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2024 Golden Ear: Vandersteen Model Seven XTRM Loudspeaker

Vandersteen Audio Model Seven XTRM

$94,000

The Vandersteen Audio Model Seven XTRM is the culmination of 47 years of continuous development that can trace its fundamental design principles to Vandersteen’s Model Two from 1977. It incorporates innovative thinking that separates it from other “cones-in-a-box” loudspeakers. For one example, this four-way system has an integral 400W amplifier to drive the dual 11″ side-firing woofers, along with an 11-band equalizer built into the speaker that helps smooth the speaker’s in-room bass response. This feature, along with Vandersteen’s foolproof technique for accurately setting that equalizer, results in a bottom end that is big, robust, and powerful yet doesn’t sound thick, heavy, or bloated—regardless of your room. The drivers are Vandersteen’s patented balsawood/carbon-fiber sandwich; the crossovers are first-order to assure perfect time alignment and phase coherence; and the enclosure is a tri-laminate design to suppress resonances.

If I had to sum up the Model Seven XTRM with one word, it would be “involving.” The sheer timbral beauty, fabulously muscular bass with no bloat or boom, and treble detail without brightness, all add up to a speaker that makes you want to continue the listening sessions long into the night. The Seven’s ability to sound at once smooth and relaxed yet richly detailed is a rare quality; most speakers lean one way or the other, the so-called “romantic” vs. “analytical” dichotomy. Vandersteen speakers have a reputation for falling on the romantic side of that line, and I would agree with that generalization. But the Seven’s great achievement is that this smoothness and ease don’t come at the expense of detail. You don’t appreciate the Vandersteen’s resolution by listening for it or pointing to it. Rather, it sneaks up on you in the listening session when you recognize a previously unheard musical gesture, a newfound contribution by a player in the back of the mix, the realistic inner detail of an instrument or voice, and other musically communicative aspects of the sound that make listening to music involving. The Model Seven XTRM is a relative bargain in the world of top-echelon loudspeakers and an easy choice for a Golden Ear Award. (348)

Tags: LOUDSPEAKER FLOORSTANDING GOLDEN EAR AWARD

Robert Harley

By Robert Harley

My older brother Stephen introduced me to music when I was about 12 years old. Stephen was a prodigious musical talent (he went on to get a degree in Composition) who generously shared his records and passion for music with his little brother.

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