Why do I see more Vandersteen model 3s vs model 2s for sale?

Great posts guys.   You all make sense, because we all have our own priorities etc...  I can vouch for Tomic and Richard wanting to know about any problems, but what makes it worse is that you said I was at a dealer.  I've personally never sen anyone's speakers have such a problem that you can see the MDF.  I have only used veneer a few times for box work.  Nothing as large as a speaker cabinet.  

I too love to work with sap wood on certain types. Walnut is great as can be cherry.  Some of the exotics I get have some cool sap wood.  

I work mostly with highly figured quarter sawn white oak as I make mostly Arts and Crafts furniture with a buddy.  Have MS and can't carry boards and Al sees when I can't do certain things, lol. 

Bob, let me know and I'll see if I can get a ride down....would be fun.  Won't be able to go anywhere for a few weeks as I recover from my surgery last week.

finally dragged my carcass “ home “ to Seattle....
have the 7’s fired up with some 91 point Costco rot-gut red from Portugal .....

Sol Gabetta - Prayer sounding good....the Ref5 se dial says 38, mid hall is where I put my seat, maybe just a whisker forward of that.....

now on a more serious note, we all owe our various manufacturers honest, frank feedback on quality issues - the customer who walks away silent is the most dangerous to health of any business. Lets help improve those great companies creating jobs and great products.

all good

Jim

5a is giant itself. Big heavy and very slow. Won't work in small rooms. You need at least 50 people auditorium sized space. In ordinary sized listening room 3a or quattros will dom

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Well, my home is an open floor plan with the great room kitchen and dining room is all one room and on top of that there is a giant hallway leading to various parts of the house, so, I can't even get a good figure on room dimensions.  Perhaps the 5a's might be OK in my situation? Plus, the speakers themselves aren't that much taller than the model 2's correct? (I know the 5a would be quite a bit deeper, however)

While Vandersteens can be finicky to setup, the payoff is great for both Model 2C and 3A. I have owned both, non-sig models, and still have the 3A’s. Mine started off as 3’s and the original owner I bought them from, sent back to Vandersteen at some point for the "A" update, which means they don’t need any crossover work at this time. I’d say for a grand, I can’t buy a better speaker. A different speaker, yes, but for most of my music, I love the way Vandersteen’s sound.

I will say that I didn’t love my 2C’s until I went mono bridge. I won’t turn back now. The control having an amp drive each speaker is critical IMHO to getting the most out of them, and as far as bass, there is no need for a sub. My system has not changed going from the 2C to 3A and while I think the 2C was perfectly fine, I had to try out the 3A when they popped up for sale at a price I could afford. I have the Sound Anchors, which one poster mentioned get in the way of proper positioning. I disagree. You never want these speakers closer to a wall than what the stand will allow. Once you get used to maneuvering the speakers on the cones it’s pretty easy. I like the stands and wouldn’t use with the stock stands, which I have in a closet.

I don’t have the kind of system of the typical Audiogon member. I have what I can afford, which took me years to build up to. My main source is all Sansui Definition Series (TU-9900, CA-2000, BA-3000), but I drive the Vandersteens with two Parasound HCA-1500 (630 wpc mono, 8 ohm). Because they are THX certified, I get clean sound. When I was using just one, the speakers were ok, but not great.

Room size and shape is a big thing. In your open space the 3’s may be better simply from a size factor. My space is an 11 x 13 room with vaulted 11’ ceiling and open closet at the opposite end which gives me another 2.5’ of depth, as it’s most of the width of the room. I have my system on the short width (11’) which is all I can do since my office is in the room. We just moved from a house where I had a smaller room ... and I still got great sound out of the 3A’s ... however, now, I have bare walls, vaulted ceiling and the need for building acoustic diffusers on the back wall between the speakers and one side wall. The other wall is a large window with cloth blind. My environment is different than yours, and I’m guessing other posters have enough differences in system and space where it’s possible none of our situations match yours.

bstatmeister, if you are around central Oregon, you can check mine out.

I have been in touch once in awhile with Richard Vandersteen and he is quite approachable (although he was a tad stand-offish when he thought I had blown a mid range driver in my 4As due to abuse until I explained it was a power amp failure).  Why don't you contact him or look at their question board and see what he thinks.  Basically you want the best sound for a given price point. I would think that the 3A Sigs might be the sweet spot, but he might tell you that one of the other models were his recommendation, even though you wouldn't be buying new and benefitting his company.