Anything better than Vandersteen 3A sig for the $

That's a big room. I think you will need one or two Vandersteens subs to have a realistic foundation to the music.
I'm not a big fan but the Vandersteen price performance is hard to beat. I recommend good solidstate as opposed to tubes for these speakers. To my ears, they sound veiled with even good tube amplification.

Good luck,

Wendell

Will the Magnepans sound good on the long wall with my gear? Ive heard they need to be a good distance from listener and the depth of my room is quite short with spkrs on long wall. Also I need a full range spkr to blend properly with the vandy subs. Are the Mags full range? Associated equipment is:

Wadia 861
VTL MB 450s ( when I upgrade soon )
Supratek Chenin pre
(2) Vandersteen 2WQ subs with model 5 xover
Cardas Golden Cross intercon
Kimber Bifocal XL spk cable

Thanks

Vandersteens are extremely accurate in reproducing the signal they are sent. There are other brands that will add the coloration that you may prefer but for the money, nothing will give you better sound. A big part of your overall sound is obviously matching components. Vandersteens will not compensate for other system issues. They will simply reveal them.

Having owned the 3A sigs and now the 5's. I couldn't agree with you more, Monbile.

The Vandersteen sound is a "box" sound, regardless of how much talk there is about them being "boxless" speakers. They utilize cabinets just as others do. But as speakers with cabinets, they are very high quality for the $. The Magneplanar sound is quite different. Definitely less "warm" sounding. You should audition it if at all possible to see if it appeals to you.

If you do consider Magnepans, you will most assuredly need room treatment, i.e. sound absorbtion panels behind the speakers. This is not horribly expensive and very necessary to stop sound reflecting off the wall behind the speakers. Room tuning/treatment of my room made as large a difference in sound as did cables and electronics.

Many Maggie users also promote upping the power significantly. I would concur. The best is biamping them. It seems to take their performance up a couple notches.

I've used Vandys and Magnepans; both have wonderful qualities, however I keep returning to the Magnepans for their larger, and in my estimation, more 3-D sound stage. They also seem to have tighter mid-bass than Vandersteens. I am using Vandersteen subs with the Magnepan 1.6's, which is a marvelous combo. However, you might be better off long term moving into the 3.6's and deal with subwoofers later, if so desired.