Chadnliz,
Did some looking at the VMPS speaker on an enthusiastic review. There may be some concerns with them regarding you physical conditions.
Here is an exerpt from a review:
The biggest difference, and the one that makes all the difference, is the "tuning" and setup necessary to make speakers work properly. It doesn't sound like much-adjustable woofer damping and separate level pots for the midrange ribbon and the tweeters-but in the end, the only way to get optimum performance from these speakers is to be patient and willing to spend hours, maybe even days, tweaking the setup until it sounds just right. Brian Cheney flew to sunny Southern California to show me how the setup process works, and it took us about four hours to get the system singing happily. Having re-tuned them several times since, I'm confident that careful and patient listeners can do this themselves, but I'm also pretty sure it will take most non-Brian Cheney people a lot longer.
Also, these were the only speakers in this review that I feel really need to be bi-amped.(end exerpt)
This reviewer said that one has to get into the back of the speaker and adjust "putty" on the inside of the cabinet to get the bass just right. Here is another exerpt:
But you have to work really hard to get this bass response. Adjusting bass damping consists of getting on your knees and reaching into the slot at the bottom of the cabinet to remove itty little bits of putty to reduce the damping until it sounds right. Of course, you have to overshoot and take too much out to realize when you've reached that magic damping mass-and then you reach in and put a little bit back. We're talking scraping just a pinch with your fingernail here, a tenth of a gram or less, to really fine-tune it. Make any changes in your system (positioning or bass amp), and you have to do it again. Seriously.
This is a lot of work, but well worth it in the end. Otherwise these speakers can turn into "highly colored boom boxes."
Of course, once you're done with all that, you have to adjust the midrange and tweeter levels again. Figure another bit of time to do it right. And if you change anything in the system-yap, you know what's coming. (end exerpt)
To me this sounds pretty challenging to get optimum sound. I frankly would not want to mess with it. First "optimizing" bass, then the midrange, etc. It may be fantastic, but also sounds like a fantastic issue to deal with.
I know from my own experience that the Eminents are highly forgiving of placement near walls. I have one pair about 14" from the side walls. Bruce Thigpen, the designer, said that side reflections should not be a huge issue, and he was right, they aren't.
It certianly does sound like the VMPS are impressive speakers! I would love to hear them sometime. It would be interesting to hear planar drivers in a cabinet. I just thought I'd point out this issue of "tuning" them in case you hadn't seen it.
On the other hand, the Eminents need to be assembled, which can be done by one person, but is not easy. So, either way, you may need someone to do setup for you. It sounds like setup is a bit more straight forward with the Eminents.
Here is the link to the article:
http://www.goodidea.net/RM2.htm
Did some looking at the VMPS speaker on an enthusiastic review. There may be some concerns with them regarding you physical conditions.
Here is an exerpt from a review:
The biggest difference, and the one that makes all the difference, is the "tuning" and setup necessary to make speakers work properly. It doesn't sound like much-adjustable woofer damping and separate level pots for the midrange ribbon and the tweeters-but in the end, the only way to get optimum performance from these speakers is to be patient and willing to spend hours, maybe even days, tweaking the setup until it sounds just right. Brian Cheney flew to sunny Southern California to show me how the setup process works, and it took us about four hours to get the system singing happily. Having re-tuned them several times since, I'm confident that careful and patient listeners can do this themselves, but I'm also pretty sure it will take most non-Brian Cheney people a lot longer.
Also, these were the only speakers in this review that I feel really need to be bi-amped.(end exerpt)
This reviewer said that one has to get into the back of the speaker and adjust "putty" on the inside of the cabinet to get the bass just right. Here is another exerpt:
But you have to work really hard to get this bass response. Adjusting bass damping consists of getting on your knees and reaching into the slot at the bottom of the cabinet to remove itty little bits of putty to reduce the damping until it sounds right. Of course, you have to overshoot and take too much out to realize when you've reached that magic damping mass-and then you reach in and put a little bit back. We're talking scraping just a pinch with your fingernail here, a tenth of a gram or less, to really fine-tune it. Make any changes in your system (positioning or bass amp), and you have to do it again. Seriously.
This is a lot of work, but well worth it in the end. Otherwise these speakers can turn into "highly colored boom boxes."
Of course, once you're done with all that, you have to adjust the midrange and tweeter levels again. Figure another bit of time to do it right. And if you change anything in the system-yap, you know what's coming. (end exerpt)
To me this sounds pretty challenging to get optimum sound. I frankly would not want to mess with it. First "optimizing" bass, then the midrange, etc. It may be fantastic, but also sounds like a fantastic issue to deal with.
I know from my own experience that the Eminents are highly forgiving of placement near walls. I have one pair about 14" from the side walls. Bruce Thigpen, the designer, said that side reflections should not be a huge issue, and he was right, they aren't.
It certianly does sound like the VMPS are impressive speakers! I would love to hear them sometime. It would be interesting to hear planar drivers in a cabinet. I just thought I'd point out this issue of "tuning" them in case you hadn't seen it.
On the other hand, the Eminents need to be assembled, which can be done by one person, but is not easy. So, either way, you may need someone to do setup for you. It sounds like setup is a bit more straight forward with the Eminents.
Here is the link to the article:
http://www.goodidea.net/RM2.htm