There are more beautiful loudspeakers on the market, but this one is really easy to live with, and did I mention she could sing? I spent significant time listening to the JR without loading them with lead shot, as they are designed to be. There will surely be audiophiles who will be reluctant to do this for various reasons.
Without lead, the bass is quite prominent and a bit boomy, not unlike the originals, but the midrange and treble are in an entirely different league. Drawing on my experience in the review of the Mi Rollers October, , I also placed the loudspeakers on large ceramic tiles on top of the carpeted floor. The focus tightened up and the sound became more holographic. On Mickey Hart's Planet Drum the bass was reasonably tight and I could easily differentiate skins on the various drums. Most interesting was the way the music came out into the room in front of the loudspeakers.
I had the rear-firing ambience driver turned up mid-way at this point, and when I dropped it back to zero, it receded behind the loudspeakers. The cymbals increased in prominence, but backed farther away in the soundstage when the mid-tweeter was raised. The sound became more three dimensional or more tube-like, if you will. Raising the ambience driver also had the effect of illuminating the back corners of the soundstage better, and even at maximum gain, the sibilance was still bearable on this CD.
This is an amazing tool, and much more effective than with the original VR-4 because of the increased focus. Adding ambience with the rear driver does decrease the overall focus slightly.
You want to listen to classical music in a large orchestral hall? Out of curiosity, I took a set of measurements from the listening position with my Radio Shack analog SPL meter with the rear ambience driver set at 5 and again at zero.
Basically the ambience driver boosted the response a few dB in the 5kHz to 10kHz with little change in volume elsewhere. Of course adding a trace of reflected sound that may come back at you out of phase seemed to have an effect across a broader frequency spectrum, creating the holographic effect that I mentioned. Even at its loudest, the ambience driver is still far below the volume of the main drivers. I also took the opportunity to stuff a pair of dress socks in the front firing ports of the bass modules, and take some more measurements.
This tightened up the bass and dropped the volume a couple of dB from about 50Hz on down. The bass response also lost some of its sense of air and ambient cues with the socks in place, so I voted against using them for the rest of the review. Adding the lead to the loudspeakers had a lot to do with this decision, as you will read.
At this point I decided to switch back to my reference loudspeaker, the Kharma 2. Keep in mind that I had still not filled the JR with lead shot yet. It was immediately noticeable that there was more light on the soundstage with the Kharmas.
The decay in the treble was shorter and the bass was much tighter and faster. The bass was less prominent, almost to the point that I felt like I was missing something, but after a few minutes this sense of loss went away.
What didn't go away was the perception that the midrange and treble of the JR had better focus than the Kharmas. In comparing a set of lyrics from Joan Osborne's song "Spider Web" with the volume control in the same position, the Kharmas measured about 3dB louder. Adding lead to the special compartment in the bass module was a bit of a chore, since I had to remove the beveled base first to get at the circular plug that was also screwed into the bottom.
The circular plug is about three inches in diameter and fits flush into the bottom. Removing the screws is straightforward.
Removing the tightly fitting plug is not. One of them was merely difficult. The other provoked obscenities. The grey paper-like layers threatened to flake apart when I tried to pry it out. Eventually, I resorted to prayer, and that worked. For those who have never done it, pouring lead shot is an audiophile ritual that must be experienced once in your lifetime.
It makes a sound similar to a rainstick, except with a 25 pound bag of shot, the sound of little balls of lead crashing against the cabinet goes on, and on, and on, and on, eclipsing the famous last note in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Loaded with lead, the JR's bass tightened up considerably and it also became less prominent for a couple of reasons. First, it was more focused and therefore drew less attention to itself.
And second, the peak in the bass response shifted from the 50Hz to 70Hz range up into the 60Hz to 90Hz range. The amplitude of the peak remained the same. While there was a little less energy in the 30Hz to 60Hz range, and about 6dB less at 26Hz, the bass did not fall appreciably below the midrange until the midHz range. Keep in mind that the Radio Shack SPL meter is not terribly accurate at the extreme upper and lower frequencies.
Overall, the addition of the lead improves the perception of tonal balance and the quality of the bass, which ultimately improves the midrange. Let me also say here that I never felt deprived of bass with the lead added, but it was not the same bass heavy experience that was common with the original VR I also tried the loudspeakers aimed toward each shoulder once I had the lead installed. Now remember, in my listening room, the side walls are far to the left and even farther to the right of their respective loudspeakers, so I normally experience the direct sound well before any diffuse reflections come back at me.
I'm talking nano-seconds , not canyon echo , here. And the soundstage normally extends several feet to the outside of each loudspeaker when the program material warrants. With the JR angled in, the sound did not get much beyond the spread of the loudspeakers. In the middle of the soundstage images were not as clearly defined, nor was the soundstage as deep.
This apparent contradiction just means that you have to play with the positioning and adjust the distances for your particular space. And it is fairly easy to do before you add the lead. I always use a measuring tape to make sure both loudspeakers are the same distance from the front wall. The manual suggests that when perfect stereo imaging is achieved, a dense holographic "ball" of noise will appear right between the loudspeakers when you play a test track of pink noise.
I was right on when they were faced straight ahead. Room conditioning will also play an important part in the success of wide dispersion loudspeakers, as I learned when we removed the plants from the front wall, briefly, for re-potting. The treble became noticeably brighter in the absence of my large jade plants.
Your reward for doing your homework in placing the loudspeakers is a superb soundstage that will enlarge the sweet spot in your listening chair, and allow others, seated on your immediate left and right, to experience a similar soundstage, without the music collapsing to the loudspeaker closest to them. Of course, more of the music will be coming from the nearest loudspeaker, but it is possible to get up and walk around the room, even toward the plane of the loudspeakers, without loosing this sense of the recorded space.
