zumbini

I'll probably take some heat for saying this but IMHO the only advantage to thicker vinyl is that it's less prone to warpage.

Looks pretty good to me Dano. ENJOY!

Speaking of well recorded organ music, this is my go-to:

Howdy jwilson55 and welcome to the forum. Nice to have you on board. If you joined in 2008 you may have been a member of the "other" Carver forum, but we won't hold that against you.

This review from 1996 says to FILL the chamber: In marches the VR-3 to the rescue! (see picture below right -- front, VR-3 without grill cloth covering, back VR-4). It brings with it most of the virtues of VR-4 at a rock bottom $1850 USD. How did they do it? Instead of two physical cabinets that make up the VR-4, the VR-3 is a single cabinet. It sports the same five inch midrange driver and metal dome tweeter as the VR-4. There is also the same adjustable rear-firing tweeter to add spatial ambiance. The VR-4 uses two eight inch woofers to reach down to 20hz. The VR-4 woofer enclosure is physically separate from the midrange tweeter module. They stack together to make the complete loudspeaker. On the other hand, the VR-3 uses a single ten inch woofer, and although the driver enclosures are distinct, it is one complete unit. VRS claims ruler flat VR-3 bass response to 25Hz, though your room will be a major influence on what is actually achievable. The cabinet construction is exceptional. Primarily, it uses one inch mdf throughout. The mdf panels are thicker in some areas of the bass cabinet, up to 1.5 inches, to increase rigidity and more evenly distribute cabinet resonances. The novel feature of this design is the use of sand! Yes sand. There is a chamber, accessible from the top, to fill the area behind the midrange enclosure. Why? Sand mass loads the cabinet, bringing its already imposing 95 lb. shipping weight up to a back spasming 130 lbs. As well, the sand further damps the midrange. The goal is increased midrange and high-frequency detail, transparency, and palpability. I can see it now, a speaker tweakers dream come to life! "Well, I used flour, but it was a little dry sounding" "You did, huh? I used sugar! Very sweet through the midrange." "Have you tried Jello? It makes for a soft, smooth texture." In order to keep the costs down Von Schweikert has opted for the same type of finish used in the standard VR-4. That is, grill cloth from top to bottom. Less finished wood equals less cost. Nicely finished wood end caps go on the top and the bottom. The standard $1850 job comes with black end-caps. While these are acceptable, they do not ring my buzzer. Snazzier finishes in oak and cherry are available for $150 more. Go for this option! It is a world of difference. Dealers will be overjoyed with the detachable end caps, because color stocking is now much less a problem. Same for goes for consumers who wish to change the look of the speaker if it does not quite fit in a few years down the road. If you are now wondering how you fill the sand through the end-caps, these simply snap on. And PUL-LEASE do not miss the sand-filling step, it is essential (the Jello was a joke -- OK?). Some serious work has gone into this design. Quite frankly, I am impressed at the level of detail, the attention to quality, and the goals of performance. I have seen a lot less speaker going for a whole lot more money in the market. There is no question in my mind that the intention of the VR-3 is to provide a high-quality loudspeaker for the discriminating audiophile. One speaker manufacturer said to me, "I don’t know how Von Schweikert can offer that much speaker for the money!" As a consumer careful about my money, I take this type of remark seriously. Ever see a Supply and Demand curve shift? Now all this design work will not make one ‘I-O-Ta’ of difference if the sound is not right. I have heard the VR-3’s in various systems and have been very impressed. Still, you have to hear any component in your own room, with your own gear to really get a grip on the performance. The VR-3’s were plunked into my current reference roundup. Theta digital gear heads up the front in the form of a Theta Data Basic and Prime II DAC. The elegant, esoteric and sonically stunning Canadian made Blue Circle BC-2 amps and BC-3 preamp (reviews coming soon) did all that power handling. Cabling throughout is by Nirvana Audio, my new reference wire. I find the Nirvana cables extraordinarily transparent, yet musically alive and involving like no cable I have had in my system to date (review forthcoming). The result in my 14 by 16 foot room, by my rules, through my ears, played through the VR-3’s -- is reference caliber. Sure, there may be better speakers out there, but the performance I am getting is so good that I know I would be laying down much more money to achieve something appreciably better. What does this tell me about the VR-3? It is a true high-end performer that will feel at home with the best of components. And would I rather have the VR-4? No! Not that the VR-4 is not better. I do find the standard VR-4 a hair more refined in the upper registers, but the size, as well as the bass depth of the VR-4 just would not work in my room. That’s fine with me since the VR-3 is almost half the price. If I had a larger room it may be a different story. Maybe! So what is it that I like so much about the VR-3’s sound? First and foremost, the midrange of a speaker has to be right. For example, it must replicate a human voice with proper weight, tonal quality, and transparency. A properly reproduced voice, male or female, must sound full-bodied and uncolored. Too many speakers have a chesty quality I cannot stand. This is most predominant on male vocals. Or they will