John Atkinson's thoughts on the New Vandersteen System Nine from LA Show

pdp, does it have analog room correction built in?  I believe it will just move more air and integrate well.  

Guys, the reason I posted this is to get dialog going as I said.  By using 4 of the same subs, you can do a swarm and equalize any 'hot' spots in the room.  I am strongly considering his smaller subs with my Quatro's for just this reason. 

we seem to get lots of alerts when Vandersteen gets good press...

ALERT!  I am a Vandersteen owner.  I'd like to humor myself with the notion that I can get over my "fanboy" status and attempt objectivity.  I've had the pleasure of listening through various brands of fine transducers and regard them accordingly.  I think the thing about the Vandy line is that ALL of his speakers have that ability to liberate the listener from the speaker and let the music do the talking.  A remarkable career achievement for RV.

One almost unique quality is that the Model 7s are so small of stature compared to the statement speakers of so many other designers.  I'm listening to Treo Cts.  'nuff said.

Hifiman, many of us have been audiophiles for many many years and have owned a ton of gear.  You used the word objective and I concur.  Right now I love Vandersteen's, but I purchased Proacs over Vandy's many years ago, even though my dealer sold both.  I own Ayre, but was always a tube guy and still have an Aestheix Rhea I'm about sell sell (getting out of vinyl) as I didn't like the Ayre phono stage.

Plenty of great gear out there that would make me happy to own.  Before I purchased my new Quatro's, I scoured the market. I went to listen to everything I possibly could hear.  As I've always said, my ear love the Vandersteen's.  I am not into looking at drivers when I listen.  All I know is that when I audition speakers, if I'm talking audio with the sales person after the first two or three cuts, then I know I'm not into the gear I'm listening to.  As audio has gotten better and better, I still haven't found speakers other than my Vandy's where I just want to go up and listen for hours on end.  Others I speak with often feel the same about their speakers and that's awesome and the way it should be.

I guess I knew that haters would come to this thread to change the intent, so I'll try to move it back to what it was originally about.

JA waxed poetic about Vandersteen's 9 system along with the AR pre and the Basis TT.  I was wondering if anyone got to listen to this set up and what they heard.

Again, I'm so intrigued by swarming subs to smooth out the response and also to move even more air as needed.  I know Vandersteen was working on a huge speaker that would have been called the 9, but with that huge cabinet he wasn't able to get the sound to be coherent and point source like, which they are known for.  I think that separating the subs like he's done should make this system even better than the behemoths out there, because the four subs (two built into the speakers) all have 11 band eq and you can move them around the room and aren't tied to just two spots like you are with two speakers.  

I wonder if others will do the same with their systems as it's proven that using 4 or more subs works best.  Even for inexpensive subs like 'The Swarm' you can get really good bass.  Bass is the most expensive part of the spectrum to recreate properly. That means both tonally as well as going deep AND moving air.  I've heard too many subs move a ton of air, but not tonally accurate.  I've heard subs that will move air, but tonally accurate, but NOT recreate the lowest of octaves.

I haven't loved most sub systems for audio.  For me, the only way I've enjoyed a sub system is when you are using a full range speaker so you have more continuity from top to bottom.  

I'm hoping that maybe we can stay on course about subs as I'm trying to learn more. I haven't spent enough time with subs to be totally comfortable with their integration.  The Quatro's are the first subs I've had in my room that work and it's because we were able to eq them and I do like that the design has allowed my amp to be freed up from 100hz on up.  For me, it's been a major transformation.  I don't know if other subs have analog integration like this??  I have yet to hear anything done digitally that you couldn't hear.  I too would love to set up a mike and hit a few buttons and be done with it.  I had that in my spare bedroom with a Marantz AVR set up with some small Paradigm/sub (it was cheap and most folks don't care, lol).  I liked it better without the digital correction. I have also hear the Lyndorf digital deal in a  room that has a terrible 50hz vibration (yes, it's in a showroom and they've had this problem since 1980 or so) and it took care of it, but honestly it ruined the rest of the sound for me.  Spec of veiling.  

Ok, that's where I'm at and I'm much more open minded than many may think when reading my posts.  That said, I'd love to hear thoughts on the few subjects that are out there in this thread and maybe haters can go to another thread since they aren't interested in what I think could be a fun discussion.  Thanks

no haters here...I think the 5A Carbon is as good as any speaker I have heard at length...