Von Schweikert VR4JR Set Up

First off, they need a lot longer than 100 hours to break in, more like 400 hours. Make sure the rear tweeter is cranked up all the way or it won't break in. They need to be played fairly hard too when breaking in. I listened to mine each day as they were breaking in and at one point they sounded good, probably around the 300 hour point. I blasted mine for a few more days just to be sure and they seemed to slightly improve from there.

I would say you might need to consider pulling them farther into the room than 1.5 feet. I was getting a rather weak center image and was able to achieve it best when adjusting the distance apart. I had to put mine farther apart in my room to get the center to really lock in, with just a slight bit of toe in.

I agree with pulling them away from the back wall. Can you get them 3 feet from the back wall? Or even 2.5 feet (but, then you'll need to adjust the distance from the side wall so they are less or more than 2.5 feet...you don't want equal distance from rear and side walls).

Also, you don't mention toe-in angle. Are they toed-in or not? Start with the drivers airmed directly at where your head would be. Listen. Gradually...like 1/2" at a time...rotate them out, and listen at each adjustment.

I have yet to hear the VR4jr image well. I think they tend to sound out of focus, at least in the 3 systems I heard. Maybe they may need a lot of experimentaion with placement?

Aball, what exactly do you mean, when you say "out of focus"? In my system they image rather well. Often times when listening to 2-ch. recording I have to get up and make sure that center channel is off. The center image is unbelievably stable and life-like, so is the image depth. On some well-recorded uncompressed material you can swear musicians are right behind the curtain covering the screen on the back wall and speakers "disappear" almost completely. Interestingly enough, on many older recordings the "imaging" is not all that good.
My speakers are well away from the back wall (7 ft.), exactly 1/3 of the room length, and the same distance apart. I'm still experimenting with the toe-in, but I have to say, that VR-4 JR's are not very sensitive to the toe-in, at least image-wise. Now I have mine with very slight degree of toe-in (5-10).
Again, YMMV. Regards.