My co-worker/budding audiophile stopped by Monday evening. Unfortunately, his burned CD-R of his favorites wouldn't play, so we will try it again some evening. But we listened for a while to both the Vandersteen 1Cs and the Ohm Walsh 2000s. No question the Ohms were easier to listen to, if a bit less dynamic (still not broken in). Before he left, I hooked up the Vandy subs again. Just needed to feel that bass again.
I have two question for Ohm Walsh owners:
Once fully broken in, were the vocals from your Walsh's still very laid back?
Also, and I'd never thought I'd say this, I am bothered by the feeling that the 2000s are a bit recessed in the brightness range, 4-8kHz. This lends cymbals, for example, a more tizzy feel, and a less metalic feel. It seems as thought the Walsh driver rolls off too soon before it hands off to the tweeter at ~8kHz. Is this another burn-in issue, or is that a characteristic of the later Ohm Walsh designs with added tweeters?
I was listening to some R.E.M. last night. The electric guitar, while clear & clean as a bell, overpowered everything, especially the vocals. I could barely hear the vocals. I am sure it's a lousy recording, but the sense of being laid back was extreme. Also listened to Ani DiFranco - "Evolve" - on CD. Here, the laid back quality of the 2000s combined with the CD's in-yer-face mix to balance out very nicely. The horns on several tracks, intentionally set low in the mix, were very sweet and real sounding.
Yes, Parasound, the Vandy 2Wq subs run parallel to the mains, in a setup similar to REL. However, unlike the RELs, the Vandy does provide hi-pass filtering for your mains via an in-line filter between preamp and amp, and a compensating curve in the subs' built-in amp. A truly seemless blend, at least in my experience.
