Vandersteen Speakers - Are All Other Speaker Makers Doing It Wrong?

I recently attended a talk given by legendary speaker designer - Richard Vandersteen - at Timbre dealership in Houston.
His time and phase coherent speaker designs are somewhat unicorns in the industry. He obviously has strong opinions about how important those traits are to sound quality, but is it true? Does it apply to everyone? Why is everyone else doing it differently if he's right?
In this video, I discuss my experience with Vandersteen speakers and share what I think and have found to be some of the tradeoffs and my preferences.
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[@psikeyhackr6914]

I used to work for an audio retailer and was able to spend hours listening to speakers and was able to buy a pair of AR-11s at half list price. Even after I switched to computers professionally I would read about hi-fi equipment a lot. The physics of phase alignment sounded interesting but I wondered about it. While perusing a used hi-fi store I encountered a pair of Vandersteen 2Ci's for sale. So I bought them to test against my AR's. I compared them for hours with various music, somewhat different but not dramatically so until: Stand By Me by Ben E King Throughout the song there is a triangle being struck periodically. It was clearly audible with each strike. But with the Vandersteens each strike sounded distinctly and obviously different from the last strike. This makes sense because the triangle would move and be hit in a different way. I could hear it on the AR's but I had to listen for it rather than it being obvious on the Vandersteens. I sold the AR speakers.

[@derreckgilmore3360]

40 years enjoyment from my Vandersteen 2Cs...they sound like music. Other speakers simply sound like speakers.

[@ChrisJGull]

Love the honesty of this video! I own Vandersteen Treo CT's at my lake house and I love them. I needed a speaker that had to be 10-12 inches from the wall. (wife's rule) When I was choosing the speakers for the room my dealer told me " You will hear what is special about phase and time alignment or you won't" and "if you don't then it's not the speaker for you, but from what you currently have been listening too they are worth trying". My main system at home has Von Schweikert VR- 44's with a very different speaker placement (4 feet from the wall) and I love them also. What's important to me is with both systems, I'm able to listen to music while I enjoy what I hear without picking things apart. Which with some speakers I've owned did. I would not want to only eating apples everyday or just oranges, it's the variety we have in this hobby that's a big part of the wonder I have for audio.

[@connorduke4619]

The two marketing philosophies that impress me the most that I can also actually hear the benefit of are: ATC - active mid dome speakers and Holo - dual mono dual ladder R2R Dacs. What I like about the best specimens of both of these brands is that next to coherence, they make a good fist of performing across all the key audio parameters - neutrality, timbre, resolution, soundstage, imaging, etc.

[@bertholdzettler2310]

More and more I think people have quite different preferences what kind of sound they like and maybe they even hear in different ways. For myself I especially like to listen to female and male singers. I am critical about the voicing of the speaker in the frequency range of voices. I prefer clarity. I prefer closed enclosures and a relatively high amount of damping material in the midrange enclosure. Sometimes bass reflex sounds just too conguested, with too much unwanted noise/sound for me. Someone mentioned that Vandersteen is so good in the midrange, excels there. This might be why I like the Vandersteen sound so much. I had only visited three audio fairs so far. At two of them I could listen to Vandersteen loudspeakers. And they played music with vocals both times. The first time it was the Model Seven. I was standing somewhere in the room and immediately it came to me "it just sounds right." Best of show for me. The other time I could listen to the Vandersteen Quatro Wood. I was so touched by the music that I was close to start crying, just before tears were coming. Best of show for me. At the fairs were big tower speakers like the KEF Muon or loudspeakers with diamond domes or with the praised AMT tweeters. And the sales guys preferred to play them loud. It just did not impress me.

[@billarmstrong5568]

In the dealership I worked in for a long time Thiel (another design famously built around phase coherency) was one of our brands and it was pretty clear to me that their timing was superior to everything else we had (Gryphon, Revel, ATC, Focal, Triangle etc). And I vividly recall a very successful London-based sound engineer demoing a lot of our stuff and ending up saying that a pair of Thiel 3.7s made everything else he heard that day sound broken. But not every customer agreed with that take, and it became obvious to me that that some listeners are far more sensitive to this particular issue than others. Personally, where I heard the positive effects most clearly was on drumkits; they always felt noticeably more authentic and rhythmically engaging via the Thiels. In fact I was very sad when the company folded, a real loss to the industry imho. Maybe I should try a pair of Vandersteens!? Or rather I might if they were actually sold here in the UK, which they're not.

