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An
Interview with Von Schweikert Audio's
Albert Von Schweikert
Clement Perry
To demonstrate his new VR-11 ($100,000
to $165,000), Albert Von Schweikert
compared a live performing group, the Misty
River Band, (www.mistyriverband.com) with
a simultaneous recording of the group, played
back through these incredible speakers in a
Virtual versus Reality demonstration. Using
VAC tube amplifiers (www.vac-amps.com) to
drive the VR-11's, famed record
producer/engineer Chris Huston, who, by
the way, humbly holds 80 gold and platinum
records under his belt (www.chrishuston.com),
recorded the group using the finest
audiophile-based recording equipment in the
world; mics were $10,000 Brauner and
SoundDeluxe tube condensers, console was
the $125,000 Daking analog board, and
the recording deck was Ed Meitner's DSD
Super Audio system with EMM ADC/DAC converters
(you can see this pro recording gear at
www.transaudiodirect.com/info.html).
All cables were Robert Lee's Acoustic Zen,
including the custom-built mic cables. The
active room correction device included with
the VR-11 is made by Rives Audio and is
called the PARC. Rives Audio was also
responsible for bringing in not only Chris
Huston, but also the professional recording
equipment and the RPG room tuning
equipment, into the most elaborately planned
demo room I've ever seen. Power line
conditioning was by PS Audio and their
impressive looking Power Plant 1000.
As this demonstration was the highlight and my
choice for "Best Sound at Show" of the CES and T.H.E. Show, I finally caught up and
got an interview with Mr. Von Schweikert to
find out how a project of this magnitude was
brought to life. Thankfully, he, as usual, was
always full of conversation. Here's how our
interview went.
CP (Clement Perry): "Mr. Von Schweikert,
whose idea was this and how was this enormous
task fulfilled?"
AVS (Albert Von Schweikert): "Mr.
Perry, I've spent 27 years conducting research
into the human hearing process and speaker
design. Kevin Malmgren (V.P. Engineering, VSA)
and I decided to build a statement speaker in
2001 and spent two years doing experiments to
determine whether any speaker design could
ever replicate live music. Using research from
the field of psychoacoustics, we decided that
the technology was available to build a very
accurate system. After listening to the VR-11
for a few days, my research team and I became
extremely excited, the feeling of live music
was incredible. At that point, I knew I had to
ask a few friends to join in the live versus
recording and make it all happen. All of the
companies listed here were in full support of
my project after hearing about the VR-11 and
it's incredible accuracy."
CP: "It's obvious that your VR-11 is a
dynamic (cone) system, using ribbon tweeters.
Did you test electrostatic and other types of
planar drivers?"
AVS: "Of course. Many people know that
my midrange reference transducer is the Quad
electrostatic, for tonal and transparency
reference. However, all planar drivers have an
extreme limitation, and that is the horrible
compression of dynamic range due to the
clamped edge design and the curtailment of
diaphragm motion. Our cone midrange drivers
have 70 times more excursion potential, with a
consequent increase in the dynamic range."
CP: "My understanding that dynamic
range is critically important in the quest for
realism, do you agree?"
AVS: "Absolutely! That is why we
designed a system with 96dB sensitivity with
all controls and amplification set to "flat,"
with 102 dB in room with full EQ boost. The
VR-11 has on-board EQ for deep bass from 10Hz
to 100Hz, and in the mid-treble (1.5kHz) and
upper treble (10kHz). The VR-11 run at 102 dB
in-room has a dynamic range approaching live
music, and is very close in transparency to
the live instrument."
CP: "How were you able to design a
speaker with this incredible amount of
fidelity? Have you discovered anything new?"
AVS: "I'll let Kevin Malmgren, my Chief
Engineer, explain this one:
KM: "Albert had me test every expensive
driver available over a three year period, and
as we are both musicians, we did not solely
rely on test equipment. Instead, Albert
designed a test while a student at Cal Tech,
which is essentially a type of "straight-wire
bypass" using a live instrument fed into the
driver under consideration. If the driver
sounds close to the instrument feed, we would
take that driver into close consideration for
the system design."
