Vandersteen

Bewoods, I have had the same opinion of Vandersteen 2ce & 3a sig for years.  I owned a pair of 2ce sigs and the midrange driver just could not handle orchestral works.  Gritty strings, congestion and all that, drove me crazy.  Tried them with top notch amps, Belles, Bryston, Cary, made no difference.  I went to the same dealer to demo the 3A sigs and although they were better, I still was not thrilled with symphonic pieces.  I then got hold of ET Lft8Bs and it was a night and day difference in the upper mids and highs.  However, they had issues with bass so the seach continued.

" Wow!  4As?  Don't often hear about Model 4s.  How long have you had them?"

Well Richard made relatively few of them - I think a couple of hundred pair, made when they were up to date on their 2 deliveries and had the time. His initial thrust was good sound for reasonable prices and I think his approach of putting 'socks' over a framework instead of wasting money on aesthetics with fancy veneers etc. was brilliant.

His speakers have always had pretty good mid range, but were perhaps a tad loose in the bass.  He first addressed this in the 4 and 4A, where he used bass drivers bolted together face to face and separately amplified - I have his stand alone cross over and a pair of mono amps dedicated just to the bass (see them in my old listening room if you are interested - http://i888.photobucket.com/albums/ac81/wspohn/system3_zpsqdymqrth.jpg  They look like the 2s on steroids.

He continued on from there paying more attention to bass, which resulted in more expensive better sounding (top to bottom) speakers.  He's also gone for improved aesthetics, presumably on the theory that anyone paying the necessary dollars for the bigger speakers will also want them to look better (the 7s look kind of like Wilsons).

PS - to answer the question, I have had the 4As since the 1990s and still like them far too much to sell them, so I run them in a 3rd system in the living room.  Had to replace the surrounds on the bass drivers a couple of years ago, and Richard took me to task once when he thought I'd abused them, when I sent him a mid bass driver that needed a refurbishment - one of my big Classe monos had a conniption and fried it during normal play and had to be sent off for its own rebuild.

Deepee99. I guess everyone hears differently, and not gonna argue what you heard. My question is: who would toe a pair of speakers outward? You might as well have hooked up the speakers "out of phase." As the sound would have probably sounded the same. Just very strange. Never heard of speakers being toed outward before.

It is an spl meter
the Vandertones disc is referenced back to known inaccuracy in the meter
it is a better low frequency spl meter than many $500 pro consumer calibrated microphones.
and it is reinforcing evidence that every $ must add value.
it is impossible to setup EQ for any Vandersteen in five minutes. 11 bands per speaker with about 5 runs each required.. yields hours of work and that is before physical setup for tilt, etc.
i will make sure Richard knows about the Seattle dealer setup issues.
i do my own Vandersteen setups and have on both coasts - mostly because I am very hands on.
please PM me with name of tech who helped you.
by any chance did you keep the EQ results and notes ?

it is fantastic that you love your current speakers !!!!!! Much Joy to you in listening.