The VR-4's are superb speaker. I don't know how they do it.Pay special attention as to how you isolate the top module from the base. The clay balls recommended by the mfr. are a joke. I was lucky to find 2 sets of 10-inch long x 1-inch square mpingo blocks fitted with steel points, from a local audiophile experimentor. The difference was major.
Whatever you do, you must achieve proper isolation. V-S should adress this issue seriosly.

After living with a pair of Acoustat Model One (s) for years, I longed for a speaker that incorporated the openness of panels without the restrictions of a one-person listening window. The panels sounded great, but in my system the bass was handled by a Velodyne ULD-12 since the panels didn’t go down with authority without a little help. After getting rid of the Electrostats recently, I purchased a pair of JM Labs Spectral 909.1 (a (great sounding system) but not the absolute openness of the panels, still they posses a large "crystal-clear’ listening window. Enter the VR-4 s. These speakers do things that defy logic. I’ll state right now, they are the best system I have ever heard, had, and on and on and on.Right out of the box they sounded FABULOUS!! (the best I had ever heard -PERIOD) After the suggested 80 hr. break-in period they didn’t even sound like the same speaker system (SPOOKY). When given a good sound source these speakers totally DISAPPEAR, even while looking right at them!! My listening room dimensions are 10x20x7. I have the speakers 4 in. from the side walls. You would think these babies would sound like crap so close to the side wall, bu oh no the GAIN crossover (read, or order the white-paper) works to make these speakers sound like non other. I LOVE THESE SPEAKERS. They sound like the elusive butterfly, live music in all of it’s glory. My associated equipment is: Theta Digital D/A and Transport, McCormack DNA-1, Counterpoint 3000 pre-amp (forget the sovtek tubesthe unit ships with, they sound like plain-vanilla ice-cream. Get a set of Golden Dragons and watch this baby soar), Systemdek Turntable/Alchemist cartridge and XLO Reference cabling. YOU MUST HEAR THIS SYSTEM. It’s truly amazing.!!!!

i purchased my v-r 4's approx. l5 mos. ago and have since spent a fortune because of it. These spkrs. will require great front end equip. in order to get the most out of them. I have been thru 4 cd. players, 4 amps, 4 pre-amps, and 4 sets of spkr.cables and 3 sets of interconnects. Finally I am happy and totally satisfied with the sound. Equip. in use: EAD ultradisc 2000 CD., AR LS-3 pre-amp., CODA l0.5 amp>broke in the woofers finally., TICE AUDIO (direct from factory) cables and interconnects (icing on the cake) ,SR power cords,Adcom,ACE 5l5 power line enhancer, Cones, sand boxex, air platforms, and homemade rack.Listening room in concrete bunker den. LETS ROCK!!!

I've listened to speakers from B&W, Vienna Acoustics, Martin-Logan, Hales, Thiel, Dunlavy, Aerial Acoustics, Merit, PSB, NHT, and more. In my opinion
the VR-4 is the best speaker I've ever heard for under $5000.

It's primary strength is an open, naturalness to the sound that can be breathtaking. Your eyes see these large, black monoliths dominating your
living room, yet your ears can't place their location. They sonically
disappear right before your eyes.

A second strength is having an extremely deep low bass response for its price
range. Resolution in the low bass is good, but not a match for the best in
the $5000-$7500 range - which is several thousand more than the VR-4.

Dynamics are also very good, sound effect CDs played back at loud levels
through these will knock you on your ear. The imaging rivals that of the
electrostatics in the same price range, but the deep bass and excellent
dynamics of the VR-4 are head and shoulders above what those same electrostatics can produce.

You can find sub-$5000 speakers that can best the VR-4s in some aspects of
their reproduction, but if you want the best overall speaker then I've yet
to find anything that can beat them.

Terrific imaging, simply disaapears

A bit rolled off in the treble

try using black diamond racing #4 cones between the mt and the bass enclosures. Focus becomes much sharper, mid and highs a lot clearer. just becomes a bit difficult to align because the panels no longer dock

Similar Products Used:

various dynaudios

The VR-4s take a long time to break in (maybe 2 months). Quite often people hear a pair in the store that is not broken in. They just sound good not broken in. They sound great broken in. Mine are not picky about placement. In fact they have an uncanny ability to sound good from the next room through an open door in a way I have never heard another speaker sound. I think the keepers of this page should throw out the silly, stupid, malicious, non-serious review. The VR-4 is a phenomenal speaker at it's price point. Not only that, it can compete with anything I have ever heard when hooked to the right equipment.