reproduce the female voice as sharp or piercing. The VR-3, like the VR-4, is outstanding in this regard. The palpability, body, and weight sounds real to me. Sarah McClachlan, Jennifer Warnes, Tom Waits, Lyle Lovette, and Jim Cuddy all sound like they are right here in my listening room with musical ease and a sense of rightness that few speakers can duplicate. This is only one aspect of midrange reproduction, there are others, and the VR-3 handles it all with fantastic grace and finesse. Albert Von Schweikert believes that the midrange driver should be free to produce as wide a frequency range as possible and not to have the woofer cross-over too high into the midrange. The result would deteriorate midrange performance. The high frequencies are reproduced with an equal sense of air, detail, and ease. Highs are not harsh, etched, or bright -- which is A-1 in my books. I cannot add anything more in this regard. For a speaker designed today I feel that it is simply unacceptable to have anything less than pristine, clear, and detailed treble performance. Ten years or so ago many speakers were plagued with overly harsh tweeter performance, mostly what I would have attributed to as tweeter ‘breakup.’ Or alternatively, they sounded dull and lifeless. Great high frequency performance was not commonplace. Tweeter and crossover driver design has obviously improved radically. I have noticed excellent high-frequency performance from many speakers I’ve listened to in the last five years or so. The VR-3 is no exception. As well, the adjustable rear firing tweeter produces some interesting and substantial effects. Properly balanced, it seems to greatly enhance the spatial presentation resulting in a fine sense of depth and air. Frankly, before I heard this I was skeptical of the benefit. But some very, very good designs use an adjustable rear firing tweeter and my experience proved that my skepticism was unfounded. Overall, the illusion of a soundstage was nicely improved. Since we are talking about soundstaging -- Mamma Mia! These VSR speakers cast a huge, transparent stage. Their physical speaker size is certainly imposing, but when the music plays the speakers disappear leaving a wonderfully clear window into the performance. Imaging has excellent distinction and depth is from here to theeeeeeeere. Now comes what I have seen as the hot item of discussion on the Internet -- bass performance from VSR speakers. I have a theory about just why this is such a hot-topic -- it is because VSR speakers are one of few speakers that really produce deep bass. With many other speakers it is not even a topic of discussion because it is not there! There are very few speakers that produce truly full range sound. Did you ever have a lengthy discussion about the deep bass-performance of a Proac Tablette or a Celestion SL-700?. When I hear deep bass performance talked about it is usually in the same breath as Mirage, Velodyne, HSU, Muse, Wilson, and a handful of others. And by deep bass I mean full-range down to 20hz. Furthermore, producing deep bass at high SPL levels is another story. This is a daunting task that it seems to require a separate subwoofer or a whole lot of money. That said, quality of bass still takes precedence over quantity of bass. What we have here in the VR-3 is extremely high-quality, deep bass by my books. Maybe not down to 20hz, but not that far off either. And they play LOUD. Furthermore, the bass sounds natural and most importantly, very real. When you hear deep bass, you feel deep bass in your body, in the floor, in the furniture you sit on. Overall, the VR-3 gives me the best bass reproduction I have ever experienced in my room. Too many speakers have come in and out these doors with humps in the 60 to 80hz range. While these humps tend to give a huge whallop to the sound, and may be just what the latest movie soundtrack ordered, this exaggeration tends to blur bass definition resulting in a chesty, woolly sound. To my ears the accuracy of the VR-3 bass performance is outstanding. It is going deeper than any speaker I have played here. So much so that I achieved my first neighbor complaint, via my landlord. Seems the subterranean thumping was compared to an earthquake or something. At the same time, I am achieving this extended bass while maintaining the utmost clarity through the upper bass region. There is no smearing, no blurring, and no chestiness. Furthermore, the bass is tight with detail that I have NEVER experienced at this price point and have only heard through considerably more expensive speakers. What more can I say other than the VR-3 is a hot-ticket in the speaker market begging for an audition. To say that I'm astounded with the VR-3 would still be an understatement. It is rare to find a product, like the Von Schweikert VR-3, that I can recommend to anyone with absolutely no hesitation. The VR-3 combines extraordinary build quality with superb and accurate musical performance at an unbelievably low price. No doubt, this speaker sets a benchmark level of performance that will have the competition scratching their heads for a long time to come. In summary, I don’t care if you have $1000, $5000, or more, you owe it to yourself to hear these speakers. The $1850 asking price is so ridiculously low it makes the VR-3 an outright steal. They are so good that you shouldn't compare these speakers with others in this price range, compare them with speakers costing much, much more. Not only do I give the Von Schweikert VR-3 my highest endorsement, I encourage anyone to seek these speakers out. Drive 500 miles if you have to. If you don’t, you may miss out on the best value in high-end audio today. …Doug Schneider das@sstage.com

