Here is a perspective from a Kef dealer who has the Kef Blades and have used them at a few area shows.
The Kef Blades will match of equil any $60k-$100k set of speakers if you set them up correctly and personally do not see the advantage of the Vandy 7 being much more expensive for a speaker with lower efficiency, less power handling, and a lower and smaller soundstage.
The Kef Blades were developed at a price tag of $4 million dollars, by some of the most respected engineers in the world, they are a true point source where all frequencies including bass emminate from the same point in space.
Our setup in the 2012 New York Audio Show with the Kef Blades, a $30k set of Chord mono block amplifiers, a $20k Chord preamp, a $22k Esoteric Dac with high end cabling etc the system's price was about $150k including turntable.
Down the hall GTT Audio, $107k YG Sonja, Solution amps $80k, Solution preamp $40k, Solution Dac and transport of similar very expensive digital, $40k turntable total system price $400k or so.
We were expecting the YG/Solution system to be better it wasn't it was different not better.
The combination of huge soundstage, very good image placement, good top end extension and deep tight bass for $32k makes the Kef Blades a bargain for high end loudspeakers.
Just consider that the huge $30k price difference between these two loudspeakes would get you a pair of Blades and a really top notch amplifier and preamp.
As per tunning yes the Vandersteen's do have tunning in the bass which is a fantastic thing, so does the Paradigm Persona 9H which can be totally tuned by Anthem's ARC program to cover way more frequencies than the 11 band parametric eq that Vandy uses.
Also for $25k you get the Legacy Aeris which goes very low in the deep bass and also comes with a dac, preamp, crossover with Bohmer room correction which compensates for both time and frequency issues.
The issue with the Blades is the same issue we have raised with the Paradigm Persona and B&W and Focal, these larger companies will allow dealers that may not have the right matching equipment or rooms sell their products not to mention at shows they don't necessarily use the optimal matching gear only from vendor partners that they have a relationship with so again the pairing might not be optimal.
You need to come to a good dealer and here a well setup pair of Blades for yourself and if possible use a similar level of gear then what the Vandy 7 dealer would be using, so if the Vandy 7 are being played with $50k worth of electronics then you shoud be seeking a similar level of setup not a pair of $32k Kef Blades on a $5k integrated amp or just whatever.
The Vandy's have a very smooth liquid sound and are very engaging, a well set up pair of Blades won't be quite a warm in the midrange, however, they will sound super clean and accurate with a gigantic image and when tuned appropriately will be very smooth and musical as well.
Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ Kef Blade dealer
