Blue Shadow
Waiting for Vintage Gear from this century
Amazing what we can find out when we talk to the seller instead of the collected masses of AKers wanting to throw their 2¢ into discussions about what is and is not shown in a CL type ad.
Vifa branded speakers - legit or white van specials?
Amazing what we can find out when we talk to the seller instead of the collected masses of AKers wanting to throw their 2¢ into discussions about what is and is not shown in a CL type ad.
Natertots
Well-Known Member
Fair. However, it did take 3 days for the seller to get back to me with the info and it is unlikely I would have found the information regarding the “Reference” and “Sense” lines if I had not asked here. Additionally, the information I was able to locate about the “Sense” and “Reference” speakers has definitely informed my decision to look at the speakers, even if they don’t appear to share a lineage. Unltimately, I learned more by asking the question than I would have if I just searched for the model name after I received info from the seller.
Blue Shadow
Waiting for Vintage Gear from this century
nothing on you. It is a couple of recent posts saying no way with what is posted. You did good, followed up and resolved the unknown to make a decision. Others want AK to resolve the issue with one poor picture and little description. Now you know. Let us know what you find out when you good look at them.
I’m pretty sure all Vandersteen’s use Vifa drivers and they are excellent. I’m a satisfied Vandersteen owner myself.
Audiofreak71
Natertots
Well-Known Member
The short: I have had very limited time to look closely at the speakers. At this point, they appear to be stereotypical Chinese products. They look good, are built with mediocre components relative to how they appear and suffer from poor construction. The speakers are pictured in my parents garage because I have no speaker storage room remaining at my home.
The long: Picked up the speakers today. The package came with two towers, a center channel, and two small bookshelf speakers, speaker stands, a pair of “vifa” speaker cables, the Sansui AV amplifier and a voltage converter.
The seller was a chatty fellow and was open about the condition of the items. He told me he had purchased the speakers while living in China. He was there for 3 years. He has lived state side for 9 years, which means they are roughly 12 years old. This information is consistent with my initial guess at the age of the system. He claims he paid over $1000 for the speakers and I have no reason to doubt his claim. He has 3-year old twins and his family is moving back to the UK soon so he just wanted to get rid of the setup.
The seller confirmed that one of the tower speakers isn’t functioning properly. That information was included in the originally add but I had guessed the amp had a channel out. Turns out it is the speaker after all. The one tower that was hooked up sounded promising while playing but the sound came and went. Again, I thought it was the amp.
At a glance, the finish on the speakers is attractive. I am guessing it to be vinyl, but I feel it is pretty nice looking. There is a thick epoxy or other type of clear lacquer finish on the pieces. In one of the pictures it looks like there is a gouge on the top of one of the towers but it is actually cracking in this coating. In addition to this crack, there is a spot on the base of one tower where the corner was broken off. There are a host of other small dents and scratches, but none that are easily noticeable and most I believe could be buffed out easily.
Closer inspection begins to reveal the lack of quality. The tower speakers have some weight and are made from roughly 3/4” MDF but the surrounds and center are fairly light. Although the smaller speakers are roughly two or three times the volume of my Minimus 7 speakers they don’t weigh significantly more. The terminals on the back of the towers look substantial, but when trying to loosen the nuts the whole unit spun, as if the main shaft was not secured properly from the inside. The terminals on the other speakers are much smaller push style post that don’t accept banana plugs and may not even tolerate 12 gauge wire. Several of the bass ports on the tower speakers needed to be pressed flush with the cabinet walls and the covers on the side mounted woofer (radiators?) not fit flush. However, for the price I paid I am not unsatisfied.
The biggest bummer is that the tower speakers are both non-functional. Turns out that the terminal wires had come loose on both speakers. Fortunately, this is an easy fix. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to fix them today. Additionally, I didn’t have time to pull any of the drivers to confirm a manufacturer or get a look at the crossover. I will probably have to pull a woofer to fish out the terminal wires so I should get a fair bit of info at that time.
Overall, I think it will be $50 well spent, if only because it satisfies my curiosity. I had very little time to play with them today, so when I get a chance to do some actual testing I will report back. For now, they are living in my parent garage because mine is already overcrowded with projects.