Have you filled the VR3's midrange chamber with sand? If not it will make a BIG difference. As for matching your M-500t MKII to speakers (or vice versa) it's more about what doesn't work. For instance, avoid speakers with an impedance curve that spends much time below 2 ohms. Also avoid speakers that require a common ground amp like the Polk SDA series. Otherwise you should be good to go.

Those are the "V" version of the 770 released in 1986. Here is some info I found: Mission Freedom 770 V (circa 1986) Size (H,W,D) 62 cm (24 in) x 26 cm (10 in) x 32 cm (13 in) Weight 13 kg (29 lb) Frequency response (±3 dB) 35 Hz - 20 kHz Low frequency roll-off (-6 dB) 28 Hz Sensitivity 91 dB (1W/1M) Background Introducing the last iteration of the Freedom loudspeaker Mission stated, "Following the extraordinary success of the original Mission 770, inferior copies flooded the market to such a degree that at Mission we decided to move on"[8]. The Mark IV 770 was reduced in size slightly and fitted with the Mark III bass/mid driver to become the Mission 737 Renaissance or 737R. The 770, meanwhile, became an entirely new loudspeaker designed to meet four specific goals: Design The brand new cabinet was based around the transverse folded technique. Cabinet size was increased still further but remained a stand mount speaker (albeit now a very large one). As in earlier iterations, purpose designed stands made of vinyl covered particle board fitted into slots in the speaker's base. An unusual baffle design was used which mirrored other innovative approaches used elsewhere in the range, e.g. the Mission 700 Leading Edge and the Mission 707 Loudspeaker. The baffle was constructed out of two MDFpanels sandwiched together, with the outward facing panel wasted away to create a 1-inch (25 mm) time alignment 'step' such that the woofer stood proud of the front face. The word Freedom was printed along the top edge of the woofer protrusion in red or white. A strengthening brace was included internally between the bottom of the time-aligned section of the baffle and the multi-cellular reflex port below. The cabinet was part filled with acoustic wadding and the interior faces had a visco-elastic damping material applied. Externally, two parallel feature lines were routed into the cabinet all the way around, approximately 25mm back from the front panel and 20mm apart. Finishes available were black ash, light grey and walnut. The grille remained as fabric stretched over a frame (an injection moulded polypropylene composite identical to the tweeter horn) which then plugged into six fittings on the front panel. Removing the grille markedly improves the detail presented by the speaker. An unusual feature of the new 770 Freedom was the tweeter which, like the time aligned baffle, eschewed normal practice in domestic loudspeaker design in favour of a feature more common in the professional audio sector: Horn loading (see horn loudspeaker). This design feature affects dispersion (and thus stereo imaging) and sensitivity (with the potential to reduce distortion). The Freedom's elliptical horn was designed with home use in mind, the ellipse providing the desired dispersion characteristics for a typical domestic setting. The horn was paired with a more normal 'direct radiator' dome tweeter, rather than a compression driver. The horn itself was injection moulded polypropylene reinforced with natural mineral fibres (this being the same material used to make the injection