Schweikert VR4-Jr vs. Gallo Reference 3 with SA

Thanks for that fantastic input. I assume you are in the US/Europe or somewhere else where you can pop over to a store and demo to your hearts content, have an almost infinite choice of speakers, have the ability to have a home audition etc. When you visit a country like SA which is (in the audio world at least) third world, with a fraction of the variety, no chance of home auditions and numerous other obstacles I assure you that your stance will change.

Best to ignore respones such as poster about you.
No matter where your from, I think it's a good idea to get as much "good" feedback from fellow audio nuts as possible.
If it were me (I'm sick), why don't you go for both, try them both out, keep the ones you prefer, sell off the others. That's what I would do.... but I'm sick.

Get the Jr's and enjoy them. Reasons why:
1. Life is too short to wait around. You can be enjoying your music for months ahead of the Gallos
2. They are a great speaker. Easy to place, sound good, very flexible, ie: Shot loading, wiring preferences etc.
3. If you end up not being happy with them, (doubt it) you can sell them - and by that time your Ref. 3's will be available. IN ADDITION - you will not have wasted 2 months of your life pondering something that you might not like as much as the Jr's anyway.
Just my 2 cents. :-) Good luck

pt

Let me explain why I am leaning toward the Ref III's. I think this info is important as it highlights the constraints within which I must work:

Living in South Africa the choices are very few and limited. Most things I would need to import. Products like cables are no problem and all my cables for example are imported. Speakers and electronics are a different story. With these larger purchases, peace of mind is always an issue. First there is the issue of shipping damages which are entirely on my shoulders, versus the importer (if there is one). Secondly is warranty and backup. If there is ever a problem, it is always good to have someone locally who can diagnose the problem and fix it at no cost.

With both speakers, I would previously have had to import them. However, the importer of Gallo Acoustics is now bringing in the entire range including the Ref III and Subwoofer Amp. For the same price as the VR4-Jr (a demo model which I would need to import) I can get the Ref III's with Amp locally, new, with full warranty.

Furthermore about the VR4-Jr's - I contacted VSA and they confirmed that in the case of a problem, it would be difficult to organize a replacement as they don't have official people here (authorized technicians) who can check the speakers and verify a particular problem. Any shipping of parts to/from VSA would need to be covered by me.

I hope this sheds some light on the situation. It is not at (seemingly) simple as it may be in much larger markets such as the US. There you can try before you buy, have home auditions etc. Those policies unfortunately do not work here.

X

There is nothing wrong with acquring all the feedback you can when shelling out that kind of $$. This applies no matter where you live. But you have been dragging this thing out here and on AA for a while. I think by now you will have gotten most of the usable information you can from owners and tire kickers alike. It's up to you now to decipher all this and decide what speakers to buy. I'm sure there won't be any earth shattering revelations to be had at this point.

And BTW, good luck with whatever you choose.

Oz