Update to come, but not for a few weeks.
The long: Picked up the speakers today. The package came with two towers, a center channel, and two small bookshelf speakers, speaker stands, a pair of “vifa” speaker cables, the Sansui AV amplifier and a voltage converter.
The seller was a chatty fellow and was open about the condition of the items. He told me he had purchased the speakers while living in China. He was there for 3 years. He has lived state side for 9 years, which means they are roughly 12 years old. This information is consistent with my initial guess at the age of the system. He claims he paid over $1000 for the speakers and I have no reason to doubt his claim. He has 3-year old twins and his family is moving back to the UK soon so he just wanted to get rid of the setup.
The seller confirmed that one of the tower speakers isn’t functioning properly. That information was included in the originally add but I had guessed the amp had a channel out. Turns out it is the speaker after all. The one tower that was hooked up sounded promising while playing but the sound came and went. Again, I thought it was the amp.
At a glance, the finish on the speakers is attractive. I am guessing it to be vinyl, but I feel it is pretty nice looking. There is a thick epoxy or other type of clear lacquer finish on the pieces. In one of the pictures it looks like there is a gouge on the top of one of the towers but it is actually cracking in this coating. In addition to this crack, there is a spot on the base of one tower where the corner was broken off. There are a host of other small dents and scratches, but none that are easily noticeable and most I believe could be buffed out easily.
Closer inspection begins to reveal the lack of quality. The tower speakers have some weight and are made from roughly 3/4” MDF but the surrounds and center are fairly light. Although the smaller speakers are roughly two or three times the volume of my Minimus 7 speakers they don’t weigh significantly more. The terminals on the back of the towers look substantial, but when trying to loosen the nuts the whole unit spun, as if the main shaft was not secured properly from the inside. The terminals on the other speakers are much smaller push style post that don’t accept banana plugs and may not even tolerate 12 gauge wire. Several of the bass ports on the tower speakers needed to be pressed flush with the cabinet walls and the covers on the side mounted woofer (radiators?) not fit flush. However, for the price I paid I am not unsatisfied.
The biggest bummer is that the tower speakers are both non-functional. Turns out that the terminal wires had come loose on both speakers. Fortunately, this is an easy fix. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to fix them today. Additionally, I didn’t have time to pull any of the drivers to confirm a manufacturer or get a look at the crossover. I will probably have to pull a woofer to fish out the terminal wires so I should get a fair bit of info at that time.
Overall, I think it will be $50 well spent, if only because it satisfies my curiosity. I had very little time to play with them today, so when I get a chance to do some actual testing I will report back. For now, they are living in my parent garage because mine is already overcrowded with projects.
Update to come, but not for a few weeks.
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KarlK
Well-Known Member
Considering it wasn't using it anymore maybe Tymphany sold the rights to the name Vifa to Chinese interests?
Moving Ahead
Well-Known Member
These were packaged as a bundle deal during the home theater craze. As I said these guys were trying to create product awareness in a potential booming market. So they packaged their wares and really sold at no profit in a hope of a future windfall. In my understanding- the surrounds and centers were a cost cutting exercise , but the fronts were the deal.
Looks real to me.
That tweeter goes 30kHz.
Speaker cables are worth the entrance ticket alone.
After 12 years of shipping companies, in and out of rentals and finally kids they don't look too shabby to me.
Obviously the terminal posts will need fixing but they look solid construction. Someone has taken to twisting the wires from them. Doesn't surprise me.
I've got a pair of Wharfedale speakers from this same time period. They are smashing.
But like you they are in storage- as they don't fit the decor. Will I ever sell them? No. (They come out once a year and get exercised.)
reydelaplaya
Super Member
Good luck with your new speakers they seem pretty cool. If it turns out you need drivers, here’s a link to the ‘Vifa’ line at Falcon Acoustics in UK. They have a number of older NOS drivers from a variety of brands.
https://www.falconacoustics.co.uk/drive-units-1/vifa-speakers-and-drive-units.html
I ordered my whole set of SEAS drivers from them a few years ago - great service, and they managed to keep the shipping pretty cheap from UK to US.
https://www.falconacoustics.co.uk/drive-units-1/vifa-speakers-and-drive-units.html
I ordered my whole set of SEAS drivers from them a few years ago - great service, and they managed to keep the shipping pretty cheap from UK to US.
