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| The new Von Schweikert Audio VR-5 Anniversary in dark cherry |
From 1999 through 2003, my listening room in the Roseland area of South Bend/Mishawaka overlooked the famous Golden Dome of the University of Notre Dame's historic Main Building and the spire of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. With my marriage in January 2004, Kim and I have combined our two households in Elkhart, a quiet city just 16 miles east of the University. As our home has changed (we added a large Sun Room in the spring of 2004), I have had to tame several rooms for my listening, fist when moving into the Master Bedroom upstairs in October of 2003, then upon moving to a dedicated section of our basement in January 2005, after I insisted that we put the master bedroom back in the master bedroom.
Currently, my music room occupies a dedicated 11' 9" X 23' 9" section in our 35' x 23' 9" x 7' 4" basement. This large basement also houses one of our two theater's (both in dedicated spaces) and my fitness center. The center of the ScanSpeak Revelator in the Von Schweikert Audio VR-5 Anniversary is 79" from the rear walls and 24" from their respective side walls, positioning them some 7' 8" apart, tweeter center to tweeter center. The prime listening area is centered 7' 8" back from the plane of the tweeters.
Room taming is achieved through the use RoomTunes Corner Tunes and the stunningly effective Shakti Innovations Hallographs. I used to use my own home brew Helmholtz resonators (see also this Adobe PDF document for more info on the concept), but with the addition of the Holographs, I have donated them to John Tabernacki, NSR Sonic Research owner and designer. I leave the link here for those interested, as they are a powerful and affordable tool. One further note on set up here, I have abandoned the four-point spiking system included with the VR-5SE Anniversaries' in favor of employing a triad of Aurios Classic Bearings under each speaker.
There is no question that the Von Schweikert Audio VR-9SE had a significant impact on the high end audio scene, providing me with a best-of-show experience at their debut during CES 2005. But with a retail sticker price of $75,000, the VR-9SE is certainly not for everyone. Enter the VR-5SE.
The original VR-5SE used the same 9” Magnesium-coned woofers, Aerogel midrange, Revelator Dual-ring tweeter, and required crossover components as the $75,000 VR-9SE. However, with the arrival of the Anniversary Edition, the now discontinued Aerogel mdrange has been replaced by a new, superior transducer co-developed by Albert Von Schweikert and their European driver suppliers. Measurements and listening indicate that their teamwork has come up with a midrange drive unit that clearly outperforms the now discontinued Audax Aerogel cone. This ongoing joint R&D has brought forth a better cone material with even greater clarity and depth. Since this new midrange driver is used almost full range (it has a stated range of 80Hz to 11,000Hz), its contribution serves to elevate the overall sonic result of the entire system.
The enormous savings are in part realized with the elimination of the powered 15” subwoofer and the ribbon super tweeter employed in the VR-9SE. Naturally, the elimination of the powered sub means a reduction of bass power below 15-20Hz, but it's omission is also responsible for a significant reduction in both size and price. Since the custom Dual-ring Revelator tweeter with Neo motor has a frequency response extending up to 70kHz, I hardly miss the VR-9SE’s ribbon super tweeter.
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Peter Clark's stirringly triumphant 135 pound Redpoint Model D, with Tri-Planer Mk VII, and Transfiguration Temper V, all resting on a Grand Prix Formula Shelf |
The VR-5SE shares the same Time-Aligned, phase-consistent enclosure design, the stacking midrange/treble module, and quasi-transmission line woofer loading used throughout the Virtual Reality series of products. Where the VR-5 Anniversary stands apart from the lesser VRs is in the implementation of a cost-no-object approach in engineering — no expense was spared on the hand-made European transducers, the WBT Signature platinum plated binding posts, or the luxury crossover parts with Teflon capacitors. We should take a closer look at the VR-5 Anniversary crossover.
This new crossover is, to the the best of Albert's knowledge, the first of its kind. Albert has spent more than a year working in the laboratories at Cal Tech to address a problem that he identified some years ago. This crossover is the first to result from these efforts.
By using a novel method to photograph the actual sound waves generated by transducers, he has discovered a type of distortion that is not discussed in textbooks. It is a waveform distortion caused by non-linearities in the cone and motor as the driver attempts to translate the electrical signal into air pressure. With the Anniversary Edition of the VR-5, Albert has developed and introduced the first "passive servo control" crossover. The result is not subtle to my ears. The VR-5 Anniversary has a level of transparency unrivaled in my experience, bass speed, tonality, and impact as good as virtually anything I can recall, and a midrange voice so involving and “right” with piano, strings, and brass, that they are simply disarming. I have heard systems at this most recent CES employing speakers costing $50,000 to $100,000 that did not hit all of my hot buttons half as hard.
