Von Schweikert Standmounted speakers

[haraldo]

Listened to some new Von Schveikert stand mounted speakers today driven by NuForce amps...

These speakers seem to be so new that... they're not even listed at the official Von Schweikert audio website yet. The cabinet is so tough it's like knocking on a solid piece of stone... (ooooouch) cabinet is up to 3" thick !

Even the Avalon Isis cabinets seem to be fragile compared to these cabinets....

The performance of these speakers seem to be quite unreal when it comes to dynamics and bass pressure
They're utilizing a 6.5" seas aluminum bass and a 6'5" coaxial mid/tweeter, probably also from seas...

Quite impressive speakers, don't even know what they're called.....

 

[psbfan9]

I spent some time on the phone today with Albert Von Schweikert and someone called Lee. Lee, is actually Leif Swanson an engineer and production manager at VSA. Sorry Leif.
I called VSA to get information about VSA's VR-33 speaker. Mr. Von Schweikert and Lee were very generous with both their time and information.

http://vonschweikertaudio.com/vr-33/

Frequency response starts all the way down at (a legitimate) 25Hz and extends up to 30,000Hz with a variance of only +/- 3dB. 4 feet tall and weighs 100 lbs. This speaker boasts a 90 db sensitivity rating! It sells for $3,750.00 Per pair!
The speaker is designed and made in the USA. No parts from China.

The VR-33 will be my next speaker.

I hope Haraldo doesn't mind me hi jacking his thread, but I didn't see the need to start a new Von Schweikert thread.

Barry

 

[cschang]

I haven't heard a Von Schweikert I didn't like.

 

[haraldo]

Wahhhhh... Good choice!
Did you make an order yet?
don't think you have a chance of finding equal performing speakers at this price range.

All the VSA speakers that I heard seem to have a common denominator in how they perform, it's just more/less dynamic range and extension as I understand
And of course, transparancy and level of detail increase as you go upscale but I reckon all models are shockingly well performing

can't wait to hear more from you on this

 

[psbfan9]

Wahhhhh... Good choice!
Did you make an order yet?
don't think you have a chance of finding equal performing speakers at this price range.

All the VSA speakers that I heard seem to have a common denominator in how they perform, it's just more/less dynamic range and extension as I understand
And of course, transparancy and level of detail increase as you go upscale but I reckon all models are shockingly well performing

can't wait to hear more from you on this

I haven't ordered yet. Still talking about a few things. So far from what I have read all his designs are incredible, both in sound and design. The VR-33 has exceptional reviews and is highly rated because of performance and price. $3750.00 a pair.

 

[panteragstk]

If you were to order them would you use them in a 2.0 or 2.1 config? f3 of 25hz is pretty fantastic, but I know quite a few of you guys like to use subs no matter what the 2.0 is capable of. Yet another thing I love about this site: learning about brands that I never would have known existed otherwise.

EDIT: Found a nice review at stereomojo.

 

[haraldo]

Von Schweikert makes some quite interesting subs too
(ooooops, my post count is not 5000 anymore)

 

[TLS Guy]

Listened to some new Von Schveikert stand mounted speakers today driven by NuForce amps...

These speakers seem to be so new that... they're not even listed at the official Von Schweikert audio website yet. The cabinet is so tough it's like knocking on a solid piece of stone... (ooooouch) cabinet is up to 3" thick !

Even the Avalon Isis cabinets seem to be fragile compared to these cabinets....

The performance of these speakers seem to be quite unreal when it comes to dynamics and bass pressure
They're utilizing a 6.5" seas aluminum bass and a 6'5" coaxial mid/tweeter, probably also from seas...

Quite impressive speakers, don't even know what they're called.....

Is this the speaker in question?

An interesting speaker. The bass driver is the same as the four in my mains, and the coax unit is the SEAS units I use in my centers.

He calls it a four chamber TL, what ever that is. It seems to have a pretty standard port on the back.

I bet it is a pretty decent speaker and he certainly has some decent drivers. He quotes 40 Hz as the 3 db point. That is about right, I measured my small line in the mains at 42 Hz.

I find it strange he did not use two coaxial drivers. The F3 only goes up by 3 Hz, so it would be 45 Hz and not really significant. I suspect he is using the lower driver for BSE compensation. The crossover is said to be 80 Hz, but I bet it is putting output up to the 500 to 600 Hz range. I used active BSE on my center and that enables perfect balance of the BSE. I'm glad I used two SEAS coax units. Initially I only had the tweeter of one connected. This gave very good results and I think it would have been fine in a stereo speaker. However even with a pullup circuit in the crossover there is a slight dullness due to problems in the 9 to 12 KHz region. I'm certain this is due to interference from reflections from the cone. This is not correctable with a single driver without giving up too much sensitivity. The problem encountered was a slight dulling on speech, but enough to cause less then absolutely perfect speech discrimination in loud active movie scenes.

