The 1ci’s were the first "audiophile" speaker I ever purchased. Being new to audio, not knowing what I really liked, and thinking I could do better, i got rid of them. I tried upgrading to the 2ce Sig II’s but found they were way too much speaker for the rooms in my house.
I then went on a journey to find the right speaker for me. Ultmately I settled on Kef R11s. A fine speaker for sure, but tend to be a bit fatiguing at times.
Recently a pair of 1ci’s fell into my lap for a ridiculously good price. I figured I would use them in a 2nd system. Turns out I like the 1ci so much, I’m thinking about selling the Kefs which cost over 3 times more than the Vandies.
The Vandies just do certain things really well. I find they draw me into the music more. They convey a size and scale to instruments that the Kef’s dont. They are non-fatiguing and I find that I listen to music for longer stretches of time.
My system now:
Vandersteen 1ci
Vandersteen 2WQ sub
Belles Aria integrated
Bluesound Node 2
Mytek Liberty DAC (just acquired an Ayre Codex as well)
Audioquest cables
Good luck to you!