Deep Sound Stage,Transparent

The way they look

I've had the Sigs. for a little over 3months and at this time will recomend them to any and everyone. Real life sound
put on your favorite cd and let the Vandys put you through a true musical experience. I use all tube gear and I find it hard to do some of mundane things in life after a good listening. Vandersteen has a reputation for being a bit sweet without real bass punch. The babies will erase and of that audiophile hyperbole. On thing that I'm not really crazy about is the look and all the work that goes into adjusting the height. But once you get past the actual setting the 3A Signatures up it's ALL GOOD! Beside I do my most critical listening in the dark anyway.A must for true jazz enthusiast. One side note these must be biwired to get the most out of any of the Vandersteen models.
System Consist of
PSE Signature Studio V MonoBlocks
PSE HL-1 PreAmp
Audio Research CD2 CDPlayer
Cardas Golden Reference XLR(Interconects)
Audiotruth Clear & Forest Speaker Cables.

Similar Products Used:

NHT,Revels,B&W

very natural presentation -once set up properly excellent soundstage-nice amount of detail (detail that is not forced at u)

bass is not the tightest or fastest (thats why i use a pair of the 2w subs) takes some time and tweaking to get these babies to really shine(but u can say that for most other great speakers) the vandersteen look (is to these eyes) getting old

The above speakers that I have used are really good speakers.But it's the(to these ears )more natural and relaxed presentation that keeps me comming back to the vandersteen 3's. And let me tell u the signature version is by far the best 3 ever! But u need to take your time and set them up properly if u really want to make them sing. Set up in my dedicated 16x20 room (that has assorted tube traps and wall traps) goes as folling:
Distance from back wall--about 4ft.
Distance from side walls--about 3ft.
Distance between speaker centers--7.5ft.
Distance from chair--7.5ft.
Toe in---slight.
tilt(this is very critical do not underestimate) .5 inch
subwoofers--outside of speakers(helps to extend soundstage).
When set up as so(in my room)these speaker are capable of throwing a very wide,deep and accurate soundstage,I mean it can get really spooky in there! violins that float,vocals are supended in air and at times the sound seems to wrap around the listner! Best sound I ever goy in my room, but its all in the details(set up).Complete system listing below:
speakers:vandersteen 3a signatures
subwoofers:two vandersteen 2ws
amplifier:rogue 120 mono blocks in triode(fantastic value)
preamp:bat VK3i
transport:cal audio delta
dac:cal audio alpha with 24/96 upgrade
cable:all cardas

Similar Products Used:

thiel 2.3--magnapan 1.6--artemis eos--totem 1 signature

Detailed midrange with excellent focus and soundstage, never sounds bad.

Looks and set up, if you don't spend the time setting these speakers up correctly, you'll never know what your missing.

First, it takes at least 100 hours to break these speakers in, before that they sounded different all the time with many anomolies, irregularities. Set up is most important, not so much the placement as the proper tilt. When you get it right these speakers are outrageously good. I just upgraded by adding the 2WQ Sub. and then upgraded my old SS equipment with an old friend (Counterpoint SA-20). Then I went crazy and bought a Audio Research LS25MII Preamp. Suddenly everything, I mean everything sounds fantastic! I'm over 40 and didn't know how good my MFSL records and CD's sounded until now. It's like waking after 30 years! I'm impressed and hooked on tubes and these remarkable Vandersteens. I can't stop listening, the detail is incredible. The bass was decent but after the 2WQ it's mezmorizing, listen to Braveheart on CD and I'm in heaven. I'm planning on adding another 2WQ soon, not because I'm feeling like I'm missing something, but If one is this good, two have to be unreal! Without having to reproduce the lower octaves they realy bloom, everyhthing is cleaner and clearer, the dynamics are back and the midrange is simply beautiful. Excellent product, great bang for the buck!!!

Similar Products Used:

Dahlquist DQ-10's, JBL L7's, Maggies.

