<font color='#000000'>I absolutely love my Vandersteens. I have listened to the 2Ce while shopping before moonlighting to spring for the 3As. I listened to the 5 (not 5A) for fun once. The 2ce is great at its price but it seemed deficient in the higher frequencies to me. The 3As are the most neutral speakers I've ever heard with very flat frequency response. They throw the deepest sounstage I've ever heard. It extends the full with of my room wider than the speakers actually are which I have not otherwise experienced. The soundstage seems at least 15 -20 feet deep. The speakers are about six feet apart and 10 feetfrom the listening position in a room 15 x 20 on the short wall. They do not sound strained at any volume I can achieve with my amp (claims 200 W/ch but really 175-185 I think.) Depending on the source, I can get about 100 decibels sustained in the room. The highest cymbals sound crisp, vocals are very present and bass is tight. The sound is the clearest I've ever heard which I think is due to the time and phase correct design. I have also heard the Thiel cs 2.2 which is also time and phase correct. It was not as clear and crisp. I speculate that the baffless design plays a key role in keeping the sound waves as coherent as possible. A possible negative is that they do not play as loud as others 89dB I think. Obviously they are more than loud enough for my space. The sweet spot is wonderful but not bigger than two peoples heads. Not really a party speaker.
They integrate seamlessly with the two subs (2Wq). The subs are outside and behind the 3As. All the bass seems to come the main speakers not the subs. I keep the q at about 0.7 but occaisionally turn it higher for an action movie and the floor will shake. Bass seemingly goes to the very bottom of what I can hear and beyond. The fixed crossover at about $100 improved the sound more than I expected at least without doing a blinded tests. I was skeptical of their performance and was pleasantly surprised. I would advise carefully deciding how to connect all the speaker wire to the amp outputs. The 3As must be biwired and the sub comes from here too making three sets of wire. I used a banana plug for the bus and twisted bare 12g together for the 3As. Carefully assess the bterminals on your amp for the best way to connect three thick wires per terminal.
I have a VCC1 Signature center. It mostly hides the wires from the wall mounted plasma. I watch and listen alone or with one other usually. The sweet spot of the 3As are so good that I don't need a center to fix the vocals to the screen. I usually turn off the center and listen to 2ch stereo or 4 channel surround except the rare times we entertain. Perhaps the non signature version at half the price would have been better. The rears are fine. Sound good for music play plenty loud and sound good all over the room.
I know this is long but I have three other quick points. The stands that come with the 3As are excellent. I have read on other forums that Richard Vandersteen was difficult to deal with as a customer. I have spoken to him twice regarding technical questions ( yes you get him when you call) and he was very pleasant with me including tolerating some dumb questions on my part. The model 5s were great but the combination of 3As and two subs is almost as good although not as good looking at 40% the price. Bless my wife for tolerating the poor WAF rated speakers. Lastly they are a SUPERB value compared to the competition at their price points. I can't recommend them enough.</font>
