Vandersteen 5a or Eggleston Andra II

MOthra,

Dunlavy sc-IV's (with upgraded tweeter), B&W 801 series 2 limited editions with north creeks crossovers, spendor sc-100's, quad esl-57's, B&W matrix 805's.

Awesome I am very impressed by your choices. You have some classics. Perhaps one day you will post a few pics....I will be drooling!!!. Youu are in another league from me.

I agree with you that second hand Dunlavy's are great value rather than chasing the latest and greatest.

I agree on your Wilson comments (although I am reticent to criticse the bass response because they are so successful - obviously people like them!) On the Andras ( a bit bass light ) I can understand that you might want a sub with these. (I use a 15" sub with my ATC100s as they roll off in the lowermost octave below 35Hz and it seems you can never have too much clean tight bass power at elevated listening levels -provided it is all critically damped - I dislike mushy boominess in the bass but love it when I can clearly discern a bass guitar riff from behind a close-miked kick drum)

I suspect you may not like ATC as you mentioned Doug Sax has a system you don't understand (or is it his brother's designed tube based EQ setup that you struggle with?). No problem, some people say ATC's make their ears bleed and I have no problem with that as they are quite forward sounding in the mid range and certainly play so loud the music can always be made to eventually sound harsh (at extremes), furthermore, everyone is entitled to their personal preference. Frankly, I could live with your preferences/taste too but then again who is "Shadorne"...I am a complete nobody in audio compared to someone like Bob Ludwig. (Sorry but I respect many of these engineers - even the weird ones!)

Mothra, your "salt" suggestion is right on the beam, and well taken. Funny how those who should be in an asylum are the first to suggest "meds" to others.

Oz, what you have read is correct, at least in some instances. The "slots" for spades on the 5's I had were such that I had to slice just a sliver off the silver spades on my Ridge Street Audio cables (it was easy with those). Other spades will fit fine but, for instance, the Kimber spades on a set I run in a vintage system would NEVER fit. So it is a consideration in that if you have exisitng cables with wide spades, you'd have to get them reterminated (which could be a real issue with some cables). Someone told me that Richard had addressed this in newer models, but not from what I've seen - maybe on the newer Quatros. (?) As a side note, your sytem has come a good long way on a couple of years thee, Oz. ;-0

i never minded doug's system, i just can;t tell what;s going on. the room seems to have real phase issues depending on where you sit.

I'll post some pics sometime. You guys would laugh. I don't have a listening room, i just have a bunch of junk all in one place!
Thanmks for the kind words. I like mt speakers but there are many other great speakers out there.

dev, I would call it in another league, if i really heard that. But the system and the room, source material and the time even have a lot to do with it. Duntechs are in another league than quad 57's technically , but if you like quad 57's musically, then I guess they are not. that's all I'm saying. Having not heard the vandy's I cannot comment empirically.

The grain of salt thing applies to all arguemnts about gear i think. I mean this discussion is fairly civilized compared to some of the cable discussions I have heard!

Shadorne, you mentioned in your thread the Andra's are "a bit bass light". The original Andras were but the Andra 2's aren't, bass has allot to do with placement and associated gear. I have had some speakers where the stage was great but the bass was not visa versa but I am not having any problems with my Andra's.

If you compare the Andra's to say the Wilson Maxx 2's then yes. The Maxx 2's move allot more air, is this correct I'm not sure but I do like the effect but there are other issues with the MAXX 2's. A step up would most likely be to go to the Savoy's, trying to integrate subs is very difficult. I have had a few speakers in the past with big bass but it was unrealistic and did not integrate well with the rest of the drivers or over loaded the room. I have tried sub satellite set-ups in the past, highly regarded Entec SW-2 subs stacked along with Artimis speakers, allot of work and money.

If you like ATC then you should also look at PMC BB5-XBD-A speakers.

Regarding speaker cable hook-up, wow! to have slice the spades so to fit onto the Vandy's not for me. No problems with the Andra's, I have Virtual Dynamics Genesis top of the line bi-wire speaker cables hooked with out any cutting and they are beast to hook-up.

Going back to the bass, I really noticed putting my Andra's on top of Systrum platforms improved over all along with even improving the already excellent bass. I have passed this info. onto many with different speakers and all have come back with great results. A friend has JM-LAB Nova BE's and recently put them on and is just over whelmed with the results.

Just so you are aware I new you had Vandy's all along, they are great speakers also.