My System:

1. Sunfire Theater Grand Pre-Amplifier
2. Carver 501 Amplifier
3. Sony 7700 DVD
4. NHT-100 Surrounds
5. Paradyme 500 Center Channel
6. Velodyne FX-1200 Subwoofer
7. Vandersteene 3a Signature fronts

Just purchased the 3a Signatures a month ago. I paid $2700 with the optional sound anchors. IU got this increadable deal because the dealer was a month late in getting the 3a's I irdered to me and gave me the Signatures for $200.00 more.

At first, I heard them on a friends system and A/B'ed them with his Paradyme 100's. The Vandersteens were set on the default settings and just plopped down on the carpet. They seemed darker. Muted with much less detail. However, the Vandersteens sounded more like music (although muted music) and less like speakers. They are acoustically invisible as a source and if you close your eyes you'll be hard pressed to point them out.

After I got them home and put the sound anchors on, it took some time to find the best spot for them in the room. I only had 1-2 inches of play from where I wanted them, so most of the adjustments were to toe in and angle. These had a huge effect. So too did increasing the midrange and the highs with the adjustments on the back. Also, bi-wiring made aq notable improvement and is a must with these speakers. The break-in helped too making them sweeter and warmer every day.

All these efforts together removed the darkness and a star is born. Musically they make you feel as if you are in a room with the band. For home theater, the center takes most of the detail and the speakers let the music soar. These speakers sound like their overpriced big brothers, the Vandersteen 5's, at 25% of the price. I am very happy that these were the replacements to my tried and true ADS 801's. I plan to have another 25 years of happy listening without a change.

Musical, deep sound stage, great tight bass

Not the best looking

WOW! An extraordinary speaker that works well with a variety of music.

Similar Products Used:

B&W, Totem, Martin Logan

Detail, coherence, musicality, naturalness

None significant

I wrote a review for the Vandersteen 3A about a year ago after I upgraded to the 3A from an old pair of Vandersteen 2C's. Here I'm comparing the differences between the 3A and 3A Signature models.

The first thing I noticed when first listening to them was the very different sounding tweeter. It sounds much more open and very clear and extended when compared to the standard 3A. As improved as it is, I have to admit that I have bumped the tweeter adjustment up to the +1 db setting on the back; any more is too much. To me it sounds like it balances out the bass more evenly. (Also, using a Radio Shack sound level meter and test CD, I made minor adjustments to smooth room resonances especially the hump at about 125 Hz - big improvement!)

After break-in, I started to notice more smoothness in the sound and its naturalness. The speaker doesn't have a "speaker" sound to it, and sounds very natural; not directional - more of a wideness rather than pinpoint quality. That is, you don't hear the sound coming from the speakers when you close your eyes. But instruments can be easily "seen" in the soundstage - very well focused. Better depth than the 3A. Some of this is very noticable with home theater material as well as chamber music and especially piano. I have a live recording of a piano recital that sounds "scary" real. I was amazed by the sound I was hearing.

The powerful sound this speaker projects is simply amazing. The introduction to recordings like L. Bernstein on Mahler's 5th could knock you out of your seat. So clear and balanced top to bottom.

The bass is very similar to the bass of the 3A and I honestly didn't notice any large differences in tonal changes in the midrange (note I do use a subwoofer to mildly augment the deepest bass). But, there is a subjective increase in dynamics. The speakers sound quicker than the 3As, and I wish I could do a side-by-side (A/B) test on them just to see how different this quality really improved. Some cuts on The Wall (Pink Floyd) sound especially quick.

I want to listen to Revel Studios to see how different they sound to the Vandersteen 3A Signatures. This comparison is probably not fair due to the sheer difference in price, but I just have to know how good these are (after reading reviews). The 3A sigs are probably not the best speaker available, but for the price, I would think it would be very tough to find a better value. My room is medium-large being about 17 x 15 with a cathedral ceiling starting at 19 ft sloping to 9.

Honestly, I'm very happy with this $700 upgrade. Well worth it in my experience, considering how much speakers can cost.