Natertots
Well-Known Member
That is really interesting and it explains the noticeable difference in construction between the fronts and the other three pieces.
Most of the issues look pretty reversible. The speaker cables just need to have some of the casing trimmed back and better banana plugs attached. The speaker terminals have no mechanism to keep them properly tight so it is easy to twist the entire shaft if you are not careful. Additionally, the connection on the back could have been more substantial. I may replace them with a better designed set of terminals once I take a closer look.
I agree with you, they are in pretty nice shape, all things considered, and they do look rather attractive until you get close enough to notice the two primary blemishes. I am also pretty interested to hear how they sound once I get them up and running. I suspect these will find a home within my circle, even if it’s not in my place.
Good to know. If I find that one of the drivers is bad that could be very useful. Thanks!
Natertots
Well-Known Member
I have been busy and with the speakers at my parents place 45 minutes away, I haven’t had a chance to do much. However, the transmission died on my car and I ended up at their place with about 45 minutes to kill so I tinkered.
I pulled one of the the side woofers and was a little surprised to find they are both active. I figured at least one would be a passive radiator. Pulling the woofer confirmed that the drivers are Vifa.
While there, I had just enough time to get one tower re-wired. It wasn’t the best job, I just pinched the wires between the two nuts on the back of the terminal posts but it worked.
Powered by a 50w Yamaha R-S300 confirmed all the drivers work. Also, even rated at 4 ohms, the speaker wasn’t too hard to drive. I can’t really comment on the sound because the location was making things really boomy. However, there is some promise. I look forward to getting both speakers operational and better located in the next few weeks.
Attachments
mikeybc
Listener
Interesting, Looks like they are a Chinese market only woofer. Pull a mid-woofer yet ?
Natertots
Well-Known Member
I was pressed for time and was only able to get one tower up and running. Also, I am not sure how to pull the other drivers. When I have pulled drivers in the past, accessing the screws was pretty straight forward. I am guessing I have to remove the trim rings but I don’t want to break them. Also, I realize I didn’t date a very good picture of the mid drivers/tweeter array so people may not have good suggestions on how to proceed.
Natertots
Well-Known Member
I hope to find out more today. The plan is to head down this afternoon and get them both up and running. I may drag them into the house to try them out, but at the very least I hope to get them out in the open and give them a listen. Maybe even A/B them against a set of Klipsch Cornwall’s in storage there.
Natertots
Well-Known Member
Well, I did get an opportunity to get the speakers set up back in October but I never got around to writing about it.
I dragged the speakers out and did a quick job of reattaching the wires to the terminals. The more I worked on them and moved them the more I felt like these speakers define the stereotype of Chinese made goods, look good from far but are far from good. When applied directly to these speakers I think that statement might be a little strong but I will outline some of the things I noticed.
First, there are three ports on the back of each speaker and several of the tubes are loose. It doesn’t appear as though anything was used to hold them in place other than the pressure of pressing them into the hold in the cabinet. The feet on the cabinets are also marginally useful. The 1” diameter, pointed center feet have a shaft roughly 1/4” long which barely allows them to thread in to the base. The covers for the woofers on the sides don’t properly match the contour of the cabinet. The nuts that are intended to hold the binding posts to the plate they sit on are hallow. Furthermore, I never did get the nuts tight enough to keep the binding posts from spinning. The plate they mount to is plastic and I was afraid if I tightened the bugs any further I would crack it. While most people, myself included, would use banana plugs rendering this issue moot, I found it annoying. Additionally, the line where the vinyl transitions from wood grain to black is not straight. Instead, it wavers a bit as though someone was trying to paint it by hand. Last, while I feel confident the drivers are all authentic Vifa, they really detract from the appearance of the speaker. For a speaker that doesn’t appear to use any type of grill, drab paper cones and dust caps just don’t match the glossy finish.
Conversely, as mentioned before, the cabinets are pretty beefy. They are fairly thick and have added internal bracing. They perform reasonably well when giving them a good rapping with the knuckles.
