I am in the throes of making a switch from the ProAc 2.5 to (probably) the Thiel 1.6 Strange, I know, but there you have it. After living with the Thiels, I have come to find the ProAcs unacceptably confused sounding and unresolving. Your Vandy's are time and phase coherent, like the Thiels. You may find the absence of those design elements in a speaker like the ProAc a tough pill to swallow.
Aerial 7bs or Proac Response 2.5?
I've been scuttling around the state of NC listening to speakers, as I'm thinking of upgrading from my Vandersteen 2ce Signatures. So far, I've heard the Revel F30s, a set of B&Ws floorstanders (didn't catch the model number, but they ran about $2500) The ProAc Response 2.5s, the Vandersteen 3a Signatures, the Aerial 8b, 7b, and 6s, with the Sonus Faber Grand Pianos and Vienna Acoustics Beethoven to come. That's about it for the high-end pickings hereabout, and so far the ProAcs and Aerial 7bs are my favorites. Any opinions? I'm looking for a more resoved, clearer, speaker than the Vandersteens, but that will have low listening fatigue. I'll be running them with Audio Research equipment, likely, although I might be willing to rematch electronics to a speaker I love.