Vandersteen or not to Vandersteen


I have been looking around the market for a subwoofer and I think I like the Vandersteen, 2Wq. I have heard one and I have the opportunity to take one home and try it, so, so far so good.

Ok, so I read that the Vandersteen 2Wq must be integrated with my setup so that I can get the right crossover settings and after that, I contact Vandersteen with the crossover settings that I want, pay them some money, and they send me some nicer crossovers to use, correct?

Well, what if I am planning to upgrade my amplifier for January 2004? I am buying something really nice (Audio Research is what I have my ears on) and I can't afford that high right now, but I can afford a Vandersteen. Right now I have some ok-sounding tube amps.

If I upgrade my amp, in 2004, I have to retune the Vandersteen and possibly need another set of crossover cables, right? And, if I upgrade my main speakers, which I also want to do, does that mean I have to retune the Vandersteen, again and possibly buy ANOTHER set of crossover cables?

Bottom line is that I not only have to retune my Vandersteen to whatever I upgrade(which you do with most anything you get), but I have to possibly buy another set of crossover cables for the Vandersteen when I do?

Geez, if this is true, the Vandersteen ends up costing me more than if I just bought a Rel to start with(Rel is my second choice). The Vandersteen sounds like a very high-maintenance piece of equipment. It seems to be very high end for 1300, but then with all the extras that you get for it, the price keeps getting higher. It is almost like a car dealership that makes most of its money from the service department.

So, tell me I am wrong!
matchstikman

Showing 1 response by maxgain

What is the input impedance of your current amp? The input for an ARC amp will be 100k usually.
There are two ways to go here. Use the crappy switchable box that comes with the unit(yes you will need an additional pair of cables, buy a decent used pair that you can get your money out of when you no longer need them
if you don't want a spair pair around)untill you settle on which amp you are going to go with, which will give you time to break in the woofer anyway. Lots of amps are 100k by the way. You won't want to make any critical judgemnt too fast, and not untill the woofer has enough time on it.

Secondly just spend the money up front on the 5 x-over that Sdcampbell recomends which puts the price about the same as the REL.This will mean that you are covered for most any change you may make in the future(it is adjustable like the on that comes free with the unit but you will need to decide if you are going to go single ended or balanced). You have a major advantage with the Vandersteen over the REL this way(please REL owners don't take this as a knock)in that you have the true benifits of bi-amping when the low frequencies no longer need to be reproduced by your main speakers or your main amp. If you would like to see a second opinion on this topic go to the Vandersteen site and click on the review page then go to "audio perfectionist" rewiew of the 2Wq.
I have a 2Wq and it has taken some effort to set it up right, but the effort has been well worth it. My system does not sound like there is a sub woofer in it, but I have good deep bass which sounds like it comes from the main speakers. Don't fool yourself into thinking that the REL will be any simpler to set up correctly. All woofer integrations take some effort but when you get it right it will put a smile on your face.
P.S. Scott ment Cap values and not resistor values.