VR-4jr or Gallo Nucleus Reference 3

ATC SCM20-A2 ($5K)perfect for your room size which is too small for both of the speakers you've selected.

Infact SCM-10's passive might even do the trick but you might find them a just bit light in the bass.

In your size room a sealed speaker system that is flat to 45 hz like the SCM20's will be -6dB at 25 hz due to room gain.

The ATC driver complement is much better than the VR7 let alone the VR4jr. The gallo is in the same boat, it does not have the parts to remain in the league with the ATC's

The SCM20's will unfortunately not require your amplifiers, since they have a built in 200 watt and 50 watt amplifers. As for dynamics in that size room the 20's will redefine your definition of dynamics.

Hope you have a dealer nearby. Call Flat Earth Audio the importer on occasion they will arrange an in home trial through your closest dealer.

"Be careful about assuming a product is good based solely on the components used, it's the execution that makes a good product."

Well this is a valid point but the SCM-20 has been refined for years and its active crossover and amplification sets it miles apart from the VR4jr in execution. ATC is regarded as one of the worlds best driver manufacturers and speaker designers. FYI

Other than the bass of the 4jr, in a side by side comparision, it wasn't better than the ATC SCM35 which ate its lunch when it came to low distortion, driver integration and musicality. SCM20 is better than the 35.

The ATC's balance and resolution is without peer in this price point.

"They sounded absolutely fantastic at HE2004 NYC in a smallish hotel room."

Nice, this from acoustics expert? How much bigger is a smallish hotel room, than 13X15X8? Maybe 21x24X9? Did you have control of the demo, volume and source material? You have the software to roughly model the speaker run it and tell us what it says about the VR4jr speaker in his room...+5 or 6 dB at 30 hz? I'm just guessing...

I don't want to argue with you guys but to dismiss my recommendation with generalizations is pretty lame. Clearly neither of you can fathom that something is better than the VR4jr, or you would have heard about it. No knowledge of the speaker I selected and yet we have an opinion that its a notch down. This guy is using reviews to make a decision, so he doesn't know what the speakers sounds like, so he cannot have a bias which is why I went around his predetermined preferences.

It always shocks me that I have to get into these conversations about ATC, who has built some of the best speakers in the world for sometime. JGH of Stereophile in a review called the ATC SCM70's speakers the best in the world not 4 years ago. Did you guys miss that? ATC is not a fly by night company, they've been around 35 years and are as no compromise as any high end speaker. If you don't know who they are then there's a big hole in your knowledge base.

Respectfully,

Doug

Let me clear up some bad sentence structure that implicated Mr. Rives as making a comment on the ATC.

My dissappointment with Mr. Rives post was the lack of technical backup to his singular listening impression in a small room. Something he easily could have provided on a room calculator a speaker similar to the VR4jr models +11 dB at 36hz. It's not a reason not to buy the speaker its just something to be aware of.

It was not my intention, just bad grammar and sentence structure that got Rives wrapped into the ATC comments.

My very recent exposure to the VR4jrs and Gallos, I felt pretty strongly with the cardioid and wide dispersion output of these speakers a small room would not be ideal to getting the best from these speakers and that there are other speakers better suited to this application. That is all.