laid back speakers

Rsbeck, you are quite correct about most of what you say about the VR1.

However, you are VERY wrong about describing it as warm, or recommending it as a laid back loudspeaker. It is a very engaging, open, clear, treble forward speaker. A very good speaker, yes, but not laid back.

And when you're tired of the laid back Vandersteen sound...

You ship them to Bill LeGall of Millersound! He truly performs a transformation of miraculous proportions on them. Hopefully, my friend, Vinh Vu of Gingko Audio, will chime in here to vouch for that. He runs Millersound modded Vandy 4s, and his brother has Millersounded 2s.

As far as laid back speakers go, maybe you could look into some used Dynaudio or Merlin TSM, older Dahlquists or Frieds, or some of the Totems (some of Totems can be bright).

I can assure you, confidence is not something I lack.

Give them a try, Rsbeck.

Not that you'll believe me anyway, but the Frieds are also not warm. They are more open and clear. Despite being 4 ohms, you can drive them with low power tubes well, in addition to solid state amps. I'm biased, but I think the transmission line bass is a real plus. Most people haven't experienced it, but the transmission line midrange is even MORE important. The transient response is pretty amazing, significantly less smearing of the notes.

We'll have a minimonitor coming soon, so you'll have your pick of true TL speakers from $1750 up to $65K. The operation is beginning to gain traction, and our dealer network is coming around this spring.

On this we finally agree, Rsbeck!

In my going completely against conventional wisdom, most solid state gear, to my ear, has a warmth, thickness, and lushness, that should not produce harshness in many instances. Tubes tend to give sparkle and brilliance that can come off as harsh or bright if one is not careful. I realize I am now going to have a lot of other people down my throat, but I have to be honest. Over the past year, I have systematically come to this conclusion. Again, I realize it goes against what has become doctrine.

I remember Nakamichi being very non offensive gear from when I used to be around it, but I didn't mention it here until you brought it up.