TO JOEY V.-
as a vr-9se owner i can offer a brief description of the speaker:
finish- could be alot smoother. speaker could be a whole lot prettier. (i have piano black gloss).
otoh, quality of materials and fit- A+
sound- for me it's all about midrange transparency; my previous speakers were eggleston andra-2's which were musical to the degree that you could listen to them all day, and lacked nothing except "huge speaker" dynamics. but after hearing the vr-9 midrange, they are truly in another league, truly in magnaplanar/quad territory. the perspective i get is not 10th row but more like standing at the podium (classical recordings), free to constantly adjust my focus on single musical lines or the the total mix at will. the subwoofer presents a challenge to integrate properly with the other drivers, but it is adjustable, and you just have to learn when to turn the level down (most people including myself like a lot of bass, but with the 9's a lot of bass is too much bass...)
as for all of the other dials and switches on the back which taylor the sound, i feel you can, with patience and time, get the speakers to sound good in just about any decent sized room - mine is 14 x 20 with a cathedral ceiling, 2.5 ft. from the side walls, with the rear of the speakers at 22 inches from the front wall.
i've heard a lot of great speakers over the years, including most recently the wilson alexandrias, and the vr-9's are definitely in their league. of course, if you buy the wilsons, the dealer will set them up for optimum performance for you. as the vr-9's do not even come with a manual (they're working on it), most customers will have to listen, get up, listen, get up again, listen some more, get up some more,... I was lucky in that i used the egglestons as a reference standard, and when the vr-9's got to sounding nearly identical, i felt i reached my goal. in other words, the treble still has some "bite" as did the egg's, the bass is ample but controlled. as for the mids, you'll just have to go and hear them for yourselves! and don't forget to bring a baton along to the audition...

french_fries June 04, 2006 21:50

Gallant_diva; thanks for the kind words. your visit was totally my pleasure and you are most welcome to visit again any time you are in the area. if i am ever around your area i will try to stop by.

your reaction to the digital-vinyl comparison was pure entertainment for me. thanks also for the helpful feedback on what you were hearing; it has given me further insights.

all the best,

mikelavigne June 04, 2006 18:03

Rugyboogie; congrats on the Verdier Platine tt and Kuzma Airline; that has got to be a SOTA combo. hopefully i'll get up your way in the near future and hear how it sounds.

as you've read my thread on the cartridge comparisons there is not much to add. a few weeks ago at the request of some friends i did mount the XV-1s again so they could hear the Colibri in contrast.

it took about 5 seconds for them to decide to buy the Colibri. to be fair i still have not broken in the XV-1s. i'm trying to get myself to remove the Colibri again but have not so far.

i have not had the Miyabi in my system but everything i hear about it is that it is very special and musical. My Koetsu RSP is simply beautiful sounding but colored in the classic Koetsu way. if you like a heightened sense of liquidity and ease at the expense of snap and vividness then the RSP would be highly recommended. it does great bass and is very detailed and texturally nuanced.

i look forward to hearing your first impressions of your new vinyl set-up. i read you should be recieving your airline about now.

mikelavigne June 04, 2006 17:50

Hi Mike:

Thank you for your gracious hospitality. It was one of the most satisfying listening sessions I have had at someone's house. I probably can write an article, or a set of articles, each describing separately your house, your garden. your system, and your hospitality itself :)

Folks, this system kicks butts, especially with the Sirius turntable, which in my opinion totally justifies every bit of its "coveted" price tag. It was vintage analog at its glorious best.

The room and its surrouding areas are simply awesome, a state-of-the-art that is highly professionally done, offering the best of aesthetics as well as acoustics. Well done, Mike, well done!

Mike, we had so much to talk about, in terms of music, amps, sources, cables, and speakers. I would love to visit you again if I am ever in that area. You are very welcome to visit me as well.

Thank you again and my sincere congratulations on your great achievements in reaching the frontiers of this hobby.

gallant_diva June 04, 2006 05:51

Hi Mike
Sorry, I just saw your in depth review of three of the above cartridges.
Thanks

rugyboogie May 28, 2006 19:36

Hi Mike
Hope that you are doing well. After a visit to your house it inspired me get back into Vinyl and decided to buy the JC Verdier Platine turntable and Kuzma Airbearing tonearm. At a later date I will add another tonearm.
Cartridge question for you. Are you overall happy with Dynavector XV-1s ? I will be buying more cartridges as time goes by but have to start somewhere. The other cartidges I am contemplating are:
Airy Universe
Allerts
Mijabi
Koetsu
Any thoughts
Thanks as always
Mikel R

rugyboogie May 27, 2006 19:22

Loxo,

a little early in the day to be imbibing, don't ya think?

