Speaker Asylum: REVIEW: VMPS Super Tower /R Speakers by Lowell General speaker questions for audio and home theater.

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Specs: Subwoofer: mass-loaded 15" PR, slot-loaded, user-adjustable damping
Lowbass woofer: 15" polypropylene cone, high-compliance, phase-plugged
Midbass woofer: 10" woven carbon fiber cone, phase-plugged
Midrange: (2) planar magnetic push-pull Dynaribbons, isolated – adjustable w/in .5 db via pot.
Tweeters: dual 1" Focal titanium oxide inverted hard domes adjustable w/in .5db via pot.
Supertweeter: spiral ribbon, 15 kHz crossover, with antidiffraction mask
Crossovers (dynamic version): 6 dB/oct at 450Hz, 6 kHz, 15 kHz, in-phase, 100% polypropylene/Axon/Kimber/Wondercaps
Internal wiring: 10 gauge Powerline II plus for bass, multigauge Teflon-insulated silverplate stranded (mids and tweeters)
Impedance: 4 Ohms nominal, 3.6 Ohms minimum
Power Requirements: 25W to 350W rms into 4 Ohms
Dimensions and Weight: 52"x18.5"x 19" (HxWxD), 220 lbs.
Cabinet: genuine oak veneer, light or dark oak finish, or satin black, removable black cloth grill: high gloss piano black finish on special order
Sensitivity: 90 dB/1W/1m
Distortion: no more than 0.5 % THD 20Hz to 30kHz with 1W drive
Biamp or fullrange operation switchable with no external crossover required, biwiring or single wiring switchable, OR biamping with external electronic crossover (two amplifiers required)
Limited Warranty: all VMPS speakers are warranted to be free of manufacturing defects for a period of five years from date of purchase. Repairs will be performed without charge for parts or labor provided defective drivers are returned freight prepaid to authorized warranty station. Units which have been damaged or subject to abuse (i.e. burned-out voicecoils) are excluded from warranty protection. Trade up’s at retail value for other VMPS products within 12 months.

**Disclaimer: This review is from a laymans perspective. Blue-collar income, white collar tastes. I was in the market for a loudspeaker system that had potent bass impact like the kind I heard growing up with the likes of Klipsch Cornwalls, K-horns and [ugh] Cerwin-Vega. I was after that sense of high spl, huge, but controlled bass, and clean mids. I was looking to do this without resorting to horns or a sub/sat. I am not overly qualified to point out loudspeaker weaknesses unless they are glaring- like fuzzy bass, forward and harsh midrange or treble. For subtle problems, I need more time to pick them out. These speakers [like all others] are not perfect. I don’t want anyone to think this is “A perfect review” but rather personal emotional joy at experiencing MUSIC.

Models I looked at: NHT 3.3, Vandersteen 4, Legacy Audio Focus. Of the group so far the NHT’s had the most prodigious bass, the Legacy had the biggest sound and the most drivers. The NHT’s didn’t sound as big/nuetral on top, the Vandys, were sweet, but not producing that “rib-bruising” bass. The Legacy, after 3 different auditions sounded too uncontrolled in the bass region, and in truth: were more money than I wanted to part with. I wanted about a $4,000 cap.

I read about the VMPS large sub first, which is the basis for the VMPS Super Tower/R. I read the raves about it’s tight and powerful bass, with a 115db output at 20hz, with nominal distortion. HMM, I thought- is this for real? What---a passive sub that outdoes servos?

I had a showroom demo at Brian Cheney’s [Big B’s] on 3429 Morningside Dr, El Sobrante, Ca. (This is very close to San Francisco). He has about a 31’ long LEDE room that is larger, and better damped than most peoples real-world listening room. He has a Krell cd player for the demo, a 250 watt [$9 kilobuck] Plinius power amp connected to a Jadis tube preamp. I thought, well, even though I don’t have a $9,000 amp, this will give me an idea of how they should sound in a closer to Ideal setup that I have. I made sure I brought a decent selection of music that would cover instruments, voices etc. Big B has a decent collection of cd’s for demo anyway.