This is a relatively new speaker that I became aware of almost a year ago. I had been out auditioning speakers to replace my Thiel CS3.5.Nothing wrong with the 3.5s, I was just interested in what was available that might be an improvement. I had auditioned most of the floor
standing speakers from $3,000-7,000. The leading contender was the CS3.6. Then I heard the VR4.
The is similar in overall design to the Wilson WATT/Puppy, that is, it is a large floor standing design with two boxes per side: the
treble/midrange enclosure sits atop the bass enclosure. The bass box contains two 8” drivers; the treble contains a 1” tweeter and 3.5”
mid-range. There is an adjustable rear-firing tweeter as well. It is recommended that you have separate speaker cables driving top and
bottom.
I first hear the VR4s at a local (Denver, CO) dealer named Sound Hounds. For my audition they were driven by an Audible Illusions
Modulus 3a preamp and Mesa Baron amp, with EAD T9000 and DAC9000 digital input. To say I was impressed is understatement. They
imaged like mad, with a wide and deep sound stage. The midrange was sweet and full, with detail that was clear without being etched. I had
to hear them in my home.
My home system (at the time) was McCormack TLC-1 passive preamp and DNA-1 power amp, driven by EAD T1000 CD transport, into
an Audio Alchemy DTI Pro and DDE 3.0. In my home system, the VR4 proved just as able. It delivered more detail that my CS3.5s with a
smoother high end. Imaging was clear and distinct with more detail than I had heard before. And they went deeper in the bass with excellent
control. I bought a pair.
The VR4s sounded good out of the box but clearly benefited from break in, about 80 hours was needed before they really started to settle
in. Room placement is important and you can dial-in the bass and imaging by adjusting the amount of space between the speakers, as well as
behind and beside them. I have them about 9’ apart, slightly towed in toward my listening chair.
At $3,450, this speakers beats everything else I’ve heard, including some $6-7k speakers that have fine reputations. Highly recommended.

The Vr4's are probably the best speaker for the money, trust me. They are very difficult to get perfect which can be a problem for the lazy or properly set-up impaired! Sorry but its true. This speaker is amazing when properly setup. Believe me I've had my problems, but once I got these babies going I would confidently put them up against anything....that's right anything! Since setting up speakers is my business, I laugh when reading reviews about how this speaker wasn't as good as speaker A or B. It's a joke to me because any loudspeaker can and should sound decent once setup right. Manufactureres just couldn't survive today with all the competition out there. Considering this, when you add what a very good loudspeaker cost to make and what it sells for, well then you understand when price/performance becomes an issue, you simply can't beat the VR4'S From top to bottom they perform like crazy all the audiophile terms that we like to call important;soundstaging, depth, transparency,detail,focus,dynamics,tautness,smoothness,imaging height all that stuff. I am a very serious audiophile and would consider any one that owns this speaker and is not happy or heard it and thought it was only okay should either take it home, don't ever trust listening rooms, or if you already have it home, then you better ask for help. ANYTHING WORTH HAVING IS WORTH WORKING FOR....TO GET RIGHT!!! Are there speakers out there better? Certainly. But the best question is how much is it going to cost to better these babiies. Von Schweikert can't be doing that bad to recieve second best sound at the 97 Stereophile Shoe . If you think that these babies sound great, wait till you hear the 4.5's. I admit though, purchasing these will take you into the land of diminshing returns, but they are actually about 30% better! For twice the price I don't think it's worth it because the 4's are that good, but the 4.5's are so damn sweet sounding and let's say refined sounding that they demand to be compared with the best loudspeakers money can buy periiod!!! They are just that good Dub Show

Since so many people raved about this speaker I deviced to check it out.I went to Goodwin's Hi-End and auditioned both VR4 and VR4.5.
I felt there are a lot of hype about these speakers...
Yes, they are good speakers. They have big soundstage and mellow and warm midrnage. But in my honest opinion, these spakers are just OK. Not very impressive to my ear. Really. I don't understand why some people got so excited. Maybe because they are relatively cheaper than other hi-end speaker? Yes,
The sound from these speakers are very easy to listen to. But they lack of the dynanmics, resolution, high and low end extension,.... You name it.