moulded frame for the grill covers as well as the baffles of the 707 and 700 Leading Edge models). The face of the horn also featured moulded 'whiskers' to reduce diffraction effects. The added sensitivity and efficiency offered by horn loading enabled the mid/bass driver to crossover to this drive unit at an unusually low 1.9 kilohertz. This avoids the more typical range of 3 to 3.5 kilohertz at which the ear is most sensitive to thephase anomalies that normally result. The mid/bass driver used a homopolymer mineral-loaded plastics material and was a derivative of the Mark IV Freedom variant, losing the ridges moulded into the original. It featured a large voice coil to aid power handling, distortion, thermal efficiency etc., and a narrow natural rubber surround unlike the wide inverted surround of the Mark I, II & III driver. The surround represents a radiating surface and the source of considerable distortion at low frequencies, thus minimising its width minimises the area of this unwanted radiation, thus helping to reduce distortion further[11]. The front face of the unit was finished with an inverted dust cap (of the same homopolymer material) with the mission logo printed in white text. The drive unit has a cast magnesium basket structure and is built to very high quality standards. The drive units are marked on the back with 'Argonaut' and two of these units appear in the flagship (780) 'Argonaut' speaker which is based on the Freedom design. Mission themselves described the unit thus: "The cone material is carefully optimised for mass, rigidity, compliance, and 'Q' to offer hitherto unattained low frequency extension for a system of this size. The brass-plated pole piece with special geometry, together with high temperature voice coil materials and ventilation, increase motor output and power handling"[12]. Sound Mission described the performance of their latest model as follows: "When measured, the Freedoms are capable of extraordinary behaviour. The on-axis response is smooth, off-axis measurements exhibit minimal aberrations, and driven at 90 dB the midband distortion is close to 0.1% - approaching amplifier specifications!"[13] These speakers were described as 'state of the art reference monitors'[14] . A long time favourite of many reviewers, these speakers were judged to have a very clean and smooth sound, with accurate stereo imaging [15]. A high sensitivity of 91dB (1w/1m) gives an emphasis on speed, attack and dynamics yet despite their high sensitivity they also have a wide frequency range. Indeed, the bass is unusually extended for a system of this size, with 35Hz occuring at -3dB [16] and in-room responses considerably lower. Mission's tagline for the design was, "Of the 770 we have always said, '...and when you switch over to the 770's you will smile and say - that's Magic!'"[17].

Probably needs a new belt Dano. Should be pretty easy to replace. Not sure it's a belt drive, the platter rides up against a rubber wheel If i put pressure on the lever that moves the rubber wheel against the platter it turns just fine. I dunno thanks for the info though You are correct Dan. I should have done my homework. The 1229Q uses a dual pole motor to drive an elastomer-covered idler wheel. Over time the elastomer can dry out or acquire a glaze which causes slippage. Try cleaning the idler wheel with solvent. Isopropyl alcohol should do the trick.

Probably needs a new belt Dano. Should be pretty easy to replace.