CP: "How is the live music test
conducted on the driver? I haven't heard of
anyone else doing this."
AVS: "We own several different models
and brands of condenser mics, some with tubes,
some with solid state preamps. Our instruments
consist of me on acoustic guitar, I've got a
Taylor 815C, and Kevin plays brass
instruments. We play harmonica, snare, cymbal,
clarinet, sax, and of course, the human voice,
into the microphones. Across the room, we have
the transducer in a isolation booth made from
foam and carpeting. The actual test is simple,
we listen to the live instrument for a few
minutes, then walk over to the transducer and
listen for fidelity."
KM: "Of course, we band limit the
transducer with a simple crossover part, to
prevent bass modulation from distortion the
tweeters."
CP: "This live versus the
transducer
test sounds simple, why is no one else using
it?"
AVS: "Very few engineering companies
employ musicians, and frankly, I don't think
that anyone but us has thought of this!"
CP: "Are you both part of the group of
audiophiles that believe that measurements are
not important? Lately I hear that measurements
can't prove a thing about a component's
accuracy."
KM: "That's not true, measurements are
extremely important. For instance, our
customized soft ware reduces our development
time by a factor of 5, if not more, to
discover distortion, phase shift, and other
things that are difficult to measure by ear."
AVS: "We use measurements to determine
where the distortion components lie, and to
gauge whether our development process is
going forwards, backwards, or sideways. I know
a famous engineer who brags that he doesn't
use test equipment, but also claims it takes
him years to develop a product. Doesn't this
seem foolish? Also, he has gotten some poor
reviews lately, so I don't see his point."
CP: "Wow! But Albert, do you feel that
the VR-11 sounds like live music? Be truthful
now."
AVS: "Clement, of course the perfect
speaker has not been designed, not by us or
anyone else. However, the VR-11 has a
bandwidth of 10Hz to 100kHz (-6dB downpoints)
with totally flat response from 16Hz to 45kHz.
We've measured the distortion to be almost
inaudible at average listening levels, and the
coloration is almost non existent. Due to
Kevin Malmgren's physical cabinet design, we
have a minimum baffle layout that enables pin
point imaging, combined with the enormous bass
power of 4-15" powered subwoofers at the rear.
We can still hear some slight artifacts due to
the very nature of the transduction process,
naturally, but the majority of showgoers in
our room claimed that Misty River sounded
incredible, both live and through the VR-11.
That's what is important to us. Several
reviewers indicated that the VR-11 was the
best speaker they had ever heard, and we can't
argue with that!"
KM: "It's important to note that Chris
Huston, our recording engineer on the Misty
River Band project, noted that the mic
placement was far more critical than how
accurate the speakers are, in the overall
sonic picture of the group on playback. When
Chris moved the mics around a few inches, the
recordings changed dramatically, indicating
that the recording process itself is the key
to a system sounding live or merely canned."
CP: "Albert, you often mention in your
White Papers that your system design is called
Acoustic Inverse Replication. You have also
been accused of being a hype meister when it
comes to your product advertising. Are you
comfortable explaining your position on this?"
AVS: "General Motors invents a new form
of magnetic sensors to aid the steering
mechanism on the new Corvette, and names it
Magnasteer. I develop a new type of sound wave
projection that mimics the microphone pickup
pattern and name it Acoustic Inverse
Replication, and my crossover design I dub the
Global Axis Integration Network. For these
names, I've been criticized. One Internet
reviewer went so far to claim that "there is
no such type of crossover" and he cited the
lack of information in textbooks as his
source. As these new developments are our
intellectual property, I am not happy to give
them away by publishing my findings. After I
retire, then perhaps I'll tell all my secrets!
However, the GAIN technology enables my
speaker designs to radiate a bubble of sound
at the listening position, not a beam. We've
got 29 reviews that indicate our speakers cast
a 3-D image of the sound stage and sound very
"real" so I can't complain!"