[@AudiophileJunkie]

Glad you brought up Thiel. That's another brand I wanted to like, but never heard anything that quite did it for me. I was prepared to buy the CS1.6 back in the day, but after listening to them for an extended period of time, I just couldn't do it despite some reviewers liking them. I remember the 1.6 was even on the front of a magazine cover back in the day. While they share similarities...I don't think Thiel and Vandersteen are interchangeable. While Vandersteen leaned to the mellow side...Thiel seemed to always lean the complete opposite to me. It may be worth auditioning though just to see if the magic you found with Thiel is captured with any Vandersteen model. That would be a good litmus test to see if the time/phase coherency is what attracted you to Thiel or maybe something else.

[@MrPONCHO467]

You hit it on the head

[@scottcooksey5284]

You have a good ear and you would do well to stick with the Thiels. I totally agree with your assessment. And it is certainly a shame that Jim Thiel passed, may he rest in peace ,and that the company went out of business. I've owned Thiels and have a pair of them right now. Did business with the company directly and they were fantastic people.

[@MichaelAmster]

One of the best sounding speakers to me in the under $12K range was the Vandersteen Treo CT I heard at T.H.E. Show in Newport a few years ago. I heard the Magico A3 as well. I think that the smaller room fit that speaker well. It sounded better than the bigger Sevens to me - probably due to room fit. I agree with your description about getting too bogged down in a philosophy over listening.

[@AudiophileJunkie]

Yeah... Mating the right speaker to the room can be game changing, so there's lots of variables to consider. For example, I recently heard the exact pair of avantgarde speakers in two different rooms of a house. It was night and day different, so it's always hard to tell for sure. I've heard the Vandersteens many times at shows and a few times at people's homes. To-date, I haven't been wowed, but it may come one day.

[@Harish588]

I have built a 4th order LR 2 way and a 1st oder BW with the same drivers with a perfect right triangle step response. After listening to both in my setup, I shall never go back to 4th order LR. There is no comparison. It was easy for me to listen to the 1st order BW.

[@jmalen123]

Some good advice here my brother. My love is of good horn speakers. Their efficiency floats my boat.

[@bradotoole7538]

Richard always says that 1st order is not for everyone. It is OK if it is not for you. Please note Joseph Audio is not first order. It is the opposite. "A first-order crossover has a 6dB-per-octave roll-off between drivers. In comparison, the Prism uses a 100dB-per-octave crossover for the low pass and 18dB third order for the tweeter’s roll-off. The low-pass filter drops much faster than 24dB per octave until it hits about -41dB, at which point the attenuation tapers off. This is the benefit of the Infinite Slope technique" - Joseph Audio review by Steven Stone TAS

[@AudiophileJunkie]

Are you sure that's the case with ALL Joseph audio speakers?

[@bradotoole7538]

@@AudiophileJunkie I don't know for sure about all of the Joseph Audio designs but I have discussed the infinite slope design with him directly and he is a big proponent of this design ideal. I will call him tomorrow as I like to get my facts straight.

[@AudiophileJunkie]

Cool..It would make sense if it wasn't a first order crossover. When I was at the demo by Vandersteen, I asked how his was different than Joseph Audio. Richard wasn't aware of Joseph, but someone in the audience mentioned it being different and unique like you mentioned. It would also totally explain why I like Joseph audio speakers much more than Vandersteens. I prefer a steep roll-off filter and not a lot of commingling between different drivers. I think I could have got the first order comparison from someone at the shows thinking that was the only way to keep the "time and phase coherency" both seemed to emphasize. As with many things in the hobby, semantics can get generalized whereas technicalities can be vastly different.

[@bradotoole7538]

I checked in with Jeff Joseph today, and he has never done a first-order speaker. He is on the opposite side with infinite slope designs.

[@AudiophileJunkie]

That makes total sense now. Thanks for checking

[@techrider2088]

Great content. Makes me think more deeply even though I've been in this hobby for 40 years.