One thing I can not comment on was the crossover. I didn’t take the time to find it so I don’t k ow what it looks like.
As for the sound, I don’t know that I can fairly asses it. The associated equipment was a Yamaha R-S300 receiver and Spotify delivered from the headphone jack on an iPone 6S. Positioned out in the open of the shop as shown, the bass was overwhelming. I had to turn the bass tone control all the way down to bring it to reasonable levels. I have not had this issue with other speakers I have tested in a similar set up, such as a pair of Klipsch Cornwall’s, but it seems reasonable that the side firing woofers don’t react properly to such wide open spaces.
With the bass turned down the speakers did provide some nice noise. All the drivers worked and when you find the sweet spot they sounded pretty good, especially at the price I paid. Sadly, I didn’t really have time to do thorough listening. Even if I had, I think they need to be evaluated in a smaller space to draw more accurate conclusions.
So, what next? I don’t know. I would like to get these inside and have a proper listen, but I doubt that will happen. While they aren’t my Cornwall’s, these are full sized speakers and I don’t have a spot I can set them up for an extended period of time. This means I would need to move them into the listening area, set three up, and move them out out on the same day. This would take an amount of time I don’t usually posses. Considering it’s unlikely I will keep them anyway, I might just sell them off. For now, they are back in the corner of my dads shop.
I dragged the speakers out and did a quick job of reattaching the wires to the terminals. The more I worked on them and moved them the more I felt like these speakers define the stereotype of Chinese made goods, look good from far but are far from good. When applied directly to these speakers I think that statement might be a little strong but I will outline some of the things I noticed.
First, there are three ports on the back of each speaker and several of the tubes are loose. It doesn’t appear as though anything was used to hold them in place other than the pressure of pressing them into the hold in the cabinet. The feet on the cabinets are also marginally useful. The 1” diameter, pointed center feet have a shaft roughly 1/4” long which barely allows them to thread in to the base. The covers for the woofers on the sides don’t properly match the contour of the cabinet. The nuts that are intended to hold the binding posts to the plate they sit on are hallow. Furthermore, I never did get the nuts tight enough to keep the binding posts from spinning. The plate they mount to is plastic and I was afraid if I tightened the bugs any further I would crack it. While most people, myself included, would use banana plugs rendering this issue moot, I found it annoying. Additionally, the line where the vinyl transitions from wood grain to black is not straight. Instead, it wavers a bit as though someone was trying to paint it by hand. Last, while I feel confident the drivers are all authentic Vifa, they really detract from the appearance of the speaker. For a speaker that doesn’t appear to use any type of grill, drab paper cones and dust caps just don’t match the glossy finish.
Conversely, as mentioned before, the cabinets are pretty beefy. They are fairly thick and have added internal bracing. They perform reasonably well when giving them a good rapping with the knuckles.
One thing I can not comment on was the crossover. I didn’t take the time to find it so I don’t k ow what it looks like.
As for the sound, I don’t know that I can fairly asses it. The associated equipment was a Yamaha R-S300 receiver and Spotify delivered from the headphone jack on an iPone 6S. Positioned out in the open of the shop as shown, the bass was overwhelming. I had to turn the bass tone control all the way down to bring it to reasonable levels. I have not had this issue with other speakers I have tested in a similar set up, such as a pair of Klipsch Cornwall’s, but it seems reasonable that the side firing woofers don’t react properly to such wide open spaces.
With the bass turned down the speakers did provide some nice noise. All the drivers worked and when you find the sweet spot they sounded pretty good, especially at the price I paid. Sadly, I didn’t really have time to do thorough listening. Even if I had, I think they need to be evaluated in a smaller space to draw more accurate conclusions.
So, what next? I don’t know. I would like to get these inside and have a proper listen, but I doubt that will happen. While they aren’t my Cornwall’s, these are full sized speakers and I don’t have a spot I can set them up for an extended period of time. This means I would need to move them into the listening area, set three up, and move them out out on the same day. This would take an amount of time I don’t usually posses. Considering it’s unlikely I will keep them anyway, I might just sell them off. For now, they are back in the corner of my dads shop.
