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Best Way to Set up Vandersteens

I've read alot of comments on this site refering to the Vandersteens as difficult to set up to obtain maximum effect. Right now I have mine on the Vandersteen Stands (on spikes) slightly pitched backward and toed in a bit but not pointing directly at the "optimal listening postion". They are about six inches from the back wall. Listening room is about 18x15, rectangular and rather stuffed with furniture. They sound pretty good, but all these comments make me wonder if they are in optimal position. I'd like to hear what other Vandy owners have done. Of course I could play around with them, but I'm too lazy.
issabre
garfish
1,840 posts
 
Hi Issabre; I have Vand. 3Asigs., and also 2Ces. As you probably know Vandersteen has excellent recommendations for set up in their owners manual. I followed it very closely with excellent results. It sounds to me that you may have them to near the wall (my 3As are 48" to edge from rear wall and I used the 1/5 position into room re: Vand. manual. Once you've got a basic set up, then work on fine tuning. Good Luck. Craig.
garfish
1,840 posts
 
.....if you don't have the Vand. manual, I'd strongly recommend getting one-- lots of good set up info. in there. A couple of years ago,when I got a new listening room, I spent 61 days and many late night speaker moving sessions to find the "ultimate" position. I don't mean to be discouraging though-- give the manual some consideration, and they're not that hard to position. Look for a good strong stereo image. Vand. recommends pointing them straight ahead, and that's what I keep going back to, as toed in I find that they get too bright or aggressive very easily. Yes, working around furniture and WAF can present problems. Craig
kweifi
46 posts
 
I agree with Garfish on the set up. Vandersteen gives excellent step by step directions in their manual. The most critical is the tilt, since the vertical window is very narrow. Also Vandersteens like to be relatively far from the back wall. They should face the front or be toed in only slightly to give the right soundstaging. I have mine at the 1/5 mark (four feet from the rear wall), about 9 ft apart, and a similar distance from the side walls (I have a large living room). My couches are set up about halfway across the room, about 12 feet from the speakers. Also bi-amping is very very good. I used XLR "Y" cables to Mark Levinson 331s, and two pair of Yamamura M6000 speaker cables.
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