Coincident Total Eclipse vs. Von Schweikert VR 4

I heard the VR-4SEs with a Vac Std 105 amp and it was not enough juice to handle the bass. From there up the sound was very nice but no bass.

Happy Listening.

I have owned both the VR4HSE and the Total Eclipse, and can tell you that the VR4HSE sounds fantastic with my new VAC Phi 30/30, and I get plenty of strong, deep and tight bass with this amazing 32 W.P.C. amp. I have a feeling that something was not right with the setup that the above post mentioned. The Total Eclipse does have more bass energy than the VR4HSE for sure, but the VR4HSE is much more precise and controlled in the bass area. Both speakers have great tweeters, but to my ears the VR4HSE's tweeter was more natural sounding. In the critical midrange area, there was no contest... the VR4HSE was far less colored and more coherent. Soundstage with the Totals was much taller and a little more pinpoint, but the VR4 disappeared much better and had more "air" and ambience. The Totals require a much larger room to "breathe" properly in....smaller rooms are out of the question with them with my experience. Hope this helps...

If these two factory would merge, they could have a speaker called the, Total Schweikert

Funny Jbello.
I owned both the Eclipse and the VR4genIIISE, and imho, the VR4 are much more precise, bass was tighter and deeper, and the mids, oooh the mids, to die for.
Good luck,
Tim

I just received the VR4genIII HSE and have had the Total Eclipse for a couple of months. At this point (open to more experimentation on my part) I feel the Eclipse's are more revealing in the mids and highs. Decays and subtleties are more apparent. The VR4's have better bass in my room also. I'm using a Wyetech Opal pre and ASL AQ-1009DT amps. I have a couple of audiophile buddies who will be listening to both within the next week and will let you know their impressions. AUDITION BOTH IF YOU CAN. IMO THEY ARE QUITE DIFFERENT IN PRESENTATION. Side firing woofers may or may not work in your room. I don't like the idea of having woofers aimed at my equipment rack (which I can not move)which in my room gives me better overall response.

If a speaker has too much detail for your liking, there are ways of subduing, but if a speaker doesn't have enough, you are out of luck.

Hi Tvad, the VR4's I purchased are approx. 6 months old. Don't know how much time was accumulated on them in the original owner's system. As I said, I'm still experimenting with their placement etc. I have not drawn any conclusions at this point.

This is a follow up to my original comments above. The quality of your gear is very important with the VRs. I am currently using a Sony 777ES SACD player as a transport which feeds into a D2D upsampler (Assemblage) then into a Theta GenVa 20/96. With this setup, which I have considered to be quite transparent, the VRs seemed to be lacking detail in the mids and highs as I stated above. My audio buddy brought over his Meitner DAC8 MK IV, Phillips modified player running into a Meitner Switchman. Wow, what a transformation. The difference is incredible. The VRs came to life. I get to borrow this setup for a couple of weeks at which point a hitman may have to be hired. It will be hard to part with this combination.
The noise floor is lower with the VRs, even considering efficiency differences, with my tube equipment. With solid state this is a non issue. The VRs are inviting and engaging, drawing you into the music with their warm smooth accurate mids and highs. The VRs also have excellent bass. It's a music lovers speaker with great rythm and pace. The Coincident are very detailed speakers that present the music in an accurate analytical way. You feel your hearing everything. I don't feel they are cold sounding. The mids and highs are smooth, but not quite as smooth as the VRs. These speakers seem to be able to flesh out a little more upper detail then the VRs. With the Coincident, the music doesn't grab you and draw you into it like with the VRs, but rather imposes itself on you showing you that this is the way it is, like it or not. The Coincident speakers have good bass but not as good as the VRs in my room. I have been unable to get the bass right with the Coincident. My room prefers forward firing bass drivers.
At this point I am leaning more towards the VRs as my reference speakers.

Von Schweikert is introducing the new Vr4 Jr after the CES show in Jan - it might be worthwhile to wait - I called VS and found out it is a 2pc stacked design (shaped kind of like Avalon) with wood veneers - not cloth, a 3-way design - same drivers and freq range as Vr2 - the Jr adds a dedicated midrange, 90db sensitivity.
I owned the VR 4 Gen III and loved the presentation - the new Vr4 Jr is supposed to more closely resemble the VR4 HSE in sound.