New Company

December 1, 1999- Dr. Edward Gonzaga of the Gonzaga Investment Group, is proud to announce the formation of a new audiophile speaker company, Von Schweikert Audio. Headed by noted designer Albert Von Schweikert, the new company has announced the release of two all-new speaker systems, the VR-5 and VR-7. In addition, service and updates will be offered for all former VSR speaker systems. Please contact the company at albertvonn@aol.com for further information regarding service or updates.

Debut: CES, Las Vegas

Von Schweikert Audio will be debuting the new VR-5 and VR-7 systems in the Presidential Suite #1903 at T.H.E. SHOW being held at the St. Tropez Hotel in Las Vegas January 6-9, concurrent with CES next door at the Alexis Park Hotel. Room partners are Bel Canto electronics and Analysis Plus cable company.

New Design Goals

Albert Von Schweikert’s new design goals are to increase transparency and lower distortion in the quest for sonic realism. Towards that end, all new drivers were specified and/or engineered, including soft-dome tweeters and aluminum woofers for greater accuracy and musicality. A new cosmetic styling is evident as well, with premium woods and contemporary furniture in mind. Stunning great looks using elegant simplicity is the key to user appeal and the new Italian cosmetics will complement any décor. The sound quality of the new VR-5 and VR-7 is impressively musical and natural, surpassing the earlier VR speaker designs by a wide margin.

NEW MODELS

VR-5 ($5,950/pr)

The VR-5 is a four way Reference Grade speaker system using the world’s finest drivers, crossover parts, and internal wiring. The VR-5 can be regarded as a bargain as it will compete sonically with any speaker several times its price and is one of the most beautiful speakers available.

Cabinet

The elegant 42" wood tower features 1.5" thick walls and heavy cross bracing, with an internal damping layer consisting of 1" thick rubber and felt lining the walls. This level of sound deadening is unprecedented at this price point and permits the VR-5 to have breath-taking transparency with no coloration. Standard finish is light maple, with other finishes available.

Woofer System

Twin 180mm aluminum coned SuperDuty woofers made in Europe reproduce the bottom octaves with authority and delicate clarity, using a modified transmission-line tuning to achieve response flat to 28Hz (–6dB at 20Hz). Bass definition and punch are at state-of-the-art levels due to the long-throw aluminum woofers. These premium-grade drivers use a special low distortion motor, allowing very clean midbass along with thundering deep bass. To eliminate the noise caused by a conventional dust cap, a specially designed phase plug is used in the center of the cone. The modified transmission line tuning utilizes heavy stuffing to eliminate cavity resonance, the source of midbass boom in competing systems. To reproduce the bottom octave with authority, the 3" vent is foam-lined and has a 6" flared mouth to eliminate wind noise and coloration. When listening to the VR-5, you’ll be able to discern the individual mallet strikes in a drum roll or feel the deep impact of a Fender bass!

Midrange System

Midrange frequencies are very accurately reproduced by a French state-of-the-art 5.5" driver using a composite cone made from carbon fiber, Kevlar, and cellulose acetate pulp. This new cone material, along with the edge-wound ribbon voice coil and special suspension, allows transparency equal or superior to any driver, whether electrostatic or ribbon. This extremely light cone has very high internal damping due to the composite cone structure and can trace very delicate waveforms with stunning precision. Coloration and distortion of mid frequencies are virtually unmeasurable, allowing the VR-5 to reproduce voices, piano, and other difficult sources similar to a live event. This superb driver is backloaded by an infinite transmission line using progressive Gradient Density absorption. This proprietary technique consists of 4" thick felt and foam rubber wedges edge-loaded to eliminate coloration in the vital mid frequency range.

Treble System

The Excel soft dome tweeter is one of the world’s finest tweeters, using the transmission line principle to eliminate back pressure. The Sonotex fabric dome is internally coated with a proprietary damping material to eliminate flexing and distortion that compromises lesser fabric domes. Using an ultra-linear long-throw motor system and Ferrofluid cooling, distortion is lowered beyond that of conventional dome tweeters, resulting in electrostatic-type clarity. Moreover, dispersion and smoothness are at state-of-the-art levels, resulting in one of the most transparent yet sweet treble ranges available, and far surpassing metal domes.