mikelavigne May 26, 2006 23:38

Dear Mike, To bad that you have to ditch you DarT stuff. Was a hype anyway. Try the new Kharma 150 but even better get the Kharme 350 mono's. These are the real thing, not your DarT's. Unfortunately you got yourself the VonScheweinkerts (German WOII general?)that need to go as well. Mike get yourself the Grand Exquisite or if short for cash, the latesed Ex Reference 1d. This way you get an idear of how music sounds. Take care and invest smartly and keep your exchange loss for the pleasing things in life. Loxo

loxodrome May 26, 2006 17:21

Mike, that is a lot to think about. It would kind of stink if we didn't have something or other to fret over. Wow! is right. Decisions.....

gererick May 23, 2006 23:38

Rick, i did read Herve's impedence article in Stereophile. although the math pretty much just goes over my head it is not hard to follow his logic. i find it interesting to read him theorize about the ideal approach to interconnects and then sit back and listen to it's implimentation thru his gear.

i wonder how long it will take the rest of the HiFi world to catch up with his approach?

i did get a detailed response from Herve regarding using a second 8 meter set of BNC cables. he has not specifically tried that but thinks it theoretically could be better. he did tell me about a built-in feature of the dart pre that would improve things. there are three BNC outputs per channel and the dart pre; A, B, and C.....which allow for tri-amping. i'll let Herve explain;

***************

Then you could also use the preamp optional built-in filters. These filters will help reducing intermodulation between bass and highs. If you want to use the filters, you will have to use outputs B and C (B for the bass, C for the highs in bi-amp mode; when tri-amping we use outputs A, B, and C).
Frequency filters are set at 628 Hz and 6.28kHz, meaning the following:
Output B will deliver from nearly DC to 6.3 kHz for bass output, reducing high frequency intermodulation.
Output C will deliver from 628 Hz to dolphin-ear frequencies, avoiding bass intermodulation.
These frequencies were chosen not to interact with existing speaker crossover, provided your "high side" crossover start above 1 kHz or so.

Implementing these filters imply some soldering/unsoldering pads, like for the phono settings.

*******************

all i can say is WOW! talk about optimizing a system. i need to check on the crossover for my mid-range driver (Von Schweikert does not publish their crossover frequencies) to see whether i can use the filter on output C for my mid-tweeter.

it actually seems to get better all the time.

mikelavigne May 19, 2006 13:49

Jhightower, hello. thanks for the kind words. and you're wrong; your stuff makes music fun just like mine.

actually, i never owned any BAT gear but i have had a few different pieces of BAT gear in my system over the years; VK-50SE, VK-60 Mono's, VK-60SE, VK75SE, VK-P10SE and at one point the VK-150SE's. back prior to my initial contact with Tenor OTL's i did consider the 150's.

a few years back we briefly discussed the Rowland 112 (which i was selling at that time) as you were considering a move to Rowland.

nice system, by the way.

mikelavigne May 19, 2006 13:29

Hey Mike, long time. I think you owned some BAT 150SE mono's at one point. And knew a guy named russ, with those pipes (voice ability).

System looks cool. I am running Theta Gen VIII and Accuphase with JM Labs and Aerial Acoustics subs (yes, two).

Fun stuff, but nothing like what you have.

Keep the faith, and keep it fun.

jhightower May 19, 2006 02:00

Mike, thanks. Herve discusses it in the Audiophile Technical Manual, for which there is a link on DarTZeel's site under "Download". Page 16, 17, 18. Best, Rick

gererick May 16, 2006 14:10

Mike,

Really love your system.... top to bottom, just stellar.

Can you post a review of your VR9s? I heard the VR4jr but was not particularly impressed... but would love to read your take on the 9s. I havent heard much above the VR4jr in the VR lineup.

Though I've heard speakers all the way to the Wilson Maxx2 driven by Halcro DM68 monoblocks.

Thanks in advance.

Joey

joey_v May 16, 2006 06:33

Rick, i have not read the above article and am presently at work so i can't look it up for myself (i have every Stereophile since Nov 1994).

i did go to the darTZeel web site and looked up Wes Philip's review of the dart amp. in that review Wes refers to Herve's impedence article as being in the November 2001 Stereophile, pages 59 to 69.

tonight i'll read it myself.

mikelavigne May 15, 2006 18:36

Thanks, Mike. I'd like to read the article. I searched Stereophile's site using Herve's first and than last name, and was not successful. If someone can let me know the issue, I probably still have it. Thanks again. Rick

gererick May 15, 2006 13:44

Rick, about 5 or 6 years ago Herve wrote an article for Stereophile about the significance of impedance on audio. the concepts are beyond me but he is clearly onto something with the design of his amp and pre in regards to enabling them to take advantage of these cables. as it has been explained to me; 50ohm cables would only benefit gear that has been specifically designed for it on both ends.

