Vandersteen's Richard Vandersteen Talks Loudspeaker Design | Stereophile

Richard Vandersteen of Vandersteen Audio talks loudspeakers with John Atkinson (Editor, Stereophile) in his showroom at this past CES 2018.
Read the written blog post: po.st/ql5LmA
Watch/Listen to a binaural recording of the Vandersteen room at CES 2018: • CES 2018: Lamm, Vander...
Watch more conversations with designers here: • Conversations with Des...
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[@Exgol2005]

Interview with clarity and effortlessness

[@peterbigblock]

Love my 1C speakers, which I’ve had for 25 years. Richard Vandersteen is an amazing guy, a genius who speaks clearly and simply about complex things. Terrific guy.

[@DARDA360]

I can attest to the open phone policy. He answered my call as a matter of factly. And he speaks like my father!

[@brahand]

I think it was in an interview with Nelson Pass that I read that he spend the first 2 hours of his working day reading and answering emails from consumers. Much the same consumer friendly approach as Richard have.

[@tseumd58]

Love this interview with talented audiophile Vandersteen legend

[@scottlowell493]

Transparent, boxless/open, articulate. Music.

[@biancalovesrob]

5:00 "The only thing that moves me into the emotional side of my brain is music and my wife naked." This dude gets it. My Dad used to blast classical music on these all night and I'd listen from my bedroom next door. When I became old enough to make my own albums, nothing brought me more pleasure than listening to the final product on his Vandersteen 2's.

[@Audiofreak71]

Excellent speakers and Richard is a great guy to talk with both personally and on the phone, always willing to help whether it's with his base model 1's or super high end 7's, excellent company!.

[@stephencosta6814]

This interview is real talk no bullshit no snake oil. I really appreciate it. Richard his company he really went out on a limb for this made in his life.

[@shilosheena]

such a vast amount of knowledge on a number of levels

[@sidvicious3129]

I have met Richard Vandersteen twice, he has made appearances at my local dealers for events. Richard is one of the most down to earth knowledgeable individuals in this industry that you will meet. He answers questions and he builds great products, I own his 2ce Signatures II and two of his 2WQs subwoofers. My dealer did use a laser for the Model 7s and I saw him use a laser once for a pair of model 5 carbons for a customer that was spending huge bucks for them and other equipment. The model 7s were for one of the events that Richard attended. Richard's speakers are remarkable for the regardless of price for what they do. Richard Vandersteen is as approachable as another individual, named Dan Laufman of Emotiva, who is also extremely approachable.

[@michaelzoppo534]

Great interview of my favorite loudspeaker designer.

[@tomdent5350]

Legend! I love my Vandersteen's

[@MrCatalysis101]

Excellent discussion. Thanks.

[@Audfile]

Wow, this brand wasn't even on my radar but he has a great website and those speakers look incredible. I have to hear some.

[@RoadtoNowhere73]

Fantastic interview.

[@janpedersen8376]

Enjoy listening to some deep understanding of any subjects and this does not disapoint. I was on the hunt for a used pair (shortage of $) of 2a’s for a long time but a pair of Dali Helicon 400 came along so i never got a chance to own a pair of Vandersteens but, it’s never to late, they are great speakers!

[@ethiesm1]

LEGEND!

[@AGC828]

I think the 3A was the only Vandersteen I heard. What truck me at the time was how lifelike the instruments sounded. How they sounded like they weren't coming from a "speaker enclosure". I forget what amps were used. Solid state or tube. Just loved the 3A's. I wonder how a Vandersteen would sound in an Atmos setup.

[@mizake01]

AWESOME nerd talk! Well worth subscription price!

[@pauldavies6037]

very interesting a designer that makes his own path

[@stevefisher8323]

He should credit Dahlquist with this as they did a similar thing in the 70s with their flagship design, albeit with 4 mids and tweeters on small baffles (but basically not on a panel) atop a woofer enclosure with non-parallel sides. The drivers were phase aligned. So this idea was out there already. I built some DIY speakers with sealed dome mid and tweeter mounted on a rack, atop of a sealed enclosure for a woofer, sounding the mid and tweeter rack with an open fabric screen design on a cube made of thin pieces of wood.

