Tower Speaker Reviews

Center and Surrounds
All five speakers in the VT-3 system share the same upper-range drivers, which helps to ensure accurate timbral matching all around. The mirror-imaged VR-3 surround is essentially a VT-3 Tower (minus the powered subwoofer) in a sloped-back box, as is the VC-3 center-channel (in a more conventional rectangular box), though the VC-3's driver arrangement is different to accommodate horizontal placement. All three models feature extensive bracing. You might want to think twice before putting the 40-lb. VC-3 on top of some monitors.

I asked Bill Bush why he went with monopole surrounds. Contrary to current fashion, he feels that in a properly set-up room monopoles offer better overall performance. A properly set-up room, according to Bush, is a listening position two-thirds of the way from the front of the room, a seating distance from the front speakers 1.3 to 1.5 times the spacing between the left and right fronts, and equal distances from the listening position to both rear speakers. While rear imaging might be "somewhat extreme," he said, such a setup offers "good, solid rear-center imaging."

Controlling the Controller
While the VT-3 Controller offers a wide range of settings, getting a proper handle on it didn't prove too difficult. Beginning in Music mode, you set Subwoofer Level so that deep bass blends unobtrusively with the rest of the system. Experienced listeners will have a tried-and-true methodology for doing this using familiar recordings. The VT-3 Controller's Low Bass EQ is a high-Q (narrow frequency range) control centered at 30Hz with -7dB to +7dB range. It is designed to compensate for bass room gain—either bass leakage (too little gain) or "room bump" (too much). My room neither leaked bass nor had a serious "bump," so I left the control centered.

The Lowpass crossover control determines the subwoofer's high-frequency cutoff and is adjustable between 40 and 180Hz. Too low and you leave a "hole" between the sub and midbass drivers; too high and you get thick, lumpy bass due to overlap with the midbass drivers. Well-recorded male vocals are particularly useful in setting this. Compared to trying to blend tiny, midbass-shy satellites with a single subwoofer, dialing in the VT-3 was a snap.

Once you've got the system set for music, a flip of the Audio/Video switch gives you the choice of Ambient Drivers Active or not, and allows you to set the Video Bass Contour. This provides continuously variable low-Q bass boost (up to +7.5dB) centered at 60Hz, but extending down to 40Hz and up to the subwoofer's high-frequency cutoff. In this mode, the response rolls off somewhat below 35Hz to provide greater power handling when you're cranking up the volume to watch your favorite effects-heavy flick. Finally, LFE Gain sets the LFE level relative to the total speaker output. The A/V switch, Ambient Drivers Active, Video Bass Contour up/down, and Low Bass EQ up/down are all adjustable via the remote.

The only danger in providing this level of adjustability is potential abuse, but then, lumpy, overly prominent subwoofer bass is a fact of life in too many home-theater systems. If you're not experienced with this kind of setup, a good dealer installation is recommended. What's particularly attractive about the VT-3 is that, at the flick of the Audio/Video switch, you can go from carefully dialed-in "flat" response for music to Jurassic Park-type bass for movies.

As long as I was using my narrow-topped Toshiba 40-inch HDTV, I placed the 45-lb. VC-3 on a Sound Anchors stand. Later, when I reviewed the RCA Multimedia Monitor, there was plenty of room for an angled-down VC-3. I put the VR-3 surrounds in the only place they'd fit in my reviewing space, on stands facing each other flanking the listening position—not Bush's ideal placement.

Sounds Great in Stereo
First and foremost, the VT-3 has been designed for the accurate reproduction of music. If you've ever heard NHT's 3.3s, you have a reasonably good idea of the VT-3s' basic presentation—but the VT-3 is a much, much better overall performer. In stereo mode, the two Towers produced a big, dynamic, impressively uncolored, full-frequency sound. Whereas the 3.3 could sound somewhat hard and bright on top—overly analytical, almost antiseptic—the VT-3 sounded smoother yet airier on top, and subjectively more extended. Driver integration was better, as was low-level resolution of detail, and the midrange was richer and more fully fleshed out harmonically. The 3.3 can produce outstanding deep bass, but it was no match for the VT-3's 1000W of clean, well-damped, low-frequency wallop.

I auditioned some of Classic Records' 24-bit/96kHz audio DVDs, and the Towers delivered them with an easy, natural authority, developing impressive soundstage depth despite the monitor parked between them. Image specificity was outstanding, with naturally sharp focus and convincing 3-dimensionality. Being a large speaker, the VT-3 produced a big, panoramic soundstage, yet it could also place an appropriately sized female folk artist with guitar on that stage. Switching to the CD versions of the same material demonstrated both the superiority of 24/96 sound and the VT-3's ability to resolve fine, low-level ambient detail.

While the 3.3's rhythmic surefootedness is great for rock, I find it less satisfactory with classical music. Strings, for example, are too sterile and brittle, and the 3.3's overall resolution is simply not as good as many other similarly priced speakers. Better to trade bottom-end extension for accurate timbres and detail resolution.

The VT-3 was a much more refined-sounding speaker, and more appropriate for classical, jazz, and other acoustic music. And, with all that built-in powered bass, it still rocked out. The bass in Music mode was very well-damped, defined, and punchy, extending down to the low 20Hz range with complete authority. The full range of electronic adjustability provided should yield solid, musical bass regardless of where you have to place the Towers. [The controls provided cannot, however, compensate for the effects of poor placement relative to a room's bass modal response. See "Sitting Pretty" in our October 2000 issue for more on the subject.—TJN] And while it should be obvious that a separate powered subwoofer is the last thing a 1000W, 4-driver, low-bass system needs, an LFE "through" jack allows you to add one if you're bass-insane.

The VT-3s played very loud without distorting. In fact, the more I cranked them, the better they sounded—which also pointed out their most significant weakness. While some speakers sound equally adept at levels low and high, the Towers had a Jekyll-and-Hyde nature: They sounded vivid and dynamic at medium and high volumes, but turned somewhat dull, listless, and dynamically wimpy at low levels. The VT-3 needed to be exercised to deliver the goods.

Some will still prefer a "warmer," more polite sound with softer, less-well-damped low bass. But at $6300/pair (including the Controller), the powered, fully configurable VT-3 Towers should be on any 2-channel audiophile's short list of full-range speakers worth auditioning. With powered bass built-in, a small, rich-sounding tube amp could probably drive the rest of the system, even though the rated efficiency is moderately low at 87dB.