Vandersteen 1 in the nearfield, for rock music?

YES......For me, my Vandy 1C's work wonderfully with all music. Deep Purple's "Made in Japan" or the Allman Brothers' "Live at Fillmore East" or the Dead's "Dick's Picks" stuff sounds just as amazing as Miles Davis and Sonny Rollins and Dave Brubeck.

How near? They need some space for driver intergration.

I'm talking maybe 6-7 feet away. I noticed the PSB's I currently have are good in the nearfield compared to most other speakers iv'e heard.

Iv'e also owned Audio Note Ax-Two, Klipsch Heresy and POLK Lsi9's. All of these are good in their own way, but none of them really suit my needs.

The Vandersteen 1C will do more for you than a stand mount box.
The 1C offers a phase and time correct low diffraction baffelless design approach.
these features help the speakers to disappear nicely.
The transmission line Bass loads out the back of the speaker very low toward the floor. This allow a smoother more predictable in room bass response allowing the bass not to compete or confuse the mid band area.
Make sure you read the well written manual with tilt back and leveling.
Best John

they should be great.

Well... My 1Cs (each with its own 2Wq sub) are about 7 feet in front of me and about 5 feet apart. I listen to about 65% electronic rock, the balance being jazz and classical. Of any speaker I have heard in its price range, the 1Cs are as smooth as any, save perhaps the DCM TFE200. That being said, my system (posted in my profile) is not at the level where I look forward to listening to 2-channel music, especially rock. Although it may be the fault of source components, cabling or amplification, I find that most rock sounds too bright and etched for my tastes. And even when I play a better recording, my rig is listenable, but less than involving, emotionally. Once you've heard music reproduced in a way that allows emotional involvement, nothing less will do, IMHO.

Bondmap Did you ever do the experiment yet of moving the Big Deep TV outta there?
You may even find you can go one notch down on the high pass crossover box which will even out the whole system balance
could be just what you looking for.
Best John

With the exception of their HT stuff, I find Vandy's to be pretty sensitive to room placement and listening position. I think 6-7 feet is cutting it pretty close, and I would guess less than ideal.

Thanks, John - Nope. That #$%^&*! RPTV is on wheels, but there is no place to role it to in my basement. Besides, I do use it (guilty, as charged). The high pass I use are the Vandy in-line filters, which are fixed @80Hz anyway. And, I gotta think that, for a price, there are better speakers out there than the 1Cs, however good at their price point they may be.

Unsound - I can sit as far back as 9 ft., but I have found the soundstage and imaging to be better at 7 feet. In my case, remember, the 1Cs are barely 5 feet apart. Of course, YMMV.

5' isn't much. Your room might be small for the Vandersteens.

Bond,

You mentioned the DCM Timeframe series, are the vandersteens similiar to these speakers? I bought a pair of the Timefrom tf400 from a local swapmeet for 30 bucks and thought they were awesome, especially for rock music.

Please forgive me if I'm jumping ahead of Bond here. The DCM's had similar goals as the Vandersteen's, but Vandersteen comes much closer to hitting the bullseye.

Dave - DCM is not, AFAIK, the same company that made your swapmeet speakers. The current DCM builds more conventional tower speakers. Although they claim that the x-over makes them phase correct, I would not say they immitate Vandersteen's designs. I only mentioned them because of how impressed I was by the DCM TFE200s at the HE2007 show in NYC. They are priced right at the same price as the 1Cs (you NEED the bases for the 1Cs), and to my ears, sounded really smooth. I did not, however, directly compare them to the Vandys. I think I generally prefer larger, soft dome tweeters to metal domes like the ones Vandersteen uses. Personal preference, YMMV.

  I just bought an 8/10 of Vandersteen 1c locally with the original boxes and sound anchor stands for $125.00!  My musical taste has matured somewhat since I'm 34 now, but still listen to rock on a regular basis so I'll see how these speakers do for that type of music. I rarely listen to Iron Maiden and Metallica like I did when I originally posted this.

great score, I would buy 1C all day every day at that price. PLEASE do yourself a favor and download the excellent manual and READ the part about two way duty cycle, amplifier needs and clipping. You can kill ANY speaker w inappropriate use. What amp are you using ?
have fun, very, very musical speaker, especially in smaller rooms.

Amazing deal.  Make sure you get the tilt correct, but fabulous speakers and are easy to power.  Enjoy.  

 I may have to give these speakers some more time to grow on me. Right now, they don't sound as good as my Tekton Lore's in my big room, or as good as my Dynaudio Audience 42's in my small bedroom. The Vandersteens tweeter sounds etched to me, and the overall sound kind of muffled. To me it sounds like the frame of the speaker is adding resonance. They do sound like good speakers overall but maybe I need more time with them or just not for me.

@dave123456 ,
Given what you have just reported, can we get a list of your equipment?
I won't say Vandy's are for everyone, but when someone posts their speakers sounding 'muffled, and etched', I have to think something upstream is at fault- unless the speakers were damaged.*

*Remember, we are here to help, as well as Mr. V.
If you think the speakers have an issue, just leave a telephone message and he will call you back in a day or so. Also, PM John Rutan (audioconnection), he knows these speakers inside/out.

BTW, nice catch on the Vandy's!
Bob

 Ok, I got them to sound better by repositioning them slightly and also by lowering the treble. I still think the tweeter in my Dynaudio 42's sound better, but the 1c no longer sounds etched to me. Does anyone know the thread size on the bottom of the Sound Anchor stands for spikes? Right now they just have felt pads on the bottom. I sit fairly close and from I've read the closer u are the greater the tilt should be. 

I think it is 3/8".
And you definitely need the spikes. 
B

you can also download the manual for tilt instructions for free.

Yes, they need to be tilted.
Check the Vandy website.
B

I forgot to mention I'm using a NAD c372 as amp and a Sangean hdt20 as the source. Sometimes I'll use Tidal streamed from my phone. This is the same equipment I use with my Tekton Lore and Dynaudio Audience 42. I also have a cheap class t digital amp I occasionally use.