Von Schweikerts or Coincidents or ?

All, much appreciative of the responses. Our listening room is 14 x 16 x 8 with openings to other rooms on back and one side wall. Too small a room for VR-7s and Silverline Grandeur so say the actual respective manufacturers. Also the CATs put out a steady 100w into 4 or 8 ohms.

Calloway, do you run your P-10s with tubes? I had them on my list early-on but had a long discussion with someone that stated you get "more" speaker for your money buying "in-country" (US and Canada for me) as opposed to buying a speaker made overseas and shipped all that way over here.

Shubertmaniac, I lusted after MG 20.1s but they require a lot of "real estate" behind them, IMHO, to really sound good. Also, my listening impression was that they do not go low enough for my tastes - although set-up "right" the rest on up is "magical".

Haipo and Rhyno, I have listened to Avalon products for years at a local high-end shop and agree with Shubertmaniac that they are not for my type of primary music. The shop, every time I went in, was playing them with female vocalists music.

The Von Schweikerts
I have listened to lots of speakers in the $10k to $75K range
Nothing sounds better than the Von Schweikert VR 7's
Not the Wisdoms, Pipedreams, Wilsons, Alon's,

Albert got it right with these

i personally wouldn't own anything from albert von upgrade. how many friggin models and upgrades can one guy have (btw: the hovland upgrade for $1k is an insult to anyone who knows how to build a crossover).

his speakers are ok. i don't like the way he does business, but that's whats important to me, not everyone.

other speakers for R&R, etc: reimers; used rockport syzygys (if you're blessed!); silverline sonata or lafolia. all are pretty tube friendly, and plenty of bass punch.

best
rhyno

<<< how many friggin models and upgrades can one guy have >>>

I guess as many as he can handle, so what's your problem with the guy designing speakers bearing the Von Schweikert name, Eggleston and so forth, and then improving them. Since he's a gifted designer, why not? Can't stand NOT owning the latest model?

<<< btw: the hovland upgrade for $1k is an insult to anyone who knows how to build a crossover [...] i don't like the way he does business, but that's whats important to me, not everyone. >>>

It's my understanding that Albert makes the regular models to be the best at their price points. Then, for those who believe that brand name parts and silver wire sounds better, he makes the Hovland upgrade. For THOSE people the upgrade IS worth 1k. I fail to see where the insult is.

What I personally consider to be an insult is making a two way speaker, wrapping it in plastic (not wood, to save costs) and selling it for 8k. Then having verbally aggressive people such as yourself promoting it, again, aggressively over the internet as the best thing since sliced bread below the 40k price point despite its very obvious shortcomings (limited dynamics, limited bass, woofer reproducing both some bass and the critical midrange, thus being at a disadvantage when compared with the very best). That is, for me, an overpriced product and the way of having it marketed is, for me, hype, and that's exactly the business model I rejected when I voted last year with my pocket, buying the Von Schweikert VR-7 instead of what you keep pushing. And I found Albert's assistance with the whole process truly world class, so what's NOT to like about his business model?

Back to the original question: I second the Von Schweikert speakers recommendation for their exceptional sound from top to bottom, their broad compatibility with amps/preamps and top notch support from the manufacturer. Thanks for reading.

romandoc
i have no loyalty to mfgs. only good products. the products i listed, particularly the rockports, the merlins and the avalons are amongst the best at their price point. if you want to buy more drivers for more money, go ahead--each of them will be of lower quality, as will the x-over, as will the sound. ever heard of quality over quantity? a 2-way for $8k will beat a 4-way for $8k most every time, except in select regards (thunderous bass being the primary one). go listen to some ML CLS2z or soundlabs (no x-over). that's one driver--and it sounds better. period. to get the quality of a merlin x-over in a 4-way, expect to spend $25k & up.

want bass? buy some used entecs and be done with it. full range speakers rarely can do full range properly.

i maintain what i said about albert von upgrade. the way he does business is just plain shameful. look at rockport: 4 models in its history. look at vandy: the 2c has been around forever. look at merlin: vsm for a long time (with slight upgrades, all at reasonable costs for the amount of work---no $1k expenditures for a friggin capacitor!). look at soundlab. look at silverline. my point being, none of these high-end mfgs feel the need to bombard the mkt with model after model and upgrade after upgrade. continuous models and upgrades, my friends, is the way to run a software company--not a loudspeaker company.

rhyno