Musicslug,
What are the innovations in the VAndersteen 7?
What other highly regarded speakers have you compared it to, old or new?
Its shaky to make the case that any particular audio technology has improved categorically on the basis of thinking one particular speaker sounds way better than everything else without something to back it up.
One thing that has changed over the years is that there are more companies than ever out there catering to the high end market and charging increasingly more for sound that may be marginally better at best than the best available prior.
Also in order to make such a determination, I think listening to a variety of good quality recordings is required.
The most "advanced" sound I've heard in the last few years were mbl 111s driven from a restored but older RtR deck playing a state of the art modern orchestral master recording. The RtR, master tape source, and mbls (with suitable amps to drive them, nothing radically new there) are the things that together delivered the benchmark results I heard. This was indicated by the completely holographic soundstage with exceptional depth and imaging location of instruments within the full orchestra, and realistic detail and harmonics.
Categorically, the new technology here that probably made the biggest difference was the RtR master recording (which also sold for several hundred dollars alone), the mbl 111 omni design, and the right sized showroom that provided enough room to allow things to happen as they should. mbl 101s would probably have taken things to yet another level dynamically from what I hear.
Now, how much of the technology that made this exceptional is readily available to the average audio buff? Not much at those prices.
I believe that much of this could have been produced years ago with similar well matched and executed equipment.
What are the innovations in the VAndersteen 7?
What other highly regarded speakers have you compared it to, old or new?
Its shaky to make the case that any particular audio technology has improved categorically on the basis of thinking one particular speaker sounds way better than everything else without something to back it up.
One thing that has changed over the years is that there are more companies than ever out there catering to the high end market and charging increasingly more for sound that may be marginally better at best than the best available prior.
Also in order to make such a determination, I think listening to a variety of good quality recordings is required.
The most "advanced" sound I've heard in the last few years were mbl 111s driven from a restored but older RtR deck playing a state of the art modern orchestral master recording. The RtR, master tape source, and mbls (with suitable amps to drive them, nothing radically new there) are the things that together delivered the benchmark results I heard. This was indicated by the completely holographic soundstage with exceptional depth and imaging location of instruments within the full orchestra, and realistic detail and harmonics.
Categorically, the new technology here that probably made the biggest difference was the RtR master recording (which also sold for several hundred dollars alone), the mbl 111 omni design, and the right sized showroom that provided enough room to allow things to happen as they should. mbl 101s would probably have taken things to yet another level dynamically from what I hear.
Now, how much of the technology that made this exceptional is readily available to the average audio buff? Not much at those prices.
I believe that much of this could have been produced years ago with similar well matched and executed equipment.