The Ultra 11-One Amigo Visits Von Schweikert Audio For An Afternoon Of Aural Bliss

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
Most of you who have followed the escapades of this Amigo over the past year have lead me to hear some of the finest audio systems in the world. Several months ago after attending the Hong Kong Audio Show I visited Manila and heard 5 fabulous sound systems. The two systems that topped my list however were JackD201's system with Von Schweikert VR11 SE Mk ll's and his brother Jim with a one off custom commissioned speaker that he alone owns called the VR 111 SX. It was this latter system that IMHO became my new reference and the system against which I compare all other speakers. Jim's system for my ears was the epitome of what I considered perfection in a sound system as everything was as natural sounding as I have ever heard. Nothing was lacking and nothing screamed out as being over represented.

Having returned from Manila, I was in contact with Leif Swanson fromVon Schweikert Audio who introduced me to Master Built Cables which in my system was the best cable I ever auditioned. One of the features of the new generation Von Schweikert speakers, to wit the Ultra 11 and the Ultra 9 was that they are internally wired with Master Built Ultra cable as was Jim's VR 111 SX. Needless to say my interest was piqued with these new speakers and recently Leif and Damon completed the first Ultra 11 which is being crated up as I write this and is on its way to the Singapore Audio Show where the Ultra 11 will make its world debut. So when Leif invited me to the factory in Riverside California to hear the Ultra 11 Needless to say, I jumped at the offer as it is merely an hour drive from my house.

I was greeted warmly at VSA yesterday by Leif, Damon and Albert Von Schweikert who gave me a quick tour of their factory as well as a synopsis of the evolution of Von Schweikert Audio. We had a great lunch brought in after which I was introduced to the Ultra 11. This speaker first off is very deceptive when you see it. It is actually 6" shorter than the VR 11 SE Mk ll and the VR 111SX standing 7' exactly however like the VR 111 SX it is a one piece cabinet and each channel weighs somewhere around 900 lbs. The sides have been skillfully designed by Damon Von Schweikert with Leif doing much of the internal design along with Albert.

My listening experience with the speaker was about three hours where we threw a lot of digital as well as some tape at these speakers which BTW were only three days old and far from broken in. Also the room in which we listened was the factory behind their showroom. Suffice it to say it was very large. I am guessing but would say 50' x 50' x 20' with concrete floors and virtually no room treatments other than behind the speakers. I wasn't expecting much based on the short comings of the very large room. Yet the versatility of this speaker was such that Leif had dialed it in so precisely that the soundstage was simply stunning and as deep as anything I have ever heard. The layering in the sound stage was amazing. the speaker to my ears were totally invisible. The speakers were about 12 feet apart and I was seated 12 feet back. The sound was absolutely amazing.I brought with aq demo disk that I have heard countless times in my system and I know how it sounds in my room as well as others.

There was just nothing lacking. Nothing was crying out and begging attention. It was beautiful music. Excellent top and bottom end extension and with the MB Ultra cables the amount of detail I heard was jaw dropping good. We listened to several large orchestral pieces as Leif was showing me the simplicity of speaker set up and how the sound could be shaped and shadowed using the toggle switches in the rear of the speaker. This speaker as a result could fit just as easily in a smaller room or a huge room.

The bass was tight and could be felt in some of the pieces we played.If there was too much at the top end this could easily be trimmed back

IIRC the speaker has a conservative efficiency of 92 Db and when I heard it the amps were VAC mono block with a VAC preamp and the volume had to be dialed way back in a lot of thee pieces that were played