[@Audiofreak71]

I was kind of like you , I owned many other speakers and was always curious about Vandersteen had went to a few of his seminars and really like what Richard had to say. I finally jumped into Vandersteen about 6yrs ago with the 2ce Signature ii’s and at first I was unimpressed, that is until I talked to some people including Richard himself and found the positioning of the speakers was extremely crucial. I got them laser sharp dialed in and damned if I was listening to a whole different speaker , they sounding absolutely incredible. Now I own the 3a Signature’s with a JTR Captivator RS1 dialed in using REW and there are very few 2ch systems under $25k that I find better sounding. In fact when I hear many other systems including a recent demo of some Wilson Alexandria’s paired with Dan D'Agostino Amos while it sounded excellent something sounded off (of course there are many factors here , room etc etc) I now I find that other speakers sound like they’re missing something. So if you haven’t spent the time to listen to a pair of Vandersteen’s setup correctly then that may be the problem and yes alot if dealerships get the setup wrong also. Thanks for sharing the video always appreciate your content. 👍

[@AudiophileJunkie]

Yeah... I suspect they are even more sensitive to the room and placement than other speakers. It's easy for a room or bad placement to mess up the time and phase coherency. I did own a vandersteen sub, and it was ok for the money, but I never tried his speakers in my room with all my treatments and personal set-up. I'm not going to stop listening to them at shows, so maybe down the road I'll hear the magic.

[@Audiofreak71]

@@AudiophileJunkie Some speakers just don’t do it for some people, thank goodness there are hundreds to choose from lol. What I learned from owning Vandersteens is how to take my time and properly setup speakers where as before I would eyeball it set it and forget it. Hopefully you do hear a pair setup up right with all the synergy and you hear the magic, if not well they just aren’t for you.

[@excellularmobile3991]

@@AudiophileJunkie To say that you owned a Vandersteen sub and thought that it was just OK for the money really says a lot about your hearing. The 2W sub is one of the best subs ever made.

[@AudiophileJunkie]

Lol...I hope you're joking or maybe reading the forums of fanboys too much. I don't even think Richard would say that. I literally gave mine away for free to someone. It's not a bad sub, but I question what you've actually owned or heard to claim it's one of the best ever. I'm not alone in this opinion. Virtually nobody uses or sells that sub compared to others in that budget range. Maybe you're putting too much stock in the fact some of his models come with external crossovers that I agree allow for certain advantages. Maybe you listen at low volumes and/or needed to match a sub to Maggie's where the smaller drivers theoretically might keep up better. In reality, it was a disappointment to me at all volumes and even with Maggie's didn't impress. The amp and drivers themselves are nothing special...nowhere near the best... But as I said it's "ok" for the price considering you're paying distributor and dealer mark-up. I had it in my system at the same time with an SVS sealed box sub you can buy direct. I used my own external crossover because the SVS one is crap (so I'll give the vandersteen better credit in that area), but everything else went in favor of SVS. Not by a huge amount, but enough to give away the Vandersteen.

[@Audiofreak71]

@@AudiophileJunkie I own Vandersteens and have owned the Vandersteen sub and even I wouldn’t say it’s the best sub , definitely is a good one for implementing with speakers in a two ch setup of its time but there are many subs these days that are far better imo . I own a JTR Captivator RS1 and have it dialed in with my Vandersteen 3a Signature’s and used REW to do it and it is an incredible experience. Even though the Vandersteen sub was good the JTR is an incredible jump in performance while complementing my 3a Signature’s much better. All just my experience and opinion of course.

[@vicentepostiganogueira3258]

Another manufacturer that uses this principle is Duntech, which came out with new models. Dunlavy, also had great speakers, SC- IVa, SC-V, and SC-VI.

[@AudiophileJunkie]

Yeah...a friend of mine has an old pair of Duntech Sovereigns. I'll be doing a video at his house in the near future and maybe we'll hook these up.

[@techrider2088]

Yes. For me, owning a Dunlavy SC-I, I've attributed it's great qualities to it's design adherence to maintaining time coherence and an impressive impulse response. I was told by a local high end audio store that Dunlavy did not use high end drivers but the sound was so remarkable to me that I reasoned that their excellence was because of those design foundations.

