Ok...I did say to my fiance when listening that it was not a fair comparison. I realized that at the time. The vandersteen just opened the door to the type of sound that I liked. I will probably get the unifi ub5 with an integrated amp. Save my money until I am sold on exactly what I want. Today I have heard MartinLogan, def tech, and multiple b&w speakers. the closest sound I heard to what I liked was the diamond 800 series, but for $40000. Wasn't impressed by the b&w 702. Unlike the survivor song from the mid 80s, this search is NOT over. Yes, different hardware, different rooms.
Broken hearted...magnepan and vandersteen
I finally got an opportunity to hear the 1.7i magnepan. I will blame my ears and taste, but I was underwhelmed. I heard them with tweeters inside and outside for comparison. outside did sound a bit better. Then I allowed them to play the vandersteen quatro ct. The speakers disappeared into the music. Deep, tall, wide soundstage with excellent imaging and air around the different instruments. Full range sound. Thankfully the trio ct sounded almost the quatros equal. I really was ready to go with magnepan. I was surprised. All other speakers are sounding inferior now.