The speaker as I said is deceptive because from the back it looks like a large rectangle and from the front only a thin front baffle for the drivers. When you look at it from the side its depth is enormous. Two 15" subwoofers are located top and bottom in the rear of the speaker and are active, each driven by a 1000 watt class D amp that from what I understand is made to the strict specs of VSA. The rear subs can be played either as dipole or monopole. The flexibility of this speaker is simply amazing. The drivers are honeycomb ceramic at 5" and 7" with a beryllium front tweeter and a ribbon tweeter. To look at the speaker from the side it is seen to function as one large concentric driver as the top and bottom of the speaker sit further forward than the tweeters. Each driver is phase and time aligned. The rear of the speaker has all of the trim switches as well as a horn loaded tweeter and another ribbon tweeter for ambience . From what I understand there is about 100 feet of Master Built Ultra cable internally wired in each channel. That in itself is worth a king's ransom

The speaker that I heard was finished in a gorgeous black matte with the next one to be silver. All of us are hoping that JackD201 orders his in Mercedes Red as it will be killer

In summary this speaker to my ears is quantum leaps ahead of the VR 11 SE MK ll (sorry Jack) but not in the same league as the VR111 SX but I have to say that for my ears the Ultra 11 could reside for many years in my room and those who know me know that for the past 25 years I have owned only Wilson. These speakers however are so engaging that they could easily make me switch. What I really enjoyed about the speaker is that there is no sweet spot based on the design of the speaker.

While I was there I tried to scribble as many notes as I could about the speaker that seemed pertinent so these are included below.


• the ULTRA 11 is designed to generate a wide-dispersion “bubble” of sound rather than a more directional design or “beam of sound.” The end result is a far larger listening area than many contemporary designs with improved image focus and dimensional soundstage.

• Analog level controls in the form of auto-transformers enable precise tuning of speaker to adapt to any room size or acoustic environment.

• Individual level controls include Front Tweeter Array, Front Super Tweeter, Rear Ambience Array (dipolar “depth of field”) and independent level controls for the two sub-Bass levels per channel. Autoformers are superior to other analog level controls as they prevent contact oxidation and distortion, and are calibrated in 22 steps via 0.5dB increments
.
• Rear-firing 15” dual subwoofers can be set to dipole or monopole radiation, enabling the reduction of room Eigentones, standing waves, and boomy bass.

• Subwoofer include adjustable Phase controls anywhere between 0-deg to 180-deg, adjustable Crossover frequency controls to compensate for varying bass lift created by room size, and separate Level Controls for both lower and upper 15” subwoofers. On-board 2,000-watt custom designed subwoofer amplifiers ensure adequate dynamic range and extremely low distortion on very loud sub-bass transients.

• Proprietary technology is employed to integrate the transient response of the dual 15” subwoofers to the four - 8” front-firing midbass drivers. The subwoofers are totally integrated in speed, tone, and quality to the front woofer array using our proprietary technology.

• All drivers were all chosen for the speed, clarity and timber quality.

. Driver Array, front: four-8” honeycomb sandwich triple-layer ceramic Woofers with the highest Force Factor and Young’s Modulus available; two-6” dual layer ceramic coned Midrange drivers strengthened with a Kevlar-threaded layer of resin and FEA-designed magnetic field, two-1.2” Dome tweeters with Beryllium diaphragms driven by Neodymium magnetic ring fields and proprietary damping technology, and one-5” ribbon Super Tweeter with Neodymium magnetic driver and Controlled Directivity to blend with the Dome Tweeters.

o Driver Array, rear: two-15” carbon fiber/Rohacell sandwich subs with Linear Drive suspension and FEA-optimized motor structure, two Ambience 1.2” Dome Tweeters using a Wave Guide horn for Controlled Directivity, and one-5” Super Tweeter ribbon with Neodymium magnets.

• The ULTRA 11s benefit from VSA proprietary Triple Wall Noise Reduction technology which utilizes specialized vibration damping layers. Each layer’s “Q” factor is engineered to cancel the cabinet wall resonance by vibrating at opposing frequencies.


In summary if anyone is out shopping new speakers and is looking into the purchase of one of the so called Uber Speakers the Ultra 11 is a must audition. It has changed my thought process in speaker design with sound as close to natural as I've heard (with the exception of the VR 111 SX and ddk's Bionor speakers)

Now what's the catch you might ask

For those that can the MSRP on this beauty is $300K.


