John Atkinson's thoughts on the New Vandersteen System Nine from LA Show

I am currently using a 5.1 system with a front pair of Quatro Woods in conjunction with a 5-subwoofer Audiokinesis SWARM AND a Meridian G68XXD with Meridian Room Correction (MRC).  I have compared this system to a number of stereo systems including a pair of Vandersteen Sevens, AND the live experience of hearing the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in Powell Hall.  For the bottom two octaves, there is simply no comparison between ANY stereo system and the accurate bass that the Audiokinesis SWARM in combination with modest room correction provides.

The SWARM overcomes the room modes in a way that provides bass fully comparable to what one hears in a good hall.  The MRC cleans up any bass overhang, while leaving everything above 250 Hz untouched.  

The Vandersteen Nine is a separate subwoofer that allows a four subwoofer "SWARM" when you consider the bass response of the Sevens that are used in the same system, and so Richard Vandersteen and John Atkinson are hearing and / or measuring the same benefits that Duke Le Juene has been talking about for YEARS.  The SWARM neatly solves the hardest problem in audio - taming the room.  

The good news is that one can get very close to the same sound quality with the combination of a pair of Quatro Wood CT's and an Audiokinesis SWARM (4-subwoofer array) for a LOT less money.....like over $60K less money.  BTW, Robert E. Green (REG) wrote a great review of the Audiokinesis SWARM which explains all this better than I, for TAS last year.  I suggest those who are curious about this should Google Robert's review.

I personally do not care for Vandersteen speakers. I just don't like the way they sound. I don't like passive woofers either, nor do  I like
4 1/2" mid-range drivers. There's way better out there for less money. It's just my opinion. Please, I don't want to argue with anybody.

I was at the LA show and JA couldn't be more correct. The musicality and tonal correctness of the Vandersteen setup was second to none. There were wuite a few rooms that sounded awesome but none has the relaxed sit down and listen for hours sound like this room. Randy always does a great job at shows. Before the show opened on Saturday I went to his room early and found him carefully listening to every piece of music he was thinking about playing that day to make sure the system was at uts best and to prepare a plan for the day. I've never seen anyone do that before. The new Basis TT was for sure the source that took this system to the next level. The passion AJ Conte had for his craft was refreshing and it showed in his final reference piece he produced. 

At at the show most of the rooms that sounded the best were playing reel yo reel tapes as the source. The price of entry for tapes and the UHA decks is very high but the SQ that comes out of them is second to none. I wish I cound have heard the Vandy room with that set up as well. 

CT no shame in promoting the love you have for the Vandersteen products. IMHO no other speaker at any price pushes all the right buttons in SQ, timbre quality, etc like the Sevens do. With the Sub Nine it takes it to another level. 

@exron Interested in what size midranges you like and what correlations you've observed between midrange size and performance.  

Richfield.  We need to catch up before I go to Cancun on Wed.  Want to hear about the show. Maybe next year I can tag along with you guys.  We'd have a blast for sure.  

Thanks for sharing about the new Basis TT.  AJ told me about it last year I think it was and he probably spent an hour on the phone explaining it all.  Man do I miss him.  Just a great guy and I see why he and Richard were so close for all these years.

I assumed the 9's would take it to a new level for so many reasons, but you are the first one I know who's heard it and shared about it.  I realize it solves the problem he had of moving more air in rooms without hurting the SQ.  Seems like he's solved more problems than creating more by separating the enclosures of the mains and the 2 extra subs.  I will wait until he puts the 11 band EQ into his smaller sub (pray he does this eventually) and get a pair to augment the Quatro's.  I personally like to stay in the same company line if I'm going to use subs. They are voiced the same and integrate better I feel.  That goes for anyone's speaker's/subs.  JMHO