i even investigated whether the EMM Labs gear could also use this cable; i was told until/unless the EMM Labs gear was designed to take full advantage of the 50 ohm spec it would not work to full advantage.

i hope i answered your question.

mikelavigne May 15, 2006 13:24

At that price, the DarTzeel interconnects must be a 'breakthrough' product. I'd like to learn more about them - what is the best way to inquire? Generally, I'd like to learn more about the applicability of these interconnects when not used with Dart amplification. My system does not have BNC connections. Even if my system did, it might not be 50 ohm. I am having a pre-amp built with RCA outs; I wonder whether I should request BNC outs, but then my amps have only RCA in. That could be modified as well, I suppose. etc., etc. Thanks. Rick

gererick May 14, 2006 23:30

Rick, the dart amp has one set of inputs for each channel; BNC (zeel), RCA and XLR (for version 'B'). there is also a three-position toggel for setting proper impedence for each input.

when i use the BNC (zeel) output from the dart pre (there are three BNC outputs from the dart pre as well as RCA and XLR) into the BNC input on the amp; i also use a BNC 'T' connector and a short jumper to the other channel (since i vertically bi-amp).

i could run a separate 8 meter BNC set from the dart pre for my other channel instead.

until your question here i never considered a second BNC cable from the dart pre to the other channel on my amp. i may e-mail Herve and ask him if that might give a performance advantage. i wonder if he has tried that.

mikelavigne May 14, 2006 16:20

Mike, Aaron, thanks. The Dart web site does not appear to have info on their interconnects. Also, there is a photo of the back of the pre-amp (one can see the 50 ohm BNC outs), but not the amp. If you use the BNC out of the pre-amp, what is the connection into the back of the Dart amp? Best, Rick

gererick May 14, 2006 15:34

French Fries; btw, i was out of town for a few days.

i am currently setting my crossover on the subwoofer of the VR9's at about 10:30 on the dial.....which is an increase of about 20 degree over where it was. i have also increased my subwoofer gain about 20 degrees (about 30 degrees beyond the 'dot'). i have also reduced my mid-tweeter gain from #3 back to #5 (looking from the rear of the speaker this is the dial on the right side below the upper speaker terminals).

it sounds like heaven. i will be descibing heaven more soon.

mikelavigne May 13, 2006 20:11

thanks Aaron, that sounds about right. i try to stay away from technical explainations so i don't hurt myself too much.

mikelavigne May 13, 2006 16:05

Rick, as i have not specifically compared the 8 meter BNC 'zeel' cables to shorter identical cables i can't tell you whether a shorter one would sound better. i did compare the 8 meter (about 25 feet) to identical 'zeel' cables 50 feet long and they sound exactly the same to my ears.

Herve Delatraz of darTZeel comments that due to his design approach that 'ANY' length up to one kilometer should sound exactly the same as any other length. please read his website for the scientific justification.

i did compare Herve's 'zeel' cables to some cheap versions and prefer Herve's. another dart pre owner has recently mentioned to me that he prefrred some other BNC cables to Herve's but i have not heard that for myself.

bottom line for me; from my listening i am COMPLETELY satisfied with the performance of Herve's cables and have no plans to change. similarly to my Placette RVC which i used for 4 years; even though it was cheap and looked very out-of-place in my system it was better than anything else i tried until the dart pre came along.

as always; i am open to my system sounding better if i hear something better.

mikelavigne May 13, 2006 15:28

Rick,

I am sure Mike will give you a better/more technical answer to this question than I could hope to but it is my understanding that the DartZeel components provide the option of using a special 50 ohm BNC connection, kind of like the fibre optic cable that carries communications signals over immense distances. I suspect that because of the very low impedance of the cable/interface the quality and length of the cable is a non-issue. The Dartzeel gear also provides normal single ended RCA and balanced XLR preamp-to-amp connectors to mate with the widest range of gear. In any event, it is often better to use longer interconnects of any type and shorter speaker cables when locating the bulk of your equipment away from the speakers.

All the best,
Aaron

drajreynolds May 13, 2006 04:10

Hello Mike,

I am not sure if you've already responded to someone's query, but how do you feel about your 8 meter interconnects versus shorter interconnects. Do you feel you're not giving up much? Also, the price you indicate for the Zeel interconnect is $1,900, which is out of proportion to everything else you have. And that is an important connection (pre-amp to amp, though all of the connections are obviously important). Is that price right? Are these interconnects that good?

Thanks.

Rick

gererick May 12, 2006 18:56