Have you seen the VR9SE Review?

While I thought it was a fascinating story about an audiophile's pursuit for high quality sound, it really wasn't a very good review. The was much writing about swapping equipment and tweaking settings, but very little about how the loudspeaker sounds. Sure there was talk about bass linearity, detail, air and depth, but was there a single mention of how a specific piece of music sounded? Although he mentions at several times that he has a custom designed room I wish he would have gone into more detail about the design goals of the room and its effect on the speaker's performance. I suspect one of the reasons he had so much trouble coming to grip with the speaker's sound was due his unfamiliarity with new room and the near total turnover of the rest of his system. Finally, I would have liked a comparison with other statement oriented speakers.

It's not really a review, but a story.

Jtinn,

Thanks for pointing out this article. Mike did a fantastic job of describing a wonderful journey to achieveing what must be absolutely amazing sound. I am in awe.

Two-thirds of the way through the article, however, I was troubled that all these adjustments seemed to be chasing something as elusive as the end of a rainbow.

Just as there is no perfect speaker, there is no absolutely perfect audio recording (which would be mixed and mastered with the same perfect equipment and room that you use for playback).

In fact, many recordings are mastered on systems in rooms far less impressive than Mike's, some on Yamaha NS10's, for example. Naturally Mike's fantastic set up should reveal the source for what it is....not only in all its glory but also the warts.

I could be totally wrong, but I feel that the over-abundance of speaker adjustments on these speakers might lead to a temptation to try to fix some of the warts...a worthy but elusive goal that ends up forever going in frustrating circles (given the warts are different on each recording).

Wow, so interesting! That is one of the most thoughtful reviews I have read. Makes me wish I could afford to spend that much money on speakers. Maybe if I pinch my pennies I can afford to buy a pair off of http://higherfi.com/index.html#anchorspkrs, looks like they are selling all the VS speakers at 40% off!!!!

Thanks for your hard work and excellent review Mike. Thanks to Jtinn for bringing it to our attention too.

Some day I am going to visit Mike and give these a listen, perhaps when work slows down.