[@redstarwraith]

One of the more memorable set ups i ever heard at my local dealer's store was some Vandies (2Ce's?) powered by a Parasound Hint 6. Nothing very expensive, but that modest set up was very inviting and non-fatiguing. I could have listened for hours.

[@AudiophileJunkie]

That's one thing I notice too. Vandersteen's rarely sound fatiguing. On the flip side, I can't say that I've ever heard anyone cranking them super loud. In fact, their rooms always have the volume lower than most and this demo at the dealer had the volume really low too. I'll have to go back one day and crank them up just to see how they benchmark against Rockports, MBL, YG, etc at high volumes.

[@FOH3663]

@@AudiophileJunkie Experienced his flagships at Axpona, in a mammoth 30'x55' with a high 15' ceiling, playing percussion heavy track at surprisingly high levels... I couldn't believe his single dome tweet per side doing a fine job of filling that room... w/apparent lack of significant compression. I took the time to tell him the level of my surprise... I was helping an exhibitor demo in another big room, nearby on that same meeting room floor. I reminded him, by his advice, he launched me down a path of bi-wiring experimentation 30yrs ago.

[@GodfreyMann]

One of the flaws with most audiophiles (including KZbin reviewers) is that when they tell you about their gear preferences they invariably fail to explain their musical goals when buying new gear. Therefore, I suspect that if you were to ask your Vandersteen buddies what is it they’re trying to achieve, you may find a common goal that is different to yours. Hence why you may not like Vandersteens as your goals may be different. For myself, I’m trying to build a system with a natural sound/soundstage/layering/separation with acoustic instruments across a range of music types with simply mic-ed recordings not done in a studio but more often in a venue where I can hear the room ambience to give me a “you are at the venue” experience rather than musicians in my room. My benchmark are live acoustic performances which I try to attend at least monthly to both tune my ears and enjoy the music. The Vandersteen speakers I have (combined with the right recordings) give me enough of a taste of that experience for such little money that I’m flummoxed as to why they’re not more popular.

[@AudiophileJunkie]

I've spoken about music goals and taste in music influencing your buying decisions and choices many times. The most recent video I released is a perfect example featuring my friend Joseph's system. If you've found that Vandersteen speakers provide a "natural sound/soundstage/layering/separation with acoustic instruments", that's great. However I can assure you that others have similar goals and found speakers they prefer more. Ultimately the market speaks...Vandersteen has been around a long time and has their fanboys. Likewise, there are others who choose something else and/or where Vandersteen isn't even in the conversation among their top choices. I would just be happy with your own happiness and not worry about others not choosing Vandersteen as their favorite.

[@GodfreyMann]

@@AudiophileJunkie it’s the synergy with the YBA amplifier that makes it sing in that way and sure there are PLENTY that will do it better but not for the £800 they cost me and the amp at £950.

[@asegal4677]

100% agree. Unfortunately, I think many blindly subscribe to the idea of "the best" and do not recognize that "the best" in the very best case scenario can only be assessed in comparison with a set of subjective goals.

[@papapatriot]

I've never had the pleasure of hearing any Vandersteen speakers but an older brand that I loved was Snell, just something right coming out of them!

[@RickRoberts_simplyrick]

Vandersteen makes good sounding speakers that are built very well for fair pricing. There are many other types thare are far superior but typically twice the price. Martin Logan, Genesis, Wilson, Dunlavy, and Apogee were some I sold in Houston at The Esoteric Ear with my simplyphysics and Krell, Pass Labs, Counterpoint, Prodigy OTL, Audio Research gear too.

[@MrPONCHO467]

I definitely appreciate this video. I respect the manner in which you explain yourself. I currently own a pair thiel cs6 speakers and have grown to appreciate them. I've frequented nearly every brick and mortar audio shop in nyc. Have been allowed to audition systems in the 6 figure area. I have a say the two most memorable audition utilized a vandersteen speaker. Lastly I don't have passive income or additional revenue apart from my salary, so a pair of 3a signatures with two vandersteen subs will get me closer to my dream system. Great channel by the way.

