Vandersteen 5a or Eggleston Andra II

Dev,

Shadorne, you mentioned in your thread the Andra's are "a bit bass light".

Actually that was supposed to be paraphrasing Mothra ( my fault as I was not clear). I never actually said anything about the Vandy's (I think they are great too) or intended to imply anything about the bass of the Eggleston Andra II's for that matter. My only comment was to throw out that Bob Ludwig had chosen Andra II's for his surround system and Eggleston Ivy's for his main studio two channel monitors - so they must be darn good!!

I guess I respected Bob's choice even if he made the tragic terrible mistake of ditching his ATC 100's after only 7 years of mastering use, how could he possibly do such a thing!!!(LOL, just making fun here)

However, my respect has turned to a slight bit of concern when I dug deeper, partly because of Mothra's "weird" comments. I guess I felt there was something Mothra knew but was not comfortable saying in these forums ("weird" is a pretty strong comment in my book)

Further research (today) indicates that Bob Ludwig's choice of Ivy's may have been unduely influenced by the "attention" that he received from William Eggleston - see this report. As you can see other creditors to Eggleston were not very happy about time and money being devoted to such an esoteric project (a speaker with 23 drivers costing $100,000, partly designed by an a mastering engineer who does not make speakers for a living and apparently, like most Eggleston projects until that point, likely running at a loss) Interestingly, you will also see that a favorable "Stereophile review" was believed to have made a huge impact on sales of a previously not so well known speaker manufacturer. I leave readers to make your own judgement whether Bob should have ditched his ATC's ( again just joking...it is OK by me to hate ATC's!!).

As for PMC's, indeed yes they have a great reputation too. Generally less forward in mid range and a lot more bass is how I would describe them versus ATC; they are an excellent choice and I would highly recomend them too (to those finding ATC's make their ears bleed but want something dynamic...LOL).

Now I think that this thread has well and truely become a drunken diatribe....I think I'll stop there. Apologies to all those who found this boring and a waste of time - fortunately you can simply ignore it, as the originator of this thread appears to have done ;-)

4Syanks, thanks for the comments. -I too own Virtual dynamics bi-wi re revalation 2m -t is like hooking rerod, only worse. The andra 2 were no problem. Also, bass performance is outstanding. Someone said it was weak,perhaps that was the original andra not the Andra 2. Sorry for poor spelling my blackberry is still new

I am back!

I apologize for not posting sooner, but I've been in Mississippi since late June helping an insurance company settle hurricane claims.

I see a lot of information was typed during my absence. Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and recommendations.

I had an opportunity to audition both the Andra II and the 5as again. Both are great, but the sound of the Andra II better suits my tastes.

The wife and I also auditioned the 5as at a local shop. She does not like looks of the 5a and dreads cleaning the cloth grill.

So, I have decided on the Eggleston Andra II.

But...

Before I purchase a pair, another choice is now in my mind: The Eggleston Savoy.

Since I have not located the Savoy to audition, five questions come to mind:

1. Is my listening room too small (29 by 19 with a 8 foot ceiling)?

2. How is the sound compared to the Andra II?

3. What should I expect out of the bass? The sound? Compared to the Andra II? The 5a? The room?

4. I expect the Krell FPB 300 will be too small. Is a used Krell FPB 600 a good match? With 600 WPC and at appx $4200, this is the amp I am looking to match the Savoy to.

5. At appx $20K-$25k used, is it that much better than a $8k-$9k Andra II?

I will start a separate thread for my Savoy questions.

Thanks again for your prior posts, and in advance for posts on the Savoy.

I just recently purchased the Andra 2's. I also visted the Eggleston Factory where they are made. I believe they had the Savoy there under construction they also had there $100,000 speaker under construction ( I forget the name )none to listen to though, darn.
I was able to hear there new Nine speaker. It was nice but the Andra 2 is much better with clear defined bass as it should be.
Looks like a lot of drivers in the Savoy probably best to run Mono Amps. I am using a Pass Labs X350.5 on my Andra's perhaps try the Pass X600.5.

Rknight, is this a designated room? For me this is a second rig and my Andra's are not set-up in my designated room but in a large living room environment, open concept situation with ceilings 9ft, 10ft, 18ft and 28ft. I have had the same thoughts as you regarding the Savoy's but the input that I have gotten back from individuals who have heard both and of whom I trust their ears say the Savoy's are not "musical" like the Andra's. This really concerned me because this is one area that I really enjoy about them and makes then special. So if I was you I would do some serious listening prior to buying. If you are wanting a big speaker then there are allot of others to look at, one coming to mind that intrigues me is MM3 or you could even go with the MM2 smaller version of the two, gear Dartzeel pre & amp for both set-ups and you are done. The bass can be dialed in which has built-in amps, you can do a search and see what others are doing that already have them.

I have not personally heard the Savoy's so I can not comment but I will say they are big, heavy, need lots of power, did I say "very heavy" and I believe a hard re-sale item as are most big speakers. I will say though the Andra's are real winners and you will have allot of fun with them. You can try all types of gear with them to find out what your flavour is and they will really amaze you.

I'm getting the itch to try some different amps, Lamm, Vac Phi 300.1 but mono blocks, Butler Monad mono blocks, new Dodd mono blocks.

To my ears I prefer the Andra's over the Vandy 5A's also.

Ozzy are you enjoying your Andra's? you need to get those Sistrum platforms underneith your Andra's, nice improvment.