Finish Quality of Von Schweikert VR4jr's

My Epos M15 were a lot cheaper than your VR4jr's, but I'm still surprised how sensitive the finish is (read my thread on Epos finish).
In your opinion, is it worth taking the speakers to a good furniture maker for retouching (it's what I'm thinking of doing)?

I love it when people say that they dont pay for build quality but only pay for sound quality. The fact is that you still have to look at these speakers when you listen to them( unless you like listening in the dark), but the speakers should have a certain amount of prestige to them. I think that when you invest in a speaker ( especially $4000) they should have used methods so that the cheap build wouldnt show. Havent any of you like the admire the build of your loudspeakers? the fabulous veneering and the smoothness of the finish. The way that the drivers sink into the cabinet and how the veneer is perfectly matched with no imperfections? These engineers who design these loudspeakers should also work visual wonders with their sonic ones, in that regard they will be seen as the best money can buy. I dont think that Von Schweikert is in that league, sure they make expensive and great sounding speakers but a companies talent has to show with their less pricey ones( like a wilson sophia, avalons, sonus faber, proacs). If Von Schweikert could offer this loudspeaker with a great finish and made in the US with quality materials, then it would be a world beater. Anyone else have opinions on this?

I have to agree that the satin poly finish and the veneer quality could be better, but I have to disagree that finish quality determines whether a speaker is a 'world beater' or not. The jrs compete effectively with some heavy hitters way above their price point. Whether they compete aesthetically or not is another matter.

A quality speaker designer won't necessarily have any aesthetic refinement or sensibility. Certainly the cost of furniture quality covering and the additional personnel required to develop/apply it would be a major consideration and would be reflected in the price of the product.

It also needs to be said that finish and build quality are two separate and very different things. The jrs are VERY well built. At least in this case, you are paying for performance, not furniture. While $4,000 is a lot of money, in this incredibly price inflated hobby, it's not often that you can expect to get a Porche at Toyota prices...

Robm321
Could not agree more. I want best sound for my money. I don’t want to spend extra 2K for furniture grade veneers etc..., some might, I don’t. I unlike many others on this forum don’t think the quality of the veneer or thickness of the varnish will affect the sound of my speakers. Besides, I have no problem with my speaker’s surface finish, and in my experience (6 months of auditioning before settling on my speaker choice) they smoke most ‘furniture grade’ speakers I have compared them too, even ones approaching double the cost . It seems to me that Von schweikert is more interested in the sound quality. If you want prissy, pretty speakers to justify spending more than a few grand or in order to impress your friends be prepared to spend some primo dollars for the sound and looks. Its funny, Vandersteen makes some ‘butt ugly’ looking speakers (IMO), big sock over drivers and cheap looking veneer but they too sound F%%^ing amazing, don’t see anyone slamming them, and at 15+ grand for the 5A… yikes, one would expect fricken hand polished Argentinian teak or some other exotic wood at that price point As far as the folks complaining about the finish on their VR4jr, what the heck do you do to scuff/damage up your speakers? I have had mine for 4 months and moved them around lots, moved them from my old house to my new one, moved around to 3 different rooms while decorating in my new house and adjusted this and that to optimize their final positioning and they still look mint! They are in a far from dedicated audio room too with kids and pets. I still have folks over that say the African hazelwood finish on my speakers is amazing looking. I don’t know the history of Von schweikert too well but they sure must have pissed off quite a few people, given all the negativity and nit-picking against them around here. Its hilarious. Instead of encouraging manufactures and praising them we slam them at every opportunity. I guess the old adage of ‘success breeds contempt’ is alive and well.

Comparing the Wilson Sophia, sonus faber, Avalon full range speakers…... to the VR4jr is a very poor analogy. All those speakers are approaching 10K+, of course they will have amazing finish. Lets compare some 3-5K speakers to the Vons and see what we come up with? Again, for 4K perhaps the veneer on the 4Jr could be a bit thicker...who cares?
As far as the ‘prestige’ factor… This is a hobby… listening and enjoying music, not to stroke my ego or impress my friends. As far as not being assembled in America...I wish people could get over that… most audio is not. Next you’ll be banning the 50+ audio manufactures located in Canada and the UK.

Lets keep things in perspective.

Good listening

The difference in price between birch veneer and cherry veneer is about $0.10 per square foot. So, we're talking about $5.00 more for the better veneer. Going from 1 coat of lacquer to 4 is about $10.00 in material and about 1 hour of labor for a light sanding after the first and third coats. In the US were talking $50 more in material and labor. In China you can divide that by for for a total cost of $12.50. So, if the abinet shop, in China, doubles that charges VSA $25. VSA doubles that and charges the distributer $50. Finally the retailer doubles and charges the customer $100 more. I would be more than happy to pay the extra $100 for the more durable and better looking finish.

I agree that the jr's are great sounding speakers for the money.

BTW - I purchased a pair of 4jr's, matching center and dipole surrounds for a friend and only paid $4800 cash. He let me break in the jr's for about 3 months; I enjoyed my time with them.