My system consists of:

McCormack DNA-1 Rev. A power amp
Adcom 2535 power amp (for center and rear)
Sony S7000 DVD
Sony EP9ES digital pre/processor
Rel Storm Subwoofer
Vandersteen Center Channel
MIT 330 II+ Interconnects
AudioTruth Forest/AudioQuest Crystal speaker cables
B&W DM-302 (rear speakers)
Echo Buster sound panels
KimberKord Power Cord for DNA-1
Leviton 5362-LIG Hospital Grade outlets (don't ask why, but this made a very real and improved difference - for $8 - I wouldn't have believed it either)
Monster HTS-1000 Power Center for all but DNA-1

Other notes - cables can make a big difference. After 10 years in denial about this controversial subject, I stumbled across changing cables by accident am now a believer. New cables made a shocking difference. Positioning the speakers correctly is required. "Fixing" the room is also very important.

Finally: There is an online review at www.soundstage.com or you can check for other online reviews at www.vandersteen.com

Similar Products Used:

Vandersteen 3A

Bass performance, midrange accuracy, soundstaging, realism.

Size and weight.

I have owned the 3A sigs for a year and have waited until now to submit a review of this

fine speaker.

First, a little about me. I've been an audiophile for 30 years and have been listening to and playing music ever since I can remember. My tastes run to classical and jazz, but I've got quite a bit of rock, from classic to alternative, in my collection. I came of age with the "West Coast Sound" of JBL speakers, moved through more gear including Cerwin Vega noisemakers, maggies, original B&W 801's, and EPOS ES14's. My systems are generally what I would call "Value" audiophile given that I cannot afford the expensive stuff, but I think I have been able to put together musically satisfying systems.

Two years ago, after shelving my audiophile hobby for about 5 years to have kids, buy a house and so on, I got back into the gear and the music. My EPOS ES14's (great speakers) couldn't perform well in my large living room so I dusted off my ears and ventured out on a qwest to find the next best thing. My wife was understanding and let me foray into high end stores to listen over the course of several weekends spread out over months. Since there is no way for any normal human to listen to all the great speakers out there, I had to make my decision based on what I could actually listen to within a reasonable distance from my home.

I auditioned the B&W nautilus range, dynaudio speakers, Totems, Audio Physic models, some monitor audio speakers, and a smattering of others informally auditioned. This was not an easy task. The hardest thing was to maintain the "sonic signature" of a particular speaker from one dealer when trying to compare it to a speaker at another store. I could not A-B speakers so had to gradually listen for specific elements in the sound to eventually determine which speaker(s) did things I liked.

Certain patterns emerged as I did my listening. The B&W nautilus line was almost uniformly "tizzy". It is unfortunate that this fine brand seems to have degraded its quality. The sound was quite hard in the midrange, even in the Nautilus 801. Another pattern I observed was degraded low bass performance in speakers with ported designs.

A few things made the 3A's standouts compared to the other speakers I auditioned:

1. Bass performance is excellent. The Vandys have had a reputation for boomy bass, Not so! The speakers produce bass when its there, and don't when it is not. The 3A's go very low and maintain the tonal character of the bass instrument better than any of the other speakers I auditioned. They actually produce a "resonance" below the tonality of the instrument, creating a much more realistic and believable reproduction. For example, the very low bass drum hits in the early "Gladiator" soundtrack resonated beautifully with the 3A's. The clincher for me was the descending bass line in Led Zeppelin's "dazed and Confused" track. This is a very powerful bass line that goes quite low. The Vandy's handled it and I could define the bass as a fretted instrument even on the lowest tone. Every other speaker (with ports) turned the bass into more of a low bass "tone" as it descended. The 3A's go low, but maintain instrument definition. Plucked accoustic bass sounds incredibly real on the vandys.

2. Midrange. Very smooth. While some complain of a "laid back" quality to Vandersteen speakers, I think it is just the absence of distortion coupled with a flatter reponse than that found in many other speakers. A lot of manufacturers brighten up the mids and highs to improve definition and create a sense of "presence". This also creates listener fatigue. The 3A's incorporate very low distortion drivers. Everything is there, its just that the 3A's don't hit you over the head with the detail, as many other speakers do. I experience almost no listener fatigue with the 3A's.

