i have owned both of them. both are very nice speakers depending on what you are looking for.
both of them require a mid size room with room around them.the alons you can place a little closer to the side wall vs. the vandersteen.
the alons are a little more finicky in the setup, but also more rewarding when you get them down to the 1/16"- i am talking about planar sound out of a box speaker- but with bass and dynamics.
the vandies lack the transparency of the alons. especailly in the midrange, that is the downfall of the speaker. i unload my vandies in favor of celestion 700's at the time.
if you want to stay where you are at with gear and your room, then go with the vandies. they are a nice speaker and easy to drive.
if you eventually want to upgrade, the alons are a great choice. i am in the position to buy new $4k speakers if i choose, and i have no desire to upgrade the alons.they are that good.
the alons are extremly revealing of everything upstream. if someone says the alons are bright, they are using crappy grear/cables and not set up properly. they are a poor mans review speaker, if you have decent musical gear, you will be in sonic heaven.
if you plan on upgrading, than the alons are a the way to go if you have the room for them. they require a fair amount of space due to the dipole design. when set up, they totally disappear and have a monsterous soundstage. my neighbors who are not audiophiles comment on this. they are revealing of what is fed to them. i am currently using all solid state and the sound is short of incredible ( imo ). btw, i use neutral/revealing ic's - xlo signiture 2 and cardas neutral. the sound is not bright, but transparent and relaxing.
you can use solid state with both speakers. a great amp for under $600-$700 is the pse studio v's monoblocks. when used with tubes, they become extremely holographic. but they need 80-100 wpc on tubes, they are not the most efficent speaker.
if you ask richard vandersteen what amps he used to voice the 2 ci's - he used the arc d-76Mkii(tube) and the pse studio 5 monos(solid state). the pse monos are a f^&**#$%@! incredible amps. Very clean, transparent, and neutral.they pass the signal on very cleanly and are very dynamic ( awesome bottom end) and the imaging from the monos is added bonus. i bought these for my vandies and now use them on my alon 2's and they are a great match.
i hope that is helpful,
mike
btw the system is:
alon 2's
pse studio v monoblocks
audio research ls-12
marantz sa8260
xlo signiture 2 between cd to pre
cardas netural refernce between pre to amp
monster 2.4 speaker
monster 3500 power cond.
asc 1/4 tube traps
both of them require a mid size room with room around them.the alons you can place a little closer to the side wall vs. the vandersteen.
the alons are a little more finicky in the setup, but also more rewarding when you get them down to the 1/16"- i am talking about planar sound out of a box speaker- but with bass and dynamics.
the vandies lack the transparency of the alons. especailly in the midrange, that is the downfall of the speaker. i unload my vandies in favor of celestion 700's at the time.
if you want to stay where you are at with gear and your room, then go with the vandies. they are a nice speaker and easy to drive.
if you eventually want to upgrade, the alons are a great choice. i am in the position to buy new $4k speakers if i choose, and i have no desire to upgrade the alons.they are that good.
the alons are extremly revealing of everything upstream. if someone says the alons are bright, they are using crappy grear/cables and not set up properly. they are a poor mans review speaker, if you have decent musical gear, you will be in sonic heaven.
if you plan on upgrading, than the alons are a the way to go if you have the room for them. they require a fair amount of space due to the dipole design. when set up, they totally disappear and have a monsterous soundstage. my neighbors who are not audiophiles comment on this. they are revealing of what is fed to them. i am currently using all solid state and the sound is short of incredible ( imo ). btw, i use neutral/revealing ic's - xlo signiture 2 and cardas neutral. the sound is not bright, but transparent and relaxing.
you can use solid state with both speakers. a great amp for under $600-$700 is the pse studio v's monoblocks. when used with tubes, they become extremely holographic. but they need 80-100 wpc on tubes, they are not the most efficent speaker.
if you ask richard vandersteen what amps he used to voice the 2 ci's - he used the arc d-76Mkii(tube) and the pse studio 5 monos(solid state). the pse monos are a f^&**#$%@! incredible amps. Very clean, transparent, and neutral.they pass the signal on very cleanly and are very dynamic ( awesome bottom end) and the imaging from the monos is added bonus. i bought these for my vandies and now use them on my alon 2's and they are a great match.
i hope that is helpful,
mike
btw the system is:
alon 2's
pse studio v monoblocks
audio research ls-12
marantz sa8260
xlo signiture 2 between cd to pre
cardas netural refernce between pre to amp
monster 2.4 speaker
monster 3500 power cond.
asc 1/4 tube traps