Help: Searching for Vandersteen-like speakers...

Even with speakers that supposedly do 35hz...it is recommended to crossover the sub at an octave higher...in this case 75 hz...because BOTH would be -3db down at 35hz...

A note on Vandersteens:although I do like their sound, they are not designed to be played even remotely loud, and their bass...although musical...is not the fatest or tightest bass around....for this reason...SS bass power is a must...a tube pre helps "round" things out....

I will have to disagree with Phasecorrect just a little on the loudness thing. Since I don't know which Vandersteen speaker(s) you are refering to, I can say that the Model 5 will play as loud as anyone should be listening to and then some. The 3A Signatures will play plenty loud by themselves and with a pair of 2wq subs will go much louder than a sane person should listen to. These speakers are power hungry and do require it for volume.
The 2 series will not play that loud(especially in the bass) before they run out and begin to compress. However, they play loud enough I feel.
As for bass, they can be full in the wrong setup. I have definitely heard worse. I personally think they sound pretty right when set up properly. However, the subs do improve things quite a bit when set up correctly. Not more bass but tighter, more controlled bass. With the low bass filtered out of the speakers, imaging and transparency really go up. Speed in the bass with the Vandersteen's, I think, is masked by the level sometimes making them sound a little plodding. This level is related to setup. Wrong room or setup and, yes, the bass does need help. But that's really true of any speaker. There seem to be a lot of lean speakers out that with no real deep bass extension selling for some big bucks. The Vandersteen is a very reasonably priced speaker that does give true extension.

Bigtree...my experience with Vandies have been relegated to the series 1 and 2 loudspeakers...the 2 being their best seller...and supposedly the best-selling "hi-end" speaker of all time..with over 100,000 pairs sold...and I must stress...I do like Vandies...and for their price range any bass at all is a plus...but to be honest...I do feel bass performance is their weakest ability...odd since they are known for erring on the side of bass...but for bass dominant material or complex musical passages...especially at what i would consider modest volume...the bass quickly became ill-defined and somewhat slow...they are however outstanding on vocals,strings,acoustic material,etc...and work reasonably well with laid back jazz,hip-hop,trance,etc at low volumes...only when slightly pressed...the speaker "gives out" and appears to be working more hard than it should....