ULTRA 11's (BIG BLUES)

Leif S

Industry Expert
Feb 13, 2015
770
166
180
California
www.vonschweikert.com
U11 Blue jpg-004 - Copy.jpg
U11 Blue jpg-006 - Copy.jpg
 

Leif S

Industry Expert
Feb 13, 2015
770
166
180
California
www.vonschweikert.com
what a tease Leif as it is night time now in Manila and poor Jack doesn't know what he's going to wake up tp

LOL

I wanted to give a sneak peak before they hit the ship
 

BMCG

VIP/Donor
Oct 1, 2016
234
41
133
United Kingdom

JackD201

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
12,308
1,425
1,820
Manila, Philippines
SAT arm - check
Maxxums - check
CS footers - check
Ultra Loom - check
Full CH electronics -check
Stromtanks S2500 for sources and a pair of 5000HPs for M1s- check
AF1 to AF1P functional upgrade - check

You're my boy Blue! You're my boy! LOL
 

Holli82

Well-Known Member
Jun 6, 2010
318
329
1,620
Break 'em in Jack....then I'm on my way:cool:
 

the sound of Tao

Well-Known Member
Jul 18, 2014
3,620
4,838
940
SAT arm - check
Maxxums - check
CS footers - check
Ultra Loom - check
Full CH electronics -check
Stromtanks S2500 for sources and a pair of 5000HPs for M1s- check
AF1 to AF1P functional upgrade - check

You're my boy Blue! You're my boy! LOL

Utterly epic - check.
Adrenalin set to high - check.
Looks like you’ve got it all covered Jack.. magic stuff.
 

Violetmachan

Well-Known Member
Feb 25, 2012
87
25
923
Wow, ultra 11’s in blue looks stunning
With all the “check” list done ....with some runin time....meow::)
Jack you must be surfing The sonic wave of your life....
jimmy may not like it :mad:
Must do a stopover if I am that side of the world
Way to go jack.....do post some pics of the updated?/all new setup!
Enjoy
Sam
 

JackD201

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
12,308
1,425
1,820
Manila, Philippines
I'm praying that there will be an eye specialist convention of global import here so Rodney and Sam will have an excuse to come at the same time! Boy, would THAT be a BLAST!!!! :D

Leif, an Ultra 9 in Bronze for Rodney and one in Cardinal Red for Sam please! :D
 

JackD201

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
12,308
1,425
1,820
Manila, Philippines
Utterly epic - check.
Adrenalin set to high - check.
Looks like you’ve got it all covered Jack.. magic stuff.


Got the Open Reel box unchecked Graham. Wishing continues...... :)
 

Leif S

Industry Expert
Feb 13, 2015
770
166
180
California
www.vonschweikert.com
I'm praying that there will be an eye specialist convention of global import here so Rodney and Sam will have an excuse to come at the same time! Boy, would THAT be a BLAST!!!! :D

Leif, an Ultra 9 in Bronze for Rodney and one in Cardinal Red for Sam please! :D

I can't wait to hear those in your room with the new set up. Rodney should call me lol. Excellent color choice for Sam's pair. I will post pics of our ULTRA 11's in the next couple of weeks.
 

Leif S

Industry Expert
Feb 13, 2015
770
166
180
California
www.vonschweikert.com
Wow, ultra 11’s in blue looks stunning
With all the “check” list done ....with some runin time....meow::)
Jack you must be surfing The sonic wave of your life....
jimmy may not like it :mad:
Must do a stopover if I am that side of the world
Way to go jack.....do post some pics of the updated?/all new setup!
Enjoy
Sam

Jimmy will be just fine lol. He may start to wonder what ULTRA 9's would be like in his office. Damon and I have a pair of VR-55's in our front office to keep us happy all day. Music soothes the soul:)
 

LL21

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

Fantastic stuff! Very exciting. I have been reading up on your fabulous speakers. Can you bulletpoint/briefly highlight the difference in SOUND between the VR11 and the Ultra 11? By the descriptions they certainly seem to share a comparable architecture...but there are obviously differences, and it would be appreciated if you could describe the EFFECT of those differences in 'rough terms'.

Is it scale, dynamics, detail, noise floor...is it bass control, etc. If it is also largely a difference in useability, so be it: greater sensitivity, adjustability, ease of use with more varied amps, etc. Thanks for any guidance.
 

Leif S

Industry Expert
Feb 13, 2015
770
166
180
California
www.vonschweikert.com
Leif,

Fantastic stuff! Very exciting. I have been reading up on your fabulous speakers. Can you bulletpoint/briefly highlight the difference in SOUND between the VR11 and the Ultra 11? By the descriptions they certainly seem to share a comparable architecture...but there are obviously differences, and it would be appreciated if you could describe the EFFECT of those differences in 'rough terms'.

