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REVIEW: VonSchweikert Audio VR7 Speakers Review by xavier at Audio Asylum

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I'ave been meaning to write a review for months now. I picked up the speakers from the Von Schweikert factory in late March. Up to that point I'd been borrowing my old B&W Matrix 804s back from a friend. When I hooked my already broken in VR7s into my system, I muttered an "Uh-oh." They didn't sound anything like they did at the factory. As a former VR4 owner, I thought I wouldn't be that far off in system set up, since I remembered how the VR4s sounded in comparison to the 804s. Assuming the VR7s would sound anything like the VR4s was a big mistake. My system was tuned to compensate for what I percieve as a bit of midbass ripeness and upper midrange darkness in the Matrix 804s. Once I made some adjustments (cones, cables, damping, rotating tube traps etc.) things began to fall into place.

Unlike ANY other speaker I've had in my system, of - for the most part - heard elsewhere, this speaker has next to zero character. Auditioning cables through the VR7s has been both illuminating and frustrating. Nearly all of the cables sound unacceptably colored. One nice thing about the VR7s is that although the character of each of the cables is painfully obvious, the listening experience never becomes unpleasant (bright, boomy, shouty etc.) I'm sure it's possible to make these speakers sound bad, but I haven't been able to. At the moment, I'm using an Adcom 545II (gasp!) while my EVS modified Spectron amp is having the magic wand waved over it one more time. I can't believe I'm not suffering from sever withdrawl, but the system's still making mighty fine music.

Compared to Albert's earlier designs, the balance of the VR7s is about as good as it gets. To my ears, the original VR4 sounded a bit grey and laid back through the mid range, and slightly prominent in the bass region if not carefully matched with room and equipment. The VR6, to my ears, had wonderfully articulate - albeit lean - bass, that touch of grey-hued midrange mated to a tweeter that was all silk and shimmer on the very top, but was hard to tame in its lower and mid regions. The VR7s midrange is much more open, present and harmonically true. The bass has both impact and articulation. The treble, while being incredibly informative, never draws attention to itself. All these squalities would be meaningless if not properly intergrated. This is where the VR7 shines. Even now, while hooked up to the Adcom amp, the sound reminds me of a very dynamic electrostat with extension at the frequency extremes. I could go on with musical examples, but I think you get the idea.

Bravo Albert!

BTW, the finish of the cabinets is gorgeous.


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Topic - REVIEW: VonSchweikert Audio VR7 Speakers Review by xavier at Audio Asylum - xavier 15:38:38 09/29/00 ( 2)