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$ 2500 ....Stay with Vandersteens ??...what else ?

Please refer my "system" to see my current set-up. Everything sounds wonderful together.....extremely musical, great soundstage depth and width, beautiful rendition of timbre and tone, natural presentation of voices and acoustics. BUT....I have the speaker "upgrade itch," wanting fuller, richer, deeper sound, and I need advice from my friends at Audiogon.

I spend around three hours a night of "serious listening," about 2/3 digital and 1/3 vinyl. Roughly 70% of my enjoyment is 1950's - 1960's jazz (Miles, Coltrane, Basie, Rollins, Brubeck, Ella, Mobley, Morgan, etc., etc.), 25% "classic rock" that I grew up with (Allman Brothers, Dead, Dylan, CSNY, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Led Zep, Yes, Hot Tuna, etc.), and the other 5% "newer jazz audiophile stuff" (Patricia Barber, Rebecca Pigeon, etc.)

Keeping the rest of my system the same (except for bi-wire speaker cables if needed), what do you guys recommend for new speakers ? Vandersteen 2CE Sig. II's seem a natural option, but what else should I consider ? I'm open to all kinds of suggestions. Thanks a lot, and Happy Listening !
adam18

Showing 2 responses by johnnyb53

johnnyb53
3,510 posts
 
Going from the Vandersteen 1c to the 2CE is certainly a logical upgrade. At the same price, however, I think it would be worthwhile to audition a pair of Mirage OMD-15s. There are some things that it would share with the Vandy 2CEs, such as smooth response, linear extension in both directions (I think the OMD-15s go a little lower), and sensitivity (the OMD-15s are spec'd at 1dB more efficient--certainly they're in the same neighborhood). Where the two depart is in impedance curve and dispersion. The Mirage has a bit flatter impedance curve; it's nominally 6 dB and dips to 4 ohms; the Vandy dips to around 2 ohms. Between the two the Mirage should present a bit friendlier load to your Rogue integrated amp.

The second difference addresses whether you prefer more specific sweet spot imaging (Vandersteen) or a room friendly soundstage regardless of listening position. The Vandy will present a sonic hologram in the sweet spot; the Mirage will energize the room like live music, meaning you get the same basic response curve wherever you are in the room. Because a significant amount of the treble response is rear-firing, you can easily adjust the HF tonal balance by experimenting with the wall hangings behind the speakers.

You wouldn't lose with either speaker, but the Mirage presents an alternative way to energize the room and listen to the music. These speakers disappear into the music and scale up and down from solo voice to large ensembles very naturally. Definitely worth a listen.

They should match well with your Rogue integrated.
johnnyb53
3,510 posts
 
0-23-08: Adam18
Johnnyb53.....In response to your query....My audio habits are quite selfish, and my insulated/panelled/carpeted basement listening room is set up for a specific sweet spot (my leather chair and the small swivel bookcase to my right where I can rest my Scotch and my books on Jazz).
Then I'd say you'd want to stick with a time-aligned speaker that projects a 3-D hologram in the sweet spot. The Vandy's are certainly that. You may also want to consider the Acoustic Zen Adagios. They list somewhere north of $4K, but they sometimes show up in the A-gon classifieds for $2500-3200/pair. They're a time-aligned D'Appolito configuration with a transmission line to augment the bass.
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