3. "Musical" preformance. I frequently listen to classical music at moderate or low volume while I do something else. There are times when the Vandys simply produce an extremely
realistic representation of an orchestra. Also, vocals, jazz, and piano all come across with superb tonal accuracy and realism. Again, detail is there, but in a real way. For example, when the orchestra is playing at moderately loud levels, it sounds like an orchestra, not a collection of overbright instruments - midrange detail is present, but not exaggerated as it is in so many other high end speakers.

4. Sound-stage. This is very good, although many of the other speakers I listened to also performed well here. The Vandys work well for me because of my large living room - the drivers are placed fairly high up so the speaker produces a nice "tall" soundstage.

5. Non-fatiguing. My ears never hurt with the 3A's. With some of the other speakers I auditioned, the fatigue was very bad and I couldn't listen more than 25 minutes or so.

OK. Are they perfect? Well no, nothing is. There are a few things to note about these speakers:

a. Overall, they tend to have a warmer tone. If you love super detailed sound or "sizzling highs and thunderous bass" the 3A's may not be for you. They are accurate speakers that sound their best, in my opinion, with classical music, jazz, and acoustic instuments. They can go high and low and produce good bass output, they just don't do it all the time as many "forward" speaker designs do.

b. Rock and Roll. This is a tough genre to reproduce on any speaker because of the stress of the music and the horrible engineering and production values on so many rock sources. The Vandersteen 3A's change their sonic character dramatically to reflect what's coming off a CD. Since Rock is frequently compressed and otherwise mangled by engineers, some rock CDs sound horrible on the Vandys since the speakers are completely unforgiving of low quality source material. If you have a big collection of unremastered rock cds and listen primarily to rock, audition these speakers very carefully. Of course, I tell everyone to buy a PA system if you want your rock CDs to sound like rock played live - PA systems are great for playing rock!

c. Size and weight. Each speaker weighs 90 pounds and they are tricky to move because they aren't made with wood cabinets so one has to take care not to puncture the grills when moving them. Logistically they are difficult to set up because of their weight and dimensions.


Overall, it is difficult to find a full range speaker with the performance of the 3A's especially at their price point. Leaving wood cabinets off the speaker helps to dramatically reduce their cost. Although this is an overused phrase, the 3A's do sound as good or better than many speakers costing 2 or 3 times as much. My system is modest, so I have a long way to go to really tap into the sonic potential of these speakers. If you have the room and want a high performance full range speaker, you should listen to the 3A's

- they produce a very "musical" experience with a wide range of material.

Associated equipment:

Preamp - Adcom GFP-750
Amp - Rotel 985 MK11
CD - AMC CDM7 with tube DAC

Similar Products Used:

B&W 801's (originals), EPOS ES14, B&W Nautilus 805, 803, 801, Dynaudio Contour 3.0, Audio Physic Tempo and Virgo, Totem Forrest.

Neutral, Transparent

None

I demoed a set of Vandersteen 3A Sigs as well as the 5s last week at a dealer in San Francisco. I have to say Vandersteen has finally gotten it perfect. I must ad the caveat that I prefer speakers a bit on the warm side, so I do have a little bias. I have had considerable experience with the his 2C speakers, having used a pair for several months. The weaknesses of the 2Cs were they were always a bit dark sounding, and the bass was a tad tubby. The 3a sigs do away with that. They have wonderful top end extention sounding very open and detailed, but not at all bright or harsh. The midrange is very smooth and transparent, without being forward or recessed. The bass is unbelievable. It is very tight and accurate, but is very strong when called for (it almost puts my Velodyne ULD-12 to shame in output, while sounding subjectively tighter). I have listened to many speakers in the last several months, up to and including Wilson Grand Slamms, and these are the first that I have found that I would trade my Maggie 2.7QRs for. They have all the detail of the maggies with a much better bottom end, sounding in fact tighter than the maggies through the bass.