IMG_5035.JPG
 
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es347

VIP/Donor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
1,577
35
970
Midwest fly over state..
..so what finish will you order Steve?
 

bonzo75

Member Sponsor
Feb 26, 2014
22,448
13,476
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London
the "invisible" finish :)

The one you can't hear and you can't see?

(Quote, Milo Minderbinder in the sequel to catch 22 sells the pentagon stealth bombers that you cannot hear and you cannot see)
 

es347

VIP/Donor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
1,577
35
970
Midwest fly over state..
Most of you who have followed the escapades of this Amigo over the past year have lead me to hear some of the finest audio systems in the world. Several months ago after attending the Hong Kong Audio Show I visited Manila and heard 5 fabulous sound systems. The two systems that topped my list however were JackD201's system with Von Schweikert VR11 SE Mk ll's and his brother Jim with a one off custom commissioned speaker that he alone owns called the VR 111 SX. It was this latter system that IMHO became my new reference and the system against which I compare all other speakers. Jim's system for my ears was the epitome of what I considered perfection in a sound system as everything was as natural sounding as I have ever heard. Nothing was lacking and nothing screamed out as being over represented.

Having returned from Manila, I was in contact with Leif Swanson fromVon Schweikert Audio who introduced me to Master Built Cables which in my system was the best cable I ever auditioned. One of the features of the new generation Von Schweikert speakers, to wit the Ultra 11 and the Ultra 9 was that they are internally wired with Master Built Ultra cable as was Jim's VR 111 SX. Needless to say my interest was piqued with these new speakers and recently Leif and Damon completed the first Ultra 11 which is being crated up as I write this and is on its way to the Singapore Audio Show where the Ultra 11 will make its world debut. So when Leif invited me to the factory in Riverside California to hear the Ultra 11 Needless to say, I jumped at the offer as it is merely an hour drive from my house.

I was greeted warmly at VSA yesterday by Leif, Damon and Albert Von Schweikert who gave me a quick tour of their factory as well as a synopsis of the evolution of Von Schweikert Audio. We had a great lunch brought in after which I was introduced to the Ultra 11. This speaker first off is very deceptive when you see it. It is actually 6" shorter than the VR 11 SE Mk ll and the VR 111SX standing 7' exactly however like the VR 111 SX it is a one piece cabinet and each channel weighs somewhere around 900 lbs. The sides have been skillfully designed by Damon Von Schweikert with Leif doing much of the internal design along with Albert.

My listening experience with the speaker was about three hours where we threw a lot of digital as well as some tape at these speakers which BTW were only three days old and far from broken in. Also the room in which we listened was the factory behind their showroom. Suffice it to say it was very large. I am guessing but would say 50' x 50' x 20' with concrete floors and virtually no room treatments other than behind the speakers. I wasn't expecting much based on the short comings of the very large room. Yet the versatility of this speaker was such that Leif had dialed it in so precisely that the soundstage was simply stunning and as deep as anything I have ever heard. The layering in the sound stage was amazing. the speaker to my ears were totally invisible. The speakers were about 12 feet apart and I was seated 12 feet back. The sound was absolutely amazing.I brought with aq demo disk that I have heard countless times in my system and I know how it sounds in my room as well as others.

There was just nothing lacking. Nothing was crying out and begging attention. It was beautiful music. Excellent top and bottom end extension and with the MB Ultra cables the amount of detail I heard was jaw dropping good. We listened to several large orchestral pieces as Leif was showing me the simplicity of speaker set up and how the sound could be shaped and shadowed using the toggle switches in the rear of the speaker. This speaker as a result could fit just as easily in a smaller room or a huge room.

