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I love my Vandersteen's but . . . . . . . .

Over the last 35 years I have only owned Four different speaker brands . In the 70”s Radio shack ,In the 80’s ADS L-990's and Vandersteen 2ci , In the 90’s to present , Snell B’s and then back to Vandersteen 2ce sig’s .. You can see my current system here on Audiogon.. Do a search In virtual systems for Stumpies System ..This will give you a lot of info on my system.

Ok ,, Here is my question … I love the sound from my current system but there are times I wish I could get a little more volume out of it . Most of the time when I listen the Meters on the McIntosh amp are bouncing around the 40 watt area with “peaks” around 100 W . But there are times I wish I could turn it up some . If I try to turn the Vandersteen’s up the sound starts to get “compressed” ,, Instruments loose there air around them ,, everything gets thin sounding so I always turn it back down.
Is there a speaker out there that will play “bigger” in my small listening room ?
Speakers I have been considering are B&W N-804’s ,, Von schweikert VR4jr ,,, Green Mountain Audio ,, NHT .
I listen to all kinds of music . Light rock mostly . Eva Cassidy,,James Taylor,,James McMurtury,,Lyle Lovett,,Mark knopfler,,Bob James,,Larry Carlton,,Lee Ritenour ..

What to do ??? Any help would be appreciated ..
stumpie

Showing 3 responses by kt_88

kt_88
242 posts
 
I cannot beleive no one has aksed the question of the position of those Vandies. They need to be at least ( recomended by Vandersteen ) a foot off the wall. I have had them 3 feet from the wall. Ever noticed how far most audio delaers place their speakers from the wall? I rarely see them closer than 3 feet.

Also the recommened wattage is between 40 and 160. So to have them hooked to a 40 watt amp ( and then cranking the volume ) is not going to give much in the way of music. I would never hook them to less that 60.

Another option would have been to go to a more open IC, or speaker calbe. No one ever suggested that either.

But the bottom line was the wattage. That speedometer might say 120 on your 6 cynlinder pickup. But your engine will be screaming and struggling if you try to stay there. But a Corvette will have no problem keeping up that speed :)

Use the speaker for what it was designed to do.
kt_88
242 posts
 
Stumpie,

40 watts is 40 watts. That's all I have to say.
kt_88
242 posts
 
Stumpie,

Oops! My mistake I confused the watts with the first post. But I must agree with Eagleman6722, there must be a marriage between the amp and the speakers. I have had Quicksilver M-60's ( 60 watts per channel ) matched with the Vandersteen 3's and you would have thought you died and went to heaven if you listend to them. I also know that Richard Vandersteen highly recomended Quicksilver for his speakers.

I also recall listening to McChintosh through a pair of Vandersteens one time at a audio store. And to my suprise the salesmen looked at me and said " this system sounds really boring " No I wont reveal the store or the Mac that was running :)

But if you ever do decide your going to throw away those Vandies..... Throw them my way!
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