Visit with Jack D and the Von Schweikert VR-11SE Mk. II

[andromedaaudio]

nice read , great speakers/room

 

[rockitman]

Where's the source rack(s) pics ?

 

[Dimfer]

Well, the VR-11s, in Jack's room, sound very good off-axis. With music playing, as you sit in different areas at the back of the room, it sounds like you are changing seats in a nightclub. This is not hyperbole. Somehow the system maintains a believable sonic perspective, even as you move around. I have never experienced this before. This off-axis believability was not achieved at the expense of center image focus. The system creates a fairly clearly-delinated image of a solo vocalist.

this is one of Albert's design goals.. great image focus once you achieve what he calls "ball of sound", and good sound off axis at the same time. to quote one VSA customer - " nice not having to make an X with a marker in my listening chair for the sweet spot anymore"

 

[es347]

..hey there Dimfer...as you know I own the VR5 Annies and the same thing can be said of them...great off axis sonics

 

[fas42]

this is one of Albert's design goals.. great image focus once you achieve what he calls "ball of sound", and good sound off axis at the same time. to quote one VSA customer - " nice not having to make an X with a marker in my listening chair for the sweet spot anymore"

The interesting thing about that "ball of sound" is that it can be made to be as big as one wants, depending upon what's encoded in the recording - 80's New Wave recordings have massive spaces in the mix, and these will expand to the horizon if one goes to enough effort - "synthetic" recordings allow the producer to manipulate the ambience every which way, and many times the subtleties of what's been done is lost, because the playback can't unravel the level of detail that's embedded. Quite often these albums come across as confused and overloaded, because the ear is not being fed enough clean information in the playback - and gives up trying to understand what it's hearing.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Thank you fas42, LL21, bonzo, RBFC, Dimfer, Al and andromedaaudio!

Christian, I took only the photo I posted (which looks a little funky only because I took it with the lights off using an on-camera flash). As beautiful as it is I figured there are enough photos of the AF1 around. The CH Precision is all beautifully machined. The EMT is impressive and looks like something out of a laboratory!

 

[LL21]

The interesting thing about that "ball of sound" is that it can be made to be as big as one wants, depending upon what's encoded in the recording - 80's New Wave recordings have massive spaces in the mix, and these will expand to the horizon if one goes to enough effort - "synthetic" recordings allow the producer to manipulate the ambience every which way, and many times the subtleties of what's been done is lost, because the playback can't unravel the level of detail that's embedded. Quite often these albums come across as confused and overloaded, because the ear is not being fed enough clean information in the playback - and gives up trying to understand what it's hearing.

Totally agree...i have heard deep house tracks on Genesis 1.1s and it was un-REAL how spacious the sound was...with small beats by the floor, deep pulses from the center, huge swathes of 'cloudy drizzling sound effects' along the top right ceiling, and voices in the middle and floating around the soundstage. Totally different experience...

 

[JackD201]

Time for v2.0 Ron and Tinka

 

[Ron Resnick]

That would be nice, Jack!

 

[the sound of Tao]

Many thanks Ron, your’re certainly getting those miles up but the insights into some of the benchmark systems is invaluable. Great to see you out there celebrating Jack’s work.

 

[mullard88]

I totally agree with Ron's observation that changing seats in Jack's room is like changing seats in a nightclub.

 

[JackD201]

 

[steve williams]

Best night club I've ever been in. But I have to hear part 2.0