For Vandersteen owners & lovers: Which other brands do you like?

In my younger years i spent a bit of time surf fishing Steelhead on the wild sides of your Island… Paradise….

@tomic601 have you tried NZ?
A coworker (Brown) went there and did a bunch of stream work.

His guide told him to bait the hook behind a tree. When he asked why, the guide told him that the fish will jump out of the stream to take the bait right out of your hand.

I was not quite as hooked when I went shopping back in the day, and they were only up to the model 2 then. But eventually I was hooked, and not a lot lured me in.

But that was ages ago… it is easier to stumble upon good speakers these days.

I’d try DeVore Fidelity - a little more open than Vandys and with low order crossovers.

@keithr funny you should mention them. I only heard them at the beginning of this year, but I was pretty impressed at the soundstage width.
(Some place in downtown Los Angeles)

They seems like they had a lot of distortion, but in a pleasing way, and it might have been the Jadis stuff that powered them causing that “fullness”.

They were impressive.

I’ve owned the Vandersteen 2c and 3a. Placement was always a PITA. If you have a Spendor dealer in your neck of the woods you should give them a listen. If you like the sound of Vandersteens I think you will like Spendors!

https://spendoraudio.com/

emrofsemanon

both DEMAND a larger than average listening room with plenty of breathing space around the speakers to where they are no closer than 3 feet from the rear wall and at least twice that from side walls. put them in any room smaller than that and those speakers tend to sound shouty. if i had at least a 20’ wide and 20’ deep [8’+ ceilings a must] listening room

That hasn’t been my experience with 2CEs. YMMV. I’ve run mine in a 18x22’ LR with 16’ ceilings, in a slightly smaller room with 10’ ceilings, and in my current 12x15 room (speakers on long wall, so a 9’ throw to listening chair), and with careful setup they’ve never been "shouty." Vandersteen provides precise suggestions for setup and placement, which works. Tilt-back matters, as does toe-in. Mine are about 30" from front wall to front of speaker. IMO, the sweet spot isn’t super narrow, but there is one. (For that reason, the Larsen speakers appeal to me because they are much more placement friendly incl up against front wall, and have a wider sweet spot and when you’re out of it they still sound good.)

I get an excellent soundstage (width and depth) from my 2CEs, with very nice phantom center imaging (all dependent on the recording, of course). Ones front-end is also a factor in what the speakers produce.

Interesting that the Thiel CS.5 sorta looks like a 2-way version of the Vandersteen Treo. I've heard and liked Thiels back in the day.

Cheers

yogiboy

Spendor was founded in the late 1960s by Spencer and Dorothy Hughes – the ‘Spen’ and ‘Dor’ in the name. Spencer applied the knowledge and expertise he’d gained as an engineer in the BBC’s sound engineering department to create his first loudspeaker, the BC1. This game-changing design quickly became the monitor of choice for broadcasters and recording studios worldwide.

I'd forgotten how they got the same Spendor! And then there was the evolution, the "family tree" of the other BBC-type speakers, the Graham and Harbeth, and some of those folks were actual family of Spencer and Dorothy, iirc.

I have heard and liked Grahams and Harbeths. If I was interested in a 2-way stand mount monitor, they would be on the list. I'd have them for a smaller 2nd system for sure. Different flavors are good! I have no experience with the Spendor floor standers.

Jim and Richard were friends ( RIP Jim - another on the list of greats lost early ). They certainly shared many design objectives; First order filters, minimum front baffle, time and phase correct. They differed on a few points but much more in common back then. … Until recently i maintained a set of CS 2.3 + in an ancillary system w Quad ESL 63, Apogee Stage, Magnepan LRS, Heavily modified Cornwall…well the list is long…. and what did i say about casting a wandering ear ? Probably the biggest Theil design departure is the philosophy of flat at listening position…. which presents as bright to some people in some systems in some rooms.  Both Jim and Richard are measure AND listen guys…. these are just facts…

Vandersteen do make a coaxial speaker w cabinet in cabinet the VLR - Signature which incorporates the carbon tweeter. They are designed for near wall, stand mount and pair extremely well w Vandy subs 3 or used 2’s. A set of stands from sound anchor and away you go.  Can’t say who but a guy w many platinum records use VLR on his mixing board…. It’s ALL fun…

Enjoy the music

Jim