Vandersteen Signature Series Speakers...Opinions? (1 Viewer)

[Scott Page]

I have the Vandy 3A's (not signature) for fronts,
VCC-1 for center and Paradigm dipole surrounds. I thought the Vandy surrounds were too expensive and I wanted smaller sized dipoles anyway.
About 23 years ago, I visited every high-end audio store in town and auditioned speakers. I had never heard of Vandersteen before but the whole line stood way out in front of all other high end speakers that I listened to. Only the Magnapan speakers sounded as good (but without as good of low end or size/looks). I have wanted a pair of Vandies ever since.
Only now could I afford a pair. I'm in heaven. Found these in perfect condition for $1500.
Do they play loud; hell yes they do. Clean too. Loud enough to hurt anyway in a 3,000 square foot room. They will play at reference levels as long as you set them as small and add a good sub.
The Vandy center is very good. Vocals are very natural.
I had a Vandy sub too. It sounded great but did not putout enough bass. Bottomed out on many DVDs. I sold it to build a couple of Tempest Sonotubes.
Everyone who hears my systems can't believe how good it sounds. Get a pair of Vandersteens. You will not ever regret the purchase. They also hold their value extreamly well, often selling many years latter for the same price as purchased new.
I will never sell my 3A's. Maybe upgrade to signatures someday, but maybe not. They sound wonderful as is.

 

[Darrel McBane]

Vandersteen 3A speakers are great speakers if used with the right equipment. In a good room and setup properly. They can tend to be sweetspot sensitive. Meaning if you move throughout the room the soundstage in two channel can be lost. As I posted in another thread. I was ready to buy the 3As until I listened to my now Revel F-30 Performa. If you like what you hear from the Vandies. I would suggest you also listen to the Revel line. Check out the November issues of "Stereophile Guide to Home Theater" and "Home Theater" magazine. They both have reviews of the Performa line of Revel. The Revel have a lot of the attributes of the Vandersteen 3As but IMO a better midrange and the soundstage can be heard no matter where you sit throughout the room.
Good luck!
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Enjoy the Toys!

 

[Chuck Kent]

Whenever I read a review as positive as Mr. Buettner's, I'm skeptical. Seldom does a product exist that has so few faults. The following is my opinion on parts of his review that I wanted to touch on. The following is my point of view only. YMMV!
That said, I have a pair of Vandersteen 2CE Signatures sitting in my main system and have used them for over 2 years. And I have to state that for me, in my room, system and personal tastes of speaker characteristics (imaging, tonality, size, etc.) the Vandersteen's are the right speaker. BUT, they are not a panacea, which (if I read the review anywhere near close) Mr. Buettner seems to be saying.
A couple of things that Mr. Buettner either minimally discuses or flat out (IMO) glosses over are:
1. Tonal balance - He states that some might consider Vandersteens laid back or forgiving. Then he goes on to state that this isn't true. Well, other than Richard Vandersteen's measurements, all published frequency response charts I've ever seen for the 2CE or 3A are NOT flat. They exhibit a very slight shelving of the treble region of a couple of decibels or so. And, strangely enough, that's exactly how they sound! While I cannot speak for the model 5, Vandersteen's are warmer (or laid back or however you want to say it) than many other brands. And their added warmth has nothing to do with time alignment or 1st order crossovers. All it takes it one listen to a pair of Thiels (also time aligned and 1st order designs) and you understand that Vandersteen's are warmer by choice, not by design theory. (BTW, Thiel speakers ARE flat response speakers (especially thru the treble region.) There are many published examples of their frequency response charts and, as I noted above, strangely enough, Thiels do not sound warm at all.
Is the warmth a bad thing? No, I don't think so. There has been a debate in the various higher end stereo magazines for years that flat response speakers sound "thin". I know in my own listening, warmer speakers cause less listening fatigue to my ears. I can listen to my 2CE Sigs for hours and have little or no problems.
Does the warmth cause a lack of detail? Maybe a touch but I don't believe it to be a major concern. Maybe it comes back to the warmth thing, but a speaker that is very upfront and highly detailed can become aggressive pretty quickly (especially if the recording is aggressive too.) I guess my feelings are that I want detail but not tons of it. For me, Vandersteens fill this bill very well.
2. 1st Order Crossovers - Mr. Buettner touches on some of the "difficulties" of using 1st order crossovers in a speaker. The one thing I he leaves out is that, while Vandersteen uses excellent drivers in their designs, 1st order designs CANNOT play as loudly as other higher crossover designs (that use equally high quality drivers) without exhibiting higher distortion (sometimes to the point of being very noticeable.) This is a fact, not an opinion. Why is this? Simply because higher order crossovers filter and send each driver only the frequencies it can best reproduce. A driver in a 1st order design still receives "out of band" info, even if it's an octave (-6db) or 2 (-12db) away from the drivers best operating zone. When you think about it, it's easy to see that while 1st order designs make a lot of sense, they are not a free lunch. If loud, reference level reproduction is your goal, you want to approach 1st order designs very carefully.
P.S. I'm sure that some will read the above and say Chuck hates 1st order designs and thinks Vandersteen is fudging on the response specs of his speakers. Both could not be further from the truth. As I noted, I run a pair of 2CE Sigs in my main system and I also run a pair of small Thiels in my bedroom system. I prefer 1st order designs for their overall sound. But the 2 brands do not sound the same and I do not play either at reference levels (especially the Thiels which, since they are a flatter response design, can be somewhat too aggressive when playing brighter sounding material.) As for the differences in frequency measurements, Vandersteen quotes a + or - spec. When this is taken into account, the speakers fit quite easily into this range.
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[Aaron E. Smith]

