Vandersteen 3A Sig, Von Schweikert VR-4 MOD, VR-5

Both very good but I chose the Vandy 3A Sigs.

I've recently played with the 3A sigs and VR4SE on the same day, and, to my ears, it was no contest, the Vons where by a large margin my favorite.

That said, speaker selection is a highly personal experience, if you don't listen with your own ears you'll never know. With a purchase this expensive I would really go out of my way to hear these speakers, even if it means a cheap $200 round trip plane ticket to a dealer or a few hours in the car. FWIW, my local dealer of Vantersteens tells me that he can't sell the 3's, he sets up the 2's with the vandy sub and, after hearing the latter, noone buys the former, nor does he push the 3's as he feels the same, fwiw.

I have a set of regular VR4 Gen III's that I've had for almost a year & I think they are excellent speakers. There have only been a handful of 'philes that have heard my system & they all enjoyed it very much. My room size is similar to yours (21 x 11.5 x 8) & the VR's are 18" from the back wall & 20" from the sides. They image very nicely & I have replaced the stock points with a set of Soler Points & added Herbie's Footer's between the modules. Both of these tweaks help with the placement constraints which helps tighten up the bass & clean up the high freqs.

I'm using an Ayre V-5x for power, so subs not necessary, as the VR's are rated flat to 20 Hz. The bass is very impressive.

I owned Von Schweikert VR-5's at the same time that I owned Vandersteen 3A Signatures. The VR-5's which I owned did not have the HSE upgrade. I found them to be a very good speaker with a very present and transparent midrange when set up properly. Set up was difficult in order to get them to sing. The bass was excellent for such a small speaker. excellent dynamics considering the speaker's size. Nevertheless, IMO, the Vandersteen 3A Signature was in another class. A much deeper and smoother bass, a broader soundstage, a better extreme high end and a better octave-to-octave integration. The VR-5 would make a great speaker for a second system, but for a statement loudspeaker, I would take Vandersteen 3A Signature over it every time and for far less money. I doubt that the HSE upgrade would make a world of difference. I found the Vandersteen's even more difficult to set up than the Von Schweikert's. I still own the Vandersteen's and sold the Von Schweikert's.

I have a problem with Von Schweikert Audio.Their products are not consistent from unit to unit.In 98 CES,VSA loaned "us" a set of VR-6s {retail:$12,500}.They were the best speakers I have heard ,period.After that show,many bought the 6s and were disappointed.Recently,a conversation with Albert {VSA}yielded the fact that that pair had special componenets,acoustic "stuffing" and heavily reinforced cabinets.None of these were included in the "stock" speaker and assembly was a little shotty.Found out that the VR-6s we used were probably worth $24,000.On the other hand,the Vandys that I have seen {2c,2ce,2ci,3A} have all been high quality sounding products.Please don't use the in-line filters,break down and buy a crossover.My vote is cast for Vandersteen.