Are Von Schweikert VR-2s worth auditioning?

I have been breaking in a pair of VR2s since just before Thanksgiving. I am going to begin concentrated critical listening today or tomorrow. So far, from casual listening, they are fantastic. I thought they blew away a pair of Maggies I listen to, and I am going to compare them to some Martin Logans. They are very transparant, detailed, and sweet sounding. I will report more when I have finished spending some concentrated time with them.

I'm finding placement challenging. My room does not allow the flexibility I need. I am going to call over to VSA and get them to help me. The VR2s sound great where they are, but I'm not achieving that "floating ball of sound" that Albert talks about. I know they are not properly placed, but the room is full of furniture. It's hard to get them out into the room, away from walls and other wall-like furniture. I'm going to see what I can do, and will post my results, but I may need to accept that while we are renting an apartment that is not big enough for us and all our stuff, we may not be able to aceive ideal placement. In two years, we'll be in a house. It may need to wait.

I have 25 lbs. of lead shot in each. Albert says that 95% of potential is acheived in the first 25 lbs. and that most people can't hear the difference between 25 and 50lbs. He said that there is no additional improvement by goign up to 75lbs.

BTW, we're making some major changes with positioning and are getting much closer. We were way off to start. Paul from VSA is talking us through it. Got rid of some furniture to help with the flexibility. I will report in.

We bought the smallest. On a side note, my husband was conflicted about buying the shot. On one hard, he felt like we were supporting the gun industry. On the other, we took two bags of lead shot and prevented them from being used in bullets. It's a dilemma. :)

For my room, Paul had me move the speakers closer together. I now have them 9 ft. apart center to center. I also moved them further from the wall (and learned that you measure to the front of the speaker not the back of the cabinet) to 3 ft. away. They could stand to be further, but my room is too narrow. It's about 15 x 11 with the speakers on the long wall and lots of doorways. Not an ideal listening room! Now I am almost in an equilateral triangle. The speakers are still a foot, foot and a half, further from each other than the listening seat.

I have noticed an improvement, but I still need to do the fine-tuning. I've done nothing with toe in yet. I'm on day 8 of a migraine, which doesn't work well with pink noise or concentrated listening. However, if you want to know how Law and Order sounds on the speakers, I'm your girl. :P