In vector quantization schemes usually speech and speaker dependent codebooks are applied in order to achieve good speech quality at medium bit rates. This paper deals with another approach: The speech waveforms are transformed into signals which ideally do no longer contain speech and speaker specific features. Thus these signals can be encoded by an universal vector quantizer. This concept is realized by a system called RELP-VQ. The performance of this RELP-VQ scheme was evaluated by SNR-measurements as well as by informal listening tests including female and male English and German speakers.