Buchardt E50 vs Fritz

What specific improvements would you like and what sound characteristics are most important to you?

Agree with soix, more info needed. Buchardt and Fritz both make quality products which are very different from one another. And there are many other good options in the category as well. 

What do you like about Vandersteen, and what do you wish was maybe different?

I have been quite happy with the Vandersteens, and buying an updated pair is a possibility.  But since I will most likely be using a smaller room, like an office, I am interested in near full range stand mounted monitors in a similar price range.  I listen to a lot of singer songwriter albums, acoustic jazz, and a bit of everything else, never at loud volumes.  Looking for a wonderful midrange, and a smooth roll off of treble and bass. I tend to be sensitive to bright or forward sounding speakers.  Since these are both sold direct, I think that they are a good value, but they can't be auditioned at a dealer!

I have not heard any of the Buchardt speakers. I have watched with interest since they debuted their first speakers, and have considered trying one or another, but chose other speakers. I have owned a pair of Fritz LS/5-R speakers for ~10 years now. I love their sound and I have no plans to sell them. Powering them sufficiently was a challenge initially because I hadn’t had experience with 82.5dB speakers. I foolishly started with 100w/ch, and quickly moved up to 150w/ch....and realized I needed to get serious, so I bought an IceEdge1200AS amp. That was plenty of power, but not exactly sweet sounding. This year I replaced the IceEdge amp with a Nuprime EVO STA-SE GaN amp delivering 400W into 8 ohms. This amp powering these speakers sounds excellent! I’m using a Holo Spring3 KTE as DAC and preamp for a pretty simple, but very satisfactory sounding desktop system. 

Fritz changed their name to this: https://www.fritzspeakers.com/DreamWeaverFritzLS5RcompactSpecPage.asp

If I were to buy a pair of Fritz speakers all over again, I wouldn’t hesitate to buy the Fritz Rev 7SE speakers. They’ve got the same tweeters as my speakers with the Revelator midwoofers. They’re 87dB and play down to 37Hz.

You asked about other speakers...I’m in the early stages of having a pair of kit speakers built for me. I used to own this same pair, but sold them a couple years ago because my wife insisted I sell a pair of speakers in order to buy another pair. [What was I thinking??!] The speakers were designed by the late Jeff Bagby. The kit instructions can still be purchased online, and the proceeds go to Jeff’s widow and son. The speakers are the Adelphos two-way standmounts using SB Acoustics Satori TW29R-B tweeters and Satori MW16P-8 midwoofers. Link: https://caritasaudio.com/product/adelphos-speaker-kit-plans/

If you’re able to build these yourself, or can farm the work out to someone who can build these, I highly recommend them. 

Best of luck with your search for new speakers. What supporting gear do you own/will own?