I went the paradigm rout and they are a totally different speaker than the vandersteens. After listening to tubes and other high end speakers the paradigm are harsh in the high end and not pleasant to listen to over a long time or critically. Now with that being said I do like paradigm and think there lower stuff is a grate bang for the buck.
I had 2ce sigs and loved them, As far as transparent I don't know if a more transparent speaker in that price range. Had a dennon 3801, switched to adcom amps, big difference, switched to a AR pre amp again difference, went to quicksilver amps and better cables again huge difference. What I am trying to say is the speakers would reflect every change I made in the system and I grew with them allot. Many other brands the changes would of been muted because of the color of the speaker. Now with that being said to some people they sound dull but after you listen for a while you wonÂt think so they are just natural sounding and 90% of the speakers out there are bright. Oh the other nice thing is you can tune the speakers to the room there are adjustments on the back so if your room is a little bright or dull you can adjust the speaker a bit.
I had 2ce sigs and loved them, As far as transparent I don't know if a more transparent speaker in that price range. Had a dennon 3801, switched to adcom amps, big difference, switched to a AR pre amp again difference, went to quicksilver amps and better cables again huge difference. What I am trying to say is the speakers would reflect every change I made in the system and I grew with them allot. Many other brands the changes would of been muted because of the color of the speaker. Now with that being said to some people they sound dull but after you listen for a while you wonÂt think so they are just natural sounding and 90% of the speakers out there are bright. Oh the other nice thing is you can tune the speakers to the room there are adjustments on the back so if your room is a little bright or dull you can adjust the speaker a bit.