KM: "What we can tell you is that
Albert's work at Cal Tech indicated that a
speaker has a definite function, and that is
to "decode" the microphone's pickup signal.
Since the recording mic has a defined
personality and set of constraints that is
overlayed on top of the music, these encoded
artifacts must be utilized in playback for
accurate dimensional realism. Think about how
analog to digital converters require an
inverse function in the digital to analog
converters. This is a simple fact of physics
and engineering."
AVS: "My critics all agree that my
technology results in highly musical designs;
they only criticize my choice of names!
Interesting, isn't it? I find that high end
audio has become extremely polarized, with
political consequences. Fortunately, none of
these so-called "critics" have an engineering
degree or musical experience; they appear to
be bit players wanting some attention. The
Internet is filled with these malcontents and
no one listens to them."
CP: "Well, I'm one of your believers
after hearing the incredible fidelity of your
VR-11 playing back the live tapes of Misty
River. How did you pick the other members of
your Consortium you call "The Masters Of
Audio?"
AVS: "I've been using Acoustic Zen
Zero-crystal cables for years and have found
nothing better (http://www.acousticzen.com).
As I grew up with tube equipment, I
experimented with several brands of gear until
we all chose the VAC stuff, which was the very
best blend with the neutral sonic signature of
the VR-11. Kevin Hayes of VAC had a similar
goal as mine, to develop a highly musical and
accurate set of electronics. His emphasis on
low distortion design, transparency to the
signal, and extreme reliability hit all of my
hot buttons. I've personally ordered his
equipment for my home as well as our factory
showroom." (http://vac-amps.com).
KM: "Due to the revealing nature of the
VR-11, I felt that we needed the best line
conditioner in the world, and after several
tests, chose the PS Audio Model 3000 AC
regenerator (http://psaudio.com). Paul McGowen
hit a home run with this new technology, which
elevates the VR-11's performance
significantly, in the realm of clarity and
imaging accuracy; all of the instruments float
on their own cushion of air, and you can hear
all the way around the image."
AVS: "I've admired the Oracle turntable
and CD player for years and knew that we
needed these units for our ultimate system
(http://www.oracle-audio.com). Jacques, their
ex-designer, has been hired by our group to
design new cosmetics; he is simply the finest
industrial artist in the world!"
The recording equipment was supplied in part
by Rives Audio and Transamerica.
CP: "Albert, you have been known as a
very good designer for many years, but for
some reason, you have maintained an
underground profile. It seems that you are now
well on your way to become a huge force in
this business. How did this change come
about?"
AVS: "Large scale financing was the
key. For several years, we have been
developing our product line and making
contacts with key dealers, 73 in the US and
half again that many in Europe. Now that we
are well funded, as shown by our huge project
at T.H.E. Show and CES, we will begin large
scale advertising to gain a larger dealer
base. Of course, our last few reviews have
been raves and that is helping things along
too! We invite dealers to contact us for an
evaluation of our products. Before we had a
dealer base, we offered a 90-day refund to
customers, only two returned them, out of more
than 800 pairs sold at that time! Our dealers
are pretty comfortable selling our speakers
against models costing twice as much."
CP: "Can you tell me a little more
about the VR-11? I'm dying to get a pair
myself, that is, if you ever shrink them. Is
there a smaller model coming?"
AVS: "We have a smaller version coming,
called VR-9, to retail at $40,000. This design
will be identical, but with fewer drivers and
an overall height of 5.5ft. As you have seen,
the VR-11 is 7.5ft tall and requires a room
that is at least 14x20. In fact, one of the
rooms in which we did final voicing is that
size, and since we are using the Rives Audio
PARC, which is a device to tune the bass
response to the particular room, the bass
response was as tight as a drum, with a huge,
wall-to-wall image that did NOT overload the
room in any way. The VR-11 can focus a voice
or solo instrument to its original size; it
does not bloat the images like typical line
source designs. In fact, although the VR-11 is
very tall with many drivers, it is a Time
Aligned point source, with a phase coherent
driver array . There is no better way of
launching and focusing a sound-wave pattern, I
assure you!"