And, talk about a disappearing act. Within 20 minutes I had these things located and the rear ambiance tweeter dialed in to such a degree that I was blown away by how COMPLTELY they disappeared. GOOD GAWD, what an achievement… I freely admit that Albert’s designs play to all my hot buttons, but JEEZ.! I am completely taken in by their magic…so much so, I've asked Albert to send me an invoice. They will not be leaving my room any time soon.
At the suggestion of both Steve McCormack and Jim Merod, I have added the remarkable Monaco Isolation system from Alvin Lloyd, of Grand Prix Audio, and things have NEVER been better. Within 60 seconds of listening after its installation I noted truer timbre and a vastly more layered and focused soundstage. This is one significant isolation device. As I grew into the Monaco, I tried the addition of some of the optional accessories, including the Formula Shelves and the Apex footers with the ceramic silicon nitrate balls.
The impact of the Formula Shelf was SWEET. Even more space than previously, with more accurate and more clearly defined localization of the soundstage. And, quieter! The already exquisite darkness from which music emanates when resting on the Monaco was even darker with the formula shelf... Very nice. I noted even MORE of the same with the Apex footers, but they were the real surprise as I had not expected such an impact from them.
Groove demodulation is provided by Peter Clark's stirringly triumphant redpoint auido design Model D turntable. Weighing in at some 135 pounds, the base, platter, arm pod and motor pod are ALL damped with a combination of silicone oil and shot. The platter employs a 2" internal layer of Teflon as well as a record mat surface fashoned from rare and sonically superior sounding black Teflon. Arms include the Graham Phantom B-44, the Tri-Planar Mk VII and the Oracle Live 250 Silver. The current cartridge stable includes the remarkable Transfiguration Temper V, a delicious Denon DL-103D which has been reworked by A. J. van den Hul (with a Boron cantilever and the new vdH type 1 tip), and even a Clearaudio Virtuoso moving magnet cart.
My analog tool box includes an AcousTech SF-1 digital stylus gauge, both an original Dishwasher and new Milty ZeroStat gun and the ExtremePhono Solid State Stylus Cleaner.The phono preamp the remarkable Dynamic Sounds Associates Phone One. The ONE is the brain-child of Dr. Doug Hurlburt, a member of my original listening group from southern Maryland. Prior to that, I was using Tim de Paravicini's EAR 324 solid-state phono stage, which then feeds the ModWright SWL 9.0. My phono preamp stable also includes the real world priced, over-achieving Monolithic Sound PS-2 MM/MC phono stage, powered by the Monolithic Sound HC-1 , an upgraded high-current, three-stage power supply with two 1.5A transformers and the new Channel Islands Audio VPP-1. The analog output from the McCormack UDP-1 Deluxe also feeds the ModWright SWL 9.0, which in turn, feeds the amps. A Magnum Dynalab FT-11 analog tuner rounds out the source component list.
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Vinyl and CD cleaning/treating station with a VPI HW-16.5, Nitty Gritty Mini Pro and many, many fluids |
A VPI HW-16.5 provides the cleaning duties for my precious vinyl while the very cool Nitty Gritty Mini Pro, currently the audio worlds only two-sided powered record vacuum record cleaner, handles the application and removal of Ultra-Pure Water as the last step in my current record cleaning process. These days I am using the Audio Intelligent cleaning system from Paul Frumkin almost exclusively. Paul's three step process is without question the most effective record cleaning, albeit time consuming, process I've yet come across for cleaning vinyl. The level of reduction of surface noise and increase in midrange clarity is unsurpassed in my more than three decades of cleaning those black pies. It is an outstanding product that ANY vinyl owner should be using regularly. I have on hand a host of other fine products, including Duane Goldman's Disc Doctor Miracle Record Cleaner, Kevin Blair's Vinyl-Zyme, Record Research Lab's Vinyl Wash, numerous Last products, as well as several various varieties of my own home brew fluids.
