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$ 2500 ....Stay with Vandersteens ??...what else ?

Please refer my "system" to see my current set-up. Everything sounds wonderful together.....extremely musical, great soundstage depth and width, beautiful rendition of timbre and tone, natural presentation of voices and acoustics. BUT....I have the speaker "upgrade itch," wanting fuller, richer, deeper sound, and I need advice from my friends at Audiogon.

I spend around three hours a night of "serious listening," about 2/3 digital and 1/3 vinyl. Roughly 70% of my enjoyment is 1950's - 1960's jazz (Miles, Coltrane, Basie, Rollins, Brubeck, Ella, Mobley, Morgan, etc., etc.), 25% "classic rock" that I grew up with (Allman Brothers, Dead, Dylan, CSNY, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Led Zep, Yes, Hot Tuna, etc.), and the other 5% "newer jazz audiophile stuff" (Patricia Barber, Rebecca Pigeon, etc.)

Keeping the rest of my system the same (except for bi-wire speaker cables if needed), what do you guys recommend for new speakers ? Vandersteen 2CE Sig. II's seem a natural option, but what else should I consider ? I'm open to all kinds of suggestions. Thanks a lot, and Happy Listening !
adam18
johnnyb53
3,510 posts
 
0-23-08: Adam18
Johnnyb53.....In response to your query....My audio habits are quite selfish, and my insulated/panelled/carpeted basement listening room is set up for a specific sweet spot (my leather chair and the small swivel bookcase to my right where I can rest my Scotch and my books on Jazz).
Then I'd say you'd want to stick with a time-aligned speaker that projects a 3-D hologram in the sweet spot. The Vandy's are certainly that. You may also want to consider the Acoustic Zen Adagios. They list somewhere north of $4K, but they sometimes show up in the A-gon classifieds for $2500-3200/pair. They're a time-aligned D'Appolito configuration with a transmission line to augment the bass.
adam18 OP
670 posts
 
Thanks for your interest, Johnnyb53. I appreciate the solid advice and your seemingly keen insight. Happy Listening, my friend, and stay well !

And to everyone else who has helped in my quest for the proper speaker upgrade for my musical tastes and audio system....Thanks so very much. It's definitely an honor being part of this Audiogon commununity.
raks
468 posts
 
Here's another vote for the Acoustic Zen Adagios. You're missing out is you don't audition them.
audioconnection
1,271 posts
 
Racks
Thanks for your input
FYI i think you may be the one missing out not hearing the Latest Vandersteen designs even the guy who makes your cables owns them.
Cheers Johnnyr
adam18 OP
670 posts
 
Meanwhile, back at the ranch......I spent three wonderful hours last night listening to some amazing jazz and guitar blues through my Rogue/Rotel/Vandersteen system, and my ear-to-ear grin was constant. I was, very much, the "happy camper."

Prior to my listening session, I re-read the Vandersteen 1C's manual, and re-measured and slightly re-adjusted the "vertical tilt angle" of the speakers acc'd. to Richard's explicit instructions. The improvement was subtle, yet noticeable.....so I'm assuming that the originally set tilt angle changed over the years as the spikes further settled throught the carpet and padding into the floor..... Pretty cool stuff,.....don't ya'all think ?
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