How would you desribe Von Schweiket VR-4jr sound?

For some reason, some people seem bent on bashing the VRjr. I own them, and they are great speakers.

I have very discerning ears, and am a musician. When I listen to audio components, I listen for what sounds more real, more musical. I can nitpick as well as the most critical here, but I listen to the totality of the sound. If something sounds more like the real thing, I can live with small anomalies --- nothing is perfect.

On those who make so many criticisms of this speaker, I wonder what associated equipment they are using, as these speakers ruthlessly reveal the sound of every component in the chain. I also wonder what recordings people are listening to. First and foremost, I use exceptional recordings to make my judgments. Even exceptional recordings have their tonal quirks. For example, some Cheskys are tipped slightly bright and forward balanced, yet have exceptional detail and musicality. Some Verve Jazz recordings are exceptional, but exhibit some brightness in certain ranges. Some tracks on the same recording vary in quality and tonal balance. One must be familiar with the quirks of the recordings used, and adjust one's opinion and evaluation accordingly.

The VRjr has revealed many of these nuanced differences to me, that prior speakers have not. No, they are not perfect, but, most importantly, they provide that certain "clear window on the sound" that is basically coherent. I don't hear the discontinuities in driver integration people are claiming here.

I'm afraid that some audiophiles choose equipment that makes their favorite flawed recordings sound better, rather than carefully choose recordings that are musical and coherent, and then judge the equipment accordingly. In that light, the VRjr reproduces something closer to the musical truth than many other speakers on the market.

Opalchip, being a trained musician and a lover of music all my life, I think I know of which I speak, and I don't agree with your incorrect and slanted interpretation of my comments.

So, your implication is that because I seek out and prefer recordings that are outstanding in sonics (& performance), I'm an 'audiophile' with a negative connotation, and can't possibly be a true music lover, or I'd be listening to flawed recordings.

I also listen to flawed recordings, but listening to the compression, grain, brightness, thinness, distortion, squashing, etc. -- has become something less tolerable to me over time. If you prefer a speaker that editorializes the sonics, fills out a thin, dead, flat, sizzly, equalized recording, and rolls off detail enough to make these recordings sound more palatable, that's your perogative. But don't claim this makes you a "musiclover" rather than an "audiophile."

Further, you criticize a brilliant engineer like Albert Von Schweikert for his engineering choices. What qualifications do you have in speaker design to so strongly criticize someone who knows speakers inside and out?

These types of posts turn a good thread into a pissing match & bashing exercise, rather than a positive interchange.

It may be of interest to readers here that Opalchip has posted critical commentary on nearly every thread about VR-jr speakers on Audiogon. It almost appears to be a crusade...

His overly verbose prose and personal barbs directed at me and other posters should probably not be dignified with a response, since they are transparent attempts at one-upmanship and having the last word.
However, I will make a few comments regarding this.

Opalchip's statement that I'm bashing people personally is absurd. Self-projection is probably the best explanation for that. I bashed no one, but simply stated my opinion that there may be listeners who make criticisms of these speakers, based on using poor-sounding recordings to make those judgments. This hardly equates to personally bashing people.

Despite his denial, he did give "audiophile" a negative connotation. Read his first post---and this will be clear.

By the way, not all recordings that are great music and a great performance have bad sonics. Some have exceptional sound, others have listenable sound, and others are shrill and unlistenable, or worse.

Robm321, let me apologize for how you've been treated here, and thanks for your contribution.