PSB Stratus Goldi vs. Vandersteen 3A sig

I've owned 3s for 8 years and they are wonderful speakers. They've outlasted everything else in my system. I love them, but they are relatively inefficient (85 db) and they don't do well near walls. I've had them in 3 different rooms and they need a good 54" from room boundaries (muddies voices). They are excellent for jazz, but I'm less enamored with their classical capabilities. As far as power, I would look for somewhere in the 100-200 watt range. I've used NAD, Forte, HK citation and Levinson. Levinson was by far the best. As far as the PSB, I have only listened to them once and they didn't sweep me away. Midbass was bloated. Because of frequent moves imposed by my employer, I'm probably going to get smaller speakers and couple them with a sub. This will be less imposing on the rooms I'm forced to use and is more flexible.

Both are great speakers and I do not think you will be unhappy with either. My local dealer sells both and I purchased the PSB because I too listen mainly to Jazz and Classical and Paul Barton if I am not mistaken is a classical musician and it is evident in his Status Golds. Yes the Gold do need to be about 3 feet ways from the wall but most speaker will benefit from the boundry effects caused by walls. My dealer owns Vandersteens and tried to convince me that they were better speakers. They were good but to my ear the PSBs sounded better. This is just my opinion and you should go and listen for yourself.

Hi, I had Vand. 2ces in a 12 X 14 room-- too much speaker, too little room. I presently have Vand. 3Asig. in 14 X 22 room and they're great. I have them 4.5 ft. from rear wall. Ceiling ht. is 7.5 ft., and I wish I had more. If you really have a "pretty small room", you may be much better off with smaller speakers, but I have no particular recommendations. Both the 3As and Stratus Golds are excellent, but they do need space. I'd look for a good stand mounted speaker with bass down to about 40 hz,-- some of the medium sized B&Ws come to mind.