Since I'm a Vandersteen enthusiast and I use their speakers for my HT (a VCC-1, a pair of 3's, and two pairs of 2Ci's) I figured I'd throw in my two cents:
1. The VCC-1 is most definitely a weakness in their line of speakers. I don't really have the knowledge or audio vocab. to explain it exactly, but just pales as a center for a good pair of 2's or 3's.
2. The loudness issue has been a factor for me. Other folks have stated that the Vandy's don't 'like' to be played as loud as other speakers. I would agree. Most of the time this is a non-issue, unless deafness is eventually your goal. Still, I have had more than a few instances when I wanted a bit more volume and I just didn't feel comfortable turning it up any more (I should say that I had an unfortunate experience where one of my Vandy's was damaged, which was my fault, and I subsequently had a truly miserable experience dealing with Richard Vandersteen on the subject--so I've become a tad paranoid about not pushing the envelope with my speakers).
Those are the two weaknesses, IMHO, of the Vandy line. There are many positives though: the sound reproduction has always felt very accurate to me, they are pleasant to listen to--not bright and fatiguing as one previous poster noted, they produce a nice amount of bass, and they have IMO a broad soundstage. There are definitely worthy of consideration for any home theater and are among the best loudspeakers available, but they are not without their drawbacks.
That's my two cents.
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- Aaron
"Some mornings, it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps"
-Emo Phillips

 

[Chuck Kent]

One other item I forgot to mention regarding the 1st order crossover...
Mr. Buettner mentions that listening height is a factor of seating height and distance which is true. But, it is important to keep in mind that 1st order speakers cannot be near-field monitors, no matter how high or low one sits. Sufficient distance must be placed between the speaker and the listener. If not, the integration of the various drivers is not complete. Hence the amount of speaker tilt being a function of the distance. IMO, I'd say all of the Vandersteen designs need at least 8 to 10 feet. Some users may get away with a tad less but I'd bet most of us wouldn't like the sound...
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[Graeme Shiomi]

Phil,
I've got Paradigm 60s, and spent about 20 minutes (yes, not very long) listening to the 2CE at the recent Toronto HES. The Vandersteen's were running off some Solid State Amps (cannot remember the brand). The room itself was small, being a regular 2 bed Hotel Room (Holiday Inn - NOT a big luxurious room).
The sound was very nice, laid back and warmish (to my ears). The soundstage is VERY deep, and the speakers are not forward at all. The sound seems to stay in the stage, and doesn't come to you.
However, the side-effect that I found was a bit of 'veiling'. It seems that in keeping the sound warm and not-forward, some of the highs have been rolled off.
So you might like them better than your 40s, but that all depends on what you like about your 40s, and what you don't like.
Graeme

 

[Mario_C]

Aaron, how loud can you play these speakers? I usually never listen to levels past 95 dB. I also plan to use a pair of 2wQ to augment the bass capability of the speaker. This should help the speakers play louder.
Also, here is a link to the article from The Audio Perfectionist Journal on Vandersteen speakers. It also has an article by Shane Buttner (the reviewer from Widescreen Review.
http://www.vandersteen.com/pages/Pdf...%20excerpt.pdf

 

[Rutledge]

I thought i would throw my Vandersteen impression into the mix. The first time i heard this speakers was around 1981 or '82. i remeber walking into the store that i shop at and hearing this sound that my Advent 1's could only think about producing.
I put in a tape that i had recorded into their Nakamichi tape deck. It was Rush "Moving Pictures". The amazing thing about them was that each instrument had this "space" around it. With a lot of air in between, as if they were playing seperately. I had never heard that before. It was a great effect but not suited to rock music.
They later quit selling Vandersteen. One of the resons was that they sounded "slow". Whatever that means.
I have been running Mirage M-3's for the last 9 years, but would like to try the Vandy's again one day.

 

[Karim Nogas]