I am resurrecting this old thread because it is an interesting subject to me. I am a Vandersteen 3A Signature owner and was previously an owner of the Von Schweikert VR-5
and am a fan of the Von Schweikert VR-4 Jr, which I have heard on two hi-fi show occasions. I would think that anyone who downgrades the 3A Signature may be going on Vandersteen's reputation for laid-back sound rather than time spending time listening in a totally optimized setup. Another thing to remember about the Signature is that, in my opinion, it is extremely difficult to place in order to get the most out of them. The instructions which come with the speaker didn't make them come alive in my room. It turned out to be a process of trial and error. A couple of inches in the wrong direction and you will get sound which is not "alive", is overly-warm and just incomplete. It took me months of repositioning before I was satisfied and I doubt that few people would take the time and effort to know how good these speakers can sound. Comparing the Vandersteen's with the VR-5's, the Vandy's unquestionably went down deeper than the Von Schweikert's, although the Von Schweikerts had a very solid, taut, punchy mid-bass and considerable bass depth considering their size; the Vandersteen's had a deeper, more relaxed and rounder bass which I preferred for my listening taste, but you may not. I know this because I owned both speakers at the same time. The midrange of the VR-5's was more forward and I would say slightly more transparent than the Vandersteen's, but the difference was closer than you might think, again because people don't take the considerable effort to set up the Vandersteens properly. The midrange vocal image on the Von Schweikert's was outstanding. On recordings where this quality was enhanced, the vocals were extremely transparent.
I think the VR-4JR is a better speaker than the VR-5, at least to my ears. I have heard them at the last two New York audio shows, once with a very expensive VAC tube amp and once with the DK Designs integrated hybrid. At the last show, the VR-4JR was in at least 3 rooms and sounded somewhat different in all of them, which should suggest that amplifier, preamp, source and cable matching will still play a huge part in what you will hear. Under the best listening situations, these speakers were outstanding: Absolutely outstanding dynamics, outstanding imaging and outstanding soundstaging, the same transparence as the VR-5's had, a generally smooth sound, although I have some concern about harshness in the upper mid region, which was exhibited on some occasions and not others, even in the same room. The VR-4 Jrs had a very extended low end, although I am not sure they do absolutely full justice to organ pedal tones, they may come very close and I believe that they do come closer to achieving the bass performance of the Vandy's than did the VR-5's. Both speakers, to my ears, have a very pure treble region. Overall, based on my listening experience, I would expect the VR-4Jr to be a little more forward and transparent in the midrange, a little more dynamic overall, to have at least excellent bass, a little more taut and "thuddy" than the Vandersteen, if perhaps not quite as deep. I believe that I would need to compare the two speakers in an A/B situation to know for sure which had the best bass depth as well which had the best overall bass performance. My only concern is some potential upper-midrange brightness, which I have heard, but maybe due to program material or associated equipment.
There are so many unknowns when comparing two pieces of equipment. It is hard to say which one is better. All I can say is that in my opinion, they are worthy competitors to one another. I am sure that in any A/B session, like most other products, they will sound significantly different. The question of whether each has been optimized to allow it to sound its best always arises, but it is only the individual listener who can add the pluses and subtract the minuses in proportion to how these pluses and minuses match his individual listening tastes in order to say which speaker is better.
