The Vera-Fi Vanguard Scout Speakers

$299/pair

Listening to The Knack’s “Africa,” I attempted a trick that I’ve seen at a couple of hifi present – I hooked this $300 pair of audio system to about $200k price of drugs. Wacky as this appears, it illustrates two issues: the last word efficiency envelope of mentioned audio system, and the way straightforward (or not) they’re to drive with lower than mega elements. How many instances have you ever listened to that absolutely reasonably priced pair of audio system, solely to convey them house and discover out they sucked?

Guilty as charged, greater than as soon as. A high-power amplifier with the flexibility to ship lots of output present can take cost of a mediocre speaker and ship outcomes that your finances receiver can’t. So, the subsequent step was to convey my classic Pioneer SX-424 in from the bed room closet. In case you’re too younger to recollect this one, it was a 12 watt per channel solid-state mannequin on the backside of the Pioneer lineup within the 70s. Back when lots of early solid-state gear sounded dreadful, this low powered receiver was extremely musical.

Swapping the Pioneer in place nonetheless makes for a wonderful music expertise. This is sweet information for these of you placing collectively certainly one of your first system. If you don’t reap the benefits of Vera-Fi’s vacation particular with their Vera-Link moveable wi-fi mono amplifiers that can Velcro on the again of your Vanguard Scouts, you’ll be able to relaxation assured they’ll work nicely with any finances amplification you’ll be able to pair them up with. Regardless of amplifier and supply selection, you must have the ability to assemble a very nice music system for $1,000 – $1,500 with the Scouts to anchor issues.

The Vanguard Scouts mix a strong cupboard with a 5 ¼” paper cone woofer and a 1” comfortable dome tweeter. Vera-Fi’s Mark Schifter despatched me some footage of the crossover community, and there’s far more costly elements on this field than you’d ever anticipate out of a $299 pair of audio system. All great things.

Setup

I counsel setting the Vanguard Scouts up about 2-3 toes from the rear wall, and located that with the 24” Sound Anchors stands the tweeters had been nearly ear top. The Vanguard Scouts sound fairly good in case you simply “throw them within the room,” or put them on a few bookshelves. If you place them on high of a bookshelf or desk, I extremely counsel the ISO Acoustics desktop speaker stands for greatest outcomes. Just click on right here to purchase a set at Amazon. Again, we’re NOT a part of the Amazon associates program. This is in your comfort. These are the most effective small stands I’ve used with small audio system, providing lots of adjustability and isolation.

Getting again to room placement, an excellent hour fastidiously fine-tuning room placement will amaze you. If you can begin with the Scouts about 6 toes aside and the entrance baffle 24” from the rear wall after which nudge them about 6-8 inches up and again, you’ll hear the mid bass clear up and the decrease bass get stronger. Make smaller changes from there, and once you nail the proper steadiness, make observe. Ditto for distance between the audio system. Move them aside about 6-12 inches at a time till the stereo picture simply falls aside and it feels like two separate audio system, after which again until the picture types once more. Tweak the toe in for max excessive frequency transparency and also you’re finished! You’ll be amazed at how far more music these small screens can ship.

The Vanguard Scouts have a listed sensitivity of 84.5db/1-watt and work equally nicely with modest tube or solid-state energy. Equally good outcomes are achieved with the 50wpc T+A Caruso R and the PrimaLuna EVO100 tube built-in, so there’s no limitations there. Tellurium Q Blue II speaker cables make for an excellent pairing and is an unbelievable discount. Your choice will dictate what works greatest for you. If your musical tastes lean extra in direction of jazz, acoustic music and feminine vocals, you may dig a tube amp a bit extra, whereas these of you extra on the rock, hip-hop and techno aspect of the fence will benefit from the further bass grip from a solid-state amplifier.

As with any extremely resolving small monitor, attempt to use stands with essentially the most mass you will get and be sure you use blu-tack, or one thing just like optimize the interface between stand and cupboard. With audio system this measurement, each little little bit of setup finesse makes a distinction.

Further listening

Most listening was finished in my principal room which is 24 x 36 toes, and these little audio system actually placed on an excellent present in a room this measurement. (Vera-Fi does have a small sub on the best way, so keep tuned) Obviously, with room achieve, they work extremely nicely in a smaller room, and listening in our again bed room which is 11 x 14 toes was perfection. The high quality of the bass delivered may even make you assume twice about bothering in a smaller room.

Going off on a prog rock bender, Roon despatched me to an excellent early 70s French band, Ange. Think Yes, King Crimson, and early Roxy Music multi functional. Playing dense music pretty loud reveals how nicely the Vanguard Scouts hold their composure at this degree as an alternative of flattening out – you’ll should push them fairly laborious for that, and so they give ample warning.

Thanks to a delicate transition between drivers, vocal and acoustic music sounds extremely pure by means of these audio system. A variety of tracks from Aimee Mann to Diamanda Galas all sound convincing. Tone, texture, and timing are additionally means past what you may anticipate at this worth.

Just just like the handful of basic small audio system that many people have loved for many years, the Vanguard Scouts sacrifice excessive frequency extension on the highest and backside of the vary, for excellence at what it does deal with. I think it will hold you happier with mentioned audio system for lots longer time than one thing that simply grabs you on a fast demo.

In the tip…

Much of the web buzz on these audio system already is compared to some nice small audio system like the unique Realistic Minimus-7, (and I’ve bought a pair of these headed my means on EBay, so we’ll have a video on that quickly, in addition to a comparability to my classic A/D/S 400i’s) however the speaker that basically got here to thoughts was the Spica TC-50 in case you occur to recollect these. Of course we nonetheless have a pair, however they hardly ever get performed as a result of the tweeters are now not accessible and so they had been very straightforward to blow.

Thanks to trendy drivers, the Scouts appear very strong, and so they possess lots of the soul that this nice American mini speaker produced. An incredible midrange, easy highs, and mid bass accuracy as an alternative of muddy mid bass, compromised to goose the low finish. It’s laborious to imagine these are solely $299/pair. Back when gasoline was $6/gallon, it price greater than this to replenish a Dodge RAM truck! Going additional again, the Spica TC-50s had been $450/pair.

It’s price mentioning {that a} large a part of the success of those audio system is the producer direct mannequin. If we had been a $20k preamplifier, I’d let you know to stay with one thing from one of many majors due to a service, help, and resale perspective. But once you’re a $300 pair of audio system from one of many majors, the massive producers simply can’t do it this inexpensively. By the time seller and distributor markup is factored in, I’d be shocked if the least costly B&Ws have greater than 20 bucks invested within the drivers and crossover community. It is what it’s.

The Vera-Fi Vanguard Scout audio system are a real triumph for music lovers on a decent finances. And with that, I’m going again to the Knack and blasting “Good Girls Don’t.” Highly advisable.

For these feeling within the stocking stuffer temper, right here’s a direct buy hyperlink to the Vera-Fi Vanguard Scouts. And try the bundle worth with a pair of Vera-Link amplifiers! REVIEW HERE.

https://verafiaudiollc.com/merchandise/best-audio-products/vera-link-53126868