The bass was tight and could be felt in some of the pieces we played.If there was too much at the top end this could easily be trimmed back

IIRC the speaker has a conservative efficiency of 92 Db and when I heard it the amps were VAC mono block with a VAC preamp and the volume had to be dialed way back in a lot of thee pieces that were played

The speaker as I said is deceptive because from the back it looks like a large rectangle and from the front only a thin front baffle for the drivers. When you look at it from the side its depth is enormous. Two 15" subwoofers are located top and bottom in the rear of the speaker and are active, each driven by a 1000 watt class D amp that from what I understand is made to the strict specs of VSA. The rear subs can be played either as dipole or monopole. The flexibility of this speaker is simply amazing. The drivers are honeycomb ceramic at 5" and 7" with a beryllium front tweeter and a ribbon tweeter. To look at the speaker from the side it is seen to function as one large concentric driver as the top and bottom of the speaker sit further forward than the tweeters. Each driver is phase and time aligned. The rear of the speaker has all of the trim switches as well as a horn loaded tweeter and another ribbon tweeter for ambience . From what I understand there is about 100 feet of Master Built Ultra cable internally wired in each channel. That in itself is worth a king's ransom

The speaker that I heard was finished in a gorgeous black matte with the next one to be silver. All of us are hoping that JackD201 orders his in Mercedes Red as it will be killer

In summary this speaker to my ears is quantum leaps ahead of the VR 11 SE MK ll (sorry Jack) but not in the same league as the VR111 SX but I have to say that for my ears the Ultra 11 could reside for many years in my room and those who know me know that for the past 25 years I have owned only Wilson. These speakers however are so engaging that they could easily make me switch. What I really enjoyed about the speaker is that there is no sweet spot based on the design of the speaker.

While I was there I tried to scribble as many notes as I could about the speaker that seemed pertinent so these are included below.


• the ULTRA 11 is designed to generate a wide-dispersion “bubble” of sound rather than a more directional design or “beam of sound.” The end result is a far larger listening area than many contemporary designs with improved image focus and dimensional soundstage.

• Analog level controls in the form of auto-transformers enable precise tuning of speaker to adapt to any room size or acoustic environment.

• Individual level controls include Front Tweeter Array, Front Super Tweeter, Rear Ambience Array (dipolar “depth of field”) and independent level controls for the two sub-Bass levels per channel. Autoformers are superior to other analog level controls as they prevent contact oxidation and distortion, and are calibrated in 22 steps via 0.5dB increments
.
• Rear-firing 15” dual subwoofers can be set to dipole or monopole radiation, enabling the reduction of room Eigentones, standing waves, and boomy bass.

• Subwoofer include adjustable Phase controls anywhere between 0-deg to 180-deg, adjustable Crossover frequency controls to compensate for varying bass lift created by room size, and separate Level Controls for both lower and upper 15” subwoofers. On-board 2,000-watt custom designed subwoofer amplifiers ensure adequate dynamic range and extremely low distortion on very loud sub-bass transients.

• Proprietary technology is employed to integrate the transient response of the dual 15” subwoofers to the four - 8” front-firing midbass drivers. The subwoofers are totally integrated in speed, tone, and quality to the front woofer array using our proprietary technology.

• All drivers were all chosen for the speed, clarity and timber quality.

. Driver Array, front: four-8” honeycomb sandwich triple-layer ceramic Woofers with the highest Force Factor and Young’s Modulus available; two-6” dual layer ceramic coned Midrange drivers strengthened with a Kevlar-threaded layer of resin and FEA-designed magnetic field, two-1.2” Dome tweeters with Beryllium diaphragms driven by Neodymium magnetic ring fields and proprietary damping technology, and one-5” ribbon Super Tweeter with Neodymium magnetic driver and Controlled Directivity to blend with the Dome Tweeters.

o Driver Array, rear: two-15” carbon fiber/Rohacell sandwich subs with Linear Drive suspension and FEA-optimized motor structure, two Ambience 1.2” Dome Tweeters using a Wave Guide horn for Controlled Directivity, and one-5” Super Tweeter ribbon with Neodymium magnets.