CP: "Albert, you've become quite famous
for your work, including the Eggleston Andra
II. After reading the Andra II review in
Stereophile, I saw that John Atkinson was
impressed by the measurements your new design
generated. However, it is well known that your
Global Axis Integration Network circuit design
is semi-fourth order; how can that type of
design be phase coherent? And if it's not
phase coherent, how can it sound good?"
AVS: "Our designs are phase coherent,
but that is not to be confused with time
coherence. In our design, all of the drivers
are wired in-phase and radiate an in-phase
pressure wave. Although our GAIN circuit
topology is much simpler in its signal path to
the transducer, our acoustic response is
fourth order, which prevents driver distortion
and modulation; more importantly, it prevents
the dreaded "lobing" problem".
CP: "What, may I ask, is that?"
AVS: "Excessive driver overlap
generates a combined response that has more
energy directed in a narrow pattern. This can
be heard with pink noise as a "whooshing" or
"swishing" sound when you move your head
around. Many audiophiles are horrified when
they discover that their beloved speakers
using first order crossovers are highly
distorted in the off axis region! At this
time, many designers are aware of this
phenomenon and don't use first order circuits;
however, they make other mistakes: many
speaker designs that are highly regarded have
a midrange driver wired out of phase with the
woofer and tweeter and are thus non phase
coherent. The reason why some non phase
coherent speakers are highly rated is because
they do other things well; for instance, they
might have good timbral response but poor
imaging. Our GAIN crossover has a time delay
of less than 2 milliseconds, which is
inaudible according to research by Zwicker and
Fastl, the two most famous researchers in
psychoacoustics. In fact, we built a small
speaker with Time Aligned voice coils and
switched between a time coherent first order
crossover and our GAIN design. Both designs
sound almost identical on the tweeter design
axis, but our GAIN version enabled the speaker
to sound accurate anywhere in the room, while
the first order crossover version had serious
distortion in phase and amplitude off axis. In
fact, the first order crossover version had
9dB dips and peaks when we moved the mic off
of the tweeter axis, and these aberrations
were very audible as room coloration. In
addition, the tweeter distortion was excessive
with the first order filter, which allows bass
energy to modulate the tweeter. In this day
and age, no rational designer will chose a
first order crossover, if he has the talent to
design something better!"
CP: "So John Atkinson liked your
technique you designed for the Andra II and
believes you know what you're doing. Didn't HP
(Harry Pearson) write a rave review of your
VR-8 model a few years ago, wherein he called
you "one of the world's best designers?"
AVS: "As I recall, HP raved about the
VR-8"s coherency, transparency, and overall
realism. In fact, he said the VR-8 was the
best cone speaker system in the world. I'm
hoping that HP will request the VR-11 for
review, as I know he is a great fan of live
concerts and will be able to determine just
how close the VR-11 comes to a live
experience."
CP: "Albert, in closing, I want to know
if your new VR-4jr model is related to this
incredible VR-11."
AVS: "Kevin Malmgren and I spent two
years working on the new jr model, which
stands for "just right", by the way; it is not
a "junior" speaker in any fashion other than
being slightly smaller than our VR-4 Special
Edition model. The new VR-4jr uses
custom-built drivers designed by us, for this
application, and are the most advanced drivers
in the world at this price point. The jr model
is physically Time Aligned and uses phase
coherent fourth-order acoustic crossover GAIN
circuits. The crossovers are potted in resin
and the cabinets use our Sand Trap for
resonance damping. If there is a better
speaker at this price ($3995/pr), I want to
know about it!"
CP: "Albert and Kevin, perhaps tomorrow
night I'll drop by for a private audition over
at the Alexis Park, to hear this new little
jewel. It certainly looks like a winner."
AVS and KM: "Thanks, see you tomorrow
night!"
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