[@khunopie9159]

Great talk gentleman. Now I am going to go watch some paint dry. Cheers!

[@BanBiofuels]

I have not heard a Vandersteen loudspeaker since about 1990, but the last one I heard had an aluminum dome tweeter which I could not tolerate for long. People's ears are different and we hear different things, but I would much prefer a second order crossover and a fabric dome tweeter in loudspeakers with time alignment and minimum diffraction. The best speaker I made for myself had dual 12" polypropylene woofers, one behind the other in a compound load configuration, in a sealed 4 cubic foot box. On top of that was a small box with a 5.25" Peerless cast frame polypropylene midrange woofer in a sealed enclosure, and on top of that an air mounted Peerless cloth dome tweeter that had a very shallow horn loading. Crossover frequencies were 200 Hz and 2,300 Hz at 12 db using polypropylene capacitors. That combination gave me great dispersion and imaging that stretched from one side of the room to the other. If you have time alignment and an air mounted tweeter you don't need surround sound. I prefer second order crossovers because they don't have the smear I hear when you listen to two drivers operating in the same frequency band. Third order and higher crossovers sound artificial to me. The steep slopes just suck the life out of the music. First order is just too slow and causes beaming problems. Second order is not perfect, but I like it better than the alternatives and it is cost effective. I hate ports and passive radiators with a passion. They make the bass sound like mush, not tight and accurate, and I can hear the phase shift.

[@robertyoung1777]

Fun experimenting!

[@gman76utube]

Are these guys on witness protection? Why are they in the dark? Loved the 2C’s back in the day.

[@andyandy2684]

The Vandersteen 2C were the first serious speakers I ever owned. One day...I will go full circle and get the Vandersteens again.

[@hifi2169]

My first pair of high-end speakers were Vandersteen 3A’s about 25 years ago. Right after I bought them I had some set up questions and I called Richard, and he personally took the call and talked to me for about 15 minutes directly on the phone himself. That’s wonderful customer service. I’ve since moved on to many other types of speakers but I’ve always appreciated the Vandersteen sound, and I agree with you someday I may revisit their line and buy from them again. It Truly is a quality product and service.

[@hifi2169]

Pete's Eats I also really like my Bose quiet comfort 35’s

[@sjc1204]

As a Vandersteen speaker owner, this was really informative. In fact, I did call the factory 4 or 5 years ago with a question and probably caught Richard on a bad day - the call did not go well. However, I think Vandersteen speakers are remarkable.

[@bikemike1118]

Similar experience - but via email - I had with Purist Audio Design‘s Jim Aud. He was really short to answer my (reasonable) question (as an owner of three of his best power cords). Because my initial question wasn’t answered to me in a satisfying matter I waited a few days as Jim was obviously in a bad attire then. I sent another friendly mail - and as if there is no one other working in this company I again received an answer from Jim himself…again very short! Poor customer service! Although I‘m happy with their power cords in my chain.

[@vinodsubramanian6671]

so does ScanSpeak and CS recommend putting in a plastic cap on the back of the tweeter from LASCO Plumbing Supply USA, or is it a special requirement from Vandersteen Co?

[@waxwax8781]

California Audio on Mooney in Visalia . . . McIntosh Heaven. "These new speakers are by Vandersteen - They're in Hanford." Would have helped if staff wasn't snobby to a then 22-year-old & of course, I didn't imagine Vandersteen would outlive Advent & such out of East Coast. I ended up with Advent Bullnose & Sony separates out of a Fresno clearance sale - $1200 altogether. Any volume was on point. Ex took it all. Though those Advents are my Rosebud Sled, it probably would have bit harder were they Vandersteens. But next week, Snell dipoles in depreciated value, but fine fettle arrive to displace Ohm 3s.

[@warrenduffy1377]

Richard Vandersteen has a striking resemblance to Oliver Reed, looks like he'd drink you under the table as well. He sort of scares me tbh, wouldn't want to piss him off.

