculously good speakers to listen through.  The real magic starts after 400 hours or so.  Great out of the box but stupid good when fully broken in.  Have fun.

[htradtk]

Penthouse! Gavin is right, I too own a pair of Annies, after a few weeks of break in, they will sound great, trust us.

Henry

PS, Gavin, I'm still out here, will talk soon.

[penthouse-D]

I hope so. I had a break in problem here in NYC. The neighbors wouldn't stand for it the way it was suggested in the owners manual. remember, I traded a pair of VRsr Mrk3's for these. After a few phone calls with Albert and Damon, they agreed to run these at the factory when they were at the RMAF. I am hoping these are A LOT better than my previous pair. In all honesty, I didn't care for them at all. It was a big leap of faith to go back to the well after that. I must say, I have a pretty good "ear", having listened to many speakers. The reason I bought the first pair, is because a buddy of mine has an upgraded pair of VR5's from when Albert was in Watertown NY. They sound great. Wish me luck. If you ever have a chance to listen to a pair of Nola Baby Grand's, don't pass it up. Pure magic. Same woofers as the VR5 by the way.

[ceedee]

Hey, psssssst...

Great Deal, No Deal

To be at help, can you please tell us more about your system and home situation.

TNX in advance,

Cor

[penthouse-D]

Well, when I had the MRK3's I had a McIntosh mcd301, C46, MC402. DH Labs Air Matrix ICs and PNF AUdio speaker Cables. The sound was so disappointing, I spent  A LOT of extra money and upgraded all the cables to Cardas Golden Reference, upgraded the CD player to a MCD500. Still quite poor. At this point the obvious weak link was the speakers. I live in NYC and would stop by the higher end audio shops and listen to spekers half the price and they would sound a lot better. MUCH better. It was a sad state of affairs. A LOT of money seemingly wasted. I worked out a trade up situation wth VSA for the Annies. I have a MC452 comming tomorrow and a C50 on the way. You CAN'T tell me it was the other equiptment. I'll let you know how the new ones sound soon. My room is 20X20. I suspect large enough.except possibly the depth, my seating area is about 12 feet from the wall. I don't think the VR4's were a big hit. There is a pair on Audiogon for sale at $6200 and they are MRK 3's and the guy can't give them away. I figured I'd work out an upgrade exchange situation and if I have to sell the Annies I may have better luck. We'll seee how it goes. The weak link is obvious. I can't be satisfied spending all this money and having sound worse than systems less than half the price. Additionally, I have a very good ear.  Thanks. P.S. You asked!

[kgturner]

Did you try any acoustic treatments in your room? I've read before that a square room is the worst possible scenario for getting quality acoustics.

"The square room (20 feet by 20 feet) is almost the worst possible shape you can have. The only thing worse would be a 20-foot cube. Width and length of identical dimensions will, of course, cause many of the lower-frequency eigentones to be identical, resulting in harsh frequency anomalies – a pileup of energy – as well as voids at other frequencies (see Figure 4a). These frequencies are not that hard to calculate (f = 565/ room dimension). Multiplying this value by 2, 3, 4, etc. gives you the frequencies for that particular dimension. Doing the same for the two other primary dimensions and then listing the frequencies will easily give you this distribution."

citation: http://broadcastengineering.com/newsrooms/broadcasting_control_room_acoustics/

Kevin T

[penthouse-D]

Thanks, It is what it is. I'm in a NYC apt and I'm not moving. I have been listening to setups for over 30 years and finally was able to afford what I wanted. Let's wait and see what happens when I hook everything up tomorrow. The way my room is  set up , my enourmous couch should  soften things up a bit. Believe me, the first set up was BAD.

[Antoine]

I'm wondering, did you hear and compare those speakers "half the price" in your appartment or only in the stores you mentioned with probably completely different acoustic properties?

I agree with kgturner. I also strongly believe accoustics make or break the sound more then equipment and even speakers do. A soft couch won't make a huge difference. A talk with an accoustics expert and/or some RT60+SPL measurements of your room may give you valuable insights and in the long run even save you money on the equipment/cables etc. I myself am currently working together with an accoustical engineer optimizing my own living room and at least it gave me the valuable insights I mentioned but I read similar stories all the time since I've decided to follow this path.

[penthouse-D]

Drumroll please!!!!! OK, my MC452 shows up today. OMG just friggin beautiful. A very classic Mac look. No C50 yet , but luckily my mcd500 has variable outputs , so  I can run it right into the new amp. I hook everything up. I'm nervous. The moment of truth. Hey, they sound pretty good. My buddy and I jocky them around a little bit,they sound really good! Are these made by the same people who made those "boat anchors" that were here last month? It is like trading in a Renault LeCar for a 911. I swear to God, that's how much the difference is. I have NO pride. You guys were right!!! THANKS!!!!

[es347]

Yo Penthouse.  I run full McIntosh and VR5 Anniversaries...how can the sound be bettered??  I don't think it can...a bit biased perhaps but there is amazing synergy between VSA speakers and MAC.  Albert has echoed that as well.  Have fun getting things set up and remember that the magic starts around 400 hours on the annies.