Vandersteen 7 mark ll or big Kef blades


I am considering a pair of one  of these.  Anybody have any suggestions , comments, recommendations?
digitaljoseph
I have never heard Vandersterns, but my opinion (from others' posts) has just gone down if they are seriously being compared to Klipsch.

I heard the Vandersteen Quatro Wood CT and was very impressed. They are on my next upgrade list. My understanding is that the Blade and Blade 2 need a lot of space on the side and rear to sound their best, neither will my listening room allow. Plus they are obviously much more expensive.

But, one thing I think is missing from these comments (unless I missed it) is how important the room is to judging any speaker. Unfortunately living in Westchester, N.Y., there are no dealers that will allow home audition (Listening Room used to but they are long gone). When I listened to the Vandersteen speakers at Audio Connection I also listened to the Proac 48r. Both are similarly priced. I owned Response 2.5s for many years and loved the Proac midrange. I was extremely disappointed when I heard the 48r and felt the Vandersteen speakers were much better. But they were in different rooms. Might I felt the opposite if the rooms were different? No way to know. But my point is that listening at a dealer is not without its caveats. Reviews and recommendations have to be part of the decision-making process and we as audiophiles cannot assume an in-store audition of competing products will in and of itself tell us which speaker we will like better.

Proacman, no not true at all with the Blades needing a lot of space on the side and rear to sound good. 

Most issues in terms of side wall placement will be amelorated with bass traps if the room is loading the bass drivers howver we have used them at shows close to the side walls and they still sounded great.

In terms of price that is a differnent story.

A well setup pair of Blades or Blade 2 are very impressive. 

Also the sound of the Kef Ref 5 and 3 are very similar and they are front radiating only so if you liked the sound of the Blades you may want to consider the Ref series. 

We would also recommend you listen to a pair of Legacy Signatures they sound quite simlar to the CT with a very similar voicing, at half the price with greater bass response down to 22hz and far greater efficiency 93db.

Waiting for the not first order slope guys to proclaim these speakers are not good because they are not first order sloped loudspeakers which is bunk. 

We are in your proximity and we have the Legacy, Kef Reference and Blades our doors are always open if you would like to hear some of our alternatives who knows you might just be impressed with the Legacy's or the Kefs.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ Kef, and Legacy dealers


@proacman I do not think the Blades need much rear space. There are a few A’gon users who have a near field setup with Blade 2 in tiny rooms (limited side wall space). They say they love it though I do not think they crack the volume. These are rooms more suited for the KEF LS50. I do not have the guts to try this myself in my 12x11x9 room. If I had a 20x15x9 or larger room then I would get a Blade 2.