For Vandersteen owners & lovers: Which other brands do you like?

@patrickdowns figured I’d throw in my input.

I had 3’s for 30 years with sending them in for upgrades 3 times, the last time a full upgrade to Signature 3 spec on all parts. ( Richard’s answer when I asked what would be different before I sent them was “ the only thing you will get back from your speakers is the wood, the frame and maybe the cloth”) 

I was thinking about the switch to Treo’s and went and listened to them ( New Jersey dealer, well thought of) and after my audition I went to look at some finishes in another building with him ( basically deciding on what I was going to buy)  and he had some Harbeth SLH 5 Anniversary speakers set up that he had on commission. I had never heard Harbeths so I asked for a listen. 
I ended up buying a pair of the Harbeth SLH 5 Anniversary about two years ago.

I loved my Sig 3’s and liked the Treo’s which to my ear had similar sound but just cleaner with more detail.

The Harbeths are to me even more detailed and incredibly realistic while being not fatiguing in any way. The first day I had the Harbeths they seemed almost too detailed, it was like the Sig 3’s had been more blended…? But after a few hours I haven’t looked back in any way.

The real input is to just get what sounds right to you. Just give your ears a touch of time to adapt if the sound is different at first. For me hearing the Harbeths that first time they just seemed effortlessly detailed and they just stuck in my brain.

Enjoy!

If I was you I’d be on the lookout for two used 2wq subs as there are really good deals out there on those subs now, and two very good subs is almost always better than one great one.  And IMHO the 2wq was and still is a damn good sub, and two of’em?  End game stuff to me. 

Hard to argue against @soix logic ^here^.

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I was thinking about the switch to Treo’s and went and listened to them ( New Jersey dealer, well thought of) and after my audition I went to look at some finishes in another building with him ( basically deciding on what I was going to buy)  and he had some Harbeth SLH 5 Anniversary speakers set up that he had on commission. I had never heard Harbeths so I asked for a listen. 
I ended up buying a pair of the Harbeth SLH 5 Anniversary about two years ago.

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The Treos, I believe, are more tolerant to being shoved against a wall than the model 2 or 3… I unsure about the Harbeths, but if you like em, then that is great.

zimick

I ended up buying a pair of the Harbeth SLH 5 Anniversary about two years ago.

I've listened to the Harbeth 30 and 40 at Gig Harbor (WA) Audio (a fine store to visit)... sweet speakers! That "BBC sound" is special. It is interesting that their enclosures are pretty live, and are part of the sound they create much like the body of a guitar, with the resonances. Or so I have read. Richard V builds the cabinets for the Treo CT and Quatro (and the others I assume) with a box in a box, to eliminate as much cabinet resonance as possible (again, what I recall reading). Two different approaches, both right for each maker. That is the fascinating thing about speaker design. Magico takes it to the extreme, CNC milling their cabinets out of aluminum and using carbon fiber. VERY expensive, but they get an inert cabinet.

Someone else pointed out that the Treo is designed to go very near the front wall. which is something I need. The planars like Maggies do best 5-6 feet from the front wall, and my room is too small.

Cheers.

I’d try DeVore Fidelity - a little more open than Vandys and with low order crossovers.

what a lovely civil and helping thread…warms my heart….maybe just maybe there are great caring humans here after all….

Cast a wandering ear as far and wide as you want to…. i have crossed  oceans to hear gear that interested me. It like music is global. IF you get to California you know where to find me and Treo CT w sub3.

@islandmandan  Good on you and yours…grace peace and happiness . In my younger years i spent a bit of time surf fishing Steelhead on the wild sides of your Island… Paradise….

there is a lot of experience, wisdom and maturity in advice given… most if not all suggestions could certainly lead to musical bliss….. I won’t belabor all the various combinations of Vandy products new and or used that can also get you there…plenty of that going on the owners forum on the Vandy site.

enjoy the journey !

Jim