Finish Quality of Von Schweikert VR4jr's

I have to agree that the satin poly finish and the veneer quality could be better, but I have to disagree that finish quality determines whether a speaker is a 'world beater' or not. The jrs compete effectively with some heavy hitters way above their price point. Whether they compete aesthetically or not is another matter.

A quality speaker designer won't necessarily have any aesthetic refinement or sensibility. Certainly the cost of furniture quality covering and the additional personnel required to develop/apply it would be a major consideration and would be reflected in the price of the product.

It also needs to be said that finish and build quality are two separate and very different things. The jrs are VERY well built. At least in this case, you are paying for performance, not furniture. While $4,000 is a lot of money, in this incredibly price inflated hobby, it's not often that you can expect to get a Porche at Toyota prices...

Despite matching serials, the veneer on my pair is fairly amateur work. Not only do the L & R cabinets differ, but the top/bottom within the same channel are poorly matched.

I'm not losing any sleep over it at their price point.

With all due respect, what was written above about the pittance it would cost to produce the jrs with a 'high-quality' finish just ain't so. A couple extra coats of cheap poly will not look any more impressive and will scratch as easily as one (there are already more coats of sealer and top coat than what you might think.) The cost of some better urethane is cheap enough, but the element of cost is time. A quality several step finish cannot be applied in an hour. No possible way. You're talking days. That costs money.

One species of veneer is only a couple pennies more than another, but when you take into consideration the cost of a higher grade of veneer (one of the major problems here), sorting, waste and hiring someone who knows what they are doing to do the matching, you're talking money. I don't have specific dollar amounts here, but just a jump from 'B' to 'AA' veneer is going to triple or quadruple the cost. That ain't hay.

If VSA could magically transform a cheap finish into one of high-quality at the cost of a lousy $100 to the end user, they would do so in a heartbeat. They would be stupid to ignore a simple, cheap solution to one of the model's greatest weaknesses.

By the way, take a look some Chinese furniture next time your out shopping. None of it I've ever seen is what I would call 'furniture quality.'

Prpixel,

Not to belabor the point, but maybe what we individually consider a 'furniture quality' finish isn't comparable?

It's quite possible they could apply a 'better' quality finish than what they currently offer for a small increase to the end user, but we'll just have to disagree that the jump from mediocre to furniture quality is too great to be accomplished for pocket change.