So I made a fill network for the tweeter not in use during the last fall. I was concerned about the spacing and this was a difficult challenge. It took three attempts to get it right. Now I think this speaker is about the smoothest I own, and flat as a pan all across the mid and HF band +/- 1db.

Although the improvement was subtle it was well worth it, and my wife has noted the improvement. It has also improved the voice reproduction for opera.

So it ended up a strange solution, but a very satisfactory one none the less.

 

[psbfan9]

If you were to order them would you use them in a 2.0 or 2.1 config? f3 of 25hz is pretty fantastic, but I know quite a few of you guys like to use subs no matter what the 2.0 is capable of. Yet another thing I love about this site: learning about brands that I never would have known existed otherwise.

EDIT: Found a nice review at stereomojo.

Hi Panteragstk,

I started looking for new speakers because I wanted something better than my EMP 55's for two channel listening. The EMP's are great for the price, but I think the honeymoon is over. I would keep the EMP 55 and 56ci center for home theater. So yes, I was thinking two channel no sub.

As Haraldo said, VSA does make some bad a$$ subs.... V-12 Shockwave : Von Schweikert Audio..... But, I had planned on going with out a sub with these speakers. for now, anyway.

I had considered starting a new thread about less known speaker builders, but got lazy and didn't do it. If you're interested, another great designer is Philip Bamberg. He has helped/co-written a few articles for/with Gene here at Audiholics... Bamberg Audio :: Speakers for Life

 

[haraldo]

Is this the speaker in question?

Yep, it\s the one, Unifield two

Also at the same place I listened to Unifield Three and the now Discontinued Vr 4 Jr and Vr 4 Sr
These speakers seem to always making a presentation that is better than what you can realistically expect... a system with the Vr 4 Jr (without subwoofers) is close to the best I ever listened to.

Just wish I could now audtion also VR33 and VR35... I really believe that to get best performance frm speakers you really need full-range speakers or close to full-range speakers that really don't need subwoofers in order to 'shine', VR33 fits nicely into this envelope... so then when you add one or two subs you can run your speakers full range and cross really low... and then the magic appear. Most of the best systems I listened to, when it comes to music, fit this category

Of course I may be wrong, but it's one popular way around here.... to deal with two channel systems.....
If you go to Oslo Hi-Fi center, they always run the main speakers full range in demos

 

[panteragstk]

Hi Panteragstk,

I started looking for new speakers because I wanted something better than my EMP 55's for two channel listening. The EMP's are great for the price, but I think the honeymoon is over. I would keep the EMP 55 and 56ci center for home theater. So yes, I was thinking two channel no sub.

As Haraldo said, VSA does make some bad a$$ subs.... V-12 Shockwave : Von Schweikert Audio..... But, I had planned on going with out a sub with these speakers. for now, anyway.

I had considered starting a new thread about less known speaker builders, but got lazy and didn't do it. If you're interested, another great designer is Philip Bamberg. He has helped/co-written a few articles for/with Gene here at Audiholics... Bamberg Audio :: Speakers for Life

Awesome, thanks.

 

[TLS Guy]

Yep, it\s the one, Unifield two

Also at the same place I listened to Unifield Three and the now Discontinued Vr 4 Jr and Vr 4 Sr
These speakers seem to always making a presentation that is better than what you can realistically expect... a system with the Vr 4 Jr (without subwoofers) is close to the best I ever listened to.

Just wish I could now audtion also VR33 and VR35... I really believe that to get best performance frm speakers you really need full-range speakers or close to full-range speakers that really don't need subwoofers in order to 'shine', VR33 fits nicely into this envelope... so then when you add one or two subs you can run your speakers full range and cross really low... and then the magic appear. Most of the best systems I listened to, when it comes to music, fit this category

Of course I may be wrong, but it's one popular way around here.... to deal with two channel systems.....
If you go to Oslo Hi-Fi center, they always run the main speakers full range in demos

Its heresy here, but I think you are right. The problem is most speakers talked about here don't have drivers of the robustness and quality of those systems.

Also, a lot and may be most are driven by receivers, that have poor power amp sections. The greatest weakness of receivers is the power amp/power supply by far.

For that reason the usual advice give here probably makes sense for a lot of systems.