Re: The New Other Bench Audiophile Thread, astonishing arrogance edition

**Iago** Fri Apr 17, 2015 6:50 pm

Well, like I said, I bought them while you were AWOL, so I have actually had them for several months. My opinions have not changed much. Still very happy. I just downloaded Grand Theft Auto V -- 65GB, which took me three hours at Starbucks! -- and have had little time to play with it, but I got through the prologue and the first section to get to the first "free time" and have roared around with the speakers cranked. Quite satisfying. (Incidentally, it looks smashing will all settings cranked on my new rig.)

Oh, and I should say that I have tried quite a bit of classical music with them as well, and they perform very well. I would say that they really shine with jazz and most rock (they are very nice with bass & drums,) but they are more than acceptable with classical. They do a good job of giving that sense of "air" and "space" around the instruments, if you will pardon the lame audiophile buzzwords. For me, with classical music, the sense of the space around the instruments is every bit as important as the instruments themselves -- I want to feel the hall. Piano sounds fine, too. (In fact, while she is not classical, I am listening to some Tori Amos right now on her lovely, lovely Bosendorfer, and the tone is nice.) And I should be fair to note that I am just using the stock sound blaster on my laptop motherboard. It would be more interesting if I was using an external DAC.

**Seamaster** Tue Apr 21, 2015 11:48 am

Not that you need reminding, but it's a slippery slope over that edge!

**Iago** Tue Apr 21, 2015 5:03 pm

AVADirect had several different external sound cards available when I bought my laptop, and I thought about one of them since the price was decent (OEM versions, no doubt) but ultimately decided not to mostly out of concern over desktop space. Sound cards on laptops have to be external, and that just adds inconvenience -- plus, it uses up a USB slot. At least I can plug the speakers directly into the headphone jack and not take up the space. And the reality is that I do not do really critical listening at my laptop anyway, so it is probably not necessary.

I have not done a whole lot of critical listening anyway, as I seem to have picked up a distortion problem in one of the drivers on one of my Vandersteens. Those have to go back to California, and packing them up is a serious issue, so I have been lazy about it. I do have a five-year warranty on them, so there is still time, but I just have to get it done.

**Seamaster** Wed Apr 22, 2015 3:42 pm

I agree with the laptop. Unless it is your workstation or your primary entertainment source, I wouldn't go crazy either. Heck, I'd just stick with the headphones!

Sorry to hear about the Vandersteens. Does the warranty cover shipping costs?

**Iago** Sun Apr 26, 2015 5:27 am

One way, I think. I have to look that up. And I have to get them in before the five years does expire! But it is still a pain, because before I send them back, I need to swap the L and R channels to verify that it is not the amplifier. Which I am sure of anyway, because it is very specific frequencies that cause the distortion, and is likely the midrange driver. But with biwire speakers, it is a bit of a pain to swap cables. Though there is the slight possibility that the issue is in the inputs rather than the driver -- as they are biwired, the one set of inputs feeds the one driver -- but that would still require sending it back to California. If it is the driver, they can ship just a new driver for people who are willing to get their hands dirty with a soldering iron, but that is not me!

**Seamaster** Mon Apr 27, 2015 11:09 am

Are there technicians available locally who are qualified and you trust? If so, that might save you a few bucks (assuming it is the driver). When is your five years up?

**Iago** Sat May 02, 2015 5:58 am

With Vandersteen, any warranty work has to be done at their factory in California. No real choice. Not sure when my warranty expires, but it has to be coming up in the next year or two, so as much as I am dreading the troubleshooting process and packing up, I need to get it done.

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