[Otto]

Well, we made it to the shop in Ft. Collins -- a very nice shop indeed. A bit short on time, so we listened to only the Vandersteen 2Ce Sig and the Quattro. The former was powered by a Rotel receiver with 70 WPC, and the latter by a much nicer system, although I'm not sure of the details. The Quatro has built-in subs, so they might have had an easier time with the 70 WPC.

Anyway, both sounded pretty good. The 2Ce was first, and definitely didn't sound as good as the 3A Sig did to me while I was in Oregon. However, there were major differences in the rooms and the associated electronics. They still had that laid back sound, and I enjoyed them. I think the room didn't do them justice, though. It was very large and difficult to fill. They may also have been too much against the back wall. They also sounded a little congested on loud rock music. IIRC, we played the 3A considerably louder, and it was uncongested (using different source material, unfortunately). When playing Breathe from Dark Side of the Moon, the sound was very good, but again, not as full as with the 3A Sig.

The real magic was in the Quattros. They were very nice. Soundstage was outstanding, and there was no harshness anywhere. I didn't really get to spend enough time with them, but it doesn't matter; they are well out of my price range at $7k.

Yesterday, we were to go to Castle Rock and Denver to audition a number of brands. Snow was predicted, and indeed there were some sprinklings. Nonetheless, we headed out, but I-25 south was at a standstill due to accidents from snow and ice remaining from the past few days. There were multiple cars (actually, I think they were all trucks) in the ditch, and cops with lights flashing over what was probably a one or two mile stretch. So we turned around and cancelled the trip. For better or for worse, I don't think we are going to reschedule any time soon.

Due to the change in plans, we returned to the home of the guy that was driving. He has a top-notch system that I would consider to be reference quality. Levinson, BelCanto and the B&W 802D really put on a show. While I would agree with the owner that the room could be a little better, the system was outstanding overall and allowed me to get more familar with a nice system (the room is very good, including room treatments, but there is no right wall. Don't get me wrong by my picking this nit. This is an awesome system and room). The dynamics and level of bass in the 802D are impressive. They reproduce bass very well. If it were a sub creating those frequencies instead of the mains, I would probably think that it's turned up too loud. It kind of adjusted my concept of how much bass should be in the mix. Again, these are unfortunately well out of my price range.

After that, we returned to Mag/BB to re-demo the Martin Logan Clarity. After listening so much to the Vandersteens, the Logans are definitely out. They have a good sound, a different sound. But to me, they are too beamy, and not quite realistic. I also don't think they are set up 100% correctly in that store, but I prefer the Vandersteen 3A Sig.

Final stop was the home of the other guy that was supposed to make the trip (there were three of us in total). He's using a Sunfire preamp, BAT amp and Thiel (CS2.3, I believe). As I understand it, Thiel and Vandersteen are in the minority of manufacturers that maintain both phase and time coherence in their loudspeakers. I don't know if this is what contributed to my liking the Thiels, or if it was something else. They did a disappearing act much like the Vandersteen, and they sounded very good. I though that front to back soundstaging was excellent. It could also have been the room, as it's pretty well set up. The Thiel definitely has a different high end, though. A little more bright than what I'm looking for, and more forward than the Vandersteen. Used, the Thiels could be had for $1,500, and it's definitely not a bad speaker for that price.

So, after all this rambling, have you figured out that I'm going to buy the Vandersteen? I know I said that I was going to audition everything else in the world, and I should. I would tell people to audition everything they can get their hands on as well. But I just don't have the time, especially with the holidays. So I give up. I'll have to check out the Triangles some other time. At the moment, it looks like the 3A Sig that JCD linked me to above is going to be the deal for $2k shipped (with FedEx!). The deal could still fall apart, of course, but that's the plan, and I'm excited about it. To me, it will be a clear upgrade from my Definitives, and it should prompt me to listen to more 2-ch music (an excellent relaxer for me). Besides, if I heard everything out there and knew that I had the end-all, be-all speaker for me, I wouldn't have anything to audition in a couple years!