Thank you to all who responded. Let's go to our corners and wait for the next round.
To Rrog, yeah, I know I am getting to be a real pain in the butt with this VR-1 speaker go around. Actually, the last time out, there was a beautiful pair in zebrawood for sale but the seller would not budge on price. There are currently two pair on sale on AG now. Again, I balked at the price of the one seller because they were 8 years old, and the model was issued in 1998. (There is another pair at auction, and gaining momentum in price via bids offered.
However, there may be some validity to a few responders that claim that the VR-1 are mediocre; the few reviews say otherwise, but everything is system related.
I have to take issue with Shakeydeal's response. I had a pair of Green Mountain Europas, and enjoyeed them when I was in my downsizing mode. They were very nice sounding speakers, accurate, but the upper mids were somewhat shelved back...BTW, Roy Johnson of GMA is a hellava nice guy and very informative about speaker design. After, the Europas, I went to the Vandersteen IC-1 which I liked( bought for more bass) but not enough to keep forever. Mr V lectured me on not reading his "arduously" prepared ONE PAGE MANUAL printed on cheap blue paper that explained rake angle set-up
OK. Let me cut to the chase, I wanted a good monitor speaker that had bass down to 42HZ, not the typical 55HZ, but did not want to pay the piper $600-800. These would only be used as an ocassional "alternative" to my main system speakers. I know that sounds nuts, but not really. So after much casual and serious research on the audio net, I bought a pair of Wharfedale 10.1 ($349 retail) beloved by Stereophile. Well, they are not only what the few reviews say but more so; I was stunned at now accurate and neutral these monitors sounded. Presentation, soundstage imaging were good to very good, but not outstanding. Bass was fair. However, they are musical and easy to listen to. What more can you want from a speaker retailing for $349 or less on e-bay. They are solidly made, and look beautiful. They don't play loud.....I think are about 85 or 86db efficency, but take power. As Bob Reina noted in Stereophile, if you drive them too hard, the sound compresses, but there is still music.
I feel like the guy who wanders into the friendly neighborhood bar, has one beer, makes a few comments, then leaves, and an hour later fights break over what he said. Cheers, Jim
