Von Schweikert VR-4?

[TSmith8605]

Who has experience with Von Schweikert VR-4 speakers? I have a friend who is thinking about a pair of these.

Any advice? What would be a good amplifier; are these hard to drive?

How would they compare with Vandersteen?

Thanks,

 

[JBN]

My buddy has owned two pairs of Von Schweikert speakers. We found they like current so he bought a Dussun V8 SS int to run his smaller pair. As far as there sound goes there warm and smooth with a rolled off recessed treble. The biggest difference I can think of between VS and Vandersteen is the difference in the quality of bass and treble. The bass on the VS is faster and tunefull where the Vandy's are slow. Treble is smoother where the Vandy's can get hard and harsh at times. Hope this helps.

 

[TSmith8605]

Thanks

My buddy has owned two pairs of Von Schweikert speakers. We found they like current so he bought a Dussun V8 SS int to run his smaller pair. As far as there sound goes there warm and smooth with a rolled off recessed treble. The biggest difference I can think of between VS and Vandersteen is the difference in the quality of bass and treble. The bass on the VS is faster and tunefull where the Vandy's are slow. Treble is smoother where the Vandy's can get hard and harsh at times. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the response. I have listened to my friends Vandys for 20 some years and never heard them sound hard or harsh. Must be those class-A Bedini amps he uses. I also heard them with my Audio Research D-115Mk2 with no harshness.

Anyway, sounds like he will need a high-current amp to drive the VR-4s.

Thanks for the input, much appreciated.

 

[chadnliz]

Justbuynew has stuck his foot in his mouth before and almost nobody else would claim Vandersteen bass to be slow nor the treble to be harsh, VS 4 speakers have several versions that were the flavor of the month a few years back and soon the market was flooded with used pairs. That doesnt mean they are bad but they certainly dont hold owners hearts like Vandersteen does, the Vandy is a prooven truely great performer that is respected and has a consistant highly positive review history, the Von's have mixed reviews and if you dig into search engines you will find many negatives about the owner Albert and his business practice. This by no means makes a speaker sound less pleasing but can leave a bad taste in ones mouth and lead to unsure future of the company and its support.
I would say you need to really listen to both speakers and decide what is preferred but the VS is sure to be a harsher more accurate sound vs the Vandersteen being a bit warmer and musical speaker, the question is what is best for the individial as no one size fits all.

 

[hjames]

I dunno, I had Vandy 2CEs and Vandy 3As - and I'm keeping the Von Schweikert VR-4s
as they seem more musical, and with a fuller, firmer bass than the other 2.
Just more lively somehow.

That, plus it seems the larger Vandersteens (3A) are the devil to resell later ...