Remember those guests at your dinner party? That's what an accurate, wide dispersion loudspeaker can do for you. Everybody asks this question, expecting an answer like "Chocolate", "Strawberry", or "Vanilla". In reality, if your preamp tastes like chocolate, and the CD player tastes like strawberry, and the power amp tastes like pistachio, then the VR-4jr will sound like spumoni.
They are that revealing! I reached this delicious conclusion in the process of checking out the various wiring options the JR offers in combination with a variety of amplifiers I had on hand. First off, after doing the preliminary hour break-in on my Tandberg A integrated amplifier, I drove the JR with an amplifier that impressed me very highly at the Primedia Show in May.
I used this amplifier, single wired to the JR, during the first part of the review process. The conclusions and experiences related above were based on this configuration.
In single wiring the JR, the speaker cable is wired to the mid-tweeter binding posts on the bass module, about 14" off the floor, and a jumper plate is connected to the bass binding posts immediately below them. The bass module is then connected to the mid-tweeter module with a short umbilical cord with an unusual two-prong BNC type Data Link connector. This cord is very stiff and must be twisted with some force to align the prongs. This wiring configuration utilizes a crossover, which is buried in a casket filled with epoxy resin.
While on vacation I saw this same technique used in a much more expensive Rockport Technologies loudspeaker. The JR crossover is claimed to handle watts without saturation, and handle high volumes without tweeter distortion.
It was designed by Albert's electrical engineer, Phuc,. I'll discuss "high volume" in a bit. With this configuration the focus of the midrange and tweeter are world class. Soundstaging is excellent. Tonal balance is very good with just a slight disparity between the bass and the music above it. The attack of the notes was just slightly rounded, and this is probably what causes the bass to seem just a slight bit slow with this amplifier. Keep in mind that I'm comparing it to my Kharma, which has a very fast bass response.
I also used the Red Planet Labs with my Kharmas and noticed this same slight rounding on the attack of notes, as well as all the other attributes of this excellent amplifier. From the midrange upward, tonal balance was excellent.
With this very slightly softened attack, the dynamics of the music were not as startling as I normally experience with the Kharmas, but neither did the music ever approach the edge of irritability. The listening experience was always eminently satisfying and enjoyable, and I could listen effortlessly and endlessly. For people who listen to music for relaxation and pleasure, this proved to be an excellent combination of amplifier and loudspeaker.
And for the record, the watts per channel drove the JR to dB peaks without noticeable clipping in my cu. This mid-price interconnect he felt would be a good compliment to the speaker cable and suitable for a wide variety of components.
This was the first opportunity I've had to bi-amp a loudspeaker, and I didn't know quite what to expect. Part of the result was simply the effect of going from to watts per channel.
But there was also the effect of each loudspeaker module being driven by its own amplifier. True, all the amplifiers were in the same chassis, but each amplifier was also fed directly from the preamplifier with its own interconnect. The draw by one module did not impose significantly on the draw from another the way it would in a single wire, configuration.
While completely separate monoblocks might be slightly superior to this home theater amplifier, there was certainly economy and elegance to this approach. The soundstage became even more delineated with even more depth and more clarity at the back of the soundstage where the chorus wailed. Individual voices were easily identified. The bass was tighter, rounder and more palpable, yet there was no bass prominence.
The S's were completely controlled, allowing the loudspeaker to provide accurate, warm and very inviting music. The bi-amped configuration sounded very much like a good tube amplifier, although I recall a bit more transparency and tonal texture with the VAC integrated tube amplifier at the Primedia show, all of which comes at a very dear price.
King and the transparency took a big step forward, causing me to wonder if it was just a question of polarity or the quality of the pressing or the quality of the recording itself. Or was it just the effect of playing it back at a higher volume 90dB to 94dB vs. Whatever the cause, the JR was forever telling me new things about the music I thought I knew so well.
I played B. From the Burmester CD-3 , I played Hugh Masekela's "Stimela" and did not experience the jump factor when the "train" pulls into the station and the whistle cuts loose. On one hand, I didn't feel like I was going to be run over, but on the other, never were the lyrics so intelligible.
The premature clapping by the audience before the end of the song was beautifully rendered in space with the ambience driver set at position 4 of On the next cut, Yim Hok-man's "Poem of Chinese Drums", the benefit of the lead shot was evidenced by a tightness that revealed the different skin on various drums.
System 78 lbs each. Warranty: Ten Years excluding abuse or burnt voice coils due to amplifier clipping. That means that you can place one speaker where you wish to sit, then play the repeating bass line, and then walk around on the other side of the room where you want to place the speaker … Although the VR bass systems measure ruler flat in larger rooms that have good dimensional ra … Your VR dealer, however, is experienced with many types of components and should be consulted for best results.
We have made an effort to seek out dealers who are expe … When correctly installed, the VR-4 Series will give you many wonderful years of exciting musical reproduction, closer to the emotional truth of th … 2.
Please read this manual thoroughly before using your new speakers. The flood has destroyed all their archives. Now my only hope is the community of VSA owners. If someone of you, guys, has any information or manual about VR-6, pls, help me. Edit Delete. I did a search for reviews on the vr6 and the only thing that came up was a review on audio asylum.
Some basic specs were listed. You may also want to try locating info on other speakers in the vr line that are close to your 6's. It won't be perfect, of course, but it may be able to point you in the right direction.
0コメント