Let’s start at the bottom and work our way up. These are refridgerators! Weighing in at 220lbs each they are furniture! There is some *serious * timber used to construct these. The cabinets are solid, and dead thanks to the inherent density of the wood and bracing, along with a borosilicate speaker coating that is said to dampen cabinet resonances –10 to –15db. These babies didn’t rattle or buzz anyway…not even a little.

We don’ need no steenking servos! Looking at these, Stonehenge, or the monolith from 2001: a space odessy comes to mind. BIG, Black, and imposing. No sir, no narrow columnar monitors here! The bass section’s active compliment is a 10” woven-carbon fiber mega woofer [midbass coupler], a 15” polypropelene sub and if that isn’t enough sheer displacement: a 15” slot loaded mass-adjustable passive radiator! These already looked like they could pump the air out of a small room in a hurry! This is essentially a passive subwoofer, and you need good current to get the most out of them. Since servo-subs use their oft class- G and H amps and accelerometers to correct errors AFTER the fact, this gives you opportunity to get full on bass…no servos attached. 20hz? VERY loud and clear. 16hz? You bet! Lower than that? Maybe….

Judging from the variety of acoustic bass, synth bass, world music gong-drums and classical instruments, these not only produced the bottom octave, the did so with incredible authority. “Full orchestral slam” has been used to describe lesser bass. This system in it’s entirety can pump out a lease-breaking 126db!!! Weather it was a soft pluck of a string bass or a hard pick of electric, I listened to how the bass stayed totally controlled, while sounding effortless. The power and size was appearent without exaggerating the source. Drums sounded like drums here, not softened or diffused. The crack of a snare, or the kick of a bass drum was a palpable experience. Nothing laid back here. Never did this system seem strained. I can’t wait to hear “The matrix” “T2”and such on DVD.

The dynaribbons, are a push-pull planar driver that is manufactured in Japan. It looks like a circuit board in blister-pack plastic wrap. But it sure does not sound that way at all! Vocals were incredibly huge and glorious. The speed was there, and no chestiness was appearent. The image was rock stable- never floating or fading. Saxophones sounded lush and realistic, not woody, steely or honky. Timbre and harmonic reproductions were immediate and very realistic. There is a potentiometer to make adjustments to the mid level in .5db increments to customize output.

The tweeter compliment consists of two focal titanium-oxide [tioxid] inverted dome tweeters topped with a spiral ribbon tweeter- the same unit used in top-end Genesis and Infinity kappa speakers. There is a potentiometer to make adjustments to the tweeter level in .5db increments to customize output. This combination of mid-tweet-supertweet-tweet-mid was a nice line source. The dispersion was very wide! The instruments had a clean presence and clear separation. What can you really say: instruments sounded very natural, with a load of energy from such a large array of drivers. Pianissimo to Forte’ dynamics were just stunning! The soundstage pretty much recreates the “ball of sound” you get sitting in front of an orchestra. The drivers all integrated very seamlessly.

Summing up: Likes: I love the bass, I can’t praise it enough! Sounds like a whole lot of high quality subs! The midrange is fast, smooth and natural, the treble is crystal clear and detailed. I like the fact you can trade-up at VMPS within one year of purchase if you want the next model. I like the massive dynamic kick in the abs you get from these monsters. Don’t like: The weight…but I can live with it. I can wrestle around 220 lbs. The design is basic. This is not a 3rd-party artsy design, it is a straightforward, if plain loudspeaker that is very well constructed. It is average-looking, but the woodgrains it comes in are a nice touch of class. If you want design for the sake of it, buy Revel Salons, Legacy audio Manhattens or the like. As of this review, I am not sure what weaknesses are present, other than a possible -2db loss at the ribbon/midbass crossover region. This seems to be well masked, and it is not very audible on most material. Judging from what I heard in the competition, and others, these are true high end, and don’t sacrifice nuance for spl or neutrality. Do they exaggerate the size of the image? Maybe slightly but room acoustics and electronics vary. Please- do yourself a favor and audition them before buying anything in the $3,000 and up category. These speakers are suitably voiced for any material you wish to play. Subtle to metal.

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