Non-Vandie center to match Vandie mains?


I would like to get a center channel to match my Vandersteen 2Ce mains, but I would like an alternative to the Vandersteen centers. Any suggestions?
dc_jeff

Showing 1 response by sdcampbell

A friend of mine that has Vandy 3A main speakers recently sold his Vandy VCC-1 and replaced it with a center speaker made by Mission. He is very pleased with its performance. The main key here is to find a center channel that has about the same efficiency and overall tonal character as the Vandy 2Ce's, and preferably also function as a point source. The specific speaker you should buy is also dependent on who far apart your main speakers will be. The issue here is to find a center channel that does a good job of center fill. If the left and right main speakers are quite a distance apart (say, more than 10 feet), the center channel needs to have a spatial characteristics that will fill in the wide center gap. I own Vandy 3A Sig's and use a Vandy VCC-1 Sig center channel which works well, but my main front speakers are quite close together (small room). Hence, the VCC-1 (which acts like a point source) works fine. The friend I mentioned, however, has a large room, and found that his VCC-1 did not provide enough lateral fill to satisfy him. The Mission center channel speaker seems to do the job well, although there are a number of other models that will prove adequate. One of the speaker designs that might be the ticket are those with a D'Appolito configuration, which features a tweeter flanked closely on both sides by mid-range drivers. The D'Appolito arrangement acts like a point source, but due to the spread 3-driver configuration, they also do a good job of "fill". I'd be interested in hearing from you again, since I know other Vandy owners who are ambivalent about the Vandy center channel speakers, and they'd appreciate hearing your thoughts.