For about a year and a half now, I have been looking for a really excellent bookshelf size loudspeaker that would play music with all the depth and realism possible. I wanted something with a flat and extended response coupled with efficiency and the ability to play clearly without dynamic compression on louder music passages. Since I am also a HUGE home theater fan, I wanted these speakers to be able to serve in this capacity also. The Von Schweikert VR-1 studio monitor IS that speaker!
Like many of you, my home system setup is a compromise between aesthetics and sound quality. In my case, I have a large L shaped room (26X17X 21) with 10 ceilings and we chose to build-in a
stereo/home theater center. It looks wonderful but sound quality takes a huge hit! This also limits the physical size of speakers that I can use. For those counting, that is two strikes. All of the speakers that I have auditioned were disappointing in one way or another. Either they had a built in bass and treble bump, were lacking in clarity and definition, or some combination of the two. The Von Schweikert VR-1 studio monitors sound great even in this challenging environment!
Last week I was invited to hear a pair of Von Schweikert VR-1 studio monitors. While I had never heard of Von Schweikert Audio, I was in for a pleasant surprise!
When I arrived to hear the Von Schweikert VR1s, the speakers, which are only 12" x 8" x 11", were perched on top of a pair of bar stools near a pair of $10,000 full size Vienna Acoustic Mahlers. For power we used a Gryphon Callisto 2100. I stopped laughing at the makeshift speaker stands when the VR1s began to play.
The depth, clarity and realism I heard on the Cantate Domino CD were amazing!
I simply could not believe that the big sound I heard was emanating from these small attractive speakers!
The room reverberations in the recording were so well preserved that you could close your eyes and feel as if you were there! We listened to all styles of music including male and female vocals, serious (Classics), rock and Jazz. These speakers are for real.
The delineation of the instruments across the sound stage was superior in every way. I was also extremely impressed with the effortlessness of these speakers when dealing with loud musical passages. TheVR1s preserved the accuracy and timbre of all instruments and vocals. Listen to the trumpets on Gordon Goodwins Big Phat Band. The VR1s preserve the range of brass sounds well by reproducing the fine edge of trumpets to the mellow smoothness of trombones. All of this sounding clean and distortion free. The depth and realistic production of these instruments brought back fond memories of my teaching days when I worked with bands and ensembles.
I have listened to many fine speakers of all sizes and price ranges and I am convinced that these speakers are not only in the same league, but better than anything else I have heard at three times their $995 per pair price. The VR1s do not create sound they REVEAL it!
I am extremely excited about these speakers. In my humble opinion, these speakers absolutely kill the likes of a Thiel SCS3 or a Nautilus 805 and sound better to me than many much larger or more costly speakers. I have not even mentioned the beautiful wood finish of these speakers. In a word, elegant! The finish looks beautiful and is as smooth as glass.
