Coincident Total Eclipse vs. Von Schweikert VR 4

Byfo, How long have you had the Von Schweikerts in your system? Long enough to have allowed for the recommended 400 hour break-in period? If so, your comments are valid. If not, you owe it to yourself and others to withold judgement until the break-in process is complete and a fair comparison can be made. Have fun!

Hi Tvad, the VR4's I purchased are approx. 6 months old. Don't know how much time was accumulated on them in the original owner's system. As I said, I'm still experimenting with their placement etc. I have not drawn any conclusions at this point.

Byfo, 6 months should have provided plenty of break-in for the VR4 SE's if music was played through them every day. The owner's manual mentions playing loud rock for the first 400 hours to break 'em in. Let us know what you and your friends think about the comparison. It should be an interesting shoot-out.

This is a follow up to my original comments above. The quality of your gear is very important with the VRs. I am currently using a Sony 777ES SACD player as a transport which feeds into a D2D upsampler (Assemblage) then into a Theta GenVa 20/96. With this setup, which I have considered to be quite transparent, the VRs seemed to be lacking detail in the mids and highs as I stated above. My audio buddy brought over his Meitner DAC8 MK IV, Phillips modified player running into a Meitner Switchman. Wow, what a transformation. The difference is incredible. The VRs came to life. I get to borrow this setup for a couple of weeks at which point a hitman may have to be hired. It will be hard to part with this combination.
The noise floor is lower with the VRs, even considering efficiency differences, with my tube equipment. With solid state this is a non issue. The VRs are inviting and engaging, drawing you into the music with their warm smooth accurate mids and highs. The VRs also have excellent bass. It's a music lovers speaker with great rythm and pace. The Coincident are very detailed speakers that present the music in an accurate analytical way. You feel your hearing everything. I don't feel they are cold sounding. The mids and highs are smooth, but not quite as smooth as the VRs. These speakers seem to be able to flesh out a little more upper detail then the VRs. With the Coincident, the music doesn't grab you and draw you into it like with the VRs, but rather imposes itself on you showing you that this is the way it is, like it or not. The Coincident speakers have good bass but not as good as the VRs in my room. I have been unable to get the bass right with the Coincident. My room prefers forward firing bass drivers.
At this point I am leaning more towards the VRs as my reference speakers.

Von Schweikert is introducing the new Vr4 Jr after the CES show in Jan - it might be worthwhile to wait - I called VS and found out it is a 2pc stacked design (shaped kind of like Avalon) with wood veneers - not cloth, a 3-way design - same drivers and freq range as Vr2 - the Jr adds a dedicated midrange, 90db sensitivity.
I owned the VR 4 Gen III and loved the presentation - the new Vr4 Jr is supposed to more closely resemble the VR4 HSE in sound.