In comparison to the Model 5, you give up a little in the very deep bass, but through the midrange and treble, the 3a sig is 98% of the speaker that the five is. Given a choice and unlimited budget, I would still probably pick the 3, as the Five in only very marginally better. If you are shopping for new speakers, in this price range I would strongly suggest a listen.

Associated equiptment:

The 3a sigs I demoed were through a Sony SACD toploader CD, and Pass Labs pre-amp and amp.

Similar Products Used:

Vandersteen 2C, Magnepan 2.7QR, Thiels, Revels, Ariels

Huge sound stage, drippin' chocolate rich sound

Not the deepest bass in the book

Didn't list many speakers as used because I haven't owned many, but I did listen to a ton before purchasing the 3A Sigs - just to name a few: NHT 3.3, Joseph Audio RM-25si, ProAc Response 2.5, Merlin VSM, Dunlavy SC-IVa, Legacy Focus, B&W 802, ML Request, Infinity IRS - Sigma, etc., etc.

Before I begin allow me to pontificate just a little: Too often in these reviews there are those who think they're God's gift to audiophilia and take a negative review as some sort of personal affront. The correct way to do this is to set your price point, use these reviews as a guideline, then listen to as many speakers as you can. And finally, buy what sounds good to you! Not what costs the most, not what will be most impressive to your friends; remember at some point in time you have to buy something and start listening to the music and stop listening to your stereo or you'll never be happy. Lecture over - review on:

As stated, I listened to a ton of speakers across about a year's time and never heard a speaker that "sucked" or deserved a 1 star rating. The best sounding speaker hands down was the ML Request, but they have no sound stage - very, very beamy. The Dunlavy and Merlins are both impressive, but not when considered against the NHTs or Vandys at less than half the price!!! Sure the Dunlavy is a better speaker, but more than two times better? No F'in way. Pardon the swearin'. So, it came down to the Vandys and NHTs. I had owned the LFT VIIIs for a very long time and my ear was accustomed to the rich, laid back sound of a planar magnetic. The Vandys just had the sweeter, richer sound that was closest to what I was accustomed too. The acoustic equivalent of eating icing out of the bowl. The NHTs where just to forward, to bright for my tastes, a little to fatiguing. I will say don't miss auditioning the 3.3s, you won't be disappointed! The incredible thing about the Vandys is that they achieve their rich sound without sacrificing detail. With good electronics, you won't miss a thing. It's like hearing your CD collection for the first time. Every nuance of the music is laid out for you in brilliant detail. The sound stage that these details are presented within is mind bogglingly huge. It defies the physical boundary of the speakers (unlike the NHTs which only image within the boundary defined by their angled face). They were also a cake walk to set-up, I didn't experience any of the reported problems. The more I listen to these things the more impressed I am especially when I realize I bought one of the cheapest, but in my opinion, the BEST speakers of the bunch. The MUSIC has never sounded better.

Just for reference:
Amp = ARC VT-100
Pre = ARC LS-16
CD = Wadia No.23
Interconnects = Transparent MusicLink Balanced
Speaker Wire = Transparent MusicWave Plus BiWire

Similar Products Used:

Eminent Technology LFT VIII

Very Musical,

Haven't found one

I don't know what this last review buy this Loren guy was all about but thats the type of stuff this site could do without. Loren what do you mean you don't remember the electronic that was used during this audition.
The Vandy 3A Signatures are without a doubt one of the most musical speakers on the markett today. They do everything a music lover wants in a two words they disapear. The soundstage on jazz recording go well outside of the 3A signatures and on recording like Cassandra Wilson's Strange Fruit feels like she 7ft. tall and in the room with you.
My system consist of
PSE Studio V MonoBlock AMPS(For $3250 you wont find one better under $10,000)
Adcom GFP750 PreAmp
Wadia 830 CD Player
Opal XLR .5M Interconnects
10FT Argent&Midnight3 Biwired

Similar Products Used:

Hales,Theil 2.3, ProAC 3.8's