sneaking new speakers past wife...any advice?

[smokey]

I was just chatting with Curtis yesterday about sneaking a cmt-340 in the house. We live in a very small place, so she is *very* sensitive to new additions of my "gear." I like Ed's "swap" idea, I may have to work on it!

-Smokey.

Thanks, the Management.

[Mag_Neato]

Uh oh...Now the corruption is spreading! The swap thing has worked many times. I had a pair of Vandersteen 1B's I bought new with some money I received from an auto accident insurance settlement back in 1992. In 1999 I made a legitimate swap with a friend who worked at a high-end audio/video shop. this was for the B&W 602's. I was never truly content with those, hence the progression to the Ascends. My B&W center speaker also came from the same guy. I paid him $160 used for it....$300 new. I had sold my old center, a DCM model, to a co-worker along with my first Pro-logic add-on decoder....a Kenwood model, to obtain the funds needed. I told my wife I was simply going to swap center speakers with my audio store friend for a better, though older, model. I don't know what I'll do the next time I want to upgrade something!

Ed

[bikeman]

Really, Does anyone care what there wives think?

J.A.P.,
Are you married?

David

[DavidD]

Mag_Neato,

This is probably hard, but looking back, how would you compare your Ascends to the Vandersteens?

[Mag_Neato]

Wow.....that's a tuffy! The model 1B was replaced with the 1C, which I believe are still the current model. The 1B's were a smallish tower design using a 1" dome and 8" polycone woofer. I think the tweeter was a soft dome design. It was a transmission-line design and supposed to be full range. I would have to say that it had a fuller sound than the 170's, though not as clear a high end. The midrange of the 170 is probably a bit stronger as well, but it has been about 5 years since I had the 1B's, so keep that in mind. The Vandys were approx. 36" tall and 12" wide, the top portion being a sort of cover for the time-aligned baffle array behind the grille cloth. The bases for the 1B's allowed you to tilt the speaker back for a proper listening window. I decided I wanted a "crisper" sounding speaker that was not as position critical. The 602's were definitely crisper and not as placement finicky, but you'd better have steel ears for extended listening with those metal domes. I think the 170's imaged better than the 602's right off the bat, and had better midrange clarity as well. The difference from the 1B to the 602 was mainly bass extension and high end. I enjoy the 170's neutrality within it's range and would have to say stick with a flat response when choosing speakers. A "hot" treble or "slammin" bass may impress initially, but will wear thin in a short time.

Like I said, the 1b is now the 1C, and that model has gotten very good reviews. Vandersteen makes a great product and if it is in your budget give it a listen. Hope this helps!

Ed
(P.S.-For a traditional speaker company, Vandersteen has very good customer service. I asked the person at the store a question regarding the 1B's and got a phone call at home from Richard Vandersteen himself!)