Von Schweikerts or Coincidents or ?

romandoc
i have no loyalty to mfgs. only good products. the products i listed, particularly the rockports, the merlins and the avalons are amongst the best at their price point. if you want to buy more drivers for more money, go ahead--each of them will be of lower quality, as will the x-over, as will the sound. ever heard of quality over quantity? a 2-way for $8k will beat a 4-way for $8k most every time, except in select regards (thunderous bass being the primary one). go listen to some ML CLS2z or soundlabs (no x-over). that's one driver--and it sounds better. period. to get the quality of a merlin x-over in a 4-way, expect to spend $25k & up.

want bass? buy some used entecs and be done with it. full range speakers rarely can do full range properly.

i maintain what i said about albert von upgrade. the way he does business is just plain shameful. look at rockport: 4 models in its history. look at vandy: the 2c has been around forever. look at merlin: vsm for a long time (with slight upgrades, all at reasonable costs for the amount of work---no $1k expenditures for a friggin capacitor!). look at soundlab. look at silverline. my point being, none of these high-end mfgs feel the need to bombard the mkt with model after model and upgrade after upgrade. continuous models and upgrades, my friends, is the way to run a software company--not a loudspeaker company.

rhyno

Whoa guys!!! Vandies 2C has been upgraded many,many times
since their introduction in the 70s. New drivers, crossover parts. etc. Sound Lab are electrostatic, there are no drivers per se, just a big capacitor. The Von Schweikerts
are very good speakers, I like what I heard and I am electrostatic kind of guy(Acoustat 2+2s). Ditto, the Coincident Total Eclipse and Total Victory,very good speakers.There are NO BEST speakers; has Audiogon not
taught you this????????

Von Schweikert uses the latest in speaker technology
The VR-7's use the revaltor tweeter.. One of the most expensive and best sounding around. Mids are Aerogel whiich are also among the best.
The Xover upgrade you talk about also involves silver wire..
As far as changing models... Whats wrong with improving an existing speaker system? His upgrades are cost effective and allows the buyer to take advantage of the new technologies. Why would anyone complain about that?
The VR5 and VR7 are his first speakers with VSA. He also supported ALL his other speakers from the old company.
Thats great customer support..
Seems you have an ax to grind with VSA.. nothing else you presented is worthwhile.
mike

If your looking to marry good sonics with visual appeal to please th wife I would suggest Vienna Acoustics or Sonus Faber

Rhyno, you make several good points that I agree with, it's your bias the thing I disagree with. To each his own most of the time, but in our little audiophile world I find that, based on my first hand experience, your bias against Mr. Von Upgrade is plainly wrong.
You say: <<< i have no loyalty to mfgs. only good products >>>. Neither do I, and that's a good point. Those who are true audiophiles are to be commended in our hobby, not the ones who give financial success and their brand name being a status symbol the utmost importance. But, for some reason, you refuse to admit that Von Schweikert falls right into this category, of the true audiophile who spends his time improving his speakers rather than marketing them.
You also say:<<< [...] none of these high-end mfgs feel the need to bombard the mkt with model after model and upgrade after upgrade. continuous models and upgrades, my friends, is the way to run a software company--not a loudspeaker company >>>. Unlike a software company, these upgraded speakers do NOT invalidate previous models, and they are all supported by VSA. Unless you want the latest, you can live quite happily with the previous model, so what's the matter ? When VSA will start making turntables a la Rockport, I would, however, expect fewer speaker models, but right now the guy does what he knows best, speakers.
You say: <<< a 2-way for $8k will beat a 4-way for $8k most every time >>>, yeah, unless the 2 way one is worth 4 k and is being sold for 8k.
You say: <<< to get the quality of a merlin x-over in a 4-way, expect to spend $25k & up >>>. Right, but how about making a speaker that could compete with speakers costing 25k and up, then selling it for 10k ? (VR-5)
You also say: <<< want bass? buy some used entecs and be done with it. full range speakers rarely can do full range properly. >>> True, but that invalidates the advantage of using a simple crossover in the first place, because you add the sub's crossover, don't you? A speaker made out of top quality parts as a full range in the first place, using a top notch design, is better than a 2-way with an added sub (plus its own crossover), don't you agree?

Rhyno, I generally enjoy your posts, and your dedication is to be commended. To bad that you fail to see or admit that Albert is one of us, meaning a true audiophile, a very gifted one on top of that, making some really, really good speakers.
Thanks for reading!