Which speakers vs Vandersteen 3A sig's in large rm

Klipsch Cornwall III
Floorstanding Loudspeaker

Specifications
FREQUENCY RESPONSE:
34Hz - 20 kHz ±3db
POWER HANDLING:
100w max continuous (400 w peak)
SENSITIVITY:
102 db @ 1watt/1meter
MAXIMUM ACOUSTIC OUTPUT:
119db
NOMINAL IMPEDANCE:
8 ohms
CROSSOVER FREQUENCY:
HF: 5000Hz
LF: 800Hz
TWEETER:
K-107-TI 1" (2.54cm) Titanium diaphragm compression driver
HIGH FREQUENCY HORN:
K-79-T Tractrix
MIDRANGE:
K-53-TI 1.75" (4.45 cm) Titanium diaphragm compression driver
MID FREQUENCY HORN:
Exponential Horn
WOOFER:
K-33-E 15" (38.1cm) Fiber composite cone
ENCLOSURE MATERIAL:
MDF
ENCLOSURE TYPE:
Bass reflex via front slot ports
DIMENSIONS:
35.75" H (90.81cm) x 25.31" W (64.29cm) x 15.5" D (39.37cm)
WEIGHT:
98 lbs
FINISHES:
Walnut Lacquer, Cherry Lacquer, Black Lacquer
BUILT FROM:
2006

Talon Audio speakers come to mind. Fast, detailed, musical, very deep bass, very dynamic and did i mention fast!

Happy Lisening.

More information is needed to determine why you are not achieving good sound. What amplifier are you using? The Vandersteen 3A Sig is a very capable and revealing loudspeaker that requires a rather powerful high-quality amplifier that is good into 4 ohms.

Also, source components, preamplifiers and placement can have a significant effect. Try improving the bass by following Vandersteen's setup procedure in the 3A manual. That will help to insure that the bass in your room is as neutral as possible.

Lastly, as mentioned by a couple of previous posts, the system can be improved dramatically in the bass (and in the mids and highs) by adding Vandersteen's 2Wq subwoofers.

Dave
Ultra Fidelis

Something in the Induction Dynamics line might be worth auditioning. I heard their 3000 dollar monitors a while ago (maybe about a year?) and they sounded excellent. Their crossover design is proprietary and described as a "brick wall", i.e., quite the opposite of a first order design and more similar to Thiel, if I'm not mistaken (Unsound may be able to chime in with any clarifications about the Thiels' crossover design). Anyway, the Induction Dynamics monitors that I heard did NOT seem to have a constricted soundstage at all, and tonality, balance and detail were very good as well. They were quite strikingly good.

The company states that the drivers are "inductively coupled" (or something like that), whatever that means. I THINK it may mean that there's some compensatory mechanism to couple the drivers' timing so as to maintain (phase?) coherence, but that's JUST a GUESS.

This company is not yet a well known high end contender, but may become known as such in the next few years, if the rest of their product line sounds anything like the entry level monitors that I heard, and if people get the chance to hear them. Time will tell.
-Bill

Stylinlp 38, I'm not sure what you mean by "...stuck with a Tyler Acouistic situation." I will say that both Dunlavy and Meadowlark are out of business.
My recomendations were based on the fact that all designs share major design philosphies with Vandersteen. I should mention that these very design philosphies seem to share the same lack of specific absolute excellence in dynamics. Thats not to say that they are lacking in this area, they just don't excell as well as some other designs that are willing to sacrafice other aspects of sound to give priority to this specific aspect. I have not personally heard the Green Moutain products so I can't comment on them. I have heard just about all the other's products. IMHO, based on your desired criterion, you might be well served by auditioning the Thiels. One caveat about the Thiels; they require top quality amplification and they benefit from a lot of it. Good luck.

Laid back bass? lack of detail? Not Vanversteen's. They are very dependent on the amp/ preamp that you are using. I have 2CE signatures and they sounded different with every combo that I was using. When I bought mine, here in Houston, they were hooked up to an excellent amp and sounded full, dynamic with plenty of bass slam. I went to the same store a year later with a friend to have him audition them. They were hooked up to a 80 watt SS amp and sounded dry and lifeless. Sorry to say they did not impress either my friend or myself at that time. I have had mine for about 4 years and I have never considered anything else. But, as you stated, its your dime and evreyone's taste is different. just make sure you audition them with electronics that are right for them. I think that some retailers will purposely put lousy electronics on a great speaker just to steer a customer towards something else. A little trick that I learned at a now bankrupt chain called "Tech hi-fi". They would try to make Ohm speakers sound great instaed of Advents because Advents were not as profitable a line to sell... Advents were very smooth and nuetral in comparison to the "house brand". good luck... Eagleman

I would say you need at least 12" woofers for that size room - probably 15". Anything smaller that delivers signifcant base will probably be with tuned LF ports and these often sound rather boomy. I have a 25' by 20' room with 9' ceilings and use a sub with a 15" woofer and two left and right channels with 12" bass woofers each.

Good luck!

Intuitive Design makes some nice speakers.....

thank you for the responses. I would perfer to get a speaker that does it all since I am paying for it. I'm going to audition Spendor S8e, Dali 400 and Sonus Faber Domus Piano's this weekend. Their reviews sound to be what I'm looking for. If these speakers are better sounding in everyway over teh Vandersteen 3A sigs then I guess those are the speakers to go for.

I see alot of Meadowlark and Green Moutain for sale on AudioGon but have no idea how they would sound. I would hate to be stuck with a Tyler Acoustic situation...

You seem to be describing a desire for Thiels. Other options include Green Moutain, Dunalvy and Meadowlark.

I second the 2WQ subs recommendation. In my room the 3As are extremely vivid/detailed and completely disappear with good recordings. They are very difficult to set up and need excellent components upstream. They will reveal any weak link. FWIW I struggled for quite a while with the 3A sigs and almost sold them. But once they are set up properly they are incredible. Even with the subs I think they still require a lot of quality power though. Good luck.

Try a pair of Vandersteen subs and the matching crossover. It takes these speakers to another level not only in the bass but mids and highs too.