Ambience System

The rear-firing ambience driver is a 1" cloth-dome unit made in Norway and features very low distortion due to a Sonotex coated dome, Ferrofluid cooling, and a transmission line vented rear chamber to eliminate distortion and back pressure. There is an adjustable volume control for this rear driver and it’s ambience circuit, enabling just the right amount of "air" and "space" to be generated for ultimate soundstage depth. The Dimension control can compensate for any acoustic condition and/or room placement and can be switched off if desired.

Crossover Design

The crossover design is based on acoustic fourth order slopes combined with first order slopes, using a minimum of parts in the signal path. In the quest for greater transparency combined with ultimate smoothness, Hovland capacitors are used in the treble range, along with Eagle metal film resistors and Solen air core inductors. All woofer components can handle up to 1500 watts before saturation or distortion, allowing tremendous dynamic range without boom or compression. The woofer circuit is physically separated from the mid/treble crossovers for elimination of crosstalk and distortion and permits bi-wiring if desired. The midrange crossover circuit uses a minimum of extremely high-grade components to reduce parasitic absorption of the signal, enabling very realist vocal reproduction. Internal wiring is custom designed for the VR-5’s drivers, with 9AWG woofer wiring supplied by Analysis Plus and midrange/treble wiring designed and supplied by Robert Lee Audio.

VR-5 Specifications

System Type: Dynamic-driver four way system using transmission line loading.
Size: 42" high, 9" wide, and 16" deep. Wall construction uses heavily braced 1.5" MDF.
Internal damping consists of 1" rubber and felt layers on all walls, with veneered exterior.
Weight: 90 lbs.
Driver Complement: 2-180mm aluminum woofers, 1-5" aerogel cone midrange driver, 2- 1" Sonotex fabric dome tweeters, one rear firing.
Crossover: Acoustic first and fourth order, at 200Hz and 3kHz.
Ambience Driver: 1" fabric Sonotex dome with Dimensional volume control to compensate for room acoustics and soundstage depth.
Frequency Response: 28-20kHz, +/- 1.5 dB, 20Hz-25kHz –6dB.
Impedance: 6 ohms avg. (4 ohms 20Hz-200Hz; 8 ohms 200Hz-20kHz).
Recommended Power: 10 watts up to 300 watts (peak power for 50ms).
Sensitivity: 91dB @ 1w/1m using 2.83v.
Warranty: Five years Parts and Labor, excluding burned voice coils due to amp clipping.
Finishes: Standard finish is blond maple. Available at extra cost with 4 week lead time are light natural cherry, dark red cherry, medium walnut, birds eye maple, and piano black.

VR-7 ($15,000/pr)

This is a new replacement for the VR-6 that was awarded "Product Of The Year" by Audioland magazine, Hong Kong, in December 1998. The VR-6 also won "Best Sound Of The Show, 2nd Place" at the Stereophile Show in San Francisco, 1997, and has appeared on the front cover of leading magazines in Germany and Holland. As many magazine reviewers, leading audiophiles, and famous musicians use the VR-6 as their reference speaker, calling it "one of the best speakers in the world," the VR-7 has to be something special. And that it is: using the world’s finest engineering and component parts, the VR-7 is a sonic powerhouse and although expensive, the 7’s are a bargain due to their incredible realism, stunning cosmetics, and heroic build quality.

Cabinet

The Italian-designed cabinet is a graceful 52" tower with a swept-back top and swept-back side cheeks that are carved from solid hardwoods. The cabinets are damped by multi-composition walls using constrained layer laminations, with a 2.5" thick front baffle and 1.5" thick side walls. Internal damping/sound-proofing includes a 1" thick internal wall coating composed of felt and rubber layers. This exclusive combination of engineering and materials allows the VR-7 to be the most neutral sounding speaker available, without resonance or coloration. The VR-7 can easily take it’s place in the most elegant of rooms, and sonically, it simply disappears, generating a holographic image that has to be heard to be believed.

Woofer System

In order to reproduce the high impact and punchy bass of today’s recordings, combined with ultra-detailed midbass clarity, the VR-7 utilizes twin magnesium metal-coned 200mm Superduty woofers. The magnesium cone is the lightest yet stiffest cone available, enabling incredible volume levels to be attained at very low frequencies without distortion or coloration. In addition, the metal cones allow heat to be radiated from the voice coil, lowering the distortion and compression found in other cone materials. Furthermore, the motor system uses a patented method of eliminating "fringe" distortion caused by the movement of the voice coil in the fixed magnetic field. These design features and resulting sonic excellence is unsurpassed by any other woofer we know of, at any price.