• The ULTRA 11s benefit from VSA proprietary Triple Wall Noise Reduction technology which utilizes specialized vibration damping layers. Each layer’s “Q” factor is engineered to cancel the cabinet wall resonance by vibrating at opposing frequencies.


In summary if anyone is out shopping new speakers and is looking into the purchase of one of the so called Uber Speakers the Ultra 11 is a must audition. It has changed my thought process in speaker design with sound as close to natural as I've heard (with the exception of the VR 111 SX and ddk's Bionor speakers)

Now what's the catch you might ask

For those that can the MSRP on this beauty is $300K.


View attachment 29732

..very informative write up Steve. The only question I have is in regards to the finish. You said it was black matte but in the photos it appears to be gloss black?
 

JackD201

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
12,308
1,425
1,820
Manila, Philippines
I guess you mean non-mettalic Stevie?
 

bonzo75

Member Sponsor
Feb 26, 2014
22,448
13,476
2,710
London
Let's focus on the sound. The color shouldn't matte
 

ack

VIP/Donor & WBF Founding Member
May 6, 2010
6,774
1,198
580
Boston, MA
Great reading! Thanks Steve
 

Folsom

VIP/Donor
Oct 25, 2015
6,024
1,490
520
Eastern WA
I want a pair in Vantablack, drivers too. They should be disappeared before they turn on.
 

es347

VIP/Donor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
1,577
35
970
Midwest fly over state..

gammajo

Well-Known Member
Oct 28, 2013
33
1
140
NC
www.SyncCreation.com
Steve, Thanks for the great report. Do you think it is possible that some of the differences you heard compared to the ultimate one off pair in Philippines was due to the speakers being only 3 day old babies and that the factory room (which I have visited) is not conducive to the best sound given it is an untreated huge concrete space? The Philippines room itself was spectacularly designed. This is not a criticism just a query. I full understand why and when you listened in the factory. It is not like the Philippines is on the way home from the 7/11 if you live in the USA. I would not have passed on that opportunity myself. My VR55's took almost a year to fully break in. Given what splendor you heard and their divers being so much heftier I can just imagine them after full break in.
 

LL21

Well-Known Member
Dec 26, 2010
14,411
2,509
1,448
Hi Steve,

Great report...thanks for that. I have to say, one of the things i admire about the uber-speakers is their sheer effortlessness. In my experience i have heard a level of sheer effortlessness from only 2 speakers: Genesis 1.1/1.2s and the Rockport Arrakis. I would love to hear the big Ultra 11 VS to see if it joins this rarified rank...given the sheer number of cones and air displacement (along with the incredible adjustability for rooms/systems/tastes), i would have thought it is highly likely.
 

adyc

VIP/Donor
Jan 5, 2013
873
399
973
Steve, Great report. I think this pair will be installed in Audioline client's house after the show.

Since you are thinking of this speaker, how large is your room? Do they require a lot of rooms to breathe?
 

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
Steve, Great report. I think this pair will be installed in Audioline client's house after the show.

Since you are thinking of this speaker, how large is your room? Do they require a lot of rooms to breathe?

Not sure I said I am considering this speaker. :)
 

Damon Von Schweikert

WBF Technical Expert
Sep 15, 2016
113
234
175
California
www.vonschweikert.com
Hi Steve - First, it was a pleasure to finally meet you in person, I just wish we had more time then we did ;) And thank you for not only taking the time to drive out to our factory, but providing your feedback on our newest flagship. I hope we get the chance to play them for you again after fully breaking them in and in a more ideal environment.

And to anyone interested, I hope you get the chance to hear these firsthand. Presently we're in the process of building up our show pair and making plans to take them to as many venues as is practical. Leif is also busy establishing our dealer demos globally so feel free to contact us to find your closest location.

Lastly, I previously posted a brief (1 minute) preview video on Instagram and Facebook but at the risk of being redundant, I'm sharing the extended version here. Please enjoy...

 

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