Von Schweikert VR-4 Jr Room and amp Requirements

Well, I just wanted to report back that last night I tried the diagonal placement and what a difference. My room is almost a square and a small square at that. The soundstage is now much deeper and tonal balanced has improved. I just placed them without moving around for the best position, but even just ploping them down made a HUGE difference compared to the standard square placement.

Now it's time to tweak the rear ambiance driver, place room treatment and tweak the speaker toe in and placement. Some people enjoy this part of the process. I just like to get it over with.

Rob

My JR's are in a room that is rectangular. About 20 feet long and 10 feet wide. The speakers are aimed down the long wall. The sound is fabulous. I can only single wire them at this time and I hook my mains to the M/T unit. I have a pair of custom jumpers ( (20 inch--made from the same wireas my mains) running down to the bass unit, and it sounds great. If you are going to single wire these, I highly reccommend going this way. The manual is pretty good at describing what to do in different room configurations and I think they recommend a diagonal placement in a square room.

Mike,

The speakers are not bright at all. They are very smooth in the top end. What is bright though is my room. Because of the fact that it is square and small. But I have made some roomtune corners and echos and various other treatments to tame the brightness. I am probably going to go with the 45 degree placement probably tonight. We'll see what that does. I am not looking forward to lugging everything around though.

Rob

- Rob,

Thanks for the reply, but now you got me thinking, due to something you mentioned. (brightness) Are the speakers overly etched or bright sounding? That is something that I have not heard about them. I can't really do too much in terms of room treatment as I only have one corner made up by drywall. One corner is made up where two windows meet and the other two corners are entrance ways from different rooms. (the hallway and the kitchen).

- Mike

Well, the one issue which might actually be solved by your bed is that the VS will have more bass that will need to be sucked up.

When I made my decision to get the speakers, I was planning on keeping them for a long time, so I wanted it all (bass included) I didn't make my decision based on the room I was in knowing that I wouldn't be there for more than a year or two.

How do the totems sound? I've heard good things about them.

I think you could make it work. Obviously, you wouldn't get a monster sound stage, but neither do I. You would also without a doubt need room treatment. I'll let others chime in, but like I mentioned I have a 11' x 12' room and it works.

Rob

Rob,

I'm very interested in these speakers. I'm currently thinking about getting a pair for the living room, but would love it if it could fit in my tiny bedroom (12' x 8.5'). Please look at my system and you'll see how small the room is. I'm surprised you've had good results in your small room so far and am wondering if I could pull it off in my tiny room. What do you guys think?

Currently I have a pair of Totem Hawks and the dimensions are about the same except the VR4jrs are about twice as deep.

Thanks,

Seong

I have my VR4 jr's in a 12x11' room. It took some time, but they can work in a small room. You will need room treatment to kill some of the brightness. I’d also consider bass traps for the corners.

The reason I decided on the VR4 jr’s was because I will probably only be in this place for another year. Also, I have to have bass. I have bookshelf speakers and it's always in the back of my mind that I'm not hearing the bottom end.

If it is a completely dedicated room, I would recommend trying the diagonal set up. Kevin at VS said that would get rid of some room modes. I haven't gotten around to trying it, but a square room is tough unfortunately. I am planning on trying it out. I’ll report back with results if I get enough time to try it soon.

Good Luck with whatever you purchase!

If I had to do it all over again, I'd still get the VS VR4 jr's. I love them.

Rob