Vandersteen or Klipsch

Vandersteen. Forget the Pathos and Unison, though. They are crap. You'd do well with an ARC CA-50. While you're at it, go for the Vandy 2's.

Vandersteen and Klipsch sound very different from eachother. A brief audition should answer your question.

Vandersteens don't like to be too close to a back wall, so you should make sure that they will fit into the room arrangement. The Klipsch speakers may be less fussy about placement

I agree with Sek, These are two very different flavors. Gthrush1 is also onto something with the ARC CA 50, a member told me the other day that his is going to go on the market soon and would be a great combo with your CD player and whichever of the two speakers you go with. The Klipsch would be great if you are going into pea sized single ended tube amps.
The Vandersteens are going to give you a much more coherent and natural sound, with a more accurate sound stage. The reason being is that the Klipsch are no where near as pahse and time correct as the Vandies. Use your ear and your own taste, but I think that the 1c is a terrific buy and my favorite of all time in that price range.

Night and day my friend. The 1-cs are going to be a lot more laid back than the Klipsh, more natural but with less bass, very open sounding non-box speaker that provide quite a lot of detail. If you take the time to set them up the soundstage is very nice. I went from mid 70's Heresey's to Cornwalls and then to vanderseen 1b's when i needed to down size my system. Word of warning(?) the vandersteens are NOT a rock speaker at all. The vandies are good speakers when you want to listen actively or when you just want background music.