I hate to pile on, but Vandersteen is a speaker I would recommend, especially the newer models-If budget allows.
I heard the original 2’s in the ’80’s’ and never forgot how musical they sounded, I, too, had a long gap between listening and being able to buy a high end system, due to starting a business.
I always remembered how much I like the Vandy’s and was pleasantly surprised they were still being made. Not wanting to spend too much, I got the 3a sigs and, eventually, some Vandy subs. It all sounded great, but upgraditis struck and a pair of Treo’s were near me, used, I got them and was amazed by how much better they sounded over the 3a sigs.
One thing you might not be aware of is that upgrading a Vandersteen speaker can be done in stages. I kept my Vandersteen 2 subs and upgraded to 2wq subs, then to the latest iteration, the Sub 3’s. Everything just kept getting ’dialed in’ with each move.
I don’t know of any other speaker company that allows you to make incremental upgrades.
Of course, it all comes down to what you hear and like to hear. So, take all these words with a grain of salt.
B
PS- I just reread your post and wanted to comment your opinion on subwoofers-
Vandersteen uses a first order crossover that connects to the amp directly which eliminates a lot of the 'guesswork' in dialing in subs. In my experience, when the crossover is set up properly( matching amp impedance), things sound right, right away. The new Sub 3 has an equalizer to compensate for room discrepancies.
