Stehno, I love my Vr4 III SEs! I think they're great. However, I'm not going to tell you that they sound like $20k speakers, because 1) I don't know what $20k speakers sound like and 2) from what I've heard, not all the megabuck speakers sound that great. I also won't tell you that these are the best speakers ever made, but these are the best speakers that have graced my family room.
Anyways, the VR4s have all the attributes that I look for in speakers (in order of personal preferences):
- Very natural sounding midrange, as well as both frequency extremes, in other words the speakers are well balanced and do the human voice justice. Instruments, whether, drums, trumpets, cymbals, etc. all have a naturalness to them that is quite surreal.
- The speaker is quick and dynamic, and the bass is tight and has a good "feel" (slam).
- Soundstage is very detailed and wide, and the "sweet spot" is wider than your usual speaker. I don't quite get that "holographic" imaging like some people describe, but that's mostly due to room issues.
On top of these positives, I do not like the way they look. The finish is subpar, as I was used to looking at Legacy Focus speakers which had one heck of a beautiful furniture finish. I don't care for the "sock" that wraps the speakers. And I don't know of an easy way to get to the drivers.
But hey, I paid for the sound, which far outweighs the negatives above. Hope this helps.