Vandersteen VLR Speaker Review

[Blumlein 88]

Sorry cut and paste from another speaker. It has no port.

A missed opportunity for innovation. The portless port design.

 

[Doodski]

A missed opportunity for innovation. The portless port design.

I googled for pics of the speaker although the model has limited pics on the net. I assumed that maybe the port is on the bottom.

 

[Katji]

I think this is Vandergek or of the mad

mal conception

 

[Billy Budapest]

Jeebus! Was not expecting this from such a storied manufacturer as Vandersteen.

 

[dfuller]

The simple fact of the woofer being “on” the baffle instead of flush is an almost immediate sign that the response will be jagged. Even moreso with the frame being cut to fit on the sides

I saw a video on that recently. And, well, yeah - designs like this are almost always an unmitigated disaster.

 

[JSmith]

Jeebus! Was not expecting this from such a storied manufacturer as Vandersteen.

Me either... it's literally like they've just thrown a driver in a cabinet and thought yeah that looks fine, start making and selling them. The design part is completely missing... let alone any measurements. 101 - how to design an expensive and horrible speaker.


JSmith

 

[Katji]

There is the Vandersteen long socks model. Instead of grille fabric, they talk about how to replace the socks.

 

[respice finem]

OK, another "gospel-based" speaker...
The "dealer assistance" probably looks like this:

http://bilder.hifi-forum.de/max/415461/facepalm_1040946.jpg

 

[restorer-john]

The impedance sweep suggests there is a series capacitor (high value) in series with the woofer, probably deliberately to prevent LF getting to the driver.

 

[Prana Ferox]

That impedance curve, good Lord. I've heard Vandersteens were hard to drive but that's ridiculous. @amirm , do you have one with the impedance axis zoomed in more so we can better see what's going on?

 

[amirm]

That impedance curve, good Lord. I've heard Vandersteens were hard to drive but that's ridiculous. @amirm , do you have one with the impedance axis zoomed in more so we can better see what's going on?

I am out but yes, I can zoom in when I get back home.

 

[tvih]

2.3ohm... and yet somehow you have folks claiming 4ohm speakers (as in ones that are nominally 4 but also never go below 4) need a lot of magic dust-laden amp oomph. Jeez.

 

[alex-z]

They make the same speaker with a carbon tweeter from their System 9 speaker ($150k plus) for $3291. Probably just needed a better tweeter.

I don't know if this is sarcasm, but a better tweeter won't fix the truckload of diffraction due to the non-flush mounted driver and surround edge.

Contrast this speaker with a design like the KEF Q100/150, where they flush mounted the driver, used a low diffraction surround, and did the tangerine waveguide on the tweeter. 1st order filters in the crossover like the Vandersteen VLR, but much better performance.

 

[Blumlein 88]

I don't know if this is sarcasm,........snip.

Yes was sarcasm.

 

[MAB]

Yes, some of these old school speaker companies could upgrade their designs by using REW and a Umik-1. The upgrade could be considerable. Not to mention if they then did outdoor ground plane measuring to get closer to accurate results.

Have you yet measured any speakers with 1st order crossovers that do well at all? I cannot think of any.

Duntech Sovereign had first order crossovers, I thought they sounded great. I wonder how they measure, but not holding my breath to find out!

I enjoyed owning a pair of Vandersteen IIci with two 2W subwoofers for years. Sorry to see these are a disappointment.

And whenever I use a pair of non-Vandersteen speakers in a mixed phase system, I'm gonna call Chuck Norris.

 

[Joseph Crowe]

I'm surprised by this glowing review published in Tone Audio posted on Vandersteen's website...

https://www.vandersteen.com/media/files/Tone%20Audio%20VLR%20Review%202015.pdf

"Best of all, the Vandersteens are easier to drive with any kind of amplification"

"Vandersteen speakers are known for a natural tonal balance and have always been incredibly easy to drive"

"We can go on and on with esoteric prose, but these speakers handle the musical fundamentals better than many speakers, regardless of price. You’ll find the VLR in our print annual next month as one of our Products of the Year in the small-speaker category. I can think of no small speaker more deserving."

 

[thewas]

Is that a Seas coax? Reminds that only very few companies can engineer great coaxial drivers and that many beloved audiophile brands make basic engineering errors. Nowadays even with DIY and not more than $150 per loudspeaker you can get much better results, for example.

 

[voodooless]

The impedance sweep suggests there is a series capacitor (high value) in series with the woofer, probably deliberately to prevent LF getting to the driver.

And one can extend bass a bit with this setup if the box is too small. I’ve used this setup once in a small closed sub. Works well: https://www.lautsprechershop.de/hifi/aka_tief_c.htm

A missed opportunity for innovation. The portless port design.

That innovation has already been done, it’s called a passive radiator

Anyway… I can’t figure out why the directivity is so bad? Don’t think all of that is from the non-flush mounting.

 

[DanielT]

The simple fact of the woofer being “on” the baffle instead of flush is an almost immediate sign that the response will be jagged. Even moreso with the frame being cut to fit on the sides

Thanks Amir for the test, measurement I just started by saying.

But that one seems to cost:
$ 3,200 pair. Is it the same as in Amir's test?

In any case this is what the manufacturer says about them:

Accurately reproducing the signal from the amplifier requires preserving all of the delicate time-domain relationships that comprise music. Because there is not enough physical real estate to time-align such a compact speaker, making time-and phase-coherent speakers in such a small box requires the use of coaxially-mounted drivers like the woofer / tweeter used here. The result is all the coherence and dimensional purity one expects from a classic Vandersteen in a gorgeous and versatile little speaker.

Vandersteen Audio High End Speakers | Vandersteen Audio

Vandersteen Audio High End Speakers

www.vandersteen.com

Accurately reproducing?

 

[GWolfman]

I rank the Vandersteen the second most broken speaker I have ever listened to or measured.

Yikes! I'm surprised the panther's head is still nearby the body!