Von Schweikert Event at New Life Audio, Day 2

[Russter]

On October 14 and 15, 2023, The Listening Chair attended a private presentation and demo given by Von Schweikert Audio at retailer New Life Audio. At the event from VSA was Damon Von Schweikert, CEO, and Leif Swanson, Chief Design Officer. Present from NLA was the company's owner, Shawn Mathew.

This video, made on day 2 of the event at NLA’s Queens, New York, location, features VSA’s flagship Ultra 7 Reference speaker ($180,000 USD/pair). Check out the video!

 

[sonddek]

However great that kit may sound, it would take $500 or less to control the disastrous room acoustics which are clearly audible in a recording which appears to have been made with a telephone. A ten grand system, with $500 set aside to fix the room would sound better.

Look at that uninterrupted hard wall about 15 inches to the right of the right tweeters. Spherical wave my arse.

You can't miss it, so you have to conclude that some people like listening to the extreme coloration of the room and think that the intrusive and long-sustain resonances are revealing something about the recording.

I hear this over and over again at shows, especially in rooms with very expensive digital systems, to the extent that I notice when it's not like this. These rooms invariably play highly-processed close mic breathy vocals produced with lashings of digital reverb, which is why I wonder if they think room acoustics contribute to that 'high end' sound.

The music will always be carefully chosen. Request Tubeway Army or Texas Campfire Tapes and I suspect the game will be up. The music in natural recordings will not survive it.

 

[S-Man]

Seems like the price is now the most important specification of a loudspeaker.