The Great PNW Sound Off, AR9 -vs- Vandersteen 2ce

Todd just made his exit. i'll gather my thoughts and do a follow up in a bit, Todd took notes but left them here. i would post them but i cant read his writing. for now i'll say that we were both very suprised at what we heard from both systems.

Why not? Is he a Doctor in medicine?

Jorge

Why not? Is he a Doctor in medicine?

Jorge

could be ...

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Todd's system from behind our listening position. notice the naturally aged, hand-wrought acoustic pine spacers between the amps. i think this tweak put his system over the top and gave it an unfair advantage.

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another one of Todds system, with him.

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my system from behind the listening position. when we went from one system to the other we would reposition the chairs accordingly.

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Fun time...
Well we expect that someone can "translate" Todd's notes and post them in here.
BTW, very nice pix.

This is what I could get out of that scan:

9´s more edgy. Vans subdued, almost airy.

9´s sound like the rock sound.With the vans you could almost fall asleep. Both still smooth.

Vans a little more reserved, intimate, polite and laidback. 9´s are a little more crispy with wider stereo image.-

The rest I just couldn´t figure out.

Jorge

first off it took about and hour to get the Vandersteen 2c's positioned correctly. we would listen for a while, adjust them and repeat until the sound was right. both systems utilized bi-amping at all times and employ different DAC's (Todd's Entech 203.2 Number Cruncher and my EAD DSP 1000).

earlier this morning i picked up some black cdr's and made two identical cd's for demo'ing. they consisted of cuts from Steely Dan, Crowded House, Neil Finn, Elton John and Rush. we would listen to one or two songs from one system, turn the chairs and listen to the same cuts on the other system.

what was immediately apparent to me was that the Vandersteens were more laid back than the AR9's. this in itself was neither better or worse, only different. the AR9's sounded more forward, seeming to favor more of a rock sound and had more sparkle around the highs. what the Vandersteens did do better was present a more polite and involving sound with a bigger, better soundstage. about the fourth track into the session i was struck by how engaging the Vandersteens are. though i've never felt the AR9's were fatigueing, the Vandersteens were a more comfortable speaker to listen to.

i was liking the sound of the Vandersteens so much that i adjusted the level controls on the AR9's from the normal (for me) -3db position to -6dB. this helped tame their forward character a great deal. also, if you look at the pic's of the two systems you'll see how close together the AR9's are when compared to the Vandersteens. because of the big difference in the soundstage, Todd suggested the AR9's be spread out a bit. after moving them out about a foot to the outside, we started again.

just like that the sound from the AR9's came into place. everything i had been hearing from the Vandersteen was now present in the 9's. the presentation took on even more of a laid back character, the soundstage opened up and the low end tightened up and stood out without becoming out of balance. for the first time during this entire demonstration i was preferring the sound from the 9's over the Vandersteen's. it also became apparent (to me anyway) that for the first time today, much of what we hearing was due to the difference in amplification and the different DAC's.

after the adjustments that were made to the 9's i would have to call it a draw. if i want to rock i'll take the 9's. if i want to mellow out i'll take the Vandersteen's. since about 90% of my listening falls somewhere inbetween, i would be very happy with either and i am elated that i have one of them.

before Tood had to leave, we swapped out his Kenwood and tried the Sansui 1000a and The Carver Receiver on his system. both sounded good, the Carver was the most neutral of the three, and i could get used to that sound easily, but neither sounded as engaging or as comfortable as the Kenwood. we also swapped the Sansui 1000a for the Carver on my system. as with Todd's system the Carver is more neutral and i could get used to its sound very easily, but it lacks the warmth of the Sansui, which works better with my system.

all in all a productive day. i found a much improved sound from my system by making a couple of very simple and no-cost adjustments to the speakers. Todd gained a new appreciation for his system and his speakers in particular, heck i did too!

if you could decipher that then maybe you should become a doctor.

So, it was only Todd and you in the end?

Jorge

yep. thats ok, we were going to do this no matter what, we've been planning it for a few months and today worked out best for both of us.

Did you pet the dog?

i cropped him out of the other two pic's. the little attention whore was in every shot. and yes he did get petted, often.

Seems that you guys have a great time over there.
Tanx for the pix and the very nice review.