Vandersteen Mod 5 vs Coincident Tech Total Eclipse

Mike:

I can only answer this question from a very personal perspective -- what I would do if making the same choice myself. For me, there'd be no debate: I'd buy the Vandersteen Model 5. I have listened extensively to the Model 5, and I regard it as among the finest speakers available, regardless of price.

The Model 5 is one of a handful of time and phase accurate speakers on the market, and it has a number of excellent features:
1. it has superb tonal balance that works very well with all styles of music;
2. the proprietary subwoofers (with built-in 400 watt amps) are among the finest drivers available in any speaker at any price, and their crossover design allows them to be tuned to any room (something to consider since you are moving to a new home;
3. the Model 5 is built in a modular style, which allows the owner to install future upgrades without returning the speaker to the factory.

One of the factors which you may want to think about is the general impedance curve of these speakers, and what they may require in amplification. The Model 5 has a relatively low impedance curve, while the Coincident has a relatively high impedance curve and was designed specifically for use with tube amplifiers.

Ultimately, of course, one chooses a speaker on the basis of how it sounds to YOU, so you should give both speakers a serious audition (ideally in your new home).

Sdcampbell, great advice. You need to listen to both in your room. Both great speakers.
What are you using for an amp.
One thing about Coincident they will reveal any flaws in the food chain before it.
You better have a pretty good source.
Can you tell us more about the other gear you have.
You cant go wrong with either.

I should like to add a bit of information to the above comments. While each has their own strengths and weaknesses, I would agree with the above choice. There are two important reasons I'd choose the Vandie's: 1) As stated above, they will do a fine joy on all types of music even country music (of which I hate); 2) They produce a more realistic 3D sound stage rather than the 2D sound stage produced by the Coincident. While this is true of the Coincident they do sound more "musical". That (musicality) is very appealing to many and sounds good and well in the show room; but three months later you may ask, why did I purchase these and where is the "realism of the sound stage"? Don't get me wrong, I like both; but feel over the long haul the "musicality" does wear off and all you are left with is 2D music... I know I made the mistake...
PS. Placement of the Vandie's isn't as critical as the Total Eclipse...They are very hard to setup and when done, bets are that the wife will have a fit about the location...at that point the full potential of the Eclipse will not be enjoyed. The Vandie's have larger feet print, they are however MUCH more forgiving when it comes to placement... PSS. The upgrade factor is a BIG plus as Richard Vandersteen is really eager to assist you with the process...and designs them user upgradeable.

Hope this helps...

OH! As a former Vandie owner, I wish I'd never sold them... BIG mistake, BIG mistake on my part...

Touching on some of the other comments, the Vandy's ( or is it "Vandie's" ??? ) offer in-room tuning of the low frequency section. This this is probably one of the hardest areas to get "right" in any installation, i would rank this feature quite high on the list desirable features.

To take this one step further, you can literally change low frequency response and output characteristics to suit individual recordings and then return them to "flat response" at the flip of a few switches. Like it or not from a technical or "accuracy" standpoint, there are some recordings that are just plain muddy or thin sounding and need some help. Being able to do something like this and do it easily can only make your listening sessions more enjoyable.

For the record, the Vandy 5 is capable of pretty thunderous bottom end. I'm not just talking about high output levels, i'm talking about TIGHT bass.

Would you like to guess which speaker i'd be buying ??? : ) Sean
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I haven't heard the Vandersteen Model 5s. I've have owned the 3s and the 2CEs. I now own the Total Eclipse. I can agree with the above comment about room placement to a degree. They are not hard to place, but need to be out into the room about 3 feet due to a large rear port. Wifey may not like the placement, but they are beautiful speakers. Mine loves them. You could place them on her head, and she would still love them. They just look great and sound great. Once placed appropriately, these things absolutely disappear. They have great detail, soundstaging, and a perfect midrange that works with about any amp. The deciding factor may be more complicated than just "which is the better speaker", in absolute terms. Cost would be one thing to consider. You can ocassionally find the Total Eclipse speakers used. Not very often, though. I've only seen two pairs in a couple of years of watching. One was from a reviewer, and the second I bought. I've never seen the Vandersteens used. That may say something for the owner satisfaction level of both of these fine speakers. The Totals usually sell for around $5000 used. Don't know about the Vandersteens.

But what really swings it for me is the sensitivity of the Total Eclipse, and their ability to sound good with ANYTHING! They are 94db at 14 ohms. What ever you want to use with them, you can. That can be from a 10 watt SET to 500 watts of solid state. I am waiting for my Wyetech Topaz to arrive. In the interim, I was driving the Totals with an Audion 12w Stering with Seimans NOS EL34s. They were absolutely stunning! The only cavaet was that the low bass response was a bit shelved because of the Sterling's roll off. But this 12w amp could drive me out of the room. I then used a Jolida 1501 RC. Again, great results. Now I have more bass from the hybrid 100w Jolida, but the SET midrange magic was gone, and the mids were dryer, less detailed. It was easy to hear the difference between the two amps, as it should be with a great speaker. The Totals give you versatility in spades. As I change out equipment to satisfy my audiophile insanity, the Totals will always be compatible with just about anything I want to try. Good thing, because speakers are a pain to sell and ship. I can deal with changing out everything else in the system. That's just one of the reasons they were one of Absolute Sound's Golden Ear Award winners.