Snell C/V Speaker Question

I owned the Snell C/V's until fairly recently. I was generally very pleased for the two years that I owned these speakers. I now have a pair of Vandersteen 3A Signature's. A friend of mine has Vandersteen 3's and otherwise, has nearly exactly the same system as I do insofar as electronics. The Snell's are a decent system, somewhat colored, but they do have a clean, beautiful and present midrange. The highs are a little rolled off at the extremes and the bass can be a little sloppy and loose. The dynamics are very good to excellent. I ran these speakers with two different Class A solid state amps of 100 watts/channel (Pass Aleph 4 and Plinius SA-100 Mk III) and there was no problem with either one in a room of exactly your size. The Vandersteen 3, not the Vandersteen 3A Signature, has some of the best dynamics that I have ever heard. While they can sound a little bass heavy, they really can move air in a way that is very engaging and in a way that very speakers can today. On the other hand, the mids and highs of the Vandersteen 3 leave some wanting a more present, detailed, highly resolving sound. If I were choosing between these two speakers, I would choose the Vandersteen's hands down and then work with cables, tubes in my preamp etc. to push the midrange forward and create a more resolving, detailed sound, if possible.

I haven't heard the vandersteen's, but I've owned Snell C/V's for about 3 years now, and have no plans of trading up soon. I've had the same experience as someone who mentioned above, that they need to be put at a decent distance from back (up to 3 feet) and side (at least a foot and a half) walls. I've been continually suprised - just upgraded my source and the system sounds better than I thought it ever could. I'm also using a Bryston 4B-NRB amp, which actually helped considerably over the lower-powered 3B. If you get the snells, use an amp that has very controlled bass, as the bryston does. BTW, I've never heard the C/IV's, just the C/V's.

Thanks for the responses. If I don't trade I will check out the Alons. Also, the person who sold me the Maggies says he is looking into the Axioms.