Vandersteen 3 w/ARC d240 MKII


Good evening all.
Recently I had to retire my ML Sequell IIs and replaced them with a pair of Vandersteen 3s.
At the same time I swaped in a new amp and realized my speaker cables were damaged.
After several weeks of tweaking I cannot get the sound right.
I have a feeling it's the speaker cables.
I was using Audioquest Midnight 3 bi wired and am now using an old set of Audioquest Type 4+ in a shotgun bi wire.
The speakers sound muffled and lack dynamics and good imaging.
Before I replace the cables im currious if you guys think the d240 has enough power to drive the Vandersteens--was using a sunfire on the MLs.
Thanks in advance for feedback.
ltngstrucktwice
"The speakers are set up "pretty" good now, but ill work on the tilt and toe a little more.
The room is large at 16x16."

I don't know if you have the owners manual, but you need to follow the formula Vandersteen gives you to set the back tilt. Also, since your room is fairly small, and is close to being a cube, you're going to have to try different placements, and will probably end up being different than where your SL-2's were. Vandersteens don't need to be too far apart, like most other speakers do. Start off by putting them 6 feet apart, from inside edge to inside edge. One thing that you will have to watch closely is how far away your listening chair is from the rear wall. When you use the formula, your listening chair has to be a certain distance from the speakers, in order for the speakers to work properly. You don't want your head up against the rear wall, and that may require you to move the speakers closer to the front wall. You'll have to experiment some, but always make sure your listening chair is at the distance the formula gives you. Leave that as a fixed variable.

Looking at your cable situation, its much more important that you biwire the speakers with 2 completely separate runs of cable. No internal biwire. The good thing is that you don't need to use really expensive cables. It might be a good idea to go to Best Buy and pick up a spool of Audioquest bulk cable and cut 2 pairs at whatever length you need. For the time being, it should work fine.

Overall, I think your overall strategy will have to be getting the speakers placed properly. Your SL-2's are much easier to place in a smaller room, so expect to put a little time in experimenting. Also keep in mind, the Vandersteen's are much more revealing than the Martin Logan's. Especially in the high frequencies. Do all of your setup work with the contour’s set flat. When you feel like you've done the best job you can setting the speakers up, then make some small adjustment if you really need to.
You might want to turn the back contour controls from far right to far left a few times. They might just be dirty and be in a "null" point. Also make sure they aren't turned all the way down.
I have owned the 3's and placement is more critical than any speaker that I've experienced. The only way I could get them to sound ok was when I would tilt them back between 60 and 45 degrees. So I don't think the problem is the amp or the cables.