Budget buyers take note: Vandersteen Audio, makers of high-performance
loudspeakers at reasonable prices, may just have the home-theater deal for you. Priced
complete at $3440, Vandersteen's entry-level six-speaker home-theater sound system
presents a surround-sound listening experience that is fully time and phase correct --
something very unusual in surround-sound systems, especially at or near its price. The
surround system contains three distinct speaker models. The main front speakers are
a pair of full-range two-way Model 1Cs ($715 per pair, $85 bases). The center-channel
speaker is the VCC ($495), which uses a single concentric driver to avoid the horizontal
dispersion problems with conventional three-driver center-channel loudspeakers. The rear
surround speakers are the VSMs ($895 per pair), which mount on the wall. The VSMs use the
same concentric driver used in the VCC. The single 300-watt powered subwoofer is the V2W
($1250), which uses three downward firing 8" drivers. You can add a reasonably
powerful A/V receiver like the Rotel unit used by Vandersteen at the show, a
cost-effective DVD player and 32" direct-view monitor to complete a high-performance
home-theater system for under $5500.
![[SOUNDSTAGE! LIVE]](../../covers/ssmainlive.gif)
Budget buyers take note: Vandersteen Audio, makers of high-performance
loudspeakers at reasonable prices, may just have the home-theater deal for you. Priced
complete at $3440, Vandersteen's entry-level six-speaker home-theater sound system
presents a surround-sound listening experience that is fully time and phase correct --
something very unusual in surround-sound systems, especially at or near its price. The
surround system contains three distinct speaker models. The main front speakers are
a pair of full-range two-way Model 1Cs ($715 per pair, $85 bases). The center-channel
speaker is the VCC ($495), which uses a single concentric driver to avoid the horizontal
dispersion problems with conventional three-driver center-channel loudspeakers. The rear
surround speakers are the VSMs ($895 per pair), which mount on the wall. The VSMs use the
same concentric driver used in the VCC. The single 300-watt powered subwoofer is the V2W
($1250), which uses three downward firing 8" drivers. You can add a reasonably
powerful A/V receiver like the Rotel unit used by Vandersteen at the show, a
cost-effective DVD player and 32" direct-view monitor to complete a high-performance
home-theater system for under $5500.