Von Schweikert Research VM-2 Floorstanding Speakers

Von Schweikert Research VM-2 Floorstanding Speakers 

DESCRIPTION

One custom 5¼" woven carbon fiber cone, rubber surround Tweeter One 1" aluminum alloy dome diaphragm, magnetic fluid cooling, low natural resonance 50 to 25k Sensitivity (@ 2.83V, 1m) 86dB

USER REVIEWS

Showing 1-4 of 4  
[Apr 08, 2002]
Tom Bombadil
AudioPhile

Strength:

Clarity, quality of construction, magical match with tube gear.

Weakness:

Slight of deep bass, understandable given its size. Can''t be pushed to very loud levels.

First, let me state that the review posted by "Jyrki" is highly suspect. These speakers hadn''t even been designed by 1997. Only a few were made prior to Von Schweikert Research going bankrupt in 1999. Also, there is absolutely no mid-bass or upper-bass boom to them. He must have heard different speakers, not the VSR VM-2. My VM-2''s are beautiful mini-monitors. Fit and finish are excellent. Driver quality is first rate. The crossover is very complex, for a small speaker. I spoke to the designer and was told that he had gone to great lengths to tailor the crossover to the Audax mid/woofer driver - pushing it to deeper bass output than it had been designed to handle, while flattening peaks for a neutral sound. The result is a wonderfully voiced, classic mini-monitor sound. Nice voice and instrument separation. Good imaging. Surprisingly decent bass for a small box. Compares very nicely to mini-monitors from ProAc and Sonus Faber - not quite as warm as those two but with better detail. When driven by solid state electronics, the sound is clean & detailed. But when I hooked it up to a tube amp and preamp, it became an exciting musical experience. The warm of the tubes was just what the little box needed to come alive. Highly Recommended, but good luck in finding a pair.

Similar Products Used:

ProAc, Sonus Faber, B&W, Totem, Polk

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Sep 02, 2001]
JaCK
Audiophile

Strength:

Transparent imaging, solid internal damping and construction, large soundstage, accurate interpretation of the musical event.

Weakness:

extreme low-end response lacks, but this IS a bookshelf, and/or stand mounted speaker.

Outstanding product and value. Perfect for small to medium rooms, and will compete against much larger systems when a sub is integrated. The detail, and lush vocals delivered by the drivers are of the same quality and character of the much larger and expensive VR4's.
I parted with this speaker recently, unfortunately, (should have kept for 3rd system) for floorstanding VR3.5's and couldn't be happier,,,,, but will always have fond memories of this small speaker that delivered a most satisfying and musical reproduction.

Similar Products Used:

Celestion, Sonus, Theil, B&W's

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jun 06, 2001]
Alan Dana
Audiophile

Strength:

Clear, highly resolved sound. Beautiful cabinet. Excellent voice articulation

Weakness:

Small driver in small cabinet equals limited bass output. But even here there is more bass than one might expect.

The clarity of these speakers is astounding. On multiple
CD's I have been able to distinctly separate and identify
BACKGROUND SINGERS!!! And on dozens of recordings where I previously struggled to understand exactly what the words were, through these it has been easy.

Now, this would not be surprising if I were comparing any
good quality speaker to, say a boombox. But I'm talking
about this speaker vs other $1000+ speakers.

The crossover is a very complex design, and gets more out
of a 5.25" "woofer" in a small cabinet than one should
reasonably expect. Still, I use a subwoofer with mine
as they are too bass light for most forms of music.

The imaging is very good, bass is clean - no midbass thickness of any kind. Highs are very detailed, perhaps overly so for those who prefer a mellow sound. The speakers sound great with tube equipment.

They can play clean to moderately loud levels, but strain at high volume. They are relatively inefficient, probably no more than 85dB sensitivity.

In a small room, with the right electronics and material, these are true giant-killers. For example, I've always considered the $330 Paradigm Mini-Monitors to be a very nice speaker for the money. And since the VM-2s listed at $1500, you'd expect them to be better. Well, you'd be right. They are much, much, much better. I've heard many a more expensive speaker that was only slightly better than good quality cheaper speakers. But here you would be shocked at how much more detail is revealed through the VM-2 than the Paradigm.

Similar Products Used:

Spica, B&W, Paradigm, PSB, NHT, ProAc, Epos

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Aug 29, 2001]
Jyrki
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

none

Weakness:

lots of them

This speaker gives you nothing. Tweeter and mid are terrible
and colourful, you can't hear any lower bass, higher bass and booming is enormous. Speaker doesn't make any kind of stereo image, sound is coming straight from speakers.
Moving the place of speakers didn't help, the sound was terrible everywhere in my room, which is 32 m^2 made of wood. Equipment used: McCormack SST-1 cd and DNA-1 amp,
Lexícon DC-2 pre.
It is amazing how somebody sell these and price is absurd
compared to quality, 100 US$ is nere the right price.

Similar Products Used:

Duntech PCL-25

OVERALL
RATING
1
VALUE
RATING
1
Showing 1-4 of 4  

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