Magnapan vs. Von Schweikert

Well..I hope you have a dedicated room for the 3.6s...because they are huge....and ideally they need to be 3-4ft from all walls to perform at their best...I am not familiar with the VR4s...however...a friend has the Maggie 1.6s...which is more than enough speaker for large rooms...and they are the speaker to beat below 5k or so...also...Maggies from 20 yrs ago were bass anemic...not anymore!

You are comparing apples to mangos. These are two completely different kinds of speakers, not only in construction but also in sound. Anyone who's read my threads before knows I am a maggie fan but the vons are good also. Do you prefer acoustic music, voices, jazz classical, blues etc? The maggies work great for this but if your tastes are closer to a lot of Zeppelin and Hendrix type of R & R a planar might not be the best choice for you. Finally, The 3.6 is an amazing speaker especially at its price point.I also dissagree with the perception that Magnepans don't do bass, they have kick ass bass, it isn't bloated so some people think its weak. It's not weak it's accurate.

I have a very large cross section of the the musical spectrum, but having grown up in the north in the 70's the majority of what I own is classic rock. I do have a fair selection of Jazz and a smaller amount of classical too. In an evening I will go from Jethro Tull to Carl Orff, to Bob James or Al Jerreau, with a little Hoyt Axton thrown in for flavor.

I like female vocals like; Jennifer Warnes or the Cowboy Junkies, Clair Marlo, and Sara K.

I also Like Mangos but the only apples I'm all that excited about are Granny Smiths.

I don't know how hard it will be for me to find the speaker that will statisfy all those types. Maybe I will have to settle for one that excells in the styles I prefer the most, but I'd like to think I could find one that does it all.

I'm in complete agreement with Banksfriend here! To me, these speakers are sooo different from each other that the poster really needs to decide which type of sound suits him more: dynamic cones or planers. IMHO if you really want to compare these two particular speakers then we might as well start another impossible discussion like: which is better, great tube gear or great solid state?

The again, I only eat Mangos ;-)

You should try Mango Daiquiris. Good for you and gooood for you.
From your musical list I see nothing that won't sound good with the maggies, I also am from the NE so I understand your tastes. Magnepan is a very friendly company, if you contact them and explain your geographical problem they may be able to help you audition the speakers.
Another speaker you may want to consider if you decide against maggies are Avalon Radian HCs(available used). These were some of the best imaging speakers I ever heard, They were the only things that even came close to luring me away from my maggies.