Is it scale, dynamics, detail, noise floor...is it bass control, etc. If it is also largely a difference in useability, so be it: greater sensitivity, adjustability, ease of use with more varied amps, etc. Thanks for any guidance.

Hi LL21,

There is no brief explanation lol

I was going to refer you to this post that covers most of what you are asking but you have read it.

http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showt...eries-and-ULTRA-Series-Reference-Loudspeakers

We have been highly focused on doing everything possible to lower the noise floor. Eliminating distortion that many of us have been used to for so long. The VR-11's were a little more efficient than the ULTRA 11's but not by much. Adjust ability is pretty much identical as well as scale. But the difference in sound quality is "HUGE"

I won't speak for Albert or Damon but for me I found the ULTRA 11 and ULTRA 9 to be the most difficult speakers to design due to the lack of distortion. There is a very fine line that can separate musicality from analytical. I do not like analytical. You can have a speaker that is extremely musical without losing accuracy. Analytical speakers become very sensitive to electronics change and limits you to certain electronics in order to achieve synergy. We wanted the ULTRA 11's and 9's to be open to many different amplifiers and we have many amps we use throughout the design process.

One of the major differences between the VR and ULTRA is the rear ambiance retrieval system. The ULTRA 11 has 2 horn loaded tweeters as well as a ribbon and covers a much wider frequency response.

This is difficult for me because I'm fairly certain I'm highly biased lol.

Hopefully Jack will be posting up comments as he settles in with BIG BLUES. And since he had the VR-11's he will be a perfect candidate for describing his experiences between the two models. I know I will be on pins and needles until we get to hear Jack's system when we visit as well as Jimmy's system.

I will say this though, I have always loved the VR-11's and felt they were a SOTA Flagship. But when we built the ULTRA VR-111's and A/B'd them against the VR-11's, it took all of about 2 seconds for us to realize that we were going to redesign our entire flagship line. And there are more ULTRA models to come.
 
Last edited:

LL21

Well-Known Member
Dec 26, 2010
14,411
2,509
1,448
Hi LL21,

There is no brief explanation lol

I was going to refer you to this post that covers most of what you are asking but you have read it.

http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showt...eries-and-ULTRA-Series-Reference-Loudspeakers

We have been highly focused on doing everything possible to lower the noise floor. Eliminating distortion that many of us have been used to for so long. The VR-11's were a little more efficient than the ULTRA 11's but not by much. Adjust ability is pretty much identical as well as scale. But the difference in sound quality is "HUGE"

I won't speak for Albert or Damon but for me I found the ULTRA 11 and ULTRA 9 to be the most difficult speakers to design due to the lack of distortion. There is a very fine line that can separate musicality from analytical. I do not like analytical. You can have a speaker that is extremely musical without losing accuracy. Analytical speakers become very sensitive to electronics change and limits you to certain electronics in order to achieve synergy. We wanted the ULTRA 11's and 9's to be open to many different amplifiers and we have many amps we use throughout the design process.

One of the major differences between the VR and ULTRA is the rear ambiance retrieval system. The ULTRA 11 has 2 horn loaded tweeters as well as a ribbon and covers a much wider frequency response.

This is difficult for me because I'm fairly certain I'm highly biased lol.

Hopefully Jack will be posting up comments as he settles in with BIG BLUES. And since he had the VR-11's he will be a perfect candidate for describing his experiences between the two models. I know I will be on pins and needles until we get to hear Jack's system when we visit as well as Jimmy's system.

I will say this though, I have always loved the VR-11's and felt they were a SOTA Flagship. But when we built the ULTRA VR-111's and A/B'd them against them against the VR-11's, it took all of about 2 seconds for us to realize that we were going to redesign our entire flagship line. And there are more ULTRA models to come.

Fantastic. Thank you. That is helpful...particularly that we can hopefully have a lot of good reading to come from our good man JackD201 once he has set them up. Look forward to reading more.
 

DaveC

Industry Expert
Nov 16, 2014
3,899
2,141
495
Congrats, those speakers are beautiful!!! :D
 

Mobiusman

Well-Known Member
May 24, 2010
704
560
1,655
Jersey Shore- waterside
The pictures do not even come close to doing the speakers justice. They are so much more beautiful in person. BUT their true beauty is in their sound, which plain and simple is the best I have ever heard in my 60 years in this hobby, of course with the help of a bit (LOL) of VAC and Kronos gear. In the next 2 months I will join the Ultra (not 11) club.
 

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