VR-4jr or Gallo Nucleus Reference 3

I've heard the VR-4jr. They are truly giant killers. I'm usually one to nit pick what a speaker does right and wrong--including my own reference speakers which are far more expensive. However, the VR-4jr have about the perfect balance. They don't do one thing right at the expense of other things. If you are building a $25,000 speaker, well you should do that, but for a $4,000 speaker getting that balance becomes far more difficult. This is one speaker I can highly recommend particularly for smaller rooms. They sounded absolutely fantastic at HE2004 NYC in a smallish hotel room.

"Be careful about assuming a product is good based solely on the components used, it's the execution that makes a good product."

Well this is a valid point but the SCM-20 has been refined for years and its active crossover and amplification sets it miles apart from the VR4jr in execution. ATC is regarded as one of the worlds best driver manufacturers and speaker designers. FYI

Other than the bass of the 4jr, in a side by side comparision, it wasn't better than the ATC SCM35 which ate its lunch when it came to low distortion, driver integration and musicality. SCM20 is better than the 35.

The ATC's balance and resolution is without peer in this price point.

"They sounded absolutely fantastic at HE2004 NYC in a smallish hotel room."

Nice, this from acoustics expert? How much bigger is a smallish hotel room, than 13X15X8? Maybe 21x24X9? Did you have control of the demo, volume and source material? You have the software to roughly model the speaker run it and tell us what it says about the VR4jr speaker in his room...+5 or 6 dB at 30 hz? I'm just guessing...

I don't want to argue with you guys but to dismiss my recommendation with generalizations is pretty lame. Clearly neither of you can fathom that something is better than the VR4jr, or you would have heard about it. No knowledge of the speaker I selected and yet we have an opinion that its a notch down. This guy is using reviews to make a decision, so he doesn't know what the speakers sounds like, so he cannot have a bias which is why I went around his predetermined preferences.

It always shocks me that I have to get into these conversations about ATC, who has built some of the best speakers in the world for sometime. JGH of Stereophile in a review called the ATC SCM70's speakers the best in the world not 4 years ago. Did you guys miss that? ATC is not a fly by night company, they've been around 35 years and are as no compromise as any high end speaker. If you don't know who they are then there's a big hole in your knowledge base.

Respectfully,

Doug

I didn't say the ATC's weren't a good choice, but I do take exception to someone who insists something is good because it uses the "Best" components. Yes I am aware of ATC's reputation. I also would not second guess Rives hearing abilities, and yes there are many hotel rooms the size of Elb's. Enough said. He needs to hear all of the speakers mentioned to make an informed decision.

VR 4jr. I have mine in a 10' x 10' room from hell. You will need room treatment but they work. I'm still tuning the room, but the size of the speakers is managable in this room.

Rob

Hi Elb, the ARC is doing fine & I just upgraded to an Ayre V-1x to run my VR4GenIII's. I don't know if you recall what I said about my room, but the VR's are only 16" from the side wall & 19" from the back & I get an excellent soundstage. My room is 11.5' x 21' so I imagine you could bring them off the side walls even more than I have but as Robm mentioned, you'll have to deal with the room.

I've heard the jr's in a few other rigs but not an in home listen but what I heard was very good. With careful placement & tweaking, they will do a fine job & won't sound out of place at all.