Rhyno, you make several good points that I agree with, it's your bias the thing I disagree with. To each his own most of the time, but in our little audiophile world I find that, based on my first hand experience, your bias against Mr. Von Upgrade is plainly wrong.
You say: <<< i have no loyalty to mfgs. only good products >>>. Neither do I, and that's a good point. Those who are true audiophiles are to be commended in our hobby, not the ones who give financial success and their brand name being a status symbol the utmost importance. But, for some reason, you refuse to admit that Von Schweikert falls right into this category, of the true audiophile who spends his time improving his speakers rather than marketing them.
You also say:<<< [...] 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 >>>. Unlike a software company, these upgraded speakers do NOT invalidate previous models, and they are all supported by VSA. Unless you want the latest, you can live quite happily with the previous model, so what's the matter ? When VSA will start making turntables a la Rockport, I would, however, expect fewer speaker models, but right now the guy does what he knows best, speakers.
You say: <<< a 2-way for $8k will beat a 4-way for $8k most every time >>>, yeah, unless the 2 way one is worth 4 k and is being sold for 8k.
You say: <<< to get the quality of a merlin x-over in a 4-way, expect to spend $25k & up >>>. Right, but how about making a speaker that could compete with speakers costing 25k and up, then selling it for 10k ? (VR-5)
You also say: <<< want bass? buy some used entecs and be done with it. full range speakers rarely can do full range properly. >>> True, but that invalidates the advantage of using a simple crossover in the first place, because you add the sub's crossover, don't you? A speaker made out of top quality parts as a full range in the first place, using a top notch design, is better than a 2-way with an added sub (plus its own crossover), don't you agree?
Rhyno, I generally enjoy your posts, and your dedication is to be commended. To bad that you fail to see or admit that Albert is one of us, meaning a true audiophile, a very gifted one on top of that, making some really, really good speakers.
Thanks for reading!