None of these double (and triple) albums were mentioned. All would make my top 50 list: Allman Brothers - Beginnings and Eat A Peach Beach Boys - Endless Summer Bonzo Dog Band - The History of the Bonzos Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band – Trout Mask Replica Chicago - II/III/VII/XVII Chicago Transit Authority - self-titled Joe Cocker - Mad Dogs and Englishmen Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - 4 Way Street Miles Davis - Bitches Brew DeLucía/DiMeola/McLaughlin - Friday Night in San Francisco Deep Purple - Made In Japan Derek and the Dominos - Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs Electric Light Orchestra - Out Of The Blue Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Welcome Back My Friends to the Show That Never EndsPeter Frampton - Frampton Comes Alive George Harrison - All Things Must Pass Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Welcome to the Pleasuredome Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway Gov't Mule - Live... With a Little Help from Our Friends Grand Funk Railroad - Live Album Jethro Tull - Living in the Past Alison Krauss & Union Station - Live Pat Metheny - 80/81 Moody Blues - This Is The Moody Blues Pink Floyd - Ummagumma Prince - 1999 Santana - Lotus and Moonflower Bob Seger - Live Bullet William Shatner - Seeking Major Tom (just kidding; R U paying attention?) Spirit - Spirit Stephen Stills - Manassas Talking Heads - Sand in the Vasoline Thin Lizzy - Live and Dangerous U2 - Rattle and Hum various artists - Woodstock: Music from the Original SoundtrackWishbone Ash - Live Dates Stevie Wonder - Songs In The Key Of Life Yes - Yessongs Neil Young and Crazy Horse - Live Rust Frank Zappa - Guitar Frank Zappa - Shut Up 'n Play Yer GuitarFrank Zappa - Thing-Fish Frank Zappa - You Are What You Is Frank Zappa - You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Volume 1/2/3

What's the story on those muffin fans?

Cool shop Dano. That panel saw caught my eye too. Just wish I had the space for one.....

In the 40+ years I've been collecting albums I've only had a few that were so warped as to be unplayable. Yes, sometimes "playable" required increasing the tracking force by a gram or 2 but I'm OK with that. If you can't force yourself to track at 3-4 grams and the LP is priceless check out the service this guy offers: Clean Flatten Fix Straighten repair your warped records 45 LP 78 & vinyl safely $24.99 plus $6.00 shipping

SQUIRREL!

I've seen Christmas Vacation at least 100 times and it still makes me laugh like a foole.

Half-speed mastering means the albums are pressed from lacquers that were cut at 1/2 normal playing speed. These lacquers are created by playing master tape at 1/2 normal speed while running the cutting lathe at 1/2 speed. Therefore to produce a 33-1/3 LP, a 30 IPS tape is played at 15 IPS, while the lathe runs at 16-2/3 RPM. The half-speed mastering technique allows for extended frequency response and better transient attack.

I remember the Louie Louie lyrics controversy of the mid 60's very well. Every garage band in the country learned to play the song, my own included. The real lyrics were unpublished, and the vocals on the recording sucked. So it shouldn't be too surprising that we made them up. For those who weren't around in the 60's Snopes.com has a great write up HERE.

I made these stackable record boxes more than 30 years ago out of 3/4" finished plywood. Interiors are 24"W by 13"H by 12"D. They hold about 200 LPs each and can be stacked 6 high.

DISCKEEPER 2.0 ANTI-STATIC SLEEVES (50 PACK) $9.45 ULTIMATE OUTER 2.5 (50 PACK) $11.99

I had been using Mobile Fidelity inner sleeves until recently when I switched to THESE at about half the cost.

Howdy Bob and welcome to the forum. Thanks for not making us beg for system pics. I see a pair of M-500's (my favorite Carver amp) and some RTR speakers. Tell us about the rest please.

I see we have another guitarist in the house. Is that a Fender FM212 DSP next to the acoustic?

Howdy hochpt21 and welcome to the forum. Glad that you decided to join in. Please don't make us beg for photos