Hello Tom,
I was in your shoes like a couple of months ago, searching for speakers in the retail $8k-10k range. After extensive research (reading professional and consumer reviews, attending live auditions at dealers, going to people's houses, etc)I have found my dream speaker at this price point. This whole process took me over a year...talk about patience! I literally went thru at least a dozen of speaker brands/models before I ended up with the Von Schweikert VR-4 SRs. I am not here to promote the VS brand or anything, but just wanted to share my honest feedback and my real life experiences with them so people can make an informative choice. I still don't know why there aren't any professional reviews out yet for the SRs, there are tons on JRs.
First and foremost, I strongly advise that if you can go audition a burned-in pair(about 400-500 hrs) that is properly setup in a nice adequate size room, with good sounding gear (does not have to be expensive gear)and nice sounding cables, that would be the best scenario. These speakers if improperly setup, not burned in long enough, not used with good sounding gear and cables, will not do them justice. The SRs are very transparent and neutral. Whatever you feed it, is exactly how it's gonna sound. This is not a cliche, it's real.
If you are like me,a discerning music lover who judge the speaker to how closely it can reproduce music compared to a live event, then you will be in for a treat. If the recording permits, and your gear and cables sound good, the SRs will amaze you and really bring you to the event. You can follow every single note, every vocal (even back up singers)and every little nuance that is in the background. It also, properly places them on a 3D soundstage from front to back, side to side, I actually hear/perceive instruments deep into the back of my wall behind my speakers. They are not artificially moved back just to make an effect, it only does it if the recording is recorded that way and most jazz and well recorded music has depth/width/and height. If the drummer was pounding his drum at the slight left behind the center performer, that's how you will hear it and that's where it's located. You will hear each instrument/performer in it's respective dimensionality of where they were standing and performing. The individual loudness of each instrument or performer is kept in true form, nothing is overtly highlighted, or exaggerated, or lost. As you know, when you are at a live event, not every perfomer or instrument will play at the same loudness, and the SRs are capable of discerning each as it's own space, yet cohesively bring the event together as one ensemble. The dyamnics are startling, swings from quiet passages to loud ones, are brought with real life impact. The transient attacks are so real and perfectly time aligned that you swear you are in the the actual event, it does not sound like a recording like some other speakers I have heard. The bass is also very good, this speaker makes me want to sell my subwoofer. The SRs can go down deep, although I don't have SPL meter to verify this, but I don't doubt the manufacturer's specs that it can go down 20HZ (depending on your room). When the songs permit, you will hear that powerful fast thump, that only subwoofers can do. There are not many full range speakers out there in the $8-10k range today that can do that,although other manufacturers claim their speakers are full range, that's a lot of B.S. Those speakers do not go anywhere in the low 20 hzs. I am not even sure if you can find $10k-20k speakers that will give you a full range response. Don't get me wrong, there might be a few out there that can, but not many from the research I have done. I also find them non-fatiguing, I can listen for hours and hours and not get sick of them, I just want to slap on more CDs and vinyl one after the other. These are only a few reasons why I liked the SRs, I can write way more praise and areas where they are very good at, but I'll be here all night typing. So definitely audition the VR-4SRs if you can, if not try to hear the JRs, they will give a glimps of what the SRs can do, but the SRs do more of everything and better as I have heard both before buying. Even if going with the smaller JRs, I don't think you will be disappointed. Give them a try ! Good luck on your search.
