Vandersteen 1C to 3A Signature


I currently own the 1Cs, paired with a Naim Nait 5i. I like the sound, have had these speakers for the better part of 15 years and I still love their presentation, the openness and sense of space they provide. They are fabulous to my ears.

Which isn’t to say they are perfect, they don’t like being played too loud (seem fragile, break up at higher volumes), and the bass isn’t as deep or (more importantly) as defined as it could be. Also I sometimes hear some lack of refinement in the tweeter (although at other times it sounds positively glorious, especially with horns and flutes).  So after refinishing the basement and adding a big TV with prewired surround sound I found a used Vandersteen center speaker, so I’m thinking of moving the 1C to the basement and getting a different (hopefully better) speaker for upstairs. I did a bit of research and it appears Spendor is supposed to be a good match for Naim, so I was able to borrow a pair of S8E to try out. You can tell the speaker can handle much more power and can play cleanly at those high levels, and the sound is nicely balanced throughout the frequency range, but they sound like boxes. The Vandy’s don’t. I think I’ve written off Spendor, Proac, Totem and the like, as the design looks similar.

I should probably stick with Vandersteen or similar sounding speakers. I have an opportunity to buy some 3A Signatures, but am afraid I will lose the lithe nature of the 1’s which I like, so I’m looking for opinions on this, and maybe for suggestions of other models that would sort of fit into the sound I’ve tried to describe. Thanks
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Showing 1 response by aubbrin570

I have Vandersteen model 3's (not 3a sigs)and ran them with a naim supernait 2, and after a long time of messing with placement I got them to sound fantastic.  Naim does have a "gainy" lively sound which I believe woke up the Model 3's to a point.  Curiosity got to me and I purchased a pair of brand new model 2 signature 3's, to try.  Still have the 2's(almost a year) but the naim is gone.  The model 2 sig 3's are more refined in the mids and highs than the 3's with very slightly less but better bass.  The naim was too much for the 2's in my setup.  I now use an audio research integrated(dsi200) and it sounds fantastic. I believe its largely bc of the passive preamp. I have great results with the model 2 sig 3's but im under the impression right now that the integrated should have a passive preamp to compliment the time aligned design of vandersteen.(at least it worked for me)  Really smoothened out the sound in a big way. All other integrateds I tried were active pre's and sounded similar to each other and missing something. probably due to room size?  I tried an Ayre ax7 which was good(passive pre)but lacked power for louder volumes.  In looking for a "powerful" passive amp, I ended up with the ARC.  The passive pre is very engaging even at a low volume.  That's my outcome after many amps with these speakers...so far lol. Hope it helps you!

Amps I "tried" with Vandersteen
Naim Supernait 2
Supernait 2 with high cap
Mcintosh ma 6900
Krell 400xi
Krell Vanguard
Musical Fidelity A308
Ayre Ax7
Audio Research dsi200