Von Schweikert VR-4.5 vs. VS VR-4 Gen III HSE

I owned the VR4 Silvers when they first came out in 1996. I also had a chance to audition the 4.5 at Holm Audio shortly thereafter. I couldn't hear much of an improvement. Although the room was unfamiliar, the associated electronics were much better than what I was using at home.

Fast forward about 10 years and I bought a pair of Gen III HSEs. From my sonic memory I can say that these are far better in every parameter than what you have. However, while the earlier VR4s sounded very good with tubes, I found I was running out of power with my 100 watt tube amp. That is ultimately one of the reasons I sold them, I didn't want to go amp shopping for a bigger tube amp. And I certainly didn't want to resort to SS.

Bottom line is, if you have the power these are excellent speakers. And I consider them to have better transparency and bass control than the 4.5s.

Shakey

Thank you Shakey and Tvad for your responses. I haven't heard the VR4 Gen III HSE speakers yet, but I've read a lot of positive things about them here on Audiogon. From what you and others have said, they will probably be my next speakers. Unless I can find a great deal on the VR6's (which I heard some years ago and they totally blew me away). At a former list price of $12,000, they are still pretty pricey even used. With my VTL-ST85 running two EL-34's per side, I don't feel (yet) that I need more power. At a setting of 12 noon on my Cary AES DJH preamp, that's about as loud as I play 95% of the time. Once in a while, I might crank it to almost 1PM, but that's been rare. I do notice that the speakers only start to come alive once they have enough "critical power" from the amp. Below a certain threshold, you don't get the magic. But I find this true with all cone driver speakers. It appears from other A'gon posters that Albert's later designs seem to need more power than previous incarnations. I have read many times that the smaller VR4 Jr's need lots of power, compared to my 4.5's.

i had 4jrs and vr2, and now 4hse is the best but needs lot of power , depending on room you may enough for 4jrs , basic problem of upgrading speakers always had to change amps i had 60 watt tube monos not enough on 4jrs