The transmission-line tuning system uses heavy stuffing to eliminate cavity resonance and midbass boom, while the bottom octave is reproduced with tremendous authority by the rear-firing 4" vent with 7" flare to reduce wind noise distortion. This combination of design elements enables the VR-7 to have the finest sounding bass reproduction of any speaker we know of.

Midrange System

In order to move the large volume of air necessary for maximum dynamic range, the driver selected is a cast frame 6.5" unit hand-made in France. To reproduce the vital midrange with high detail and low coloration, the driver utilizes a very stiff but light cone made from a composite of carbon fiber, Kevlar, and cellulose acetate pulp. This aerogel cone has extremely high internal damping, enabling a very high level of transparency to be achieved surpassing that of any other driver we have ever tested. To eliminate coloration, the backwave is absorbed by an infinite transmission line using Gradient Density absorption, created by 10" thick edge-on layers of foam rubber and felt wedges.

Treble System

To reproduce the high level of detail required to match the aerogel midrange driver and magnesium coned woofers, a very highly engineered Scanspeak dome tweeter was selected. This silk dome with proprietary coating enables very high clarity without distortion or harshness found in metal dome tweeters. To further enable high volume levels without distortion, Ferrofluid is used along with a special underhung motor system which eliminates "fringe" distortion caused by the voice coil leaving the magnetic gap at high excursion levels. To eliminate the coloration found in conventional dome tweeters, this Scanspeak unit was designed with the transmission line principle, using a rear vented chamber to absorb the backwave. These engineering features allows the VR-7 to have the best of both worlds: very high detail retrieval combined with utterly sweet musicality.

Ambience Retrieval System

In order to generate a deep soundstage combined with holographic imaging for more than one person, a rear firing ambience driver is utilized. This driver is a 1" silk dome tweeter using a special ambience recovery circuit and Dimension control. This allows the ambience effects to be controlled for every acoustic situation or can be switched off if desired.

Crossover Design

To enable a linear phase reproduction combined with ruler flat frequency response, both first order and fourth order acoustic slopes are utilized. This combination of crossover slopes enables the highest level of transparency by eliminating many crossover elements, but also protects the drivers from distortion caused by undesirable out-of-band frequencies. Only the finest components were selected, including Hovland capacitors, Solen air-core inductors, and Eagle metal film resistors. All wiring is custom designed and is furnished by Analysis Plus for the twin woofers and Robert Lee Audio for the midrange and treble. The woofer circuit board is physically separated from the midrange and treble boards, enabling bi-wiring. All crossover parts can withstand 1500 watts before distortion or saturation, eliminating compression of dynamic range. In addition, the circuit boards use 9AWG copper buss-bars (instead of thin plated traces) and are hand wired point-to-point for added transparency and freedom from distortion.

Vr-7 Specifications

System Type: Dynamic-driver four way system using transmission line loading.
Size: 52" high, 13" wide, and 19" deep. Wall construction uses heavily braced 1.5" MDF. Internal damping consists of 1" rubber and felt layers on all walls, with veneered exterior. Front baffle is 2.5" thick and is attached to front of cabinet with rubber damping layer.
Weight: 120 lbs ea.
Driver Complement: 2-200mm magnesium metal-coned woofers, 1-6.5" aerogel cone midrange driver, 2- 1" silk fabric dome tweeters, one rear firing.
Crossover: Acoustic first and fourth order, at 200Hz and 3kHz.
Ambience Driver: 1" silk fabric dome with Dimensional volume control to compensate for room acoustics and soundstage depth.
Frequency Response: 22-20kHz, +/- 1.5 dB, 18Hz-25kHz –6dB.
Impedance: 6 ohms avg. (4 ohms 20Hz-200Hz; 8 ohms 200Hz-20kHz).
Recommended Power: 10 watts up to 500 watts (peak power for 50ms).
Sensitivity: 92dB @ 1w/1m using 2.83v.
Warranty: Five years Parts and Labor, excluding burned voice coils due to amp clipping.
Finishes: Standard finish is blond maple. Available at extra cost with 4 week lead time are light
natural cherry, dark red cherry, medium walnut, birds eye maple, and piano black.

Please contact Von Schweikert Audio at albertvonn@aol.com for further information. Shipping of the new models will commence January 15.

14048 Via Corsini Dr.
San Diego, CA
92128-3775
Ph (858) 676-0146
Fax: (858) 676-0146
Cell: (619)251-0502
E-mail: albertvonn@aol.com