Hi, Flying: all good suggestions so far. I also own Vandy 3A Sig's and love 'em. I think mine are clean, fast, and very dynamic -- properties you seem to want more of. It seems to me that there are three possible factors that could affect your speaker performance: room interaction / acoustics; need for a subwoofer (depending on your listening tastes); and need for a different amp. I can't provide much help on the room interaction problem, since I don't know about your listening area. I can say, however, that my living room is a suspended wood floor above a 3-foot crawl space, and I had a lot of room resonance which tended to make the deep bass sound rather tubby and slow. To address the problem, I made several baffles from a mass-loaded foam material called Sonolead, glued them to a 2'x4' piece of Masonite, and placed them against the wall behind my speakers. They work very well and reduce the "muddiness". Second factor: subwoofer. The only way to go is the Vandersteen sub -- either 1 or 2 of them. Home Theater Guide recently published an issue that re-capped several years of subwoofer tests, and one of the 5 highest rated subs was Vandy's 2WV (I think I've got the nomenclature right -- it's the "video" version of their sub). Last thought: your amp. About a year ago, I upgraded my amp to the Bryston 4B-ST, and it does a SENSATIONAL job of provided deep, powerful, controlled bass from the Vandy 3A Sig's. Since the Vandy 3A Sig is capable of pretty good bass extension (26-28 Hz), it really benefits from an amp with a large, tightly regulated power supply, and the Bryston amps have that in spades. The newest issue of Stereophile has the "Recommended Components" list, and the Bryston 7B-ST is rated "Class A", and the 4B-ST is rated "Class B". (I personally think both should be "Class A" picks, but that's my opinion). Hope you find a satisfactory solution to your problem -- when the Vandy 3A Sig's are really dialed in to the room, there are very few speakers even come close in full-range performance.
tips for Vandersteen 3A sig
I was wondering if anyone has advice on maximum the performance of this speaker. I use sound anchor stands with the tiptoes that came with it...another other choice ? black diamond ? or ? How about adding subwoofer ? Goal, I want a "cleaner" , "faster" sound. Any other suggestions would be welcomed. Thanks,