[@AudiophileJunkie]

That would be a killer setup. I know that Steve McCormack (who designs my amps and I featured on the channel) has Vandersteen 3A and felt no need to change over many years.

[@geoffreydebrito2653]

You've brought up an interesting aspect in sound reproduction. Implicit in what you're saying is that people hear differently or at least fall into different camps. I can relate that to how people's taste buds differ. I've long suspected that it's genetic. I get little to no enjoyment out of highly spicy food, just a lot of burning pain in my mouth when I've tried them. I suspect our ears are like our taste buds, they vary both between individuals and in types. Nor is it just our ears and taste buds the colors we can perceive differ as well. Which would be why some people love Vandersteens, while leaving some people indifferent to them. Thanks for the insight, even after 50 years in this hobby, I'm still learning.

[@alberke3274]

I love my Vandersteen quatro ct speakers with the M5-HPA amplifiers. I had the B&W Nautilus 801's prior to this and never had the bass nor the overall sound that the Vandersteens produce.

[@AudiophileJunkie]

Those do seem to be very different flavors of speakers. Did you think it was the timing aspect or the type of drivers that made the biggest difference? I know lots of people find B&W bright and Vandersteen dark, so it's good to get impressions from people that actually owned both.

[@alberke3274]

@@AudiophileJunkie I much prefer the open sound of the Vandersteen quatro ct speaker. Better highs and lows across the board. Even with a high powered Krell amp powering the Nautilus speakers, it didn't put out the bass sound that I expected. The M5-HPA is designed to power the built is subwoofer which makes a huge difference. I'm very happy with this setup. I am also running an ayre preamp. Same approach with time and phase that Vandersteen developed in his speakers.

[@jackkennedy9475]

@@alberke3274 glad you put this in. I have Levinson 331 with B&W 802 D3 Matrix. Have always wanted Wilson Watt Puppies the listened to Vandersteen Quatro Wood CT’s. The design concepts, minimal baffle, enclosures for each speaker, phase correct, and adjustable sub all make good engineering sense. The sound is different than both B&W and Wilson which seem bright and therefore give a perception of brilliance which is alluring but doesn’t seem accurate overtime especially when compared with music you’ve heard at concert.

[@scottlowell493]

A lot of high end stuff is form over function. They are no where near engineered compared to Vandersteen. The later audio engineer Richard Hardesty pointed out how well Vandersteen measures and how even they are (phase/time) compared to a lot of high end out there. Dunlavy did that too.

[@JMAudioEditions]

Richard V is a genius among us and he influenced my JM Audio XTC headphones tuning

[@shawnmathew825]

I dont know anything about the design of the vandersteen, but of all the shows I've been to the best room I heard was a Vandersteen room with the vandersteen quatro ct. Since then I've been trying to get my hands on a used pair of them, but they very rarely come up on the used market.

[@AudiophileJunkie]

I see quite a few of the older models for sale periodically here in Houston. You might want to check with a dealer of Vandersteen. Many people who like Vandersteen stick with them even when upgrading. You might be able to get a good deal on someone trading in a used Vandersteen for a new model via an existing dealer. Buying used from a dealer also gives you a little more comfort than XYZ guy on craigslist, ebay, etc.

[@shawnmathew825]

@@AudiophileJunkie yeah, I've seen the older models of the quatro but the version you want is the CT. There was a tremendous leap with the development of those carbon woofers

[@e.c.9369]

Take a listen to the treo wheb you get a chance. You wont be dissappointed

[@socksumi]

There's lot's of amazing sounding speakers out there. Why even ask the question... "Are All Other Speaker Makers Doing It Wrong"?

[@AudiophileJunkie]

That's really not my question... It's what is implied by certain claims, so you be the judge. For some, it will be clear that others do things wrong. For others, it won't be so binary.

[@frankverschoof8083]

You can fix Phase alignment in the crossover, Time alignment needs a distance offset. If You do, it gives You a visceral sence of instuments, voices and space, if You meet all the other criteria also. Room treatment is the most important one. They do it better then Wilson, witch dispite the serious effort, are not time aligned. Do not forget the early Thiel Audio models btw. I like the VanDerSteen filosofie, but everything is a trade off. Sense of space and image is second to none, but there are some flaws: accurateness is one of them due to the limits of the drivers. So it comes down to what You hear or ignore in the sound. Most brand's lack vision in this department, and design for looks en price. So You can make the case that VdS actually does better then others.