[@davediyou1309]

lol

[@oturgator]

Acoustic centre of any loudspeaker is frequency dependent. Anybody who has measured the loudspeaker with a proper measurement system (MLSSA from DRA Laboratories or Clio from Audiomatica) would know that. MLSSA, for example, measures the acoustic centre of as a function of frequency. So, whoever says, I have built a time-aligned passive filter, is basically doesn't have a broadband time aligned cross-over. At one frequency, there would be agreement, and as you move away from that specific frequency, the agreement will be lost. Even if you have time-alignment at the cross-over frequency, this can happen at a certain point in the listening space and for a single ear. You move, you lose! What is also amusing to hear that, how they are talking about correcting non-minimum phase systems. A null in the frequency response is like an asymptote of an analytical function or representation of a resonance. At resonance, there is a 180deg phase shift and no matter how much energy you pour into that frequency, it will not appear at the system output.

[@mizake01]

cool. recommend any websites to read more about this? in these interviews, including written in this mag and others, what you write is often addressed and they admit that time alignment isn't quite possible at all frequencies, and etc. I think they're speaking to educated listeners that understand THAT limitation. It is why there is still very far to go to reach "the absolute sound", one wire amp, first watt and no more, and etc. thanks :)

[@oturgator]

Online reading? I believe it is very difficult to find accurate knowledge source online. Lets' face it, people are trying to sell a 100-year-old technology and they are desperate for finding differentiators. All these phase alignments, exotic material benefit talks, cable magic, enclosure material voodoo circles around this fact. Yet, there is no technology today which is superior to another technology when it comes to sound reproduction, that is also why we have a very rich choice gamma. Still, direct radiating loudspeakers are the cheapest, most efficient and easily manufacturable speakers with good production processes and tolerances. So you will read a lot of wrong statements, views on overly exaggerated benefits of using a certain technique over the others (brand propaganda). An eye-opener would be the book from Floyd Toole. While it still has some commercial roots, it shares some insight about how loudspeaker behave in different listening rooms, some basics without contaminating them too much with "brand propaganda". Some articles from Pass are interesting, but he is not a true believer in "audiophile" grade stuff. Rod Elliott is interesting to follow but, same as Pass, he does not share the same passion as the "audiophile" group, and I use the word "audiophile" in a good sense here. What I want to say is, if you have a system, which can resolve the differences in interconnects and other minute changes in the architecture, and if you have experimented with those component swaps yourself and noticed sonic changes yourself, without being under the influence of others, you become aware of many things, at which for example Rod Elliott will laugh or Pass would write a sarcastic article for. I would include to this list Linkwitz, but some people may find his text too theoretical, but it is realy pure and redeemed from "brand propaganda".

[@TO-vw3sy]

oturgator excellent. Very curious as to what your system consists of, would you share that?

[@porkchopspapi5757]

Were supposed to value your opinion over his because? I've heard his speakers. Don't know if I've heard yours.

[@andershammer9307]

Those speakers got my vote for most natural sounding vocals but I would bet my old electrostatic speakers still sound better.

[@ColocasiaCorm]

I hate his joke about his wife naked. He tells it every time.

[@patrickdowns7114]

"We're going to put the carbon fiber tweeter in our co-axes" --- Can someone translate this for me? Are they going to put them in the 2CE and 3A?

[@4xDiscovery]

how to do all that and make speakers affordable haha

[@jonjp3141]

Audio could be better!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@ColocasiaCorm]

Heighth.

[@abr8850]

Too much channels and too much size speakers simply muddy the sound and create ear fatigue not counting that separates receiver and many speakers cost a lot for nothing and take valuable space. I just bought a complete home cinema and home stereo system edifier s350db available at amazon for 249$ only. That is the latest technology that play better than old and costly home cinema system or tower speakers.

[@abr8850]

Audio is now as obvious than video to analyse and use too. In the eighty, video was a bulky vhs tape with high cost and low resolution. Now digital video is hd with almost no associated mass and cost and can be transferred anywhere for half a cent per hour. Digital music is as obvious leap frog in any way but new music albums don't anymore an avenue because of bearshare, audacity, ipod, pc, youtube, and music studio producers just simply don't work anymore. We will never saw again big audio artists like Elton jones, boston and chigago or the platters and the beach boys. Only desire scam artists remain like........... ( say a name )

[@johnbravo7542]

There shouldn't be any Subs in high quality audio