Vandersteen is Stereophile favorite. Big advertisers though. I have no doubt PSB or especially any B&W will out perform them.
Or, the dipole designs will even out perfrom those. That is, electrostatic; planer/ribbon; or especially dynamic driver open baffle, which provide the best of both of those worlds http://www.audioartistry.com or http://www.linkwitzlab.com
But only if 'true to the orginal' is your goal. They just frustrate the 'connoiseurs of coloration' who use their system to achieve some 'sound' each advoate seeks to their individual taste. They claim it is subjective, and explains the total lack of consensus among them about just about anything.
I believe transparency is a for them because when they hear the sonic characteristics of a given recording that is less than adequate they leap to attempting to moderate the anomoly with their system.
Of course having been conditioned by the magazine reviewer's philosophy who attribe sonic characterics (described in eloquent and even poetic terms by the way --which seems an odd way to discuss distortion) more to components, cables and tweaks, especially the mfgrs that advertise with them, than they do the actual source material.
That is, the system gets used as though it were a mixer, in a futile attempt to 'improve' the music. But only accomplishes a kind of sameness with all recordings. It would be easier, and lot less expensive, to hang a blanket over the speakers, or put cotton in your ears.
Of course then the debate would be over the many fabrics availble that could be used, and their specific acoustic qualities, and who likes which one better. Recommendations would continue to flourish (I kid them :-)
The the 'other', though not the popular, approach intrigues you check out http://www.linkwitzlab.com for truth, and an abundance of knowledge on all things audio. Even papers on various theories by experts in the fiel, at the LINKS link.
BTW, in the MUSIC link you will find tested and proven to be sonically superior, well produced and engineered, reference quality CD's: in a variety of musical genres. I have several of them. And have even burned a professional 'copy-equal-to-original' compilation of the recommended tracks.
A couple hours worth in a row. Wow. Sometimes I just play them to recalibrte my hearing, which is continually corrupted by other media.
Or, the dipole designs will even out perfrom those. That is, electrostatic; planer/ribbon; or especially dynamic driver open baffle, which provide the best of both of those worlds http://www.audioartistry.com or http://www.linkwitzlab.com
But only if 'true to the orginal' is your goal. They just frustrate the 'connoiseurs of coloration' who use their system to achieve some 'sound' each advoate seeks to their individual taste. They claim it is subjective, and explains the total lack of consensus among them about just about anything.
I believe transparency is a for them because when they hear the sonic characteristics of a given recording that is less than adequate they leap to attempting to moderate the anomoly with their system.
Of course having been conditioned by the magazine reviewer's philosophy who attribe sonic characterics (described in eloquent and even poetic terms by the way --which seems an odd way to discuss distortion) more to components, cables and tweaks, especially the mfgrs that advertise with them, than they do the actual source material.
That is, the system gets used as though it were a mixer, in a futile attempt to 'improve' the music. But only accomplishes a kind of sameness with all recordings. It would be easier, and lot less expensive, to hang a blanket over the speakers, or put cotton in your ears.
Of course then the debate would be over the many fabrics availble that could be used, and their specific acoustic qualities, and who likes which one better. Recommendations would continue to flourish (I kid them :-)
The the 'other', though not the popular, approach intrigues you check out http://www.linkwitzlab.com for truth, and an abundance of knowledge on all things audio. Even papers on various theories by experts in the fiel, at the LINKS link.
BTW, in the MUSIC link you will find tested and proven to be sonically superior, well produced and engineered, reference quality CD's: in a variety of musical genres. I have several of them. And have even burned a professional 'copy-equal-to-original' compilation of the recommended tracks.
A couple hours worth in a row. Wow. Sometimes I just play them to recalibrte my hearing, which is continually corrupted by other media.