[@AudiophileJunkie]

That perspective is totally reasonable...thanks for sharing.

[@mark9118]

Time and Phase is somewhat important, but considering the amount of reflected sound that reaches the listener from various surfaces of the room (back, sides, rear, ceiling, etc) it is hard to say that Time and Phase are the most important factor in creating a realistic listening experience. Also, since speakers like the high-end Wilson's, need exact adjustments for each driver box (front to back, and tilt) to account for a single listening position in the room relative to the distance from each driver, there are likely always going to be Time and Phase differences that occur. However, maybe more important for Vandersteen speakers (and some others) to create a realistic listening experience is the decoupling of the drivers from the speaker box, giving a more transparent and omnidirectional sound, while ironically creating more Time and Phase differences from the reflected sound.

[@AudiophileJunkie]

You probably hear similar to me. The reflected sound kills any time and phase coherency advantage created by the speaker crossover and driver offset. I think the Wilson's that dial things in for the exact listening height and distance are closer to maintaining an advantage at the actual listening position. Also, things like Dirac that electronically correct for the EXACT impulse response closest to your ears seem to make more of a difference to my ears too. Decoupling the drivers is great, but many speakers do that now and give you the advantage of adjustment like Wilson's. It also can add issues with off-axis response when drivers are separated...or baffle reflections when the tweater sees a ledge in front of it. There's just so many variables that I don't think anyone can claim to be 100% right.

[@jackkennedy9475]

I believe I saw a stepped response from Wilson which world show that it is not phase correct. It seems what Richard Vandersteen is working on is to eliminate all potential distortion that would cause coloration in the music. We all say “we want to reproduce the sound prefect” but when a designer identifies areas of distortion we protest to the science? All his theories have been proven out, in my opinion.

[@AudiophileJunkie]

I'm not sure you've looked at all the research if you think everything's been proven in Richard's favor. There are those who show that a 1st order crossover is NOT phase and time coherent. Plus, aligning the acoustic center of drivers is a good goal but it doesn't mean they are aligned at all frequencies. You can get a measurement or graph to show any type of positive or negative you want. The key is whether that difference shown in a measurement is audible and significant enough to make a positive difference AND offset all the negative things that may NOT have been shown in that graph. Nobody has made a perfect speaker with no trade-offs yet... Not Wilson... Not Vandersteen. Plus, there are subjective things outside of measurements to consider. Even amir at audio science review gave a subjective positive review to a Wilson speaker that didn't measure well.

[@jackkennedy9475]

@@AudiophileJunkie this would go against crossover theory. There are simple cap, inductor first orders and a little more complex first orders. Now if a person can hear or tell the difference is another matter.

[@scottcooksey5284]

I haven't been wowed by vandersteen's either,,, having owned and listened to a pair for quite some time before I passed them on. I had Merlin's for a while that I actually preferred ahead of the vandersteen's. Personally I think Jim Thiel got it right with his CS line, the entire line, from bottom to top.

[@louskimming4371]

You know I too have had a love hate relationship with Vandersteen speakers. Their 2 CE IIIs are, IMO, so good in so many ways, but I believe due to the crossovers they lack immediacy. Better capacitors and possibly resistors, and I think that they would quite possibly be awesome speakers.

[@chrishayden6088]

You bet !!! None more musical and non fatiguing when correctly setup. There activate speakers allow for bass adjustment is terrific for achieving the best speaker placement. Now with PIS tonic drivers the resolve sonically is unsurpassed in the industry.All the l facets of a room acoustics have been addressed PROPERLY !!!

[@asegal4677]

I believe it claimed that the time and phase coherence leads to much lower listening fatigue. Do you notice that with the Vandersteens?

[@garyb2507]

Pulse coherent speakers don't jump out and grab you, the quality creeps up on you (Duntech user here) and you get to the point where you really don't want to listen to 'standard' phasey speakers.

