Vandersteen model differences/power requirements

When I purchased my 2ces about two years ago, I had already purchased a more powerful amp and seperate tubed pre, but just for fun, I hooked the speakers up to soon to be replaced Cambridge A3i (50 wpc). It worked, but the comparison to the 100 wpc amp w/ tubed pre was pretty much night and day. With the Cambridge driving, things didn't sound horrible, just a little thin, and things like soundstage, timbre, and a sense of "air" were very diminished. So the upshot is that you could use the NAD with the 1c's and save up for a more powerful amp down the road. A quick check of the vandersteen website reveals that the 1c's are fairly efficient (moreso than the 2c's) and that the recommended power requirements are 20 to 100 watts.

my first exposure to Vandersteen was as combination of a Vandersteen 1C and a NAD C320BEE, which is rated at 50 watts per channel. I felt that this combination was incredible musical, and the NAD was capable of driving the 1C to very loud levels without too much fuss-- it's an extremely capable amplifier.

As most other people have said, the 1C is better suited for smaller rooms. If that's your case, I'd recommend the NAD/Vandersteen combination in a heartbeat.

I heard the 1C with the NAD C320BEE and a NAD 541 CDP this week. It was very nice. At $1500 it would take some work to find systems that can match or beat it at that price point.

I was floored by the Vandy 3's with an all Adcom front end.