Help Choosing Speakers

Be sure to let us know how the Vandy's and Spatials compare.  

+1 Bassdude2

Absolutely! The Spatial M4 Turbo S's will be here on Saturday! The Vandersteen 1Ci's as well as a 60W Ayre AX-7 on Saturday as well.

I will be doing an audition of the 60W zero negative feedback SS amp as well as the Mini Torii. The Vandersteens will have to go back on Tuesday but I should get a good amount of hours in.

Stay Tuned!

Ciao,
Ron

Hello Ron,

I work at a great dealer, in NJ Audio Doctor, and I would like to chime in . Your room is really too small to do justice to the Legacy Signatures, the Cailbres would be a much better choice. The Legacy speakers are a fantastic buy and offer incredible performance for the money, we are dealers for them.

I would encourage you to consider that a great pair of speakers will be with you for the next 20 years if you choose wisely.

The Zu speakers are way too colored and although are an interesting speaker I think you can do way better.

The new Paradigm Persona bookshelves are the best new speakers on the market below $20k! They use the most advanced drivers currently on the market: a pure Beryillium tweeter and a pure 7 inch Beryillium midrange/bass driver, no other company not even Magico, Wilson, YG or any of the major uber loudspeaker companies offer a speaker with this level of driver quality even in $20-4ok speakers, and the Persona B cost $7k not $20k!

The new Persona B are 92 db efficient and can be driven with a small amplifier.

The transparency of these compact speakers is breathtaking, and they are incredibly holographic, with very tight well defined bass out of an elegant compact enclosure, I would give these a listen.

@audiotroy thanks for the feedback, I agree, same with the Vandersteen 2Ce, too big for the room.

Also after talking with Clayton, he really outlined that the room nodes wouldn’t let a speaker play much below 40 Hz anyway.

I have just unboxed the Spatial M4 Turbo S’s, fantastic build quality. Great looking speakers too. Threw on some Jazz and the imaging blew me away. Put on some Pink Floyd and Neil Young and I was unimpressed... the bass was anemic and the treble was scratchy.

Initial quick run done, I am being true to the recommendation, don't really make any decisions before the first 24 hours. Ok, it was time to go pick up the Vandersteen 1Cis from the local shop to compare. While I was at the local shop, I also grabbed a Ayre AX7 (60W) to test with both pairs of speakers.

I put the Vandersteen 1Ci’s on my MiniTorii and honestly, I was much happier, they didn’t image as well, but they were more even, had much more bass, and overall easier to listen to.

This is where it get interesting... when I put the Ayre amp on the Spatials I got knocked out of my chair, again! The bass was there in full force, it was smooth and even, the highs weren’t nearly as bright (in a good way).

I have many more hours to put on the Spatials. I have high hopes, but it seems like I will have to be getting a new amp regardless of my speaker choice.

I have emailed Steve @ Decware to see if he has something that would match the more agressive load required by the Spatials.

Based on my room size and realistic price target (I don't know what I was thinking spending $6k on speakers) it is going to be down to the Spatial M4's and the Vandersteen 1Ci. They fit in the room well, and both have the potential to sound incredible.

Thats all for now, much more listening ahead.

Ciao,
Ron