[@phillipmorris9847]

The Treo ct impressed me most of everything I've heard in the last 24 months.

[@linandy1]

Its more marketing fluff and placebo effects. Room interaction overwhelms any minute measurements on paper.

[@dilbyjones]

Love love my Maggie's, of course the small ones only work in small rooms and they have well documented issues... still can't beat em for 600$ US

[@AudiophileJunkie]

Yep.. Great value

[@samalbuquerque1765]

I’m a lucky guy I bought a Vandersteen audio in Goodwill Orlando for only 75$ it was just needing to turn on the ground cable perfect . It was a subwoofer 🔊

[@AudiophileJunkie]

Very nice...that's a steal.

[@CarlVanDoren61]

Another magnepan performance feature is power response.

[@TooBuz]

Yes.

[@jennconducts]

I like your videos. Just a heads up: Timbre is pronounced "tamber".

[@mrgiggles7840]

I dont like the sound of Vandersteens either - recommend Magnepans far above them - would highly recommend folks check out a brand called " German Physiks " if you are going to be spending a lot of money - they are astounding

[@maxhirsch7035]

There's obviously no 'best' in audio, as in just about anything else. I'm a huge fan of the Vandersteen sound, but EVERY speaker comes w/ tradeoffs- none can do everything equally well- and different people focus relatively on different things in sound. Vandersteens are very sensitive to setup and system matching IMO, and the higher-end current V-steen models, with pistonic drivers, strongly address prior relative shortcomings in the sounds of these speakers. Overall, IMO they're also strongest with well-recorded acoustic music.

[@hiresaudiocosta873]

First order crossovers do not make for better alignment in the time domain. There is a 90 degree phase shift for every order. First order crossover designs encompass a wider range of frequencies, so phase incoherent inconsistencies between drivers will become more prominent. One can time align the speakers at the crossover point ( one frequency ) by physically positioning the drivers, but what about the rest of the crossover area?

[@CarlVanDoren61]

Measure Magnepans never works, listening best option.

[@AudiophileJunkie]

Yeah...it's more a function of how measurements are taken and the line source nature. Ultimately, you need to listen to any speaker before buying.

[@joshklein6450]

@ CarlVanDoren Yes, agreed. Ears (the very ones on either side of most human heads) are the best measurements to the music and real emotion. My experience anyway. Mileage/ears, notwithstanding,may vary...Proceed with, or rather without, caution.

[@sidvicious3129]

I would tell you, don’t try to like them. You sound like you have heard enough speakers in your time to know the differences and you know what you like and what you don’t. When you attempt to make your mind like something, the more you try, the more that you will hate it to the point of contention. There are probably people who don’t care for Wilsons, B&W, Focal, MBL and others. Some people hate soft dome tweeters and others love them. Feel extremely comfortable saying that you don’t like Vandersteen speakers because you gave excellent personal reasons for not liking them. In reality we all like what we like and we all must feel comfortable respecting each other’s different opinions. I love it, no Cardi B up there, that is hilarious 😅😅😅

[@kellygrant4964]

Time coherent speakers are great. I have meadowlark Kestrels. They are also a transmission line speakers. Very difficult to build properly. I would love to audition the Model 2Ce Signature III.

[@AudiophileJunkie]

Those Meadowlarks are sweet and cool looking too... Blast from the past I still remember well.

[@MrAKbass]

" I don't know why there's no Cardi B on here" 🤣

[@steverogers7611]

Houston has a Maggie store ? Where ?

[@AudiophileJunkie]

It's kinda hard to find. The dealer is called Timbre near Kirby and I59.

[@IliyaOsnovikov]

First order crossover filters. They ALWAYS require exact positioning of the speaker drivers and listener's ears. There could be only one listening position with a great sound. Move even a couple of inches up/down or closer/further and the magic is gone.

[@UKTonyMagill]

Hi, interesting video but would you please learn to look at the camera when you speak. You always look off camera and it doesn't look professional.

[@AudiophileJunkie]

I specialize in unprofessional and unedited videos :) Seriously though...I may get a formal camera and stuff for filming, but I'm not doing this for money, so I mainly just focus on content and getting it out simple and easy.