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Best of both worlds, Vandersteen and B&W

In my mid 30's, living in New Orleans at the time, I purchased my first pair of high fidelity loudspeakers, B&W matrix 802's. I have had a long term love-hate relationship with these speakers. I love thier dynamics and solid base but have always been bothered by a tilt toward the higher frequencys and an upper midrange glare I was unable to banish with ancillary equipment. After much deliberation I recently purchased a pair of Vandersteen 3A signatures. As promised these speakers are smooth and warm, without a hint of midrange glare. With jazz or classical music they sound beautiful and I initially thought I had solved my speaker problem. That is until I queued up rock and roll. The highs and mids still sounded wonderful, but the bass was hugely disappointing. Flaccid, aneimic, distant, without any drive or authority. My wife, who could not care less about high end audio, commented, "they sound a little flat", and "they don't have the same power".

I live in Maine where there is little opportunity to audition equipment. My question is are there any speakers that have both the smooth treble and midrange of Vandersteen and the excellent bass of B&W?

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tls49's avatar
tls49
1,351 posts
 
ct0517

Yes, I have knowledge of the BAF, however the vast majority of Matrix 802’s are being used without one. This was an optional piece sold separately. The specs I cited are straight from a B&W brochure. I agree that if he is using a BAF, my comment is irrelevant, however I seriously doubt he is using one. In that case I stand behind my original comment.

"Subwoofers are certainly all the rage these days."

Yes, but that doesn’t mean that any bass issue can be solved by adding one."

As I said, everyone is entitled to their opinion, however due to his comment,

"Flaccid, aneimic, distant, without any drive or authority."

I see this as a power issue. The 3A’s go fairly deep, but with inadequate power would have no punch, drive, or authority and what was adequate for the B&W may not be enough for the 3A's due to the much lower sensitivity.

oros's avatar
oros
43 posts
 
Have Vandersteen 2ce signatures and have had B&W Matrix 802's and 805's the B&W's made my ears bleed.  The Vandies are a far better all round speaker IMO. Never had any complaint regarding any aspects regarding the sound they go low and the bass is always tight and detailed never intrudes into the mid's like a lot of speakers are inclined to do.
they do however like to be well out into the room, the tilt is important.
Once set up properly they positively sing, get it wrong they sound mediocre.

Have been very happy with the Vandersteens ; now comes the rub have now found some speakers that seem to my ears at least, to have the best of all worlds.  Same sound signature it is very similar to the Vandersteens ; not boxy, sweet and 3 dimensional.
Bob Crites Cornscala 'D' - Tighter  faster deeper bass than the Vandersteens and as sweet on the tops. The tops are more extended and the detail is all there and the decays are much more extended.
They are seamless and the bass is not muddy boomy and never intrudes into the mids.
Built them, they sound just great do everything well do not cost much, are super sensitive, very quite not a hint of hum or hiss on all 3 of my valve amps.
They do all music well, Opera, Classical Baroque, voices male and female plus rock music sounds like you are attending a concert what more could you ask. Bad recordings, including the dreaded loudness mash are now listenable and sound as good as possible. 
They realy rock, go down low, are super quick and tight, no fatiguing and sweet.
Very pleased, they are big and ugly granted that being said they certainly sound better and are more easy to live with than speakers I have heard (at least to my ears) to date costing 6 times and in a lot of cases a hell of a lot more.
   
mgreen27
147 posts
 

"I see this as a power issue. The 3A’s go fairly deep, but with inadequate power would have no punch, drive, or authority and what was adequate for the B&W may not be enough for the 3A's due to the much lower sensitivity."

You need to go beyond the specs in this case. I've had both of those speakers at the same time, same room and same system. Neither speaker is really easy to drive, or difficult for that matter. I found them to be about the same. Sonically, the 2 speakers are different. The highs on the B&W's can be very harsh and fatiguing, and the bass is fairly lean. The bass on the Vandersteen's are in a completely different league, while the mids and highs are neutral. If you want them more laid back, pair them with electronics that have those qualities. Or you can go the other direction. That's why if you read the OP's description, I think there's a really good chance something's wrong. 

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