Von schweikert vr4sr up against mahler


I have vienna acoustic mahler speakers that I was thinking of replacing with vr4sr speakers.has anyone heard both?my amp driving the speakers is Gryphon. I love the sound of my Mahlers but feel that I need to change as I have had Mahlers now for three years. Here in Australia I have not the choice of speakers that some people have.
theta
Theta

My two cents may be of little value having not heard the specfic vienna speakers you now have, I have auditioned some of the Vienna line up in times past. However, I have heard the VSA VR4Sr's and I own the VSA VR4jr's. The VSA speakers are fantastic, there is truly music in those speakers. Paired with the quality Gryphon that you have, even if it is just for a change of pace, you could not go wrong, you will love the VS speakers. The only question may be do you really have to take the leap to the VSA SR's when the JR's may do very nicely indeed.
I owned VR 4.5's for 3 years before owning my current Vienna Mahlers. No comparison the Mahlers play music the VR 4.5's played hifi.
Have not heard the current VR speakers.

If you luv your mahlers, why are you looking at changing?
Downunder,

Care to explain youir remark that, "the Mahlers play music the VR 4.5's played hifi."

I haven't spent much time with the 4.5s, but I have the 4jr speakers, not yet fully broken in or set up, and I am very impressesd with how they present classical music to this regular concert-goer.
Melm, In my system the VS 4.5's could never really get any deep bass and the midrange / treble was very trasparent but ultimately fatiguing - much like hifi.
The mahlers just sounded better.
"02-07-06: Downunder
Melm, In my system the VS 4.5's could never really get any deep bass and the midrange / treble was very trasparent but ultimately fatiguing - much like hifi.
The mahlers just sounded better."

You should have read the manual on how to set them up. They have tramendously tight base and fatiguing is not what you get from them unless the rest of your system is very weak. They can't make up for weak system.
>They have tramendously tight base<

Yes, but do they have tramendously tight bass too????
It seems like there are speakers that are so accurate that no recordings or associate equipment can be measured up to this "accuracy". The cliche or excuse is to blame other equipment but the reality is the speakers will ultimately affect the total sound quality the most. If speakers are bright, then more than likely, the sound will be bright unless you put a low pass filter somewhere in your audio chain.

Ultimately, I want something that helps me out at the end of a hard work day, and not something that makes me brace myself everytime a female vocal hits a high note.

Ozzy62, you caught me - unfortunately their bass sucks as downunder was saying ;)
Keep the Mahlers. I had (have)the VA Bachs for 3 years and upgraded to the VSA 4jrs almost a year ago. My comparisons are based on these two speakers and have spent a great deal of time listening to the VA line up through the Beethovan's. I've never heard the Mahler's but, I bet they are glorious sounding. So keep those comments in mind when disecting my thoughts. I found the VA speakers to be extremely listenable, probably due to the silk tweeter. My wife and I could listen for hours. Ultimately, I upgraded because they just couldn't hang on loud R&R music. I'm very happy with my 4's and they keep getting better and better as my system evolves. BUT they are more neutral/cleaner sounding to my ears than the Bach's. I don't want to give the impression that I'm not a fan of my 4 jr's, because I am. It did take a while to adjust to the difference in sound between the two lines. I still have my Bach's and will take them out of the attic some day to build another system. I guess what I'm getting to in a round about way is, I think at best you will be making a lateral move and may or may not like the sound better than what you already have. FWIW if I ever get rid of my 4 jrs' the Mahlers would be right at the top of the audition list.
Good luck.
I had Beethovens, and I now have the Mahlers. I am in love with their sound. I am very delighted with the musical reproduction. I visit a lot of high end stereo stores and often bring a cd that I am familar with and listen to various systems. I am very happy that I got my Mahlers. I do have a larger room, and I am driving them with a McIntosh MC-402 and a MX-119 pre/pro and a Underwood Ultimate Modified Denon 3910 player.
I heard the Mahlers, although very good speakers, I ended up buying the Von Schweikert VR-4 SRs. There haven't been many speakers in the retail $8k-12k range that impressed me enough to want to buy them during my speaker search about 8 months ago. After hearing the SRs, I was convinced that this was the best speaker I have heard thus far in this price range. I actually feel they can compete with speakers at double the price. There are so many things this speaker does very well. When I turn on my system now thru the SRs, I feel like I am listening to real music, not a high fidelity replication. I would seriously suggest you go listen to the VR-4 SR (hooked up properly that is) and judge for yourself. I didn't know much or heard about Von Schweikert products until I heard the SRs and JRs. It made me a believer after the audition.

Too bad I bought my brand new pair so early and paid almost full price (10% discount only). Now they are being sold brand new at deep discount with full warranty. That's a nice deal. The demo pairs up for sale now are even more of a better deal. But at least I was in sonic bliss for the past 8 months so I guess it's all good.

Good luck on your choice.

VA Mahler is for music lovers. VS is for audiophiles. So there is more a question of taste than which one is better.
Bsimpson,
Very well put...no way to state this better.
Since I'm personally about the MUSIC, it's no contest.

Larry