The McCormack UDP-1, which recently returned from a round trip to Virginia for the Deluxe upgrade, generates ones and zeros. This player does so much right that I continually find myself spooked by just how good it is. It seems this game has come full circle. With their official introduction in 1982, all players were one box units. Then, we slowly moved to outboard DACs, making it mandatory to have two boxes for CD playback. Then came advanced, high current power supplies, followed by resolution enhancing engines, moving us up to 4 boxes total, and a host of cables. The UDP-1 replaced my old reference 4 box system - a Pioneer Elite PD-41 Stable Platter transport, a Perpetual Technologies P-1A DSP based resolution enhancement system, a Perpetual Technologies P-3A 24 bit/96 kHz DAC, and a Monolithic Sound Perpetual Power Plant (the P3) to power both PT units. The P-3A had been sent to ModWright for the P-T approved, full blown, "Signature" upgrades by Dan Wright. The stock P-T and Monolithic cabling was replace with all Revelation cabling, using Brad Vojtech's Prophecy i2s ('I squared S') cable between the P-1A and P-3A, and using a Cryo-Silver Reference power cable for each component. Next to the superb performance of the Linn CD 12 and the lovely sounding Audio Aero Capitole 24/196, the McCormack UDP-1 is right up there... That is saying a mouthful, campers!
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| The components on the Grand Prix Audio Monaco. The superlative Audience adeptResponse12 is immediately behind the right set of amplifiers. |
Given my love for over-achieving budget gear, I also have a CIAudio VDA-1 powered by its matching VAC-1 power supply on hand. Amazing performance for $500! And I have found the Furutech RD-2 disc demagnetizer to be as vital to CD playback as the Nitty Gritty Mini-Pro is to vinyl.
The new ModWright SWL 9.0SE, with the Tung-Sol tube upgrade, handles source selection and line stage amplification. And guess what, I just learned that a balanced version with outboard power supply and phase switch is coming. There will also be a version with an internal phono MM/MC preamp as well as a separate version of the phone stage. I can't wait. The current SWL 9.0 is an absolute champion at dynamic shadings, tonal textures, imaging and soundstaging. I can honestly say that this remarkable device should be seen as this decades Audible Illusion Modulus 3A. And given the exceptional performance of any product I have ever seen associated with Dusty Vawter of Channel Islands Audio, I also have on hand the ridiculously cheap VPC-1 Passive Line Stage preamp. This preamp is so transparent and so dynamic that upon its arrival it ousted a reference $4000 tubed "Super" preamp.
A pair of Dusty Vawter's stunning good Channel Islands Audio D-200 LGX monoblocks have replaced my long-time reference Spectron Musician II. This UNRIVALED class-D amplifier, in my opinion, is a hands down winner; and not only in the "for the money" category. It may in fact be the best sounding class D amplifier I've ever heard! I am hoping to get a chance to play with them head to head against what I currently consider to be the other amp to beat...Hervé Delétraz's glorious sounding and stratospherically priced $19,000 (fluctuates with the Swiss Franc) darTZeel NHB-108 model one.
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| The whole room, including software storage. |
The D●200 GXL monoblocks, much like their lower voltage sibling D●100, build on the technology outlined in Bruno Putzy's May 2005 AES paper "Simple Self-Oscillating Class D Amplifier with Full Output Filter Control." Rated at 200 Watts at 8 ohms, 325 into 4 ohms, a damping factor greater then 1000 and a bandwidth of 50KHz, they simple outperform any Class D amp I can recall having heard. The last time I was so engaged by a new amplifier, it was one from the mind of Nelson Pass; the Pass Labs Aleph 3 to be specific. To call the D-200 a mighty mite would be a GROSS injustice. I have YET to hear this stirringly musical and vital little boxes falter in any way! Built on the same compact heavy gauge steel chassis as the VMB-1s and D-100, with 3/16" brushed and anodized aluminum front and rear panels, this remarkable amplifier is SURE to be not taken seriously. DON'T MAKE THAT MISTAKE!
I also have a pair of Channel Islands Audio VMB-1 monoblocks on hand. Dusty continuously blows me away as he sets new benchmark levels of performance (and thereby raises the bar for everyone else!), for budget gear. The VMB-1's retailed for under a grand and if you think that means they can't boogie or sing, just ask any of the 'philes that have visited my rooms here in the Midwest! One of them fell so hard for them, he asked me to negotiate a deal with Dusty for a pair... It is a shame that they are no longer in production. Have I mentioned the new killer VHP-1 headphone amplifier from CIA? Or the PLC-1 passive line stage - with remote control? ;-D
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Current room layout showing the section of my basement housing the music system: 23' 9" long, by 11' 9" wide by 7' 4" tall
This layout is correct - updated photos will follow soon... Thanks. |